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Welcomed by the maternal love of Our Lady of Loreto and hosted by the beautiful setting of the youth center “John Paul II”, a short distance from our house, from the 12th to the 18th of April, we held our annual retreat of the missionaries “servants of love”. This occasion united around one hundred girls and consecrated sisters, our “Missionaries of the Resurrection” that came from all the houses spread across Europe. Through silence, sharing in groups, and personal and group adoration we had the possibility to examine very seriously and profoundly what we have lived inside and in our Christian vocation.
These intense days allowed us to fully understand the meaning of the simple, but otherwise strong words of Mother Elvira and the voice of the Church during the occasion of the receiving of the declaration of recognition of our Community as a International Association of Faithful that happened in Rome in the month of October which were words full of light for our walk.
Later we had a surprise and especially the joy of a pilgrimage to Assisi: to visit the sacred places in which Saint Francis and Saint Clare gave testimony with their lives to the courage of their faith through radical choices of poverty, simplicity and truth. We realized that our lives really can change at the roots if we seriously open our heart towards God and if we “rebuild our houses that are in ruins”, we could see concretely that everything around and inside of us can change.
The graces that overflowed upon us now give us the great desire to give back what we have received in the free gift of our service like Mother Elvira says, “Love, Love, Love,… and Serve”.
In these days Our Lady of Divine Providence took great care of us, making sure that we even had small delicacies at table and the attentive service of our brothers from the house in Loreto. The greatest providence were the powerful and rich testimonies of love of the Church and God that we saw in the concrete lives of the cloistered nuns who were overjoyed to open their doors to welcome us into their convent, and in the Franciscan friars who were present in the various sanctuaries that we visited. United in the Eucharistic Celebration of closure in the Sanctuary of Loreto made the week a moment of “Grace” that left it’s indelible mark on every single one of us.
We want to thank with our whole hearts the “local hotel” Cenacolo for having welcomed us and loved us in such a total and selfless way, and for having let us taste once again the words of Jesus: “Freely you have received, now freely give!”.
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