Second Year of Spiritual Preparation Towards the Jubilee: “Recognizing the Breath of God in Mary of the Passion”

This year we are entering the second year of spiritual preparation for the 150^th anniversary of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM) which will be celebrated in 2027. In this second year of preparation, we are invited to return to the founding experience of Mary of the Passion, to recognize in it the breath of God. The event of 23 January 1861 was truly an “annunciation” for her. It was the day when “God (…) had thought of the Institute”: the first signs of His will actually date from that day”. (Letters of Mary of the Passion to Fr. Raphael 699, January 1891). Mary of the Passion returned there again and again to draw inspiration from it, to discern God’s plan for the Institute, and to find meaning in her life.

In this preparation, the FMM Sisters are also invited to reflect on the graceful moment experienced by the our Mother Foundress 164 years ago, not only to acquire new knowledge but also to live these moments with her and her sisters and with one another. From here we want to draw the founding inspiration, while welcoming the questioning that will help us to discern our missionary responses to the needs of today’s world and also to prepare ourselves for the coming regional chapters.

In the first preparation of the second year was held via zoom meeting on Saturday, March 29, 2025 at 08.00 – 11.00. The FMM Indonesian Sisters from communities spread across Java, Sumatra, Flores, and Baubau listened attentively to the presentation by Sr. Ari, FMM as the resource person for FMM Indonesia. The theme contemplated in this Spiritual preparation was about the mystical grace of 23 January 1861 in the chapel of the Poor Clares “The Annunciation” in the life of Mary of the Passion

“(…) I went down to the choir to look for that treatise on obedience (…) I knelt down to the right side, and it is there I think that, instantly, I heard these words, so distinct and so positive; (….) and the words was these: ‘Are you willing to be crucified in place of the Holy Father?’

(…) and it seems to me that I was so afraid. But I would never have dared to say no,and I said yes, either in words or by bowing my head, and at that very moment there fell upon me, like a consecration, these words and this name, “Mary Victim of Jesus …. And of Jesus crucified.” (RC)

(…) Then I saw, it seems to me, Mary Victim of Jesus and of Jesus crucified among the Poor Clares of some sort having adoration, giving retreats, and dedicated to Mary by bearing her colors (RC).

Mary of the Passion often returned to these experiences, that would remain a source of inspiration and a point of reference for understanding God’s call for her and for the Institute. Even when she was “forced” to follow another path (as a Mary Reparatrixes), she was sure that she had “only one vocation: to be a daughter of St. Clare and St. Francis.” As years went by, when she had to face difficulties, sufferings, bad times, even when her faith was shaken, she remained faithful. It was only with the accompaniment of Fr. Raphael that she was able to face up to her strongest “inspiration” in order to be faithful to it. She was finally understood how God led her back to the Franciscan path.

At the end of this meeting, we are all encouraged to learn from our Mother Foundress at least three points:

• The way in which Mary of the Passion sought to be faithful to the inspiration, the founding experience. By giving meaning to the events of her life in the light of her call she began to understand their depth.
• To put ourselves directly in touch with the cry from the heart of Mary of the Passion, so that the triumph of the Church may be a reality that must be first experienced in our midst as well as in the heart of the Church and in the world.
• Let us marvel, with Mary of the Passion, at the plan of God, who desires to invite us into His work of salvation.

In this meeting, the FMMs were brought to that blessed moment, to unite our hearts with the Foundress so that they could feel how God guided the steps of Mary of the Passion from the beginning of her vocation to the birth of the FMM and also in the struggle in the early days of the Institute which was not easy. In her “not understanding” of God’s will, she chose to obey. Because of that obedience, in the end she was able to understand that God indeed wanted her to be the mother of daughters who were determined to follow in her footsteps and continue her mission, for the triumph of the Church.

“I find the story of the Institute so beautiful, so marvelous, one can see clearly that the work is not that of men. ….I began to consider seriously the thought that a new Institute could be in the mind of God” (Letter to Fr. Raphael, 19 June 1896)