The first seed of the Shalom charism will finally be planted in Ferrarian soil. The missionaries sent to form the initial nucleus of the Community left Rome for northern Italy after months of planning and prayer.
The composition of the first missionary nucleus is what we could call Italian-Brazilian, since half of the missionaries are Italian and the other half are Brazilian.
It will be the Convent of San Giorgio, a privileged place of Ferrarian devotion, that will welcome the missionaries who will dedicate themselves primarily to the evangelization of young people.
Expectations
Being sent to a missionary foundation is always a great joy and at the same time a great abandonment into God’s hands. The missionaries of Ferrara testify to the profusion of feelings and expectations for the mission.
“We contemplate the action of God that has moved every little detail of this story, and I feel immensely happy to be part of it. It is a beautiful adventure, being in God’s hands,” shares Sara Ponzo. Regarding the new mission, Sheisse Goès, another missionary from Ferrara, sees in the intercession of Our Lady a fundamental part: “I contemplate a new cycle that begins from Mary, She who sends us through our smallness, our poverty and simplicity, to be visible witnesses of the life of the Risen Christ.”
“Expectations? To embrace and live faithfully the Will of God, to know and espouse the people, to build the mission with the young people, to answer the call of the Church to open the mission in Ferrara and to help Her to care for the young people.” Shared with us Raiana Soares, another member of the mission.
A mission generated in prayer and offering
“In the first prayer of intercession for the mission, the Lord gave us the Word of Eph 2:13-20 and told us that He is doing (from now) and will do (during the mission) in us, with His grace, a profound work of reconciliation with Him and with ourselves and, at the same time, He makes us instruments of reconciliation for the people to whom He sends us.” Shared Raiana, in a few words, the divine call which presents itself as being, first of all, Shalom!
From the Gospel of the Mass readings on 13th of June, Chiara Rondoletti picked up another sign of God’s voice for the mission that is being born. “Praying with today’s Gospel, on the day of departure for the new mission, I can recognize that I have neither light nor flavor of my own, but that this light and flavor that I receive every day from the Lord I cannot help but proclaim. And what I entrust to the Lord is this great desire to announce ‘freely, what I have received freely’.”
The long-awaited arrival
The arrival took place in the early afternoon of the 13th of June. The missionaries were welcomed by the Bishop of Ferrara.
