“On Mission! From Bethany to the Global Village”, in the footsteps of Mother Thouret: from her birthplace, nestled in the green French countryside, to the capital of the Kingdom of Naples, which was already a cosmopolitan city in those days.
The General Council, Provincials and their respective Councils were welcomed at Regina Coeli by the community’s sisters, school children and young students, teachers and collaborators, in a typically Neapolitan atmosphere marked by festive greetings, singing, waving of flags and streamers, floral tributes….
The most touching moment was the plea for peace for the “global village”, which was raised by all those crowding the Regina Coeli cloister at the time, prayer and call to collective responsibility expressed through the gift of an olive tree to the Superior General, sister Maria Rosa.
At the ancient monastic choir, the Eucharist was the culminating moment to hand over to God, in His Son, crucified and resurrected, the ‘global village’: with its labors, its sorrows, its contradictions, with its beauty, its resources, its impetus towards the infinite.
In the afternoon, there was a pilgrimage inside the house of Regina Coeli, touching some places dear to Mother Thouret and to all those who have been at least once in this place that preserves the memory of his monastic vocation to prayer, contemplation, silence… that since the arrival of the first French Sisters, following Mother Thouret, makes his current apostolic vitality fruitful.
The reception by the Regina Coeli educational community was prepared with commitment and enthusiasm by the little and young pupils of the school: world flags, drawings of Neapolitan characters and typical dishes, decorations… Receiving the visit of so many people from even the most distant parts of the world at the same time is always an exciting and spiritual experience: we are all one family, because we all have the same “genetic heritage” as God! We all inhabit the same ‘village’ in which the Son of God dwelt.
