The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shone. (Is 9:2)
“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ,[b] the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Lk 2, 10-12)
“Come to the Child in the manger; there you will find your model… The Saviour has a special predilection for the poor. It was the inheritance he gave to Mary and Joseph and he chose it for himself… Therein lies the way of salvation”(Christmas Day Sermon. P.B. Noailles)
Christmas is the Mystery of the closeness of God who invites us to welcome the light and to go to meet him of joy and trust.
At Christmas we proclaim with joy that the Word became flesh and came to dwell among us. We believe that God dwells in every human being and in the whole Universe. He is Emmanuel, God-with-us forever.
Today, the world walks in a shroud of darkness because of the many conflicts and sufferings caused by our contradictions. In the midst of the uncertainties, there shines a LIGHT that will never be extinguished. This Light is Jesus who walks with us and embraces the whole human and cosmic reality.
Alternatives towards building a different future exist, even if the transformations are slow and sometimes seem almost impossible. Let us hold on to Christian hope and stay awake and committed to God’s Project for Humanity: to make of us all one family.
Let us go to Bethlehem and with Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds contemplate the Immanuel. They believed in the Promises, even if they only saw a new-born wrapped in swaddling clothes.
May the Light of the Emmanuel guide our steps on paths of peace and reconciliation in 2023.
To all a Blessed Christmas and a Happy Feast of the Holy Family.
Ana Maria Alcalde
 
 

The Sablonat community is celebrating…
celebrating life, and what a life!
Up to the brim!
Thank you Lucienne, because on this day, you gave us reasons to sing to life, to sing to  love.
This love was imprinted on your face as you passed from table to table to say THANK YOU
This love was evident in your joy in welcoming your friends who had travelled across France to be there.
This love revealed its Source and sprang from our Holy Family roots. It had various names: communion, joy, fraternity, recognition… This love flowed from the Presence in you, beyond limits and fragility.
Listen, Lucienne, to the testimonies that follow, and keep within you the shared treasure that invites us to give thanks for the beauty lived throughout your life and beyond, of all life.
You have allowed us to revive one of the beautiful works of the Holy Family: the “Maison Familiale” St Germain Village in Pont-Audemer: an orphanage Founded by the Parish Priest in 1858.
 “Lucienne, you knew me in Angers when I was 4 years old […] I wanted to be here to thank you for helping me during my youth, which enabled me to become the person I am now.
“My siblings were welcomed on 18 April 1959. Our father was present. He had brought the two small beds (pink and blue) because my sisters were Chantal 2 years and 3 months old, Annick 3 years and 8 months old and I was Jacqueline 5 ½ years old. Normally admission was from the age of 6. Sr Imelda said yes straight away to receive us. The care of the little ones had to be organised. We were the first such case. We left the orphanage in March 1960 to live with our father, but after his death, we returned on 20 October 1960. And our luck was that we were not separated as a family. We were very close.
From the age of 11, I went to the big girls’ dormitory with Sister Marie de Salles (Lucienne).
Very quickly, Lucienne took me under her wing. She helped me to grow up. I think (and I am sure) that she liked me; it was mutual. I didn’t show it to my classmates but deep down she was the resource person I needed. She was always present and accompanied me in all the stages of my life at the Maison Familiale […].
In 1971, she accompanied me to Orléans where I was to set up a nursery school. It was at this point that I finally cut the cord with the Maison Familiale. My heart was heavy to leave it…I was going on an adventure…I was losing my bearings, my compass and also my little sisters […].
After a few years, I went back to school to become a specialised educator. Lucienne certainly gave me all the keys so that in turn I could have the desire to look after children, adolescents and adults living in great social difficulty.
What I have become is thanks to Lucienne. It is this education that we received that enabled us to be well armed to face the difficulties of life without ever weakening.
Lucienne was present at the religious ceremony of my marriage to Claude. She came when we had our two daughters Caroline and Stéphanie.
What a beautiful life path!   -Jacqueline
Thank you again Lucienne for rekindling hope in us as Christmas approaches and for highlighting the beauty of a life. May we capture this beauty in each of our Sisters.
                                   
