50 Years!
On January 12, 2008 at Monteverde Parish, family and friends gathered around Sister Consolata to celebrate 50 years of religious life. During the Liturgy, Sister renewed her “Yes” to the Lord, thanking him for the faithfulness experienced during these years as a Franciscan Sister of the Poor. The celebrations continued afterward, in an atmosphere of fraternity and joy. Sister Consolata shares reflections about her vocation . . . “It was January 5,1958 when I said my first ‘Yes’ to God. It seems like was yesterday, yet 50 years have gone by spent in God’s service in spite of my human limitations.
There were times of great joy but also times of suffering. I do not deny at times that I wanted to run away, or felt that I could not continue because I felt far away from the love of Christ. Today I can bear witness that those very times strengthened my choice of religious life by giving me the courage to discover day after day the power of Mother Frances’ charism: “To heal the wounds of Christ in the poor and suffering humanity.” During these ‘few ’ years I encountered many people and can say that each one of us -- though this is visible in different degrees -- is part of the poor and suffering humanity and, therefore, needs to be healed and loved. I would also like to remember my nine siblings and the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, all the people I served in my life as a nurse, all the mothers I helped when they gave birth, and all those whom I encountered in my daily life, sharing their joys and sufferings.
I want to thank the Lord because in exchange for a great suffering I had to endure – not having been able to go to Senegal many years ago – he is now giving me the opportunity to serve the very same people among whom I wanted to live. In a different way from the one I had envisioned, that’s true . . . Through the workshops we invite many people to become involved here in Italy to support projects in Senegal. This experience is giving me the opportunity to experience living the message of Christ beyond diversity and discovering daily that we are all brothers and sisters. I find the strength to live in prayer, but especially in the Eucharist --- this is the center of my faith and I have the privilege to be able to bring the Eucharist to my brothers and sisters who are sick. Thank you, Lord, thank you so much. . . . Let us continue to move ahead, all together, in this wonderful adventure of life in the awareness and hope that we are going to God.”
© Franciscan Sisters of the Poor |
