Rome, June 30, 2025
Dear Sisters and young women in formation,
Fear and uncertainty fill our days. In our world, battlefields spring up every daily, wars are justified, and military power is legitimized as the “guarantor of peace”. “Peace through strength”, the Israeli Prime Minister’s comment regarding the U.S. attack against Iran, gives pause for thought. This is equivalent to the ancient saying, “If you want peace, prepare for war…”. And God is often “enlisted” by the world’s “powers that be” in these absurd and bloody wars.
The words of the Apostle Paul ring out loudly today for “true” Christians. In all his letters, Paul reminds us that we have been called by the Lord to collaborate in his plan of love and communion, thanks to the life his Son gave for us. And Christ “our Peace” (Eph 2:14) makes us capable of assuming a style of life that is unarmed, that has the prophetic flavor of the Gospel that is welcomed and lived, that does not respond to violence with more violence, but strives to overcome evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21).
Paul teaches us that peace is a gift born of the Cross (cf. Col 1:20), which spreads throughout the world through the witness of those who have been touched by crucified Love. It is a fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22), whose fire is the source of unity and fraternity against every egoism that breaks down the barriers of mistrust and hate, creates spaces where people and dialogue are welcome, frees us from fear and infuses courage to go out to meet others with the disarming power of mercy. For this reason, peace is also a path and a concrete commitment to build peace in ourselves, allowing it to guide our thoughts, choices, behavior. Only thus can ours become a “shared vocation”, that can transform us into “artisans of peace”, who enter into the wounds of humanity to mend where others have torn apart.
The young Dutch Jewish girl, Etty Hillesum, a victim of the Shoah, understood this well. She wrote this in her Diary: “Later on, we will need to build a completely new world. For we will need to oppose every new crime or horror with a new act of love and goodness that we will have conquered in ourselves…. There will truly be such peace in the future only if every human being will have first found it within themselves.”
Dear Sisters, on this solemnity, which is so important for us, I would like, and on behalf of the sisters of the general government as well, to send our congratulations to those sisters in different parts of the world, who have pronounced their generous yes in first or perpetual profession, and to those sisters who are celebrating the Lord’s fidelity on the anniversary of profession.
With affection, in profound communion,
Sr Anna Caiazza
Superior General
