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He who, at present, is Saint John Paul II, considers central, in his writings, the role of God’s Word as an anthropological foundation of the woman dignity. In order to have a clear and coherent vision of what, in his time, the Pope said about women, it is necessary to refer to his writings and, among others, to Mulieris Dignitatem, Redemptoris Mater and the Letter to the Women.

This interest in the women is related to his predilection for Mary, the perfect woman, the mother woman, the virgin woman, the woman of anytime. For him, the women are part of the living structure of Christianity and he affirms that femininity belongs to the constitutive patrimony of the humanity and the Church itself.

He highlights that the set of feminine gifts: understanding, compassion, intuition, capacity for suffering… are manifestations of the Spirit. They are not extraordinary gifts embodied in extraordinary women, but gifts lived by simple women incarnating them in their everyday life experience.

The peasant woman, the business woman, the political woman, the mother woman, the teacher woman, the consecrated woman, the woman… has conquered in the world an influence, a weight and a power never achieved until now. Because of that, at the present time, when humanity is undergoing such a profound transformation, the women filled by the spirit of the Gospel, provide their invaluable contribution.

The decadence of values, permissiveness, relativism and generalized violence, have dimmed the horizon and indeed it is the woman that is called to  turn on the lights of hope and to be a lamp in the heart of her home, whether it be family, conventual, or social.

Throughout the centuries we come across women of faith, hope and deep love for their people, Ruth, Rebecca, Esther, Martha, Mary, Magdalena, the woman that had the privilege to receive the first embrace of the Resurrection; but the list is long, because there is also the nowadays woman who dares to raise her voice against violence, the woman that lovingly carries the burden of her home, the woman that cries before the corpse of her son vilely murdered by a violence whose background is the sin of the easy money, the abusive power of persons that have ceased to be human and have become beasts fiercer than the ravenous wolf that one day domesticated, through his prayer and humility, the meek and humble Francis of Assis.

“A woman is to be found at the center of this salvific event. The self-revelation of God, who is the inscrutable unity of the Trinity, is outlined in the Annunciation at Nazareth. «Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High» – «How shall this be, since I have no husband?» – «The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God… For with God nothing will be impossible» (cf. MD 3).

The greatest recognition to the woman was made by Christ on the cross when he said: “Woman, this man is now your son” (Jn 19,26). What a greatness, what a message to the woman, the person able to devote herself without expecting anything in return. Mary, you are the prototype of a woman mother, virgin, consecrated, humble, faithful and of a deep faith.

Today, March the 8^th, is the recognition day for the human being that, paradoxically, seems so fragile but is the rock upon which everyone leans and is to withstand the ferocious blows of humanity without mercy that is exploiting, enslaving and violating the sacredness of her dignity.

The woman from the east and the west, from the north and the south; the woman who, regardless of her skin color, always has a white soul, pure intentions and holding her heart in her hands offers it through the tenderness of her words and, the understanding of a gaze raised to heaven praying “Your will be done”, according to the example of Mary, the always virgin mother.

Congratulations to all the women of the world, having peace in their soul and prayer in their heart!

Hna. MARTHA GALVIS MARTÍNEZ, TC

On Saturday of the IV week in Ordinary time, we finished reading and proclaiming the Letter to the Hebrews that I have read, reflected on and meditated many times. But since “the Word of God is always alive and active…” (Heb 4,12), that day I was “more incisively” touched by this recommendation of the author of the Letter: “But don’t forget to help others and to share your possessions with them. This too is like offering a sacrifice that pleases God” (Heb 13:16).

I immediately remembered another recommendation from the Old Testament: “I do want mercy and not sacrifice, knowledge of God, more than burnt offerings” (Hos 6,6).

Thinking again about that, being Lent at hand, I told myself: “Isn’t that, perhaps, the best program to prepare myself for Easter?” And well convinced that it is so, I shared that with the sisters.

