Dear brothers,
Fraternal Greetings. Thanks for being united with us in prayers and fraternal communion. COVID 19 has peaked its hold in Italy in the last few days and the Government has taken stringent measures to arrest its spread which includes a complete shutdown all over Italy except for essential services. We do not go out of the house at all. All services like receptionist, cleaning and washing services are taken care of by us. Perhaps, we will have to take up cooking too in the next week. The whole country is united to fight the terror of the virus. Students have classes online. The General government continues its council sessions of March as usual.
The virus has affected now about 125 countries and Italy is now at the top in the list of countries with newly affected cases. We hope it will come down in a week. The Church all over the world has joined hands in prayer of intercession and adoration. In the past too, the Church faced historical moments of epidemics by caring for the sick people and their families and supporting health workers in all possible ways especially by taking the concerns of the people in adoration to the Eucharistic Lord and to the Holy Mother by the reciting Rosary.
In the last General Chapter, we affirmed our call to be “evangelizers with Spirit” who “pray and work, are socially committed as missionaries, and breathe with the lungs of prayer and intercession” (MS 23). This is a time for ardent prayer and intercession for the suffering world. I invite all the Major Organisms to choose a day for intercessory prayer in the coming week dedicating time for adoration of the Eucharist and praying Rosary. The Church of Italy has identified a moment to pray together the Rosary on the part of all faithful on 19th March at 21 hours. We shall also invoke the intercession of St. Anthony Mary Claret, our Founder and our Martyr brothers.
Dear brothers, let us join hands, hearts and minds with our brothers and sisters to address this moment of global distress.
Fraternally,
Fr. Mathew Vattamattam CMF