As we work our way through our Founder’s writings, it is intriguing to see how often he refers to Quasimodo Sunday as “the principal feast of the Association” or “the patronal feast of the Association”. Why was this Sunday so special that it was our “principal” feast? How could it be our “patronal” feast? Why was the Gospel of that particular Sunday so important that it was even represented on our coat-of-arms by the olive branches signifying the ‘Peace be with you’? And why, more than any other Sunday or solemn feast of the year, was Quasimodo Sunday followed by forty days of prayer to the Holy Family?
We find the answer in the first issue of the Annals of the Association of the Holy Family published in 1831. There, in the section on indulgences, we see that one of the days on which a plenary indulgence was granted to the Association of the Holy Family was “The Feast of the Most Holy Family, (Quasimodo Sunday).”
In the time of our Founder, there was no feast of the Holy Family in the general Church calendar. This is not really surprising since devotion to the Holy Family began only in the seventeenth century. The feast was celebrated in various dioceses on a Sunday in Eastertide, the last Sunday in May or the third Sunday in November. Bordeaux, which had been consecrated to the Holy Family as early as 1675, celebrated it on the second Sunday of Easter, known as Quasimodo Sunday. From homily notes which he wrote for that feast, we see that Fr. Noailles read the gospel of the day (Jn 20:19-31) in the light of the feast, and saw in it the story of the foundation of the Holy Family as well as its apostolic mission. He made the comparison between the apparition of Jesus to the frightened apostles hidden in a room and the Miraculous Benediction when Jesus appeared in the monstrance to a small number of poor and vulnerable women hidden in a humble dwelling in the first years of the foundation of the Holy Family. Jesus blessed the two groups. Both were reassured by the apparitions, and given confidence through the peace they received. Fr. Noailles also saw the mission of the Holy Family mirrored in the mission of Jesus and the apostles, “As the Father sent me so I also send you.” (And Fr. Noailles added, “Go teach all nations.”) He reflected that as Jesus Christ was sent not just for the salvation of a few souls but for all, so too, the members of the Holy Family are sent not for one particular apostolate but for a variety, and not for any one class of society but for all.
The feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph continued to be celebrated on various dates, as a local Feast until 1921 when Pope Benedict XV extended the Feast of the Holy Family to the whole Church to be celebrated on the Sunday within the octave of the Epiphany. Then, in 1969, the new Roman calendar fixed the Feast of the Holy Family for the Sunday within the octave of Christmas (or December 30) with new texts both for the Eucharist and for the Liturgy of the Hours. That is still the position at the present time.
When the Feast was first moved, the Directress General Mother Raphael Tignet, decided that we would continue to celebrate Quasimodo Sunday as a reminder of our mission. She omitted to mention in her circular that our Founder also used the gospel to remind us of our foundation.
The gospel for the second Sunday of Easter is still the same as it was in our Founder’s lifetime – Jn 20:19-31. One of the two possible Entrance antiphons is still the one whose first word – Quasimodo – gives the Sunday its name. (Sundays used to get their name from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon in Latin. We still have Gaudete and Laetare Sundays in Advent and Lent.)
So, let us remember why the Second Sunday of Easter is given to us as one of our special Holy Family Feasts in our Constitutions and thank God for our foundation and our common universal mission.
Áine Hayde
Britain & Ireland unit

 
 “Easter is truly a verb, a dynamic event pushing upward from the darkness into the light.”
Christians are Easter people. What that means to me is that we are dynamic: always growing, changing, moving, and engaging. Even those of us who cannot be “in motion” physically—because of necessary employment, family responsibilities, or health issues—can experience the interior “movements” of the soul that are such a focus in the spiritual exercises.
Every day the risen Christ invites us to move, to allow the breaking open that happens in a heart that is open to God and to all that divine love brings to us. We sense the inner movement, we listen to the voice of the Spirit, we pay attention to even fleeting emotions and responses that can be, in God’s hands, tools for our ongoing creation.
 
