INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER, ALC www.laicican.org “Be not afraid," says the angel to the shepherds, "for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10-11). Summary & Contents: • Wishes from the international coordinator (page 1, Adele Cremonesi) • Christmas Hope (page 2, Sr. Teresita Pamplona) • Preparing for Christmas with the letters of Magdalene (page 3, Adele Cremonesi) • The 2007, a Marian Year of Thanksgiving (page 3, Sr. Mariangela Casagrande) • National gathering at Oxley, Brisbane, Australia 2006 (page 7, Trevor Josiah) • Echo-Seminars in Eastern Africa Province (page 8, Sr. Mariangela Massenti) • Agenda 2007 (page 8, secretary) Wishes from the international coordinator Dear Canossian Lay, may the Advent and Christmas period help us rediscover what richness God has placed in our lives and in each of our families. May the Advent and Christmas Season help us find all the riches that God has placed in our lives and in each family. Before the unique beauty of the family from Nazareth, we are all invited to behold and contemplate the aspects of charity: the same charity that Jesus brought to earth, that same charity that was experienced by the shepherds and wise men and certainly experienced in the Holy house. Charity that Magdalene, as indicated in the “Plan of the Tertiaries”, recommends “The Tertiaries sanctify themselves in the accomplishment of their daily duties and in so doing engage themselves in works of charity, in their families and outside”. I wish to all, to each family as well to each lay to make good: in a simply and hidden or in an organized way, according to the opportunities that are presented or with the inspirations that God sends to us. 1 ALC Journeying Together All the good that will try to achieve will certainly make our families and associations in humanity grow, in the way that Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived in Nazareth. Each Lay Canossian live their way of being PROPHETS OF COMMUNION with the faithfulness to the mission Jesus beholds to them each day, in a patient, docile, meek and gentle way. This is my wish and pray, especially on Wednesday, the canossian day, for each of you. Adele Cremonesi. Christmas Hope And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD. Isaiah 11, 6-10 As we celebrate the birth of our Messiah, perhaps this is as good a time as any to remind ourselves of His real purpose in coming. We live in very challenging, extraordinary times, not least because of the many dangers posed by depraved forces in our midst. They seem to be determined not only to inflict maximum damage, but also strike at the core of our most-cherished beliefs. And because they have no qualms about harming anyone and anything in pursuit of their goals, we Christians are faced with the difficult task of containing them without succumbing to their perverse and ruthless ways. The forces of extremism, which think nothing of using the foulest means to attain their ends, are constantly taunting us, undeterred by any appeals to reason or sobriety. In the face of these challenges, we would do well to pause awhile, and draw strength and inspiration from our Savior’s promise of hope, redemption and peace to all men and women of goodwill. We need only look to His own example of humility, of unwavering faith and forbearance, to be reassured that, indeed, good will eventually triumph over evil, however powerful it may be. The Prince of Peace has shown us, time and again, that nothing can equal the boundless power of LOVE, especially love for those who detest and seek to destroy us. We keep our Christmas hope ever alive in our hearts because we believe that “God exists, that the centre holds, that there's ultimately a gracious Lord who rules this universe, ….that God, who is more real than anything else, has promised to establish his Reign of love and peace on this earth and is gracious, forgiving, and powerful enough to do it”. Merry Christmas to all! Sr. Teresita Pamplona. 2 ALC Journeying Together Preparing for Christmas… From the letters of Saint Magdalene of Canossa to Domenica Faccioli: "Confide in holy Mary, whom I beg to be your Mother and Teacher in all your concerns… I recommend you to make the Novena of Christmas with fervour, trying of to prepare your heart for the Child Jesus, purified from everything that is not…” (12-12-1829); " …that the Holy Child may grant you his holy Love" (24-12-1829); "I desire that the Holy Child be born in your hearts and that you may all be His " (18-12- 1830); "I recommend you, to make the Novena of Baby Jesus with fervour and love. Try to purify your heart…to make it more apt and disposed to receive all the graces that he desires to pour into your heart” (16-12-1833). Adele Cremonesi. Il 2007, a Marian Year of Thanksgiving Dear Lay Canossians, we would like to inform you about the particular journey that we, Canossian Sisters, are called to live during this year 2006-2007. It is a journey of praise and thanksgiving for everything the Lord accomplished and is still accomplishing in our Institute with His goodness and mercy. It will be a special year dedicated to Mary, our Mother and our true Foundress. The following is part of the Letter of Sr. Marie Remedios, our Mother General: The prophetic presence of Mary in the history of Christianity invites us also to enter into her path: Mary listened to the Word and trusted in what was promised. For this she went in haste to fulfil what the Word proposed: love as self-gift, as service. And to us is given the hope that our song of praise, joined to the "Magnificat of the ages", may express service to life and to the works of God, for the liberation of humanity and for the dignity of the least of our brothers and sisters. Mary is not a woman on a “pedestal”, but the icon of one who dialogues with God in various circumstances, and is aware of generating something new in history, above all, with restoring integrity to broken people: herein lies the secret of a non devotional approach to Marian spirituality. Even today we need voices to proclaim the Gospel, hearts sensitive to the suffering of many brothers and sisters, hands that comfort, and steps towards the human miseries of body and spirit. Only then can the contemporary world become more able to respond to the salvific plan of the God of Love. (M. Chiaro). We too, at this point of our Institute’s spiritual journey, pause and invite one another to look above, to the top of Mount Carmel where Mary: star of our life, shines, as light on our path, as faithful and reassuring companion of our daily pilgrimage, Foundress, Teacher and Mother of our Religious Family and of each one of us in particular. Let us receive with gratitude the possibility offered to us to deepen the charismatic dimension of suffering in Mary’s life and our own. In fact, at the foot of the Cross, she understands the significance of her maternal mission: so deeply is she associated to her Son, that she is also associated to His Body, the Church. 3 ALC Journeying Together Making our own her “sorrowful countenance”, we can thus understand her admirable cooperation with the sacrifice of redemption and learn to see the world with her eyes. Re-reading the events of Mary allows us above all, to see the Kingdom with maternal characteristics, composed of relationships free and freeing, integrated and integrating. The year 2007 will be for us a special year, as we journey towards the XV General Chapter which will be held in early 2008. The past four years found us focusing on the deepening and living out of our Identity as “Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor”; each year dedicated with special attention to some aspects of our Identity. It seems more than right, therefore, that we should now dedicate this year 2006-2007 to Mary at the foot of the Cross, “Foundress” of our Institute, our Mother and our Model; she will accompany us on our journey of deepening our Identity as Daughters of Charity, after her example as Daughter and most faithful Servant of the Lord. We wish to make the year 2007 as a special Year of Thanksgiving to the Lord for: the 200 years of our Foundation as an Institute, the 20th Anniversary of the Canonization of our beloved Foundress, St. Magdalene of Canossa, the Preparation for XV General Chapter. Itinerary We will make our journey together with Our Lady, contemplating and making ours the mystery of her sorrows, according to the various periods of the Liturgical Year. The journey will begin in Advent as an Introductory Period, contemplating and praising Mary with the Canticle of the “Magnificat”, underlining the four aspects of her act of “remembering”, when “she stored up all these things in her heart”.