But the «short and fundamental Lent program» is not only that. Among proposals and invitations to connect online for retreats, talks and colloquia received from everywhere, there is also the Message of Pope Francis that, in this year 2021, being still the pandemic its backdrop, focuses on the theological virtues. Using his clear and engaging, stimulating and encouraging language, he describes what today, as yesterday, is essential in our Christian life. While I was reading it, I was practically underlining everything! But, in a special way the following passages:

As a preamble, he reminds us that «… The Lenten journey, like the entire pilgrimage of the Christian life, is even now illumined by the light of the resurrection, which inspires the thoughts, attitudes and decisions of the followers of Christ” and, the Popes continues “Fasting, prayer and almsgiving, as preached by Jesus (cf. Mt 6:1-18), enable and express our conversion. The path of poverty and self-denial (fasting), concern and loving care for the poor (almsgiving), and childlike dialogue with the Father (prayer) make it possible for us to live lives of sincere faith, living hope and effective charity.

The theological virtue of «faith calls us to accept the truth and testify to it before God and all our brothers and sisters”. This truth is “Christ himself that, by taking on our humanity, […] made himself the way that leads to the fullness of life”. It is because of that that “fasting, experienced as a form of self-denial, helps those who undertake it in simplicity of heart to rediscover God’s gift and to recognize that, created in his image and likeness, we find our fulfilment in him […] those who fast make themselves poor with the poor

«Hope is like living water enabling us to continue our journey”. In this time of pandemic, it may appear challenging to speak of hope, says the Pope. But no, “Lent is precisely the season of hope, when we turn back to God who patiently continues to care for his creation which we have often mistreated (cf. LS 32-33; 43-44).

“During Lent, let us be more attentive to saying words of encouragement, that comfort, that strengthen, that console, that stimulate ’instead of‘ words that humble, that sadden, that irritate, that despise ’(FT 223). Through recollection and silent prayer, hope is given to us as inspiration and interior light, illuminating the challenges and choices we face in our mission”.

«Love is the highest expression of our faith and hope”. Whoever lives love, “rejoices in seeing others grow” and suffers when others are anguished, lonely, sick, homeless, despised or in need. To experience Lent with love – in the present moment – means caring for those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pope Francis concludes his message by recalling that “every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving. The call to experience Lent as a journey of conversion, prayer and sharing of our goods, helps us – as communities and as individuals – to revive the faith that comes from the living Christ, the hope inspired by the breath of the Holy Spirit and the love flowing from the merciful heart of the Father”.

Continuing my reflection, I turned my gaze to Francis of Assis and Father Luis Amigó. In the writings of the Poverello in the words he addressed to “all the faithful” we read: “All who love the Lord with their whole heart, their whole soul and mind, and with their strength, and love their neighbor as themselves, and who despise the tendency in their humanity to sin, receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and bring forth from within themselves fruits worthy of true penance. How happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things, and persevere in doing them because “the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon them,” and the Lord will make “His home and dwelling place with them. They are the children of the Heavenly Father whose works they do. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (LetF. 1,1).

The first thing that Francis underlines is love and he subscribes it for those who take this text as the basis of the Order of Penance, whose commitment to conversion entails renunciations as well as the distinctive of a penitential habit; a life centered on our own conversion as a path of union with God and growing love to the brothers to whom it offers the “fruits worthy of penance”, that are nothing else than the works of mercy, concrete actions of charity. We remind that they are:

Reading them again, we focus on the work carried out by the whole Church: Diocese, Religious Orders, Institutes of Consecrated Life, Societies of Apostolic Life, Associations, Brotherhoods, NGOs, and a long etcetera. They stay on the frontiers, where the poor and people in need are.

And Father Luis, in his time language, what does he tell us about penance? In his writings there are 242 quotations about that. He, who impressed on the Capuchin Tertiary Brothers and Sisters a franciscan-capuchin character of penance, contemplation, minority and fraternity, considers that Saint Francis is the perfect model of penance for all the times (cf. OCLA 1288, 1294, 1295), that the cross, penance and mortification have their reason of being in the imitation of Christ (cf. OCLA 397, 840, 1196, 1201, 1204, 1211, 1505) and that sacrifices, as well as any other form of penance, are based on charity (cf. OCLA 1055, 1062, 1719, 1806). And our Founder lived what he says in his writings, and in the Positio Super Virtutibus, all that is declared by the witnesses in the ordinary and apostolic process of his canonization.

I invite myself and I invite you to live a Lent of charity.

Hna. MARÍA DESAMPARADOS ALEJOS MORÁN, TC

Next March 22^nd we celebrate the World Water Day and on April 22^nd the World Earth Day, two vital elements in our existence.