France Belgium Network

The rapid growth in science and technology affects people’s thinking, morality and especially their spirituality. There is a need to change the strategies of evangelisation according to the needs of the time. The Synod is one of those  strategies. In 2015 Pope Francis spoke of a Synodal Church as a church which listens, more than simply hearing, it’s a mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn. Walking together may bring more connectedness with the people of God.
We understand that synodality means a way, a path or a specific and particular style or method of being church as the people of God. It’s a call for all of us to journey together, listen together, communicate together and do our mission together as one family of God’s people in the Church.
The Synod on Synodality has been a blessing for the Church in India as it has been the largest national exercise – the first of its kind. 129 out of 132 Latin Catholic dioceses across rural, urban and even remote areas of the country participated. The inaugural Eucharistic Celebrations in the dioceses were held in a solemn and elaborate way with some dioceses including leaders of other faiths and traditions. Preparation for the consultations included translation of the documents into 49 local languages. The synod logo and banner were displayed prominently across parishes and institutions and the synod prayer was recited in families and parishes.
Initial skepticism and resistance gave the synodal process a slow start in some dioceses. Paucity of time and the ongoing pandemic situation limited the training of coordinators and outreach to remote areas. While efforts were directed at the more readily available faithful, many of those distanced from the Church could not be included. The organization and facilitation of consultations were led by clergy / religious in many dioceses where lay involvement has not yet come to the fore.
First and foremost this synodality invites us to have right relationship with the cosmic family. We try to re-examine our relationship with the entire creation, with nature. The climatic changes affect life on the earth in numerous ways. These changes are having various impacts on the ecosystem and ecology as the world is now warming faster than at any point in recorded history. As a response to this situation we as a community planted trees for any celebrations or any gatherings in the church and in the community. Though our area is known as perennially drought-prone, and dependent on the monsoon, we took as a challenge to take care of them and given awareness to the children, youth and people around us. Now we are happy to see the youth who always provide saplings to the people to plant them in their surroundings. This will bring bright future and bring changes in our district of Sivagangai.
Secondly it is a renewal for us to re-examine our relationship among us, in our communities and in our local church. After hearing of this synodality the church has taken the effort to invite the people from the laity, consecrated religious and secular members and explained the meaning of communion, participation and mission in the church. Time was given to the entire group to share their views and opinions about our participation and our role in the church. We were amazed to see the open sharing of each one where we experienced the generative listening and creative participation that gives us hope to revitalize our church as people of God. We are aware that to promote more consensus-based decision-making in our communities, in our mission areas we are challenged to move from “command control” model to consensus model.
Thirdly we were inspired to develop more and more transparency in our decision-making, in financial management and in our mission field. It is a reminder for us to live our charism of communion in and around the community and to take steps for transformative action towards our life and mission. This synodality moved us to come out from the attitude of individualism to communion.
Today in our world, there is increased awareness of freedom, autonomy, dignity, human rights etc. As St. Paul says, the church is a body in which all members are bound in a relationship of interdependency and equal dignity, but of course with different gifts and charisms.  This journey together will call on us to renew our mentalities and our ecclesial structures in order to live out God’s call for the Church amid the present signs of the times. Listening to the entire people of God leads us to respect human dignity and give preference for the voiceless and the abandoned.
Our Founder Pierre Bienvenu cultivated the call to renew the Church of his time, to present to the world a God who was near and a Church with a ‘family face’, something for which the first Christian communities have left us a taste. Inspired by God he conceived the plan of a vast Society, something very new for his time. It would welcome within its fold women and men of all conditions and vocations.
All of us are called to live one vocation and that is the vocation to holiness – the baptized Eucharistic Christians. So the synodality discourse is going to change the way all of us participate in building of the church and that is the dream and vision of our founder’s desire – “Have but one heart, one mind, one will – to make Our Lord loved and to win all hearts to him. Then, this good Master will dwell in your midst, and the Holy Family Association, faithful to its mission, will continue to do good upon the earth.”
Unit India
 