What does it mean to live Easter-ly?
It means that I allow myself to feel what I am feeling, and to work with those emotions, bringing them to prayer and asking the Holy Spirit to use the energy of those emotions to move me forward in some way.
It means that I attend to people and situations within my circle of influence, always looking for ways to “help souls,” to interpret God’s love in specific circumstances.
It means that I move into my life rather than try to avoid it, deny it, or run from it.
It means that I quiet my life enough to perceive what God is saying to me, in my one life, this day.
Blessed, happy, holy, lovely Easter to you!
 
By Vinita Hampton Wright – She is a Loyola Press editor and writer of many books, including Days of Deepening Friendship and Simple Acts of Moving Forward.

On the 13th of March Ana Maria and Kumudinie had the opportunity of meeting with the Bishops of Pakistan who were in Rome for the occasion of their Ad Limina visit to the Holy See.  It was a two-hour meeting, from 5.00 pm-7.00 pm, organized by Fr. Robert McCulloch, the Procurator-General of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, at Collegio San  Colombano, Corso Trieste 57, Roma 00198. 
 At this very informal yet cordial encounter – we meet many of them for the first time, sharing a little about the life and mission of our sisters in Pakistan.  We exchanged sentiments of appreciation, encouragement gratitude and mutual support.  Addressing the gathering, the President of the Episcopal conference in Pakistan, highlighted the importance of respecting and upholding the dignity of each person and working together beyond religious boundaries towards peace and harmony.
Present at this meeting was also the ambassador of Pakistan to Italy, who addressed those present appreciating the services of the Catholic Church in Pakistan and assuring to do whatever in his capacity to enhance the relationship between the Church in Pakistan and the religious sisters, brothers priests, living in Italy.
At the end there was a book launching too – A short history of the Catholic Church of Pakistan – originally written in English but also translated into Urdu.

We women; when we are connected to the deeper Spirit within, we listen and we trust, when we are connected to the Spirit, we know our value. 
Our Value is seeing our feminine quality in a new way; it is full of collaboration, community, creativity, fostering, and supporting one another. It’s rewarding and wildly prosperous.
Here are 5 tips to living as a spiritually empowered woman with feminine potentially:
1. Think less, feel more. 
Your body is where the deepest part of your essence lives. Tap into your femininity, intuition, softness, gut feelings, by being connected to your essence and nurturing it. When you deeply connect, you feel more free to trust yourself, where courage comes from.
2. Start where you are. 
Not after the next course, but Now. Live your dream life, now. You have a unique purpose here on earth. This is your passion and service to the world.
3. Be committed to live with awareness.
 Be open, willing, forgiving. Live with prayer, reverence, and love. Use daily affirmations to transform old patterns and create new positive and love-based beliefs. 
4. Create community. 
Align with like-minded souls who nurture, inspire, encourage, support, and keep you accountable. Attend community events, uplift and empower other members.
5. Be bold. Take risks.
Step out of your comfort zone. Don’t wait to be praised, discovered, or validated. Do not worry about what other people think. Clear your path by walking it courageously.
Spiritually empowered women are living fully in the present moment. They have learned to love themselves without judgement. They surrender their desires and thoughts to the Energy of Love (God) and reunite with the love essence that is always within. They share, serve, and smile and the Universe rewards them for it.

(12/02/2018)- Rome
The pope met in the Vatican with participants in the International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking. Among them were victims, religious sisters who rescue people, and young volunteers.
It was a Q&A style meeting, where the pope explained that in human trafficking there is a lot of hypocrisy.
Pope Francis said “There are entrepreneurs who hire young people for slave labor, or take them. There are consumers who go to girls who are not free, but are slaves. Because when those girls return to their boss’ house, we can call him the mafia boss, they must pay him an amount every day.”
Vivian Fernando – The Philippines, shares her experience; We the members of the different congregation in the Philippines make an effort, extending our services to end human trafficking giving priority to 4 P’s ; prevention, protection, partnership and prosecution. We also collaborate with other organizations, that has the same concern and we share our efforts together to respond Pope Francis’s call to end the modern day’s slavery.
As a member of the Talita kum – Philippines, organizing team, I had the great opportunity to be part of this celebration and to witness to the global effort to eradicate the human trafficking.
VIDEO
 
 