About them, we can find writings of any kind presenting us a wide range of concepts, realities, evaluations and challenges. In this context I ask myself: what could be said that has not yet been said? And it comes to my mind to accentuate the way we approach, contemplate and act before the water and the earth.

The Bible, in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, tells us how was formed each element of Creation, but in verses 9 and 10 of the aforementioned chapter, it speaks specifically about the earth and the waters: “God said: ‘Let the waters under heaven come together into a single mass, and let dry land appear.’ And so it was. God called the dry land «earth» and the mass of waters «seas,» and God saw that it was good”; the text ends with a very significant expression «God saw that he was good.» We find this phrase at the conclusion of each creative act and refers about the relationship between what was created and its Creator; that means that all things are good because their Creator is good and his goodness is materialized in each creature hence, everything is marked with a sell: «Be good» and that is its essence.

Similarly, in each creature we can contemplate the goodness and what is good and transport ourselves to its origin, that is to God; so it was understood by Saint Francis of Assis, world patron of ecology, who was calling all that exists “brother”, “sister”, because they come from the same hands and the same love. Also the first inhabitants of the earth understood it in this way; in their world view we find a great cultural richness showing us how they were conceiving and were relating to the environment and we discover a common denominator: between the first inhabitants (indigenous peoples) and the earth there is a relationship of symbiosis, filial union, unity and not domination. The earth is a collective resource and it has not an individual value; they generally feel that they are children of the earth and they refer to it naming it as mother.

But today, what does it remain of all that for us, inhabitants of the 21^st century? We should become aware of how we look at and we relate to the environment because we are far from that fraternal gaze and we have learned to look at things, people and realities from a utilitarian and commercial perspective, to dominate, hoard and exploit, thinking selfishly and always looking for our own benefit; progress, industries, consumerism and pollution leave traces of pain and death in each living being, putting aside the value of care, respect, ecological solidarity and / or universal brotherhood.

Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato Sí tells us that: “Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems” (cf. LS 28). And he advises us that “in many places demand exceeds the sustainable supply, with dramatic consequences in the short and long term … large sectors of the population have no access to safe drinking water or experience droughts which impede agricultural production. Some countries have areas rich in water while others endure drastic scarcity (cf. LS 28). He also expresses his worry for “the quality of water available to the poor that causes many deaths and diseases related with the contamination” (cf. LS 29). In a similar way, another threat against the water and the earth, is the tendency to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market (cf LS 30).

But, let’s look again at the first inhabitants, and I am not referring to peoples no longer existing, but to those who remain stable in a more natural state and struggle to conserve their land and customs; those who live in harmony with their environment and in common territories, teach us the sacredness of nature, its relationship with the life and how to survive. They invite us to approach the water and the earth with a humble and contemplative attitude; only doing so, we may, as disciples, learn, from their richness some aspects very necessary for our daily life such as the role of the flowing water to fertilize, clean and collaborate with other elements to become food, medicine and blessing and, from the earth, the solidity, its capacity to contain, shelter, protect, provide, exchange, transform and give generously.

The pandemic generated by Covid 19 has been a wake-up call and an opportunity to reflect on the value of life, relationships, nature and healthy customs. Let us ask ourselves: how can we thank the Creator Father for the water and the earth? How can we honor his existence? Which actions should we implement for the fraternal and respectful use of these two elements?

Hna. BILMA NARCISA FREIRE CHAMORRO TC

Joseph spent his life in Nazareth, a small Jewish village; in it, everyone was well known in the community because of his job as craftsman, farmer or because his religious and social commitments. Joseph, as well as all the young people of his time, lived his process of formation, growth and maturity that led him to realize his project of life and the fullness of love, according to the law and traditions of his Jewish culture.

God, in his inscrutable designs, since the beginning had chosen Joseph for a great mission: to be Mary’s husband and Jesus’ father during his earthly life. Therefore, endowed with faculties and special graces to fulfill his mission, he took his part in the salvation economy.

The celebration of the year of saint Joseph is a gift of the Spirit for us, Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. This great Saint is a distinguished source of inspiration and a reference point that may help us to live our spirituality and charism. That is why we would like to consider some aspects of his life as an illumination for our challenges.

