Servants of Charity

The month of October, is known world-wide for the emphasis on the Holy Rosary, for us Servants, the Daughters, Co-operators along with the entire Guanellian family, it is a special moment to reflect and to rejoice with our Founder St. Louis Guanella. Whom shall I send? The song which we gloriously sang on the day of our religious consecration and on the day of our ordination re-echoes in our minds and hearts, which the Pope proposes as the theme of his message, makes a synthesis of our vocation in his message for World Mission Day which will be celebrated on Oct 18th: “Mission is a conscious response to God’s call where God opens us to understand others’ needs. Jesus accomplished His mission by dying on the cross and we find ourselves when we give ourselves to others; step out of oneself for love of God and neighbor through service and intercessory prayers.” 
The summary of the missionary vocation of our Founder, St. Louis Guanella, is found in the comment of Pope Pius XI: “Don Guanella was the Garibaldi of charity. His heroism was not in the frontiers of war, but in the slums of poverty and hardship. The steering wheel of his navigation was always directed toward the poor, the voiceless, and the marginalized.” (Angelo Forti)
It was the hard work and the ardent desire of the missionaries that today we have the gift of Christian faith. The great missionaries like Thomas the Apostle, Francis Xavier, John de Britto, PIME Missionaries, MEP Fathers, Jesuits, Salesians and many others have been very remarkable in their missionary zeal in India and other parts of the world. Just think of our own confreres from Italy who sowed the seed of the Guanellian charism and spirituality to other continents; how many travels, how many hardships in a moment when transportation and communication was very cumbersome. 
Thanks to their missionary zeal and farsightedness 1/3 of our confreres are present on five continents as missionaries. I take this moment to thank all our confreres who are missionaries in the whole geography of our religious family, facing challenges of culture, language, traditions and food. Recently our confreres, Fr. Visuwasam who lost his dad and Fr. Rooswelt who lost his mom, were not able to say good bye to their parents. How difficult would that be? There are confreres who have been missionaries from the moment of their ordination to priesthood. We indeed congratulate them and show our solidarity with them. I want to remind you that our Superior General, Very Rev. Fr. Umberto Brugnoni, addressed the confreres in India on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, while thanking and congratulating them for their contribution to the Guanellian world: “Think of the mission outside, don’t be too weighed down by your family ties. I pray that one day you desire Christ more to your legitimate love, give more to Christ and finally give all to Christ."
We express our heartfelt condolences to Fr. Roosewelt who recently lost his beloved mother. We express our prayers and closeness to Fr. Visuwasam on the death of his beloved father and we show our solidarity to our confrere Fr. Francis Assisi on the death of his beloved mother. 
The deacons are back in India and are in home quarantine. Their ordination will take place at DGMS, Chennai on Nov. 12th, the feast of our Lady of Divine Providence, in a simple manner in accordance with regulations of the state and the local church. They will go into immediate preparations with a spiritual retreat, preached by Fr. A. John Bosco Sdc, prior to the ordination. Please keep them in your prayers. 
Please continue to pray for all those who are affected by Covid-19. We are aware that dear and near ones of our confreres and sisters are victims to this virus. Please accompany them with your prayers and closeness. 
Sustain the confreres Fr. Peter Joseph & Fr. John Paul and the new mission in Warangal Diocese called Banjara Mission which is scheduled to kick start on Oct. 6th situated at the periphery of Mahabubad among the marginalized people, indeed it will be a challenging one. 
“Invited to leave everything to follow Christ, you no longer define your life by family, profession or earthly interests: you choose the Lord as your only identifying mark.” – St. John Paul IIp 

Fr. Ronald J, SdC

Provincial Superior