Letters to the Congregation
EASTER 2022
Easter Sunday 2022
A 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.
n 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
2020 - 21 November - 2021
YEAR OF THANKSGIVING
TOWARDS 225 YEARS OF FOUNDATION
An event to be lived and celebrated together, in thanksgiving and in faith. Date to be celebrated with a heart filled with gratitude, love, and fidelity in order to rekindle joy and hope.
An event that commits us to the future, one that awakens in us
the desire for a profound spiritual renewal in our personal and community life, a call to live our vocation and mission to the Presentation of Mary with new enthusiasm.
Let us live in thanksgiving …
Thanksgiving, praise, blessing, are expressions that spring from a good heart, a pure heart, a heart that adores the Triune God, the God who is LOVE. The human heart is created to love, to praise, to bless!
The person who knows how to praise, give thanks and bless is able to go out of herself, in order to reach out to others, to her sister and brother, to God.
Thanksgiving in the biblical sense
Jesus Christ gives thanks to the Father
In Jesus Christ all is grace, he is the beloved Son. He receives everything from the Father.
His whole life is rooted in this Eucharistic attitude of thanksgiving.
Knowing how to give thanks is an art, an art that springs from a heart possessed by the Holy Spirit who recognizes that everything comes from God.
Thanksgiving in the community of the disciples
To live the divine life, to enter into this river of praise and blessing, is to live happiness every day of our lives.
The Virgin Mary offers us her Magnificat. She gives us the audacity to welcome the joy that comes from the Lord. My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
Thanksgiving in the House of the Presentation
"Fiat in everything, my daughter. Let us be attentive only to the spirit of God and let us desire only His greater glory in all things. My only desire is to
sacrifice myself for this" (Letter, February 14, 1818).
Thank God for the sorrows, crosses and contradictions he sends you… we see a miracle of continual Providence…
Today, we also are called to look back on the history of 225 years since our foundation and to sing a new song for the wonders the Lord has done for us, in us and through us. It is good to give thanks!
Sisters of the Presentation of Mary,
let us enter into this movement of praise, thanksgiving,
blessing and gratitude to God,
Father of tenderness and mercy.
Mother Maria dos Anjos Alves, pm
To read the full text, please click: L.C. 04 – Circular 15 August 2020 (2)
Feast of Easter 2020
What are you discussing as you walk along?
Reflecting...observing
...reading the events... listening to the silence...
... the pain… the desolation... the emptiness...
loving to the very end...
a commitment of hope....
living in charity!
Collective message from Notre-Dame Lavoute-Chilhacre School
We are celebrating Easter! We are celebrating life! Jesus Christ dispels the darkness of our fear, opens horizons, and makes love shine forth. LIGHT appears in the night, in the emptiness of time and space.
A new day appears, beauty and goodness meet, they establish their dwelling among us, they sow flowers of hope, which bear witness to LOVE in the field of our life.
In the light of Easter, I would like to reread with you the events we have experienced in recent weeks, events in which we are still immersed. Because of Covid-19, we are in confinement, but how many beautiful things can we glean from these very same circumstances.
We look at our sister, our brother, with a heart that comes from a positive perspective, one that is free from prejudices and divisions. Words, gestures, smiles, our way of being, seem more spontaneous, more credible. What has happened? Something is changing! We are learning the fidelity of small gestures, of little things… miracles are happening!
Let us think of so many men and women, supported by so many volunteers, who, on the front lines - in hospitals, in residences for elderly, in homes for youth and children, in families – they give everything and during this time of pandemic, life appears with the mark of the MORE.
Let us look at Pope Francis, a man of hope, a light in the darkness of our world, symbol of a people who suffer, close to everyone. He calls us to life, to mercy, to a solidarity that brings life.
Let us think of families, confined to their homes, of the creativity of parents, who once again, know how to put love first.
They have thousands of initiatives, gestures of hidden solidarity, in the anonymity of days that are long and sad, of endless nights. These are human acts that become divine.
Let us think of the men and women religious, men and women consecrated for the Mission… Bishops and priests with countless initiatives, in search of what is Good, bearing witness to all that we are made for life, for joy, because Jesus Christ has risen!
As we look at our world, what do we see today? An incalculable multitude, of all nations, peoples and cultures, suffering the horrors of this scourge… How many families mourn their loved ones who have died without a word of consolation? They could not accompany them, listen to them, say a word, and wipe away the last tear. But our God accompanies each one, He is present at all times, never abandons us, never leaves us alone…
JESUS CHRIST is risen! A new time has come ! Let us walk in the LIGHT!
Let us allow Jesus to come into our lives, into our homes and everything will be renewed. Our God is the God of newness and hope. A new humanity is emerging.
Let us return to what is essential, let us be builders of a new culture, the civilization of love. Let us be a part of this movement of renewal!
Brothers, what must we do? (Acts 2: 37). You must be born from above (Jn 3: 7).
Men and women of science, researchers, doctors, economists, thinkers, politicians, philosophers and theologians, anonymous men and women are seeking new models of life in society, new ways for a new humanity, creating a new culture.
And we, consecrated women, women of prayer, women of faith, what is our contribution to the improvement of our relationships and our life together? We have the sense that something needs to change in our lives.
My sisters, what must we do?
What contribution can we make to the construction of a world
that is emerging and wants to be different?
May each one ask herself, before the mercy of the Father, in the sincerity of her heart, what can I do?
Marie Rivier, open to the breath of the Spirit, attentive to the signs of the times, knew how to respond with determination, audacity and creativity to the urgent needs of her time.
God's love is greater than anything else. Let us be sensitive to its manifestations and let us raise our prayers to heaven for the world, for the Church, for the Congregation, for our families, for all those who suffer.
In communion with my Counsellors, I invite you all to bear witness to the joy and hope that flow from Easter. The greatest strength in the world is that of Faith, Hope and Charity.