1. A defender and guardian of life

A crucial situation put Joseph to the test. Being engaged to Mary, a chaste young woman of deep faith, one day he came to know that she was pregnant and, in order to protect her from a shameful scandal, he planned to secretly disown her. However, after the announcement in a dream, the angel told him to “not be afraid to take Mary as his wife to his house” (Mt 1: 18-21). With the courage of a man, he accepted his mission and trusting in God he took the challenging path of faith, received and embraced Mary as his wife and, in her, the Son that she was carrying in her womb.

In another moment, the angel of the Lord revealed to Joseph the dangers threatening Jesus and Mary that were forcing them to flee to Egypt and, later, to settle in Nazareth. With discretion, humility, tenderness, fidelity and a fruitful dedication, he lived the mystery of these happenings. In silence, he suffered exclusion and persecution, he emigrated to a foreign land and, although he did not understand, he always lived according to God’s plan and, with an attitude of prayerful listening, he gave a prompt and assertive response to the different circumstances since the betrothal to the episode of Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple when he was twelve years old.

Therefore, Joseph is a reference for us in our commitment of life.

To defend, with prophetic attitude, life in all its forms, promoting the care and conservation of the «common home». To be bearers of peace and hope to the suffering brought about by violence in its different forms, situations of exclusion and the denial of human dignity.

(Cf. Final document XXII General Chapter – 1.3. Renewal actions)

2. A father who safeguards his identity integrating the reality of the daily life

When we talk about Joseph’s life in Nazareth, we talk about a normal life and of a person that accepts the history, culture, family and relationships and we discover that fidelity to daily life is fidelity to God consisting in living in the common anonymity like most of his town people, searching out what God likes, making projects and renouncing to them, always looking for God´s project and learning how to read the signs of the Kingdom in the world.

We acknowledge that Joseph was a religious man of prayer and faithful observer of God’s precepts; he initiated his son Jesus in the piety and in the religious traditions of his people. Joseph, protector of his family, discovered, by his spiritual strength, greatness of heart and intuitive capacity, the great secret of God present in each member of the family of Nazareth and the mystery of the eternal Father in their lives. Joseph, a man of fruitful silence, entered into the dynamics of contemplation and assumed with patience, amazement and respect the provident plans coming from above and became a docile instrument of God’s will.

This divine human aspect that we perceive in Joseph is a priority in our being Capuchin Tertiary Sisters; to discover that fidelity to the daily life is fidelity to God who likes us to be presence of his Kingdom. We are called to contemplate God being open to the newness of each day, to discover Him and to be his witnesses to Him through our own life, in fraternity, people, environment, creation (cf. Const. 42).

3. Protector of the family

• Joseph was entrusted the care of the Holy Family in order to carry on God’s plan for it. In his family life he acted as a kind, tender, obedient husband and a father; he propitiated in his family the communion through love, mutual help, learning, surprises and family concerns, like in any other family of his time, not only within it but also projecting his experience to his fellow countrymen. “Once they fulfilled all that the Lord’s law ordered, they went back to Galilee, to their town of Nazareth. The child was growing, developing and becoming wiser every day; and the grace of God was with him”(Lk 2,39-40).

 In the same way, we, Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family, through our name, have received the legacy of apostolic work with the family and “to know and accompany the different situations and realities of the family in the environment of our mission. (Cf. Const. 61) is a priority for us.

May Saint Joseph teach and accompany us our in our response to the different demands of the mission entrusted us by Father Luis Amigó and much more now, when life confronts us in face of our society´s vulnerability and imbalance in which we are immersed.

Hna. María Elena Lopera Sierra, TC

Each year, on February 11, the Church celebrates the World Day of the Sick, instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1992. There is an evident coincidence of this date with the liturgical memoria of Our Lady of Lourdes, whom the Catholic tradition venerates as mediator of graces and also of healing miracles. Every year, on this day, the Pope addresses a message not only to Christians but to the whole world and proposes a reflection in order to revive man’s sensibility to the world of suffering and disease.

This year, the Pope’s Message for the Day of the Sick, whose theme is “A trust-based relationship to guide care for the sick” highlights the importance of personal relationships among the sick people, their family and the medical staff, because they allow them to live the experience of the disease without experimenting loneliness and abandon. On the other hand, reflecting about the meaning of suffering, the Pope refers to Job, the biblical character touched by pain in his own flesh and in his own spirit, and he underlines that, despite the abandonment and misunderstanding he suffered and the screams of anguish he lifted  to God, he realized that He had been present throughout his whole experience of pain and, once restored his health and lost goods,  he opened before him a “new horizon” of life.

