Dear Sisters of our Common Foundress,
Dear Associate Members,
Dear Worshipers of Venerable Servant of God, Mother Alphonse MarieOn July 31, 2017 we will remember the 150th Death Anniversary of our Foundress, Venerable Servant of God, Mother Alphonse Marie Eppinger.
This Jubilee of our Foundress is a great opportunity for each Sister and every Associates Member of the three Congregations, originating from a common foundation everywhere in the world.
During this year we will stress the spiritual values of our Foundress that connect us and contribute to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus. We seek to live our Charism in a radical and faithful way. We implore Mother Alphonse Marie for help in our labors and in simplicity sanctify our spiritual life. This may help in the further process of her Beatification.
This Jubilee is a time to look back and, also, eye the future. It is a time to think about new perspectives. This Jubilee is not gratuitous but offers an opportunity for renewal. For this, we have to prepare for this Jubilee well.
Looking back over the150 years, we ponder over the life and work of Venerable Servant of God, Mother Alphonse Marie. This is a challenge for us to thank God for all the Sisters originating from her foundation living on the four continents and they lives should identify with her Charism. They serve mankind in her spirit and thus issue simple and clear testimony of their consecration.
Looking at our Foundress, Mother Alphonse Marie, may our heart and eyes be open for difficult situations of suffering people in the world today. Look, especially, on those who, in many countries, face discrimination, persecution, social injustice and live on the periphery of society.
Did not our Merciful Father give to Mother Alphonse Marie Charism as a response, to the hardship of people living in her time?
To be responsive to the situation and development of today's society, we want to give an answer to the hardship of today's man, and revealing the depth and timeliness of the Charism of Mother Alphonse Marie. Each of our three Congregations draw on the heritage of Mother Alphonse Marie’s new spiritual and apostolic dynamics.
Looking to the future with great confidence, we expect and believe that the God of Mercy, in His Providence, will lead and accompany this work. Ask Him so that the spiritual gifts of our Foundress may gain more and more power and vitality. Ask Him to grant our vocations and missions may be the image of mature ears of corn in the "corn field" (Ecstasies of Ven. Mother Alphonse Marie).
Encouraged by the strong experience of the ecstasies of our Foundress, let us go, with courage, by the way of this world and give to our Lord our life and selfless service as the most precious gift. This is our commitment and obligation for the next generation of Sisters of Mother Alphonse Marie, for the young and lay people, to pray for them and lead them to our Charism.
In the final phase of the Process for the Beatification of Venerable Servant of God, Mother Alphonse Marie, let us intensify with prayer and spread veneration to the ”Precious Blossom from Alsace”, who is an authentic witness of faith and instrument of mercy. In her, we experience the beauty of a simple life and a soul reflecting the happiness of heaven.
Bookmark and Diary – Calendar 2017, are memorabilia of this Jubilee. The Calendar will be genuine link between us – the Sisters of Mother Alphonse Marie and lay members in the world. Worldwide, there are 265 communities of Sisters and lay members of our Venerable Foundress, Mother Alphonse Marie, in our three Congregations Oberbronn, Würzburg and Sopron/Rome.
Daily, in the year 2017, I invite all the Sisters and lay members of the Congregations originated from the foundation of Mother Alphonse Marie, to pray for a certain community and lay members, Priests, Spirituals, lay co-workers, the Process for Beatification of Venerable Servant of God, Mother Alphonse Marie, new vocations and other intentions of our three Congregations.
The aim of this initiative is to know each other better, strengthen spiritually and consolidate hope. Thus we will live, in union, our Charism and the spirituality of our common Foundress. May this year become, for all of us, a merciful and rich one for spiritual gifts.
Finally, I express one more wish: May the Sisters of Mother Alphonse Marie become the women of prayer that springs from the heart. May they orient according to her advice ”While you are suffering, you are on the right path.”
”Thank you, Mother Alphonse Marie for this advice and heroic stand! This heroism springs from the joy of redemption. Redemption through Jesus Christ is a source of joy and strength from which we live because we know we are loved. After 150 years from your departure to the Father's house—in union with Him in the storms of our times—we desire, also, to be in union with Jesus and spread the Gospel with modesty and simplicity. We accept your invitation “Do everything quietly and inconspicuously”, as YOU did.
In sincere love for our Mother Alphonse Marie I greet all of you.
Sr. Katarína Krištofová, SDR
Postulator
Rome, July 31, 2016, 149th Anniversary of birth for the Heavens of Venerable Mother Alphonse Marie
Postulazione per la Causa di Beatificazione 