In 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd. This Feast is also known as Candlemas Day; the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples. The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life is transferred to the following Sunday in order to highlight the gift of consecrated persons for the whole Church
What do we need today?
Today we are talking about re-vitalisation, re-charging, re-energising, renewing, re-casting, re-founding, re-evangelising, re-visiting, re-structuring and re-imaging consecrated life, re-looking into important aspects like spirituality, contemplation, renunciation, etc., and re-visioning our mission, formation and life-style, and moving beyond. What has been relevant for one epoch seems to be no more meaningful and relevant.
The Vatican II Document Perfectae Caritatis mandated the Religious Congregations to “a constant return to the sources of their foundations and to adapt themselves to the changing signs of our times.” Pope Francis designated the “Year of Consecrated Life” from Nov-2014 to Feb-2016 for us to reflect once again, seriously, on the meaning and purpose of religious life and to change our old mindset, thought-pattern and ideology as they are old wine-skins which do not contain the solution for new challenges. 
In this light, CICLSAL (Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life – CICLSAL.) in the recent document, “New Wine in New Wineskins”, emphasizes the importance of the formation of new members, questioning if the formation process offered succeed in touching the person’s heart and really transforming it; if it helps “to live the mission generously and courageously, to dialogue with culture and to be inserted in society and the Church.”?
We Pray:
For all those who have committed themselves to live a Vowed Life – living chastity, poverty and obedience – to realize the dream of God for Oneness , may always be open to the Spirit’s movement in their own lives and in all the world reality, so that our daily prayer – “Your Kingdom come…” may be truly bear fruit through lives totally and generously given for God and God’s people and the whole community of Earth in Love, forgiveness and Compassion!

International Initial formation team has organized a session for accompaniers, from 17th – 28th Jan 2018 in Martillac. Margaret Muldoon and Colleen Moore are facilitating the group 
(40 participants including the team) to help them in the process of journeying together, listening deeply to the movement of the Spirit within each one and among the group, in the light of the theme “Accompaniment through a new lens”.
                          
Photos:

On Friday 8th December 2017, St Mary’s Grammar School, Magherafelt celebrated the 90th Anniversary of its foundation. Mass of Thanksgiving was presided over by Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of All Ireland, assisted by Monsignor O’Byrne, Fr Gates and Fr Brannigan of Magherafelt and priests from local parishes, including Fr Fox, Fr Forsythe and Fr Doherty.
Past pupils who are now Holy Family Sisters were invited to attend. Srs. Gemma Corbett (Unit Leader), Carmel Bateson and Kathleen Diamond came from London. Srs. Margaret Bradley, Caitriona Gore and Rose Devlin (Magherafelt community) were present. Apologies were sent by other sisters who, due to previous commitments, were unable to be there. Also, arctic weather conditions prevented Sr. Anne Kearney and others from attending.
Past and present members of staff and some current pupils also attended as well as governors, past and present. The School choir sang during the Mass. Ms Gillespie, Principal, paid tribute to the outstanding contribution the Holy Family Sisters had made to the school from its earliest days.
Sr Gemma, presented a framed canvas of our Founder, Pierre Bienvenu Noailles, and, in her address, spoke of his vision in establishing the Association of the Holy Family in troubled times in France in 1820. She expressed her hope to return to Magherafelt in two years to celebrate the bicentenary of our foundation. Ms Gillespie thanked Sr Gemma and informed all present that, in anticipation of the centenary of the school in 2027, all charitable funds, raised in St Mary’s over the next ten years, would go to the Holy Family Missions.
We look forward to maintaining our connection with the school, still referred to locally as the Convent, and keeping alive our valued history. Following the Mass, Archbishop Martin blessed two new buildings, one which provides for the RE and Geography Departments and a large 6th Form Study Centre, named after Monsignor O’Byrne, long associated with the school, and a Music Building, named after Mrs Úna O’Kane, a past pupil who succeeded Sr Marie Therése Harte and Sr Immaculata O’Connor as Principal.
All present enjoyed a drinks reception in the Assembly Hall, where early photographs of the school were on display, and later a warm buffet meal in Café Bordeaux. The night was like a cold Christmas evening, with freezing snow and ice but, thankfully, all enjoyed the historic evening, and reached their homes safely.
 