Human nature cannot perceive God’s presence in pain and death. Christian religion that has permeated cultures and traditions throughout the world presents God as a good father and, although the passion, death and resurrection of Christ have revealed the salvific dimension of pain, Christian people also are reluctant to assume that God allows innocent suffering, premature death, violence and everything that endangers life. Threatened and crushed by suffering, the believer also may turn to God invoking his help and deliverance from evil, but also by shouting in anger and, even, turning away from Him.

Followers of other religions live the pain experience according to their own convictions. Some manage to maintain a passive and resigned attitude or to draw from their body and soul the positive energies that can contrast the negative ones that cause them pain, but certainly, whatever be the religious belief, pain and death are hard experiences that make tears flowing on the faces of the sick people and of their loved ones.

Tears watered also the face of Jesus in front of the mystery of his friend Lazarus’ death (cf. Jn 11,32-36) and during his prayer in the Garden of Olives, tears mentioned also by the author of the letter to the Hebrews (cf. Heb 5,7); they were a manifestation of his full humanity, teaching us that the faith and trust in God, that the Son surely possessed in the highest degree, are not a kind of “anesthetics” that reduces or cancels human suffering, but that may help man to face pain supported by the certainty that God does not abandon him. This is the «new horizon» that faith opens before the man who suffers, and that Pope Francis mentions in his Message for the Day of the Sick of this year.

Physical and moral pain play a great role in the human and spiritual formation of the man, and history reveals that all those that we consider «great» have been tested in the «furnace» of pain (cf. Wis 3,6). The physical fragility due to illness, the inner darkness that reduces the life pleasure and all the situations leading man to re-dimension a too high perception of himself, contribute to relocate himself in his truth as a human being, a creature made of clay that only the breath of God makes «great» (cf. Gen 2,7). Pain breaks the clay pot that containing the spirit of the Creator, but it can never smother this same spirit that is able to strengthen weakness (cf. 1Cor 1,25) and clothes man with new life (cf. 2Cor 13.4).

God acts and renews man through pain. The Christian faith illuminates the pain mystery through the Word of God and the example of Christ but, quite often, people outside the Christian message also get strength in the experiences of suffering and discover something positive in the lack of health or in the limitation that affects their existence .

About that I remember a child that I met during my pilgrimage to Lourdes. The little boy, confined to a wheelchair, was praying in front of the Grotto and his mother was encouraging him to pray to the Virgin begging her to to give him back the possibility of walking, running and playing ball like his friends could do but, unexpectedly, the little boy, looking around himself  and seeing other children and adults lying on their beds, replied to his mother that he was going to tell the Virgin to help rather those sick people because, at least, he could play ball using his hands. This little boy, perhaps unconsciously, gave a great testimony of how God’s grace can redirect our demands towards what is truly essential and sustain along the experience of pain.

Regardless of our faith and human maturity, God is always present when we cross the river of suffering and, discreetly as He acts when he enters into relationship with his creatures, he holds us with his hand and does not allow us to sink into the sea of ​​pain and of death. In these circumstances, discovering his presence is a profound and regenerating experience, an injection of hope and strength embracing also those who lovely accompany the sick person in his suffering.

Unfortunately, our society tends to avoid the experience of pain and all that “recalls” the existence of suffering, that, anyway is inevitable for the human being and, that is worse, even dares to get rid of the pain, intervening violently with actions that may suppress life and are not morally correct.

In his Message, Pope Francis reminds that “a society is all the more human to the degree that it cares effectively for its most frail and suffering members, in a spirit of fraternal love”; he also says that «health is a primary common good», invites those who hold political and social responsibility to give priority to the investment of resources for the care of sick people and encourages everyone to walk towards this goal, making sure that no one is left alone, excluded or abandoned.

In agreement with the social encyclical “Fratelli tutti”, the World Day of the Sick celebrated this year, in the midst of the pandemic, encourages men of good will to strengthen attitudes of closeness to the most fragile people, being for them, as the Good Samaritan, «a very valuable balm, which provides support and comfort» and exhorts us to look up at God so that, like Job, we can discover his face manifested in the fragility of those who suffer. This will rekindle the strength and hope of a wounded humanity.

Sr. Cecilia Pasquini TC