20 Dec Yearbook 2024 – ‘100 Years… and You Continue to Bear Fruit’
At the end of the Eucharist marking the opening of the centennial, Sister Rosario Fernández-Villarán addressed a few words to us:
“On January 6, 1925, Saint Raphaela entered into the joy she had long desired and prayed for throughout her life, not just in her later years. At that moment, the Church was giving the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament.
We give thanks for Saint Raphaela’s faithful response to God’s fidelity. This same fidelity of God accompanied Saint Raphaela, Mother Pilar, the first Servants, and all the Sisters, and it continues to accompany us today.
This thanksgiving becomes a commitment for us today. Raphaela Mary continues to invite us to keep our eyes on Jesus, to welcome His stream of love, and to be a channel of that love for all people. Wherever we are, in hidden or public life, in small or great things, may we be seeds that bear much fruit, just like Saint Raphaela Mary.”
During this time, we have reflected on this thought from the Saint: “Only one thing never disappears: the good that has been done.” This is the spirit in which we have created this year’s annual report, which has been full of encounters, celebrations, reflections, moments of prayer, action, and a deeper understanding of Saint Raphaela’s life.
We hope that reading it will enlighten us, broaden our horizons, gladden our hearts, and inspire us to want to be, like her, seeds that bear much fruit. And may this be done by living as Saint Raphaela liked to do, as she told a sister from the original core of the Congregation back in 1922: ‘May the time we have left be spent in the joy of pleasing God.’”
Sr. Encarna González Noval, aci
