• Prot. n. 909 del 18 ottobre 2007
– Don Giovanni Case, dalla Provincia S. Cuore alla Delegazione Santiago
Apostol
• Prot. n. 921 del 14 dicembre 2007
– Ch. A. Viyagappan Durairaj, dalla Divine Providence Province alla Delega-
zione N.S. di Guadalupe
• Prot. n. 930 del 18 dicembre 2007
– Fr. Arockiasamy Bernandes, dalla Divine Providence Province alla Delega-
zione N.S.
della Speranza
8. USCITE - ESCLAUSTRAZIONI - PERMESSI
Assenza con permesso
– P. Lopez Messina Don Enrique
(Provincia Cruz del Sur) il 1 gennaio
2007
– Fr. Weber Matthew (
Divine Providence Province) il 4 gennaio 2007
– Fr. Victor Raj Robert
(Divine Providence Province) il 30 settembre 2007
– Pe. Luigi Reali (
Provincia Santa Cruz) il 1
o
dicembre 2007
Assenza senza permesso
– Fr. Maria Manickam Thanasekar (
Divine Providence Province) il 1
o
set-
tembre 2007
Hanno lasciato definitivamente la Congregazione
– Ch. Micheal Amala Silvester (
Divine Providence Province) il 1
o
marzo
2007
– Ch. Maria Selvam Francis Selvaraj (
Divine Providence Province) il
3 marzo 2007
– Ch. Chinnappan Sebastian (
Divine Providence Province) il 25 maggio
2007
– Fr. Villavarayer Carmel (
Divine Providence Province) il 26 giugno 2007
– Ch. Leon Pinto Elkis
(Delegazione N.S. di Guadalupe) il 28 giugno 2007
– Ch. Lopez Jimenez Victor (
Delegazione N.S. di Guadalupe) il 28 giugno
2007
69
1. Towards the Centennial of Consecration of the
Servants of Charity
Gratitude and marvel
Reflecting on the moving page that Father Leonardo Mazzucchi wrote on
the day of the first religious profession of Father Guanella and of his first
disciples, we feel enwrapped by those feelings of gratitude and marvel that were
experienced by our predecessors. We would like to unite our emotion to the one
present in the confreres, and especially in the heart of Father Guanella, as
Mazzucchi so well recalls.
Even though we were not involved in what happened at the beginning of
the history of our Congregation, we feel, however, intimately part of the event
that stands at the origin of our personal vocation.
I believe I am interpreting the feelings of all our confreres affirming that for
every one of us those memories recall the enthusiasm
we have experienced when
we have welcomed the call of God, and have signed our adhesion of love on the
act of our first religious Profession.
We need to renew constantly the gratitude and commitment that arise from
the bounty of the Lord who condescended to call us to a so great mission
certainly superior to our merits. The faithfulness to our vocation ensures us the
joy of belonging to a family of saints, which sustains us in many difficulties,
urging us to a constant renewal and making us one with the heart filled with
God’s charity.
To Father Guanella, that 24 October 1908 represented the fulfillment of an
intense desire that was “expressed and cultivated for a long time”..., to be “able
to conclude his tiresome days... in the holy peace of religious life”.
He struggled a lot in his life to overcome difficulties and misunderstandings
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DOCUMENTS
DOCUMENTS
from those who did not understand him or even blocked his project. It was only
his firm will, based on the clear awareness that his particular vocation was
indeed received from God; his confidence in Divine Providence, which in its
appropriate time of mercy would have overcome all resistances; his great love
towards the poor to whom he felt called, that were able to overcome all the
difficulties he was facing.
With the approval of the Church, Father Guanella finally was sure about
God’s will that had opened in front of him wide horizons and prospects of
charity he had to fulfill with the help of those who wanted to follow his
inspiration and his footsteps. The dream he had treasured in his heart since
childhood, and was
slow to finalize and come true, now became tangible in those
confreres who were consecrating themselves with him to the Lord and to the
works of mercy for ever.
Behind those faces, Father Guanella foresaw the work of the Lord who uses
humble men to extend his kingdom of charity.
The event, that we are reliving today, urges us to actualize it in our personal
history and in the history of the Congregation.
The Document on ‘Consecrated Life’ tells us: “You not only have a
glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be
accomplished! Look to the future (VC 110)”.
The context in which our Congregation was born was certainly different
from ours, but the spirit has to be the same, because even today we are called to
involve ourselves in the loving project of God. As for the new evangelization pro-
posed by the Church, we are in need of a new enthusiasm towards holiness, and
new ways to carry out the resolution of actualizing the Gospel of God’s charity.
To remember and to relive the Centennial of our foundation, almost
aspecial Jubilee of grace, it is necessary a strong spiritual preparation that gives
authentic value to our external celebrations. Therefore, I would like to invite you
to begin an interior journey of renewed awareness of the gift that we have
received from the Lord.
The pastoral plan proposed for the year 2007-2008 will help us in this goal.
The priestly zeal of Father Luigi set us on fire in valuing the gift that the Lord
has given to the whole Guanellian family by the priesthood He had bestowed on
us (Const. n. 5).
During the following year, because of the Centennial celebrations, we will
have the opportunity to deepen the meaning, the richness, and the power of our
particular charism of being apostles of charity, so that our witness may become
to our world more visible and evangelizing. As a completion to the incentives
that are and will be proposed more systematically to the Congregation as a
common journey of meditation, I would like to suggest three attitudes that
should help us to live in a more concrete way of our preparation. To me, they
seem appropriate to the events that we are celebrating.
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