Soli Dei Gloria
Sr. Carmel Bateson

We are spread around Sri Lanka as cells in different parts of the country under the guidance of the Holy Family Sisters. We strive to inculcate and promote Holy Family values in our young lives engaging in social activities and living as a spiritually developed family.
Fulfilling a long dreamt dream, “The supatha Animators Committee” was founded on the 7th of April 2017 with 56 members of 14 units spread around Sri Lanka. This helped in uniting the scattered cells of the Supatha Family.
A National Committee of 08 members was chosen to organize all the units to deepen our HF Spirituality, engage in social service projects and to plan the future projects.
One of the special programs we engaged in as “The Supatha Family” was the “Youth for Change” program held in June 2017 at Jayapuram, Mallavi and December 2017 at Thalawila, under the theme of North – South reconciliation. We were happy to involve in this programme as this was the special humanitarian project of our whole PBN family for the preparation of the Bicentenary.
All our SUPATHA cells are presently engaging in projects on “Waste Management” which is one of the major prevailing problems in Sri Lanka. Through that the concept of being free from polythene and plastic is cultivated among the members of Supatha, which in turn leads to develop the same concept in the Sri Lankan society.
The Supatha Family is now getting ready for a special project which is scheduled to be held in 2018. The aim of this project is to conscientize people to prevent from the deadly sickness of cancer and to donate the money gained through a concert (in which the members of all 18 active cells will join hands to present their skills and talents) to the National Cancer Hospital Maharagama, Apeksha hospital and for the cancer patients. Along with this some sub – programs are scheduled such as hand band campaign…. Sticker campaign…. Awareness programmes… etc
Living the Good father’s dreams and engaging in projects which gives a positive impact on society, the Youth of SUPATHA expects on living, spending their young lives for the people in need at present and in the future.
Chamudi Fernando – Sri Lanka (Holy Family Youth)
 
 

Sarah Teather is a former MP and presently Director of JRS UK. She was chosen at the City of Sanctuary AGM in 2016 to be the first person to receive the Sanctuary Champions award for her services to refugees.
On Christmas Day this year, she gave the closing meditation on BBC Radio 4. In it she mentioned how a community of Holy Family sisters helped a pregnant refugee woman who had nowhere to go. The community in question is Clapham. An extract from her talk follows.
Extract from Sarah Teather’s Christmas meditation, BBC Radio 4
Midnight, 25 December 2017.
… Unto us a child is born …
Birth, new starts, new beginnings often invoke a mixture of joy and pain. I have often seen that weaving of joy and pain in the lives of those we accompany at JRS … the entanglement of hope and loss integral to the life of anyone who makes a journey, leaving family, country and identity for a new start. What grows out of apparent ruin often takes me by surprise, perhaps it’s “this character of startling unexpectedness which is inherent in all beginnings.”
One who experienced this struggle and journey with intensity was a young woman who asked the JRS for help at Christmas last year. I shall call her Asma … she was pregnant with her first child and facing imminent homelessness and, as the Gospel says, was “sore afraid.” Government support for destitute asylum seekers doesn’t usually kick in for women in her position until the end of pregnancy and, even then, accessing it is fraught with difficulty.
The time came for her to give birth and still they refused her a room. A community of religious Sisters stepped into the breach and welcomed her into their home, feeding and fussing over her as if she were their own daughter, though they were not of the same religious profession, devout Muslim that she is. A bond of deep affection grew between them. Asma gave birth to a healthy baby boy and there was much rejoicing in the Sisters’ house. What miracle the boy’s birth seemed to be in the midst of so much struggle! Perhaps, appropriately, the name of the Religious Order who welcomed Asma bears the name of the Holy Family. It’s hard not to hear the echoes of their trials in her story.
A month after giving birth the Home Office finally housed mother and baby, but in keeping of their rules of dispersal, the housing was several hundred miles away from anyone who previously cared for her. She began another long journey with her infant son, conscious that this new beginning would bring much hardship and loneliness, but steeling herself in courage to continue on.
Newsletter (Britain & Ireland)
December