Every day – at 8:15 P.M. to be exact – the Servant Sisters in Brignano, Italy, open up their convent gates, which open up to the convent patio. A group of about 10 or 20 people enter through the gates. You can read the determination on their faces and see their firm stride.
The girls go directly to the grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes that is off to one side in the patio, they pick up the bags full of candles, and they set them up on the altar, the iron-wrought gate, and the ground near-by, forming artistic Marian symbols with the candles. The boys who are our ¨team technicians¨ turn on the spotlights, the sound system, and they bring over the heavier benches. The more elderly present get comfortable in the folding chairs that everyone else has placed around the grotto. The Sisters race the other women present, trying to be the ones to help set up the benches. Meanwhile, entire families begin to show up on their bikes: kids, young people, and adults. The kids play on the swing set while everyone else gets everything ready. At last, at 8:30, the church in front of the convent begins to ring its bells. The rosary begins in front of the grotto, led either by the parish priest, Fr. Luciano, or by the Sisters. There is total silence in the grotto, while both young and old begin to pray.
Praying the rosary at the grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, built at the beginning of the 20th century, is a tradition at Assumption Parish in Brignano (located in Bergamo, Italy).
As Mary does in all her apparitions, at Lourdes she invited us to pray, to pray often. She asks this of all of us, not just a few. Here in Brignano, there are about 100 people of all ages that get together to pray the Holy Rosary: families, teenagers, and elderly. This rosary is offered especially for vocations. Each decade begins with a Gospel passage in order to help us meditate. We end the rosary by singing the Salve Regina, reciting the litanies, and praying for the pope and his intentions.
We introduced as a novelty going to the convent church, dedicated to St. Agnes, for a holy hour after praying the rosary every Thursday. Our parish priest exposes the Blessed Sacrament, we pray Evening Prayer, and then we have time for adoration, with points of meditation given by a Sister, silence, and Eucharistic songs.
This grotto is very dear to the people here in the town. There is a group of ladies who come to clean the church and get it ready for the holy hour. What is more, there is never any lack of people willing to generously give of their time or donate flowers and candles for the grotto.
Last weekend, from May 5th-6th, we had a get-together for 11 to 15-year-old girls at the Fr. Rovetta Center, where the Servant Sisters in Lumezzane, Italy live. A total of 11 girls came. We didn´t have a lot of time together, but it was intense nonetheless, and it impelled the girls to think of what it means to be a woman and to place themselves in the hands of God, ready for whatever He wanted.
The adventures of the two tribal clans: Grey Fox and White Whale
In Priego (Cuenca, Spain), the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother organized a hike up to the Degolla Cross on May 1st. It´s a cross that is located on the top of a mountain – one of the many found in Cuenca – in the town of Priego. There are many legends as to how the mountain got it´s name (which means ¨cutthroat¨), but the young people who joined us were excited about climbing to the top. A few of the girls in the town had been really enthusiastic about climbing up, and for months they had been asking us to take them; so we finally found a day to bring them on a hike.
On May 1st, the Home of the Mother in Lumezzane, Italy, organized a pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Springs Shrine in Caravaggio (in the Province of Bergamo, Italy). We wanted to honor St. Joseph on his feast day and to ask for Our Lady´s help in a special way on the first day of the month dedicated in her honor.
Last Saturday, on April 21st, 2012, we – the community of Servant Sisters in Alcalá de Guadaira (Seville, Spain) – had a get-together for young girls and teenagers. Thankfully, Our Lady sent us a beautiful, sunny day, even though the sky had been threatening all week long, so that this time we could go to a park in Oromana, a scenic site close to the river. 42 girls showed up, despite the fact that many weren´t able to come because of their First Communion. We are so happy for them and we are praying that Jesus gives them the grace to always stay close to Him and to continue to have the same desire – or even more – of receiving Him in the Eucharist.
On April 25th, we – the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother here in Brignano (Bergamo, Italy) – opened our convent doors welcoming people for a H.M. Family Encounter. The idea came from the adults who had participated in our Holy Week Encounter and wanted to celebrate the Easterseason close to Jesus in the Eucharist.
