INSTITUTE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

founded by St. John Bosco

and by St. Maria Domenica Mazzarello

N. 991

To Radiate the Joy of Vocation

Dear Sisters,

As I write this circular, the Provincial Chapters are being celebrated and I thank them for the
preparation they have carried out in the life of each Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, and in the
educating communities during the previous months. It is very beautiful to feel that we are united in
walking along the same path that is concretized in every part of the world according to the specific
realities.

From many Provinces, appreciation for the Circular of Convocation in preparation for GC
XXIV continues to arrive in preparation for the GC XXIV. It was greeted with gratitude, with a
sense of responsibility and as an opportunity to keep Mary's invitation to do what Jesus tells us
every day to be " communities that generate life in the heart of contemporary time. "

I have been urged in this regard to share with you an aspect which I consider essential, and
which deserves to be more the object of our personal and community reflections and of our
experience of life: the joy of vocation. We need to discover and express ever more deeply the joy of
the vocation that has been given to us with gratuitous love from God, and to witness to it in our
daily lives, first of all, in all our relationships that manifest the Lord's presence. He invites us to be a
channel whereby He can pass on and communicate His Love.

We know that vocation is not a "private gift", destined to remain within individual
boundaries. By its nature, it must expand and "explode" in a hymn of Easter joy, of gratitude in the
spirit of the Magnificat (cf C 4). It is the condition for our communities to be life-giving, an
awakening of that Mornese freshness which makes them rich in vocational fruitfulness. It is the
miracle of "new wine" for everyone's joy.

I offer you a few aspects, already shared on other occasions, which I consider necessary to
highlight the source of this joy and the commitment that comes from being communities that are
fruitful from the vocational point of view. I have so much hope that together we can set the
conditions for young people to discover God's plan for their lives and be happy, "cheerful",
according to the spirit of Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello.

God's love, the source of joy

How many reflections emerge in my heart, the fruit of the experiences shared with many of
you, with young people and adults in moments of profound interiority, and the search for the why
and for whom to give one’s existence. It is a seeking that is always on the way to the high goals to
which the human heart aspires, and which offer authentic joy.

How can we not recognize in the yearning of so many Sisters, of so many people, the desire
to experience what is essential of this “journey, to discover that the joy that has a name,a face of the
love of God present in the history of humanity and in each person, with the tenderness that only He
knows how to give in full gratuitousness and fidelity? It is a "pact of love" that covers the days of
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light, of joy even when sadness, doubts, life’s trials, and possible failures tend to overshadow and
weaken it.

These are moments during which the dimension of the Paschal Mystery shines more vividly,
which is a source of true joy, of authentic happiness that radiates in our lives as consecrated women,
reaching the hearts of many young people and raising questions about the "why" of so much joy.

It is not easy today to speak of joy, to testify that it is possible to be happy at a time when a
culture of sadness, fear, and death often prevails; where, in many realities, there is a spiritual
"desertification", fruit of the project of a society that wants to build without God, or that destroys its
own Christian roots (cf EG, n. 86). However, it is precisely in the deserts of society that the more or
less explicit signs of the "thirst for God" can manifest themselves. For this reason, we need people
who know how to sow hope, of "people-amphorae to give others to drink" (EG, n. 86). Quenching
this thirst with the water of hope also means making joy gush forth in abundance. Joy and hope,
fundamental elements of Salesian spirituality, can never be separated because they spring from a
single certainty: the love of God that accompanies, is present and burns in the heart with that fire
that generates life, and life in abundance.

Joy comes from the encounter with the risen Jesus, from the certainty that He loved us so
much that He gave his life for us. If He is missing, we lack everything and nothing makes sense.
Therefore, joy is not an ephemeral, superficial feeling, but an "inner habit" that matures in a
profound life of faith, in an intense experience of prayer, allowing ourselves to be touched by the
Spirit of God who speaks when He finds hearts ready to listen.

I ask you to faithfully give the best time of your day to daily meditation on the Word of
God, to the Eucharist as thanksgiving, the source and summit of our prayer (cf C 40).

The joy of which we are speaking presupposes an experience of encounter, it is acceptance,

trust, listening, humility, patience, the openness of heart to allow oneself to be inhabited by God and
by others, bearing in mind that true communion is built by, being-with and not just for others. It also
commits us to humanize our relationships as a place to express our "loving ourselves" and not to be
afraid of demonstrating it, because ours is a consecrated love, which comes from God and in him
there is only love pervaded by freedom and authenticity.

To humanize, also, the rhythm of our days to live each meeting as an experience of
celebration and joy, even if we feel the weight of the problems that sometimes cause us anxiety and
concern. A serene, smiling face reveals God's joy, the beauty of being summoned for a mission that
makes us "a sign and expression of his love" (C 1).

These are the communities that become the fruitful womb of new vocations, as we repeat
every day in prayer in preparation for GC XXIV. When Jesus is at the center and where the Gospel
of charity is lived and breathed, joy appears as the most credible vocational message.