 
 

We, the community of the Holy Family Novitiate in Idiofa, have undertaken the manual production of toilet soap made from the plants of Hyssop and Aloe Vera. This initiative is the fruit of our listening and closeness to our people, a response that we want to give to their cries and concerns.  The idea was born out of the observation and reality that many people have destroyed the melanin substances in their skin and are prone to skin cancer as a result of using skin-lightening cosmetics. We are not indifferent to this situation. That is why we want to make our contribution to abolish this scourge: to guarantee the protection of the skin of the population of Idiofa in particular, but which we also wish to extend to other cities.
We felt invited to examine and adopt strategies that could help our brothers and sisters in need,  to nourish their skin at a lower cost, in order to protect melanin substances.
With our research, in a rural area, Idiofa, we have experienced that soap made from plants: Hyssop and Aloe Vera is an answer to this concern.
The manufacture of this soap, offered at low cost, is for us a contribution to the fight against one of the problems that plague Congolese society in general and that of Idiofa in particular.
Indeed, the research done tells us that hyssop is a sacred purification plant described in Psalm 51. The Bible calls it the herb of forgiveness.  Soap made from the hyssop plant purifies and clears the skin of all impurities.  Aloe Vera, known for its multiple properties, moisturises, heals and softens the skin. Its gel also relieves skin lesions.
The good use of some natural products allows us to share this experience of soap-making based on hyssop and aloe vera, so that all together, we can act for the protection of our skin based on plants offered to us freely by our environment, in order to reduce the risk of skin cancer to the as much as possible.
Dear brothers and sisters, your contribution to the continuation of this initiative, this mission will be welcome. However, we remain open to your suggestions. All together, let us be aware and act for the promotion of our low cost and easy to manage plant-based skin care products in order to reduce the risk of skin cancer. This is now our battle cry!
Sr. Solange BOMA
R.D.Congo/Burkina Faso

“New beginning” is part of the evolution of our Holy Family’s history, part of the evolutionary history of the Universe, where, as we know, every ending is at the same time a new beginning… On 1st November 2022, the Generalate community rejoiced with the double celebrations; All Saints Day, and the installation of the community animator, Sr. Barbara Sygitowicz. The General Council and local community gathered for a special prayer service for the installation of the local community animator. We thank her for saying ‘Yes’ to the common mission. Also, we extend our gratitude to Sr. Maria de Lourdes de la Fuente, who has been animating the community for the past years. Let us walk together, because we are companions on our journey to cross over the sea to live our purpose in the third century.
          

The closing of the 2022 Assembly of the Secular Institute  took place on July 26th 2022. Many PBN Family members joined for the Closing Celebration. Maria Dolores Pérez Plé, the outgoing General Leader,  presented the new Leader, Councillors, and Substitutes to the participants.  She handed over to Maria Pilar Serrano, her successor,  the Cross that had accompanied her through her 12 years in office – one of the Crosses traditionally handed down from one Major Superior to another since the time of the Founder..  We thank Ma Dolores for her service to the Secular Institute, and  congratulate Maria Pilar,  her Council and Substitutes, and thank them for their availability  and commitment to continue the mission in and through their consecrated Secular vocation.
The Leader, Councillors and Substitutes were officially announced:
Pilar SERRANO 
Leader (Spain)
Susana APAZA
Councillor (Peru)
Gloria MARTINEZ
Councillor (Argentina)
Mariet Sriyanthi PERERA
Councillor (Sri Lanka)
Helen KENNY
Councillor (Ireland)
Sara NIOKA 
Substitute (Congo)
Felicita CHOQUE   
Substitute (Peru)
               
          
 
 
 

