From the End to a New Beginning

Project Mornese has come to an end...or a beginning...depending on one's perspective. With this in mind, this last blog is written by all the participants...the hopes, dreams, and desires of those who have come to the well, have found refreshment, and are ready to share it with the world!

INS: We have seen, touched, experienced, and have grown!

AFM: As we approach each Sister, we are standing on Holy Ground; we need to have an attitude of prayer, attentive listening, and acceptance.

SUA: We are filled with gratitude to our province and to our communities for the sacrifices made so we could be here, and we are eager and ready to share this journey with each Sister in our province.

AFE: It was a very enriching experience that has made me feel renewed and ready to go back to my community, to serve them better, especially through my own example, accompanying each one as an individual, allowing them to accompany me, and journey together as a community in commitment to our call to serve the young with love.

INK: Joyous accompaniment!

INM: Accompaniment with patient love and trust!

IRL: With great reverence for the individuality of each one, Mary Mazzarello led the Sisters along the road of Love, inviting and encouraging them to follow Jesus with courage and joy.

SUO: Our experience of Project Mornese helped us deepen our understanding of Mary Domenica's simple yet profound spirituality, the key to fostering mutual accompaniment, making each of our house, "the house of the love of God."

GBR: We appreciate having had this opportunity to get to know Mother Mazzarello at a deeper level, and look forward to sharing this with the Sisters.

ING: We have heard, we have seen, we have touched and experienced the origins of our Institute. Now filled with gratitude for the marvels the Lord worked in our lives, we return back to our beloved province and recommit ourselves to accompany our Sisters and the young in our mission with great dedication in the spirit of our Founders.

CINA: To be an animator one needs a great deal of faith, humility, and above all Love!

AES: Project Mornese has been a source of strength and light for me and will be so for my community.

INB: Deeper understanding of the context, the person, and the spirituality of Don Bosco, St. Francis de Sales, and especially of Mother Mazzarello have helped us feel like we have re-lived her days.

Amen!

Holy Week in Mornese

Reliving the Experience of Our First Sisters


The Washing of the Hands
replaced the traditional
Washing of the Feet

 We are a privileged group no doubt! This month has been a month of blessings. We had the added joy of celebrating Holy Week in Mornese, the land of our origin and of our co-foundress, Mother Mazzarello.

On Holy Thursday, instead of the traditional washing of the feet, we had the washing of each others hands to remind us of our role as servant leaders. The Altar of repose was kept in the very room of Mother Mazzarello where we kept watch with the Lord until midnight.



The Cross was carried
from Station to Station



Good Friday was a unique experience. A meaningful reconciliation service invited us to receive the Sacrament of Penance and at the end, each of us was anointed with the Holy Nard as a sign of blessing. As dark clouds gathered in the sky and light showers trickled down, we felt that nature, too, shared with us the Lord’s Passion. At dusk we joined the parishioners in a meaningful and well-enacted ‘Via Crucis’ along the streets of Mornese. The atmosphere of this little town reflected the road to Calvary.

Holy Saturday was a day of prayer and expectant waiting. In the afternoon, we visited the Roverno and shared in a meaningful prayer service there that explained the significance of the river in the lives of our first sisters and the symbolic gesture of washing off our burdens in the waters of the river. This further helped us to prepare ourselves for the Easter Vigil.



The Well of Mornese
is the background
for the new fire
at the Easter vigil


The Easter vigil was indeed a solemn celebration with the singing of the Exsultet by Fr. Mathew Chan. Our hearts were filled with the joy of the Resurrection.

It was indeed a unique joy to celebrate Easter in the Collegio. I am sure in the years to come during the Easter Triduum we will all join with our first sisters in Nizza in exclaiming: Ah Mornese!!! Ah Mornese!!!

Buona Pasqua! da suor Mónica Menegusi

Le suore di tutte le case si uniscono a me per augurarle buone feste Pasquali, in un con tutte le più elette benedizioni che sgorgano dal Cuore di Gesù risorto. (L. 21, 3)

The Sisters of all the houses join with me in wishing you a Happy Easter, with all the choicest blessings that spring from the Heart of the Risen Jesus.

Las hermanas de todas las casas se unen a mí para desearle unas buenas fiestas pascuales, así como las más selectas bendiciones que brotan del Corazón de Jesús resucitado.

 
Madre Mazzarello

From Water to the Spirit



Sr. Edna Mary

The beauty of our baptism, confirmed in our religious consecration, becomes even more meaningful as we renew our baptismal promises at the font at which Mary Mazzarello was baptized.
Added to this was the opportunity to view the original parish register, so kindly put at our disposal by the church sacristan, in which the name of Maria Domenica Mazzarello was written.

As her name was written on the paper of the parish register, may her spirit be written in our hearts!

THE BLESSED WINDOW OF THE VALPONASCA!!!

 

Group picture at the Valponasca

Yes!  For many, it is a small, insignificant window! But for Maria it all began with that window—her journey into spirituality, a deep spirituality of ‘action and contemplation’ that would become the basis for thousands of FMA’s and the young, the world over.



Sisters at the well



She was just a teenager then, and like any other teenager of our time who use the SMS and internet chat to keep in touch with friends, Maria used a unique, creative and most practical means—the only window facing in the direction of the parish where her first love, Jesus, resided—to keep in touch with him.

Unlike many teenagers of our time, she wasn’t selfish, possessive or insecure about her love. She brought in other children to meet her beloved, and when her family discovered it, they very wisely joined in and had their family prayers there.



View from the window
of the Sisters in prayer



Isn’t it an example for our families today in raising their children? In a world where children are emotionally distant from their parents, living without a sense of God, and where families are breaking up for no rhyme or reason, the window of Valponasca has a message or two.

• We need to create and point out the window of spirituality for children in our families.
• We need to keep our appointment with God in prayer as a family.
•  We need to be supportive and wise in involving ourselves in the goodness of our children.

May the spirituality of the window of Valponasca help keep our families happy and united!