Today, April 2, we return to the heart of this historic event that gave us our beginnings. We began to be a Congregation with the title Daughters of Jesus, when our Foundress came to know the Lord’s will which she sought in order to give a faithful response.
She had to found a Congregation dedicated to the salvation of souls through the education and instruction of children and youth, as she tells us.
Many years have passed, that desire became reality, the dream took form embodied in the world of 1869; it is a long journey made of many steps. She began it and left us this precious heritage, and now this 2nd of April 2017 we can ask ourselves many things and above all, confirm that this event was the work of the Spirit that was given to us to continue perpetuating it through the ages.
This dedication to education, to which we are called as Daughters of Jesus, yet not by ourselves, but with so many lay people in shared mission, in this great family of Candida Maria, in which we want to strive to keep alive the charism and spirituality of Mother Candida (GC XVII, 23), presents itself to us today as a great challenge full of constant calls to offer our society that treasure of educating, of collaborating to form persons, to illuminate new historical stages, with greater vigor, with growing enthusiasm, with a renewed vocation, with a return to the first love …
We live a privileged moment to unite ourselves in communion, lay-Daughters of Jesus, as a grace in our apostolic path (GC XVII, 21). Strong in the charismatic root, with all the diversity offered to us by that tree with so many branches, flowers and fruits. We are invited, as a family, to return to our origins in what is fundamental in the call, to re-enchant ourselves with it again today, to integrate different modalities, to adapt to the times that run in the pedagogical and, especially, in the pastoral and catechetical spheres, in the new elements that can give greater brilliance to our foundation, making it intelligible, giving depth to the charismatic spirituality that was given us and which is our obligation here and now, to continue in history.
Will we be willing to follow this path? How is the intensity of our joy in following Jesus within this family? In what way are we seeking and experiencing the return to the beginnings, not by ourselves any longer but with others? What does Candida Maria de Jesus tell us today in our hearts as women and men who want to be her followers? …
Let her offer us her answer, let us listen with the ears of the heart, let us look with her gaze at the world around us, let our hands and feet be an extension of hers to continue the journey, but above all, let us give thanks to God for this gift received with such generosity on her part, living this vocation with joy and generous dedication.
Published in the Web of Spain-Italy
By Mª Luisa Berzosa fi
