New Year wishes to all and may you be constantly filled with the blessings of the Lord and the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ during 2015. We turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Divine Providence, during this year for her maternal love and guidance. As we celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life, may we be filled with the joy and hope of our Guanellian religious vocation and strive to respond to that call faithfully turning to the example of St. Louis Guanella. I thank all for their prayerful support of the Divine Providence Province (DPP) and be assured of my prayerful solidarity with all of you in 2015.
You know of the upcoming celebration of the Third DPP Provincial Chapter, with its theme, The Bond of Charity, the Sense of Belonging and Fraternal Correction /Promotion in the Guanellian Consecrated Life which will take place in Bangalore, India from January 12-17. You know, as well, of the importance of the chapter: as a grace-filled moment; as a period of discernment and verification; as a special way of planning for our future rediscovering the identity of Guanellian Consecrated Life with Gospel prophecy and hope. As I expressed in the convocation letter for the chapter, “Let us take from his (St. Louis Guanella) spring of charity and from his heart the spirit of fraternal communion which can only strengthen us in the bond of charity he so desired, deepen our sense of belonging, and humbly lead us toward fraternal promotion.”
This year has been designated by the United Nations (UN) as The International Year of Soils. It is a year in which we are reminded of the 805 million people who are facing hunger and malnutrition and the need for healthy soil and agricultural methods to produce the food for the hungry along with the just distribution of that food. There are the existing problems today, especially in Asia, of the land being stripped, by real estate developers, of its natural resources and minerals and its trees and vegetation which contribute to climate change, drought and flooding in the impacted areas. During 2015, let us cultivate the soil of our heart and the soil of mother earth to produce the good soil leading to peace, joy…and good crops.
Fr. Soosai Rathinam
Servants of Charity 