“For you I study,
for you I work,
for you I live,
for you I am ready
even to give my life”.
St. John Bosco
“Know that I love you.
I will never forget you.”
St. Mary Mazzarello
Throughout our lives, we find ourselves entrusted with work, responsibilities, and relationships that seem too difficult, too complicated, or too far from our comfort zone. When you feel that the mission which has been entrusted to you is beyond your strength, follow the perfect example of St. Mary Mazzarello.
Mary was a strong, energetic, and pious young woman whose life changed drastically after she contracted typhoid while attending to those in need. At this her weakest moment, in her slow recovery, Mary Mazzarello received her call with the words,
“I entrust them to you.”
Our Blessed Mother didn’t ask for qualifications or degrees, she asked for a heart open to the mission God had in store. In a short time, the entrustment St. Mary Mazzarello received grew from several girls in a sewing room to the leadership of a worldwide religious order. Despite her poor health and elementary education, she embraced the mandate and placed herself entirely in Mary’s hands. Every new work, difficult decision, and even the keys to the first Salesian Sisters’ convent, were lovingly placed at the feet of Our Lady, as a sign of expectant waiting for her help and intervention.
As the Salesian Family prepares to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Salesian Sisters in 2022, we follow our co-foundress’s example by joyfully embracing the mandate, “I entrust them to You”. Whatever entrustment we receive in our modern and ever-changing world, we know that Mary Help of Christians waits for us to place everything at her feet and witness her active presence in our mission in the world today.