To speak and write about the Holy Family Pilgrimage is to go back almost thirty years. It is to rediscover the purpose and the witness and the people who set it in motion. It is to remember those who left for a better world and who had great faith and devotion to the Holy Family.
Two important things marked the year 1991 in our parish: the celebration of the tercentenary and the arrival of a community of Apostolic Religious of the Holy Family. It was a very festive year, filled with memories, joy and celebrations of all kinds. But does anything  remain of these events for our parish and for us Associates who were few in number at that time? 
We cannot discount Monique Chalifour’s apostolic zeal and the vision she had in her heart. One of the first people she recruited was Judith Bouchard. Then they gathered people from the area, in a project to encourage devotion to the Holy Family and to build up a group of Lay Associates attached to the Holy Family of Bordeaux.
Together we thought of sending around a statuette of the Holy Family that would visit the homes. Modern society, for all its attractions, spurns many values acquired over generations. So it is with family values: it is difficult to stay the course. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the family of Nazareth, offer themselves as a family model in these turbulent times. The project presented to the parishioners, the pilgrimage, was an initiative to better integrate the values shared and lived by the Holy Family, through prayer, silence, respect and love.
We prepared a leaflet to help families to pray better, to be silent, to listen to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph who lived this family reality fully. From week to week, this project was aimed at families of all kinds: traditional, single-parent, reconstituted, grandparents or other households.
The first page, written by our parish priest Jean-Louis Nolin, challenges us and reminds us that devotion to the Holy Family is an inexhaustible treasure. Even the theme of the tercentenary is so ready: A LEGACY TO BE CULTIVATED. “Our past appeared to us rich in customs and traditions, strengths and riches of our families,” writes Father Nolin. “Among these was the devotion to the Holy Family. This devotion dates back to 1675 at the time of Bishop François de Laval.  In each house there was an image of the Holy Family. On their wedding day, couples received a picture of the Holy Family as a gift. With this support, the soil was rich for our project. A person from the parish even offered us the statuette. And now everything was ready. 
So on December 8, 1991, during the celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, we entrusted our project to Mary and the visits to the homes began, interrupted from season to season, under the supervision of Lise Beaulieu and Suzette Fortin.
In 2006 we took a break from visiting the Holy Family in order to refine the project. The prayer booklet had to be updated, a case had to be acquired to carry the Holy Family statuette, and a notebook had to be acquired to collect the comments of the various hosts. The Associates, with the help of their spouses, took charge of all these innovations. Noël Leclerc and Monique Fournier made a magnificent case, Catherine Tremblay and Simon Rainville prepared a rich booklet to include for the weekly visit. Themes were prepared for each day to meditate on with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  The new parish priest, Michel Poitras, challenged the parishioners to continue the pilgrimage. He gave it the theme: OPEN THE DOORS TO THE HOLY FAMILY. “To welcome the family of Nazareth into your home is to give them a place in your daily life, in the privacy of your home, in your personal and family life.”
The presence of the Holy Family was to prove simple, discreet and filled with love and kindness. How many graces it has brought to parish life. The testimonies collected in the booklet are rich examples of this fidelity. The visits provide a soothing, gentle, reassuring presence. The family meets to pray together. Other families receive good news during the week, others have found a job, have managed to ask for forgiveness. Especially the testimonies of the little children are charming. Some wanted to rock the Holy Family. Another toddler went to the statue and named them Jesus, the father and mother. Some drew hearts. Finally, several wrote at the end: “See you soon, I love you. Thank you for being there.”
Then the Pandemic came. For almost two years the visits of the Holy Family to the homes were interrupted. But finally they were able to resume, with Monique Fournier in charge. And they received unexpected support. On the feast of the Holy Family in 2021, Pope Francis wrote the following: “Dear parents, know that your children -especially the youngest- are watching you attentively and are looking for a testimony of a strong and true love in you. Children are always a gift.  They change the history of the family.
Just as the child Jesus changed the whole history of the family in Nazareth! Mary and Joseph were a couple, and with the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel, they were a family. By taking the Holy Family into your home you could also experience what seems IMPOSSIBLE. “And don’t forget the grandparents, they are the living memory of humanity, this memory can help to build a more fraternal and welcoming world.”
May God accompany you. 
Project collaborators: Judith Bouchard, Norma Beaumont, Claire Groulx, Associates of the Holy Family, Parish of St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Canada
Holy Family Lay Associates, Canada