I can say that there are many communities that progressively discover the secret of authentic
happiness, finding the source in God's love. At the same time, I am aware that individualism and
activism are still real pitfalls that can deface or weaken the joy of our being Daughters of Mary
Help of Christians with the consequent difficulty of witnessing it. Certain bitterness, sadness, and
delusion on “why the shortage of vocations” should give way to a radical recovery of those values I
have mentioned above. I invite you to a serene and decisive personal and community verification to
be able to rediscover, if necessary, fidelity to Jesus and the joy of belonging to him.
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Dear Sisters, we must love our vocation, being happy to serve the Lord in joy. It is a gift we
cannot keep for ourselves. To radiate the joy of our vocation is a form of evangelization to which
we are all the beatitudes characteristic of our spirituality (cf C 8 and 10).

Are we aware that we are women walking on this marvelous pathway to make the beauty of
the Father's love shine in a world thirsting for the infinite?

Let us ask ourselves these questions:

Am I aware that I am called to be an "amphora- person" available to pour into the
environment the joy of my vocation in the gratuitousness and in the spirit of the Magnificat because
I am immensely loved by God? (cf C 4 and 8);
Am I aware that I must give it first of all to those closest to me, my Sisters, the young people
and every other person who awaits gestures of humanity from me, of fraternal charity in an attitude
of open dialogue, trust, respect, and esteem for the diversity of which is everyone a bearer? (cf C
50);
How can we try together to make each other happy in daily life?
These are some questions that we welcome with a new heart, in the certainty that they can
help us with renewed enthusiasm in vocational animation.

The joy of a renewed vocational animation

The circular In preparation for the XXIV General Chapter offers us useful elements so that
our communities, guided by Mary, may always be more prophetic and fruitful at the vocational
level. I want to extend to you a warm invitation to take up this document, the fruit of prayer, and to
make it an object of sharing and personal evaluation.

Mary is presented to us as the disciple who walks in faith and who has the courage to carry
out the dream of God. “She invites us to be disciples with her, and to entrust ourselves to Jesus
repeating: " Do whatever He tells you "(Circular Letter in preparation for the General Chapter
XXIV).

It is interesting to ask ourselves: what does Jesus want to tell us today so that we may be
able to remain in the joy of the call and infect young people with it?

At this time in preparation for the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Institute, I
think he is asking us for greater attention to the daily indications of the Holy Spirit that makes our
communities "generative of new life". We are the custodians of a rich charismatic heritage for
which we feel responsible not only for preserving it but for making it grow to radiate its fruitfulness
at the ecclesial and social level. It is a historical hour to be lived with Mary, to be with her "helpers"
of life, guardians of the joy and hope of young people (cf Circular With Mary towards the 150th
anniversary of the Institute).

In the experience lived during these years in contact with many realities, I have noticed a
new sensitivity between the FMA and the laity to "reawaken" joy in the hearts of young people at a
time and place where they often do not feel understood, listened to, loved, and appreciated.

I believe I can say that there is a commitment to build a vocational culture as a "path to
encounter", where each person expresses her vocation in the joy of a specific identity and in the
realization of the shared mission; where young people are accompanied to discover God's plan for
them, as a "place of life" in which everyone feels involved in a journey that reaches happiness.
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At Valdocco and Mornese the atmosphere of Salesian joy was at home and became an
irresistible invitation to share the experience of following Jesus radically. Let us remember the
simple, attractive expressions: "Here we make holiness consist in being very cheerful" (Domenico
Savio); "There is only one desire for me to see you happy in time and in eternity" (Don Bosco).
Mother Mazzarello wrote to a young novice: "Have courage and always great joy. This is the sign
of a heart that loves the Lord very much" (L 60.5). For her, joy is an expression of love. Whoever
loves can only be cheerful.

Our Founders were true "seekers" and "promoters" of the happiness of young people. With
an acute pedagogical intuition, they knew how to experience the joy both as a starting point and a
goal to reach holiness.

In a splendid synthesis of consecration and mission, Mother Mazzarello was vigilant so that
every relationship was an expression of sweetness, of joy. Hers was a mother's heart that spoke to
the hearts of young women and Sisters with profound humanity.

We too are called to be mothers who generate life, especially where there is a need for a
supplement of joy, of hope. Today, dynamic generativity is required which sets in motion, arouses
joy and vocational enthusiasm.

Dear Sisters, to be fruitful we must be mothers, and as such, to be courageous in daring to

witness to a life whose most beautiful dream is to follow Jesus.

Experience tells us that daring to make demanding proposals that point to the high goal
raises questions in those who receive them and are good for those who propose them.

We recall what Pope Benedict said: "The Church does not grow by proselytism, but by
attraction". This is how it is with every pastoral and vocational journey!

Joy is achieved by walking together

The common thread that accompanies my sharing here is the dream of welcoming, joyful
communities, capable of sharing the values of life with young people, ready to walk with them.
"Young people expect those who know how to propose authentically evangelical lifestyles and
paths of initiation to the great values of human and Christian life" (Circular In preparation for
General Chapter XXIV).

