DEAR Missionary Children, a warm greeting from La Verna, the place where St Francis of Assisi received the signs of love by Jesus Crucified. Lent is coming to an end and Holy week has started. It is the most important week of the year for the Catholic Church.
God is the faithful friend that made a covenant with us and He won’t betray us.
Jesus, the Son of God, is the faithful friend, the best friend in our lives and He must hold the first place in our hearts, because we are in God’s heart and we have a privileged place in it, as if each of us is one and only in it. From this big love and this faithful friendship, our prayers are born. Our prayer offers praise and thanks to the Lord, to Jesus for his faithfulness to us. God, Jesus never abandons us; He never leaves us and through our prayers we thank and praise the Lord for His constant presence in our life.
In your daily commitment as members of Missionary Children, every day you seek to deepen your friendship with Jesus and bring His love to all.
We are sure: we want to be Jesus’ friends!
So because of this, during the Holy week we must stay with Him and keep Him company.
When Jesus entered into Jerusalem, 'many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields, crying out 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'' (Mark 11: 8-10)
A few days later Jesus shared the Last Supper with His apostles.
Then Jesus lived and experienced the sorrow of the Passion alone.
But today we, as His disciples, as His missionary disciples, we commit ourselves to staying with Him, in unity with God and with Mary.
During Holy week our prayer, our simple daily prayer will be in Jesus’ heart.
Dear Missionary Children, we commit ourselves to answer our calling, to answer God’s friendship and faithfulness with our prayer, to be with Jesus.
By listening to and reading the Word of God, the Gospel, we can experience the amazing love that God has for us; we can experience His care for us.
Therefore, we reply through our prayers to Jesus’ heart, accompanying Him through the passion and thus reaching with Him the joy of Resurrection, to share with everyone that He has conquered death.
I invite you to stay vigilant and courageous with Jesus, with eyes and hearts open to the events of the Passion, to His words, to His actions and to His silence.
Always be ready to give witness of our faith in Him.
He loves us even if we are afraid, even if we are not able to do what we want.
Let us stay with Jesus always confident in his promise.
Let us be with the suffering Jesus until the end.
Let us remember that during His mission, Jesus always welcomed children and now it is our turn to welcome Him.
Let us pray with Jesus to stand strong against evil.
Let us look at the Crucified and Risen Jesus to know Him and to become his witness.
Dear Missionary Children, I wish all of you, your parents and animators, the priests and sisters a fruitful Holy week and a joyful Easter.
Sr Roberta Tremarelli is the General Secretary of the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood (Missionary Children). To see a video version of her message visit: https://youtu.be/amiD4AILic8?si=lVl4WAcv3oi5MuEb
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