The 7th Holy Family Vicariate Chapter of the Contemplatives: July 1–10, 2022
Sr. Ana Maria Alcalde, Superior General, is participating in the Chapter, and gave the opening talk. The facilitator is Fr. Johannes GORANTLA, OCD. During the Chapter, the official elections for the Vicariate Leadership Team were completed in front of Srs.Ana Maria Alcalde and Malini Joseph, the Vicar. We thank the Sisters who said ‘Yes’ to be  part of the new Leadership Team to work alongside Sister  Malini.  May the Holy Family guide our whole Institute as we strive together to live our purpose in our third century.
Rishmala MICHAEL               –        Councillor
Ma Dolores SANZBERRO       –       Councillor
Annette SUWARIS                     –      Councillor
               

“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.” (GS 1) and we, as the Holy Family in Spain, have felt called to help our brothers and sisters who are fleeing their homes because of the terrible war.
Thus, different initiatives have arisen throughout the world, and also of course in Spain, of welcome, support and help, of collective mobilisation in which we, as members of the Holy Family, are collaborating. we would like to share some of them with you by way of example: 
The Apostolic Community of San Sebastian lives in the Seminary where, at the moment, there are a good number of free rooms. Our Sisters received a call from the Diocese of Tarazona asking them to host for one night a group of Ukrainian refugees who were travelling. They told us about it themselves: What an experience! It is not the same to see on TV or listen to the news from Ukraine on the radio, as it is to welcome among us the people from that country and embrace them in a tearful embrace. No one remembered Covid, because we had been infected by their pain and suffering, which was greater than any virus. What a joyful opportunity to meet and to share with them, and how painful, too, to see our brothers and sisters crying and suffering the consequences of this cruel war.
So, what did we experience? 12 March, we were asked to welcome a group of Ukrainians who were on their way to Tarazona and needed to spend the night somewhere. First we were told that they would arrive for dinner, sleep and breakfast. Later they told us that they had had to stop several times during the journey and were very late and would have dinner on the way on French soil. The seminarians and some of us offered to wait for them. Twelve o’clock, one o’clock, three o’clock…; at four o’clock in the morning the phone rang to let us know that they were already close.
The drivers and five families (mothers with their young children and some teenagers; the husbands and older children have stayed in the war…) were accommodated here. The rest, up to 80, were transferred to a shelter near here. They all had breakfast here together, what hugs and gestures of gratitude! We are grateful for this opportunity to ‘touch’ at close quarters the terrible suffering that these brothers and sisters of ours are experiencing and to see the situation from their eyes. After breakfast they spent some time together in the courtyards of the seminary; many were also amazed to see the sea for the first time. When they arrived it was raining torrentially but then it was sunny and they were able to enjoy the scenery. The photos we sent are from that moment.
All this was an initiative of a group from the Diocese of Tarazona. One of them, asking himself “what can we do to offer humanitarian aid in this situation”, spoke with others and so 18 drivers got together with their vans to go to Warsaw (2,800 kilometres one way and the same number of kilometres back). They prepared 9 vans with the necessary permits and authorisations and with two drivers for each one. They told us that the diocese of Tarazona had thrown itself into this situation. It was impressive to see the dedication and interest of these men. They also told us that when they finished filling the nine vans, a mother appeared with three daughters and some other people who were anxious to get into the vans. They rented another van there and were able to bring them in as well – how great these men were! They have to go back there in order to deliver it.
They did not know how to thank us and we repeated that we were the ones who were grateful for being able to offer this small service. After this stop in Donostia, at around eleven o’clock they left for Tarazona where they were to receive an official welcome. They will be staying at the Diocesan  Seminary. We could not fail to recount this experience because it has touched us all very deeply. When you ask us what do you do in the seminary? We can answer that we try to welcome what each day brings, and do whatever we can to respond to the needs that arise, as in this case.
Another experience that we would like to share with you comes from the group of lay associates in Malaga:
The moment the first list of items requested by MAYDAN, an  Association of Ukrainians living in Malaga, reached our hands, something stirred inside us and we felt that we had to collaborate with them. We started by proposing to contribute a part of the money from the Social Fund of the Lay Associates in Spain. Part of it will go to our apostolic sisters in Poland who are hosting so many refugees and part will be used to help the Oblate communities who continue to work in Ukraine.
We soon realised however,  that in addition to this economic collaboration, much more was needed, and we began to act and to contribute individually, encouraging our relatives to do the same. We wanted to make the most of every penny we had collected, so for the medicines, we decided to turn to a well-known pharmacist to find the best price for the items, and to our surprise, not only did she decided to help, but she did so by doubling the amount we had paid her.
When everything was bought and packed, we took it to the facilities made available to the Association: a few spaces in a motorhome car park. And how much gratitude, how much affection and how much helpfulness there was in that place! Dozens of people working in a chain, sorting clothes or packing food, but in all their faces you could see a smile under the mask, similar to ours when several men approached our car to unload the boxes and bags with food, medicines, blankets and some stuffed animals for the little ones. When we asked them what else they needed, they responded with infinite gratitude and recounted the stories that they heard from their relatives in Ukraine, so of course our hearts were moved and we set off again in search of more boxes, more help.
For many months we have been helping families in the neighbourhood who have scarce resources, and collaborating with the St John of God Brothers;  now we have seen another way to collaborate with the refugees arriving in our country. In this situation, we place more than ever our faith and our hope in the Risen Christ, asking him to free humanity and the universe so that peace may spring up again, so that it may be established in our hearts and in the hearts of all humanity, created by God in his image and likeness.
For this reason, the whole Family of Pierre Bienvenu in Spain, with its five vocations, came together on the Second Sunday of Easter in an online prayer for peace, as a Family that is united, with one heart and one soul. Jesus sends us  out always, but especially on this Bicentenary of the Miraculous Benediction and in this common prayer we prayed together for peace and reconciliation. Peace for our world, peace in the heart of every man and every woman, peace for our common home.
As the Holy Family in Spain we want to continue to live what Ana María Alcalde has bidden us to do: “to get as close as possible to the world of pain, poverty, marginalisation… in real life, and let these situations affect us” (Circular 319).
The Intervocational Information Team – SPAIN