There is a path that leads to happiness and that is what Jesus offers to everyone. We cannot
allow anyone to be excluded from it; happiness is everyone's right.

The Post-Synodal Apostolic Letter that Pope Francis wrote to young people and to all God's
people, opens up horizons of great hope for the young people themselves who live in a world in
crisis. Whoever is called to be a father, shepherd and guide of the young must have an attentive
gaze to "identify the small flame that continues to burn, the reed that seems to break, but it has not
yet broken" (cf Is 42.3). It is the ability to identify paths where others see only walls, it is knowing
how to recognize possibilities where others see only dangers. Thus, it is the gaze of God the Father,
capable of valuing and nourishing the seeds of good everywhere. The heart of every young person
must, therefore, be considered a"sacred land", a bearer of the seed of divine life and before which
we must "take off our sandals" in order to be able to approach and deepen the Mystery "(Christus
vivit, n.67).
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Walking with young people requires a new attitude, knowing how to look at them with the
same gaze as Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello. Our Founders scrutinized the hearts of young
people with an intuition of love, discovering in all, even the most difficult, the rebels, the
indifferent, the good, the beautiful, the hidden potential to such an extent as to transform "wounded
lives" into fully realized people , to the point of accompanying them to the summit of holiness. We
must believe that this "miracle" is possible even today. It is not utopia, but a realistic optimism, an
essential characteristic of our spirituality. Is it not, perhaps, a value that must be regained to make
our actions and our every choice for young people and with young people to shine with more joy
and certainty?

I trust that with hearts of daughters you will know how to interpret, welcome and recognize
in every word of mine a reflection of what you yourselves have given me in our encounters.

A few days ago I received a letter from a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians that gave me
great joy. Here are her words: “I told you about the group of young people (19/20 years of age) who
had invited me to speak to them ... we gathered in the home of one of the young women for three
hours ... each one was a magnificent project of God and I told them so. They were magnificent
young people, university students, and workers, with clear eyes and a great desire to give of
themselves. They listened to me, and they questioned me ... it was a meeting that filled my heart at
seeing young people like this, beautiful inside and out. Upon returning home, I sang a grateful
Magnificat in my heart.”

Certainly, in many communities similar and encouraging experiences are lived, and it is
beautiful to put them into circulation to give praise to God, above all, and to make of them an object
of prayer and dialogue between us. Sharing the positive, the beauty that we encounter in everyday
life helps us to nourish missionary enthusiasm. We can exercise our gaze because it is like that of
Jesus, one of trust that sees the positive, encourages, and discovers the shoots of new life in the
simple gestures of life.

We are preparing to celebrate GC XXIV involving the educating, and lay communities,
young people and ecclesial and social realities. We are aware that we live in precarious times, but
the Lord will not let us lack the signs of His love and can reserve unexpected surprises for us if we
work in synergy to allow ourselves be conquered by the risen Christ and by an authentic love for the
young people entrusted to us, both those near and those far away, those in situations of poverty and
discomfort of various kinds.

I hope that everyone will be strong in their desire to be "seekers" and "promoters" of
happiness with the courage to proclaim to them that "Christ lives. He is our hope and that of the
most beautiful young people in this world. All that He touches becomes young, new, and is filled
with life "(Christus vivit, n. 1).

It is a journey that fascinates us and at the same time intimidates us. Let us allow the cry of
the young people to touch our hearts deeply and courageously make our days a "response" to their
deepest expectations.

I propose to you again what I already suggested in circular 960 as operational strategies for
a renewed vocational animation. Among all, I chose one that is very close to my heart: to intensify
personal and community prayer for vocations and the joyful witness of fidelity to the call of Jesus
lived in community and in the mission with the young. I invite you to pray with faith to the monthly
novena to Mary Help of Christians with the intention of committing yourselves as a community to
live more fraternal charity, a climate that favors the rise of vocations.
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I conclude by entrusting to her, the Mother of young people, the communities, so that she
may render them "the fruitful womb of new vocations", and teach them all to pour the "good wine
of joy", so that at the "wedding celebration " the young may be the privileged ones, those closest
and most loved by Jesus.

It is beautiful to think that Mary turns to each of them and whispers: "You, too, do what
Jesus tells you".

May the blessing of the Lord inundate our lives with joy and help us to rejoice in every sign
of new life that is constantly sprouting in us and around us.

Rome, October 24, 2019

your most affectionate Mother,

New Provincials for 2020

America
Province of “S. Rosa da Lima” PER
Sr. Elsy NÚÑES

Asia
Province of “Stella Matutina” KOR
Sr. Eun Kyeong Cecilia KIM

Oceania
Province of “Maria Ausiliatrice” SPR
Sr. Louise McKEOGH

Extension for one year

America
Province of "S. Caterina da Siena" BSP
Sr. Helena GESSER

Province of "N. S. da Penha" BRJ

Sr. Ana Teresa PINTO

Province of  "Immacolata Ausiliatrice"

Sr. Maria de Lourdes Barretto BCG