Generalate
A long awaited GOOD NEWS!
It is with great joy and emotion that I announce to you
the long awaited GOOD NEWS!
Today, December 13, 2021
Pope Francis recognized the miraculous healing
of Angel Marie Vier Albaracin Degamo,
from the Philippines,
obtained through the intercession of Marie Rivier.
Our hearts overflow with joy and gratitude for this free gift from our Triune God. Our Foundress Mother Marie Rivier is proclaimed SAINT by Pope Francis.
On this the 225th anniversary of the foundation of our Congregation, and this 39th year of the Beatification of our Foundress, Mother Marie Rivier, we are filled with thanksgiving and praise! There are no words to describe what we are experiencing at this moment. We give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! Eternal is his love! Ps 117:1
We give thanks to our Triune God for his great mercy, for his gaze filled with beauty, overflowing with love for us. He has blessed us and filled us with the blessings of the Spirit, in Christ Ep 1:3.
We give thanks to the Church which has officially recognized the Holiness of the life of Marie Rivier.
We give thanks for all our sisters of all times who have prayed and worked with faith and love and who have waited for this moment with confidence.
We give thanks for the entire spiritual family of the Presentation of Mary: the children and youth, our Associates, our Consecrated Lay People, our collaborators, friends and families.
We have prayed with fervor for her canonization; we have hoped ardently, like the little Marinette at the foot of the Pietà: Holy Virgin, heal me. Our Lady will heal me.
In prayer, we have waited for God’s hour. Today, we are witnesses of this divine grace, of the miracle fervently requested and long hoped for in faith and trust.
A new time is beginning for our religious family. A time when we know, more than ever before, that the Lord Jesus is in us and among us. He is waiting for us to be his living presence in our world, to make him known and loved, according to the ardent desire of our Saint Mother Marie Rivier.
Marie Rivier, also, continues to walk with us and among us on our pathways. Let us dare to bear witness to her presence, her apostolate, her life, her deep love for Jesus Christ.
She always watches over her family of the Presentation. Let us fervently ask her for many vocations to live our call and continue the mission that the Church entrusts to us through her still today.
She whom Pius IX called the Woman-Apostle, constantly invites us to be living temples for the Lord where He can be adored in spirit and in truth, to be burning with zeal to make Jesus Christ known and loved, to speak of God and His love.
Marie Rivier places us in the hands of the Virgin Mary, our Mother and Guardian. I hope that the time that separates us from the day of her canonization will be for all of us a time of grace, a time of new enthusiasm, a time when we will truly be ONE in prayer, offering, in the service of the glory of God for the good of all.
In this moment of great joy, let us be the presence of Jesus Christ, according to the great desire of Marie Rivier. Let us move forward in the will of God, in trusting surrender to all that the Lord expects of us. Let us be led by the Holy Spirit, happy to be daughters of our Saint Marie Rivier.
Let us move forward on the pathways of the world, let us burn with ardor and audacity. Let us dare to bear witness to the presence of the Living God, let us dare to be Marie Rivier in our world today.
Enriched by the extraordinary gift of her canonization, let us walk in the light of our Saint Mother Rivier and bear witness to the miraculous strength of a great weakness.
More than ever, may our lives as consecrated women be a luminous witness to the radicality and beauty of the Gospel of joy.
With the Virgin Mary, let us sing our joy: The Mighty One has done wonders for us;
Holy is his name! His mercy extends from age to age to those who fear him
Lk 1:49-50
Sister Maria dos Anjos Alves, p.m.
Superior General
Castel Gandolfo, December 13, 2021