“When something new happens, there is turmoil, disturbance, concern and joy. With some movements the person adapts slowly, which follows a profound interior silence” …  On 1st May, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, there was a special prayer of thanksgiving and welcome at the Generalate for Sr. Veronica Rapitso, the new General Bursar of our Institute. We gathered in front of the portrait of our Founder outside the Chapel to begin our prayer service, and processed to  the community where all participated in a  dance-movement, connecting us with one another and the whole of creation. The introductory reflection on transformation took its inspiration from the 20th General Chapter experience. Srs. Lourdes de la Fuente, Eithne Hughes and Malinie Jayamanne appreciated and thanked the former General Bursars of our Institute and their Assistants who have served our Big Family until today through their commitment. We thanked Veronica Rapitso who has said Yes to continue the same mission. Sr. Ana Maria Alcalde then  presented her with the one of the Crosses given by our Founder to our Early Mothers, and passed down by various  General Council members. Finally, Srs. Maline Jeyamannie, Geni Dos Santos, Jasmine Fernando, Georgine Mufogoto and Christa Mariathas, representing the Institute blessed and welcomed Veronica to her new ministry and the new community.
We sincerely thank Sr. Malinie Jayamanne for her dedication and service to the Institute and the Family, and pray that God may bless her abundantly as she moves forward.