While the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of St Magdalene of Canossa across the Canossian world is still alive in our hearts and minds, I thank the Lord for the gift of our Mother Foundress and the legacy she left for us her daughters. In a special way, I am grateful for her missionary dream which came to realization, as she said, “I longed to be reduced to dust if, in that way, I could have been scattered to all parts of the world so that God would be known and loved.”
It was this same deepest longing of Magdalene to reach everywhere and share the greatest love of God that filled the heart of the first Canossian sisters’ and moved them to the missions, even to Malawi in 1975.
50 years have passed since 21st January 1975 when Sr Maria Luisa Tornaghi, Sr Josephine Allieri and Sr Rosetta Benelli (already in heaven) came to Malawi to share with us the love of God. I am proud of them for their apostolic zeal and courage and above all for their YES to implement the missionary dream of St Magdalene our mother.
As we celebrate today the Golden Jubilee of the presence and mission of our religious family in Malawi, first and foremost I would like to thank the Almighty God for the gift of vocation he has granted me to this holy Institute and in a very special way for allowing me to celebrate with all the Canossian sisters present in Malawi this beautiful and meaningful event, which has left a mark on my life.
I feel so privileged, being a newly professed sister, that God in his Providential love, allowed me to take part in this celebration; I do not take it for granted, but as a blessing and a challenge for me. As I have just begun my journey in the Canossian family, I pray that the Lord will instill in me the same spirit of dedication and commitment to the mission which I have witnessed in our pioneering sisters. I have been inspired by them; their example and their 50 years of generous service to the poor are a call for me to learn from them so that the Charism may continue to grow. And more over I pray to be ready to go everywhere and become an effective witness of God’s saving love for all humanity.
I will never forget the deep emotion that stirred my heart when, during the Eucharistic celebration, at the time of the thanksgiving song, we, the 30 sisters present, moved to different places in the church and began to pass to one another a lighted candle, starting from our pioneer sisters, down to those who joined them along the way till myself, the last born in the Canossian family for now. Passing the candle to each other was a sign of commitment: we are all part of the journey, and the mission continues with each one of us, as the motto of the jubilee reminds us: the journey continues…setting life on fire.
For me the lighted candle was also the symbol of love, a call to extend the love of Jesus to all people: bringing God’s love is my mission. When the passing of the candle from one sister to the other finally reached me, I went to place it on the altar, a sign that all love is drawn from Jesus who is love himself and returns to Jesus through our service to our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest of them. As the altar became the table of love during the last supper I too should grow in that love of God and neighbor.
The celebration was really meaningful and I am sure that those who participated came to know Jesus and our Charism more. It has been a day set apart by the Lord in order for us to recognize God’s wonders during all these years, as Sr Josephine, our pioneer sister, said in her speech during the eucharist celebration: “God is a God of wonders, He allowed his miracle to happen through a small seed.” I thank the Lord for our sisters who planted the seed of Magdalene’s Charism in our land. May the good Lord continue to bless our pioneer sisters today and always.
I pray for God’s blessings as I continue the journey of making Jesus known and loved, so that I may become the witness of his love. May the Lord accomplish the work he has begun in me…
Sr Bertha Masina FdCC
