Vinte e cinco anos depois! Que tenho a dizer?

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER!
WHAT DO I HAVE TO SAY?

Praying these 25 years of faithfulness leads me to look back with deep gratitude for God's faithfulness, gratefully remembering his action in me.

To pray the call and my yes, is to realize that it is the Lord who always takes the initiative, who comes to meet us and uninstalls us. We listened to this passage from the book of Isaiah on the Sunday of Jesus' Baptism at the beginning of the year: «It is I, the Lord, who have called you according to righteousness; I have taken you by the hand, formed you and made you the covenant of the people and the light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the prison and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.».

To look back on this jubilee year is to remember with gratitude the many hours in which this became so clear: “I called you, took you by the hand, formed you and made a covenant with you."

I called you.

Yes, it was the Lord who, twenty-five years ago, cast this gaze of tenderness upon me and granted me the grace to set aside my already idealized life plans to enter into this adventure in faith, which is the whole Covenant journey.

I took you by the hand.

Clearly, this “I have taken you by the hand” has a very profound meaning, which reminds me of an exchange of rings. If, at the time of the call, there was already a commitment and a ring on my finger, today, twenty-five years later, I pray this other ring, which I have on my finger, and which makes me vigilant under the words heard on the day of the vows: «Receive this ring, you who are the wife of the eternal King; remain faithful to your Spouse, so that you may deserve to be admitted to the eternal nuptials.»

I trained you.

In the countless hours when my knees bend before my Lord in the tabernacle, so that he can instruct my whole being. However, his presence and action live on in my memory, grateful for the trust with which the sisters look at me, for the gestures of true friendship, which educate and help me to grow.

I made you my wedding ring.

The greatest grace that the Lord gives me is the awareness of being part of this body which is the Covenant of St. Mary. Yes, it is to feel that life becomes extraordinarily beautiful and that one reaches real dignity, not through merit or personal gift, but through the splendor with which he adorns me (cf. Ezekiel 16:14).

If it all began on May 13, 25 years ago, under the gaze of the Lady brighter than the sun, on May 13, 2021, how moved I was to hear Bishop António Marto's words at the end of the Eucharist in the Shrine: “You are Our Lady's most beautiful and precious crown and the jewels in that crown are your lives and your stories of love, generosity, mutual help and solidarity, as well as your frailties, wounds, worries and sufferings.”.

Today I am grateful for the wonders that the Lord continues to work in my life: for my family, where I have learned to grow in love for Jesus with the rosary beads in my hand; for the maternal and trusting gaze of each of my ASM Sisters; and for the friends who support me and make me see the living face of the Risen Jesus present at all times and who help me to grow in love as a “beloved daughter”.

Ally Cidália Machado
May 30th, 2021