Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ

The Generalate

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Via B. Maria De Mattias, 10 – Tel. 06/70.08.816 – Fax 06/ 77.20.88.84

00183 ROME (Italy)

“Courage! Lift up your heart often to God and trust completely in God.  Oh! How God loves us!”

 Prot.#18/2022

February 4, 2022 – Solemnity of St. Maria De Mattias

March 4, 2022 – Anniversary of the Foundation of the Institute

Dear Sisters,

Joy and peace in the Lord!

Each year, the liturgical commemoration of the birth of St. Maria De Mattias and the anniversary of the Foundation of our Institute are two very important occasions that allow us to renew our sense of belonging to our community of faith and savor anew the riches of our charismatic identity. 

We are living in a historical, cultural and ecclesial time of unique importance: ours is a time to understand: to take, grasp and comprehend” to be able to dwell in it adequately.  It is a time to love: because it is ours, because there is not, nor will there be another for us and because it is a time when the Holy Spirit is working despite our difficulties.  It is a time to evangelize: because it was given to us by the Divine Master; it is the precious pearl of the Reign, the saving word of the Gospel. 

Celebrating St. Maria De Mattias during this time of precariousness and uncertainty is an opportunity to remain in her company and allow ourselves to be taught by her who welcomed the Spirit, the Fire and the Blood, kept it and shared it, overcoming the challenges of her time.  We wish to focus our attention on her heart journey and life pilgrimage that led her toward her encounter with Jesus Christ whom she loved, sought and desired and for whom she offered her whole self.  She lived “with her gaze and heart set wholly on Christ Crucified witnessing that God is happiness (Contemplate n.4)

“Gaze often at the Crucified Jesus, and especially on his most holy wounds…. Oh, what love! What a strong source of perfect peace which flows from the loving wounds of Jesus.  Tender love, tremendous love for Jesus and for saving souls.  Never turn your gaze away from Jesus’ wounds.  Discover in those wounds how to bring happiness to all.” (MDM to Sr. Luisa Abri, August 8, 1862, Letter in English n. 725; Sister Angelita Myerscough’s translation: set III n. 450) 

We encounter many challenges that urge us to be passionately involved in generous apostolic activity, but, as Pope Francis reminds us, “we know that on our own we can do nothing.  The contemplative dimension becomes indispensable in the midst of the most urgent and difficult and taxing undertakings.  The more the mission calls us to go toward the existential peripheries, the more our hearts feel the intimate need to be united to that of Christ, full of love and mercy.” (Tirana – September 21, 2014)

Maria of Vallecorsa lived the challenges of her time by living each moment in which she found herself and with an alert heart, she stood attentive, open, in recollection, and concentration so as not to squander the salvific significance of each moment lived in inner union with God and reaching out toward others. 

She lived in intimate contact with her own deepest self, there at the source of every transformation, but above all of every sharing.  She nourished her actions to become fully human, day by day, learning like Jesus to stop and value the little things and recognize the presence of the Father in the faces of those she met. 

“My daughter, let’s be happy to die for Jesus Christ and to bring souls to his heart.  They cost him Blood.  I encourage you to treat them with love and patience.  They are dear to the Heart of Jesus.  Often have them repeat the sweet names of Jesus and Mary.” (To Vincenza Ferri, October 20, 1855, Letter in English n. 432; Sister Angelita Myerscough’s translation, set III n. 387)

Dear Sisters, we are called to recharge the contemplative dimension of our lives: that of simply being there where life has taken us and, with perseverance, accept every moment without possessing or controlling so that the harmony, fullness and “life in abundance” (Jn. 10:10) promised by Jesus may spring from this deep listening.

In fact, St. Maria De Mattias was a woman who made listening the fundamental trait of her personality.  She lived her discipleship in a prophetic way through this interior stance.  She cradled the Word within herself, keeping it in the shelter of her heart, scrutinizing it and above all letting it act.  She listened.  She understood and assented to it, but she also made room for others, welcoming them into her life and making their pleas and needs her own.  She tried to listen to everyone genuinely, mutually and cordially as an exercise in welcoming them without preconceptions or prejudices in order to advance and grow in the dynamic of friendship and communion.

Open to the challenges of life and aware of her own poverty, Maria De Mattias tried to take care of the brokenness of every person with the supportive, attentive and neighborly attitude of the good Samaritan.  She served everyone, appreciating and valuing the beauty and goodness of all created things (cfr. LC 16) and accepting that life, at certain times, impoverished her, she accepted her own brokenness as a space to embrace and bring everyone into herself. 

She had discovered that there is no greater richness than her own weakness. 

From her courageous and persevering example we discover the call to “walk humbly with our God” (Micha 6:8) because to become sisters and grow in humanity we must set out on a journey without stopping.  Letting go of every security, we must go out to meet what happens with open eyes capable of scrutinizing and passionate, humble hearts and we must take steps toward something beyond and elsewhere, but ready to go together.

As Adorers of the Blood of Christ, we want to cultivate the healthy restlessness that made the heart of St. Maria De Mattias throb and that stems from the living charism we carry written in the depths of our own identity: wanting to undertake new ways, open processes of proclaiming and closeness that bring life to everyone. 

• I ask myself: am I a stagnant person or someone in process? What wind is pushing me?

The fire of the Spirit allowed St. Maria De Mattias to glimpse wider horizons making her capable of rethinking herself in relation to what was happening.  It let her bear witness to an impetus that challenged her and pushed her to dare, to question, to reconsider, to be mistaken and also to learn from her errors, but above all to hope despite the challenges.

By her actions, this disciple of the Blood of Christ opened doors and windows, tore down walls, broke chains and opened borders.  This same Spirit urges us to dare ever-new paths, indicating for us brand new roads, beyond ourselves.