The Superior General of the Daughters of Jesus, Graciela Francovig, has once again contacted all the sisters of the Congregation through her Letter No. 47. It is her first circular letter of the new sexennium, after this significant time that has marked the life of the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus and in the context of the recent celebrations: the feast of the Ascension of the Lord and the congregational celebration of the birth of Jeanne Josepha, our beloved Saint Candida Maria de Jesus, last May 31.
Graciela shares with simplicity and gratitude what she experienced at the General House in Rome, where sisters from different parts of the world gathered for more than a month to celebrate the XIX General Congregation. They were days of encounter, discernment and experience of the closeness of God mediated by people and events.
Time to start again
In her letter, the Superior General expresses that all that has been experienced in recent times fills the Congregation with hope and impels it to “want to begin again”.
“How many expressions of the closeness of God the Father mediated by events and persons. All this fills us with hope and leads us to ‘want to begin again’.”
A spirit of renewal that is especially present in the expectation of the Determination, a document that will guide the life and mission of the Daughters of Jesus in the next six years. In this regard, Graciela tells us:
“The Determination, which you will soon receive, is a great joy for all of us. It is a call and invitation from the Lord for these next six years. He continues to affirm in us His love of choice and predilection.”
This call is not only for the sisters, but also for the laity who share our charism and mission, for we are all invited to proclaim a God who is Father, who cares for all, and whose goodness makes us brothers and sisters.
Towards a new Pentecost
Looking at the liturgical calendar, Graciela recalls that the feast of the Ascension prepares the way for Pentecost, a celebration that invites us to open ourselves to the renewing action of the Spirit. She hopes that both the experience of the General Congregation and the arrival of the Determination will be a new Pentecost for the Congregation and for the laity.
“The Spirit did great things in us and, I believe, through us. We have witnessed that in these days in Rome.”
It also invites to look at the personal heart and to prepare to receive this Determination with openness:
“What is my personal readiness to receive the coming Determination? Do I believe in the newness and freshness that can come from it as a call from the Lord?”
These are questions that invite us to nurture the deep desire to live from the identity of Daughters of Jesus.
The call to be Daughters of Jesus
As on other occasions, the Superior General recalls the words of St. Candida and encourages us to let our name of Daughters of Jesus continue to be a permanent call.
“It is necessary to nourish the desire. That desire that our holy Foundress repeated to us to be true Daughters of Jesus. Let that name be for us, once again, a call: to be Daughters of Jesus.”
Gratitude and trust
Finally, Graciela dedicated a few words of gratitude to all the sisters and lay people who sent messages of closeness, affection and congratulations, both on May 1, the day she was re-elected as Superior General, and for the celebration of the 180th anniversary of the birth of St. Candida.
“Feeling sisters and lay people with such closeness and affection in the Lord, moves me to trust that the work is God’s and we are in his hands.”
He concludes by reaffirming his personal commitment:
“For the good of the Congregation I will continue to give my life, a phrase that I asked M. Candida on the day of my definitive incorporation into the Congregation.”
A message for this time
This letter is a sign of hope, communion and missionary zeal in this new congregational period. It invites us to nourish the desire to be true Daughters of Jesus and to open ourselves with confidence to the breath of the Spirit in our lives.
May this new congregational Pentecost also be a personal and communal Pentecost.
