O fogo que percebia haver nos seus corações

THE FIRE THAT PERCEIVED
IN THEIR HEARTS

an incomparable wealth that
nothing on this earth would fill

One path that God, in his infinite Mercy, has raised up, accompanied and sustained is the grateful reading that, fifty years later, I can make of the Lord's call to be an Ally of St. Mary. I was born into a Catholic family. I had a very happy childhood. I have very beautiful memories of everyday life in the family that the Lord gave me. However, at the age of eleven, when my father left for Angola (he was an officer in the Public Security Police and went to serve in that overseas province), I suffered a lot. Feeling the evil of the world, which made me suffer so much, and aware of Jesus' love for me, I decided that I would give my whole life to the Lord, and that it would be his alone. Since at that age I couldn't decide how to make this wish come true, I decided to pray intensely and beg for this grace.

I knew it wouldn't happen for a few years, but that never discouraged me, even though I knew nothing about consecrated life. Because I was in high school, I dedicated myself to studying without neglecting prayer. When I was 13 in Porto, I had the opportunity to take part in a religious woman's habit-taking in the Carmel. I was so touched that, when I got home, I said that was where I would go “when I grew up”, to which my mother replied: “Not there, because we'll never see you again. Then I'd rather go to some girls the street, like us.”

I continued to pray with the “certainty”, which sustained me, that my future belonged to God and that he would sort everything out, whenever and however he wanted. In my last year of high school, I went on a retreat during which Maria Áurea helped the girls. At the end of that retreat, we were given the address of the Lighthouse, as a place where we could meet again, to share memories, difficulties... It was a family space for help. Then, when my academic career came to an end, I finished high school and entered the teaching school. At that time, when I was beginning to want to see what I held close to my heart come true, Maria Áurea and Maria Clara appeared.

Their enthusiasm for God, the fire I sensed in their hearts, their love for Our Lady, their encounter with her, whom I learned to call Mother and who, in that house, the Lighthouse, I felt was welcoming me, their contagious joy, the way they prayed, the happiness I could experience, a peace I felt, They were the answer to the yearnings I'd had inside me for so many years. I didn't question whether or not they were a Congregation. I identified with their lives, they inspired me with confidence and admiration. God was answering me in such a clear and evident way that I had no doubt that it was time to move forward along this path. However, I had to wait until I was of age, because my parents didn't agree with my decision. Fifty years on, I thank the Lord and the Blessed Mother for the unique privilege they gave me of being chosen to accompany the birth and growth of this “little flock” that we are.

The meditation on the Word of God in the Gospel, which has been nourishment in our lives from the beginning, the Rosary with which we have always addressed the Blessed Mother, her Message, which we have studied and deepened from the very beginning, the Heart of Mary known and loved, as “God wants”, in so many places in the world, have filled these years with an incomparable richness that nothing on this earth could fill. Seeing the Covenant of St. Mary grow in so many ways is cause for continuous thanksgiving, which I bring to the Most Holy Trinity in prayer. And I continue to be grateful for the unique privilege of knowing that the Lord “spoke my name before I was conceived”, that “he has known me since my mother's womb”, and that he has also called me to live the Covenant from the very first steps. I am grateful for the richness of having seen this “Body of Christ” that we are grow, slowly, one by one, in each sister who arrived.

Each and every one of them has confirmed our steps in faith, on this path that continually calls us to holiness. I can say with great joy that I have been able to see “heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending...” And, following the same words of St. John, to all those who are willing to try to discover what God wants in their lives, I dare to say to them with the words of the Lady at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you.”.

This is just one way God mercifully HELD them in His hands and in His HEART. I would do exactly the same if I were starting out today.

Sister Maria Alice