Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25

“Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” -- Luke 9

In two paragraphs, today’s Gospel gives us a summary of the life of following Jesus.   It will not always be easy and it requires living in a different way than others in the world.

Christian history is filled with people who sacrificed their lives for their faith, but for most of us, “losing our life” does not mean physical dying as we try to live out this life as followers of Jesus.  The way most of us “lose our life” is much less dramatic, much less memorable, much more … everyday. How area we being asked to give ourselves away in the here and now?

Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

The purpose of Lent is to draw us closer to the Lord Jesus by thinking and meditating and praying about that part of His life that brought Him to death and then to the Resurrection. Truly all of his life was this same journey, but there are aspects of His life that are stronger in the journey.

One of those aspects is His preaching of conversion to all. By conversion, we do not need to think of changing from a life of sin to a better life. We do need to think of changing the heart so that it truly seeks God and not just religious practice.

On the 23rd February 2019, our Generalate generously hosted an Assembly of 53 religious men and women from different Congregations, known as the Association of Africans and Malagasies at the Service of Generalates in Rome (AMSG). Both Sr. Honorata Lyimo and Sr. Liberata Niyongira are members of AMSG.

In the middle of February, at the Generalate of the Felician Sisters in Rome, Polish Sisters, priests and brothers, serving in the general governments of their Congregations in Rome, had their first annual meeting. These meetings have a long-standing tradition and serve in building unity among the members, through exchanging experiences, sharing faith and mutual help. They were initiated by Fr. Jan Korycki SAC, and to this day they are very popular. From the very beginning, the focus of the meetings was on integration and formation. They take place twice a year, usually during special gatherings and celebrations of the Church and National events.

During the first week of February 2019, the Mission Commission held their 2nd meeting at the Generalate of the Pallottine Missionary Sisters in Rome. The goal of the meeting was to animate and reawaken the mission spirit in the members of our Congregation, as well as to examine the situation in the provinces, regions and delegators in order to respond to their needs, especially to help our young missions.

Holiness: A Path Travelled Together

As Founder of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, St. Vincent Pallotti received the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to invite EVERYONE “who has zeal for the glory of God and has love and compassion for the spiritual salvation of his neighbour.”

It is with deep gratitude to Pope St. John XXIII that religious congregations and other institutes of consecrated life were called to return to their original charism, and therefore to the inspiration of their founders, to renew within themselves the gift of the Holy Spirit that had been given to them through their founders. For me, Vincent Pallotti became alive with a message that moved into the very heart of humanity as it restored the spirit of the first Christians, all of whom were called to make Jesus known by the very fact that they accepted him as Lord and Saviour.

Sr. Malgorzata Lech, a Polish missionary from the Cameroons, is happy to take part in the International and Inter-congregational Formation training Program for Formators which is organized by UISG in Rome. Thirty-three religious Sisters from 25 countries representing 23 different congregations will follow the program.

At the end of January, the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), organized a special program on Interculturality. The 2-week Workshop was held at the UISG Headquarters in Rome. The purpose of this program was to assist religious congregations in engaging in their cultural/ ethnic/national diversity and moving closer to a fuller expression and experience of mutually-enriching interculturality both within the congregation and in their ministry/mission activities.