Rolando Pons
Rome, 26 th October 2005
Association of the Miraculous Medal
Mendrisio (Ticino/Switzerland) 

INTRODUCTION

In early January 2004 I happened to be in Paris and it was with great joy that I went to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in rue du Bac. I went as a simple pilgrim. I asked St Catherine Labouré, through the intercession of our Blessed Lady, to protect and help the Association and all those who feel the need to belong to it: I entrusted to her all the apostolate we managed to carry out to date. Before leaving this place of silence and prayer, I left our magazine ”From Ticino … to you, missionaries” with the portress.

After that, by some mysterious way, we came into contact with Fr. Benjamín Romo, a priest of the Congregation of the Mission . He was anxious to meet us and came to see us on 10 th December of that year. It was with great joy that we met with him:

After that meeting we established a relationship, got to know our Marian-missionary charism, and were invited to take part in the International Meeting to represent the Association:

•  1960-2005: 45 years of AMM presence in Mendrisio (Ticino-Switzerland).
•  Youth Group of Mendrisio
•  Association of MM in Mendrisio: what future for young people?

I hope that this presentation will be a source of new energy and stimulus for the common good and for the good of the entire Vincentian Family.

•  1960-2005: 45 years of AMM presence in Mendrisio

•  The birth of AMM in Mendrisio 

It was on 27th August 1960 that a group of nine lay people and two priests, in a spirit of trust and charity, founded the Group, after one of the nine lay people had a fairly dramatic experience.

During this prayer meeting the principles were established and all those present created the group which took the name “Association of the Miraculous Medal of Mendrisiotto”, whose main aim was to be “to honour the Immaculate Virgin by leading a full Christian life and by disseminating the Miraculous Medal.”

These people, full of enthusiasm and devotion to our Lady of the miraculous Medal, started disseminating the Medal and Mary's message to St Catherine Labouré during the apparitions: St Catherine Labouré was a simple Daughter of charity who, for 46 years, kept silent about the apparitions and lived a hidden life, serving the poor and needy with humility. She led a life of holiness, carrying out simple and humble tasks, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin in Nazareth .

Mons . Tonino Bello called her – like he called Mary of Nazareth – “the woman in the apron, the everyday woman, the working woman, who works away without drawing attention to herself”. It is to this humble sister that Mary, during the apparitions, entrusted the task of having the medal cast. The medal carries the image of Mary with her hands outstretched, and rays emanate from Mary's hands, ready to distribute graces to the entire world. 

•  The missionary dimension

In subsequent years, after the Association of the Miraculous Medal was born, and more precisely in June 1967, in the course of a Committee meeting, one of its members had the brilliant idea that after 7 years of Marian movement in which we had disseminated the message of the Miraculous Medal and worked within the movement, we should also include assistance to missionaries in our work. The people leading the Association understood very well that disseminating the message of the Medal could and should also involve tangible support to missionaries.

2) From Ticino … to you, missionaries – November 1985, No. 52

We started helping missionaries in Uganda and today there are many missionaries, spread over the five continents, who have the support of AMM Mendrisio, thanks to the goodness and altruism of our people.

The missionary activity became known in the entire canton of Ticino thanks to a quarterly publication entitled “ From Ticino … to you, missionaries”, a publication available to all. 

1.4 From Ticino … to you, missionaries

This is a quarterly missionary publication that gives us a feeling of solidarity and participation in the many projects carried out by missionaries with such love and dedication, with great sacrifice, in order to provide those who have nothing with at least the bare minimum. These projects are tangible acts of solidarity which we try to support by making contributions to the missionary efforts.

•  “The title of our publication is a little unusual: However, we think that it truly expresses all our feelings. “FROM TICINO …”: a people, a family that is listening, … that acts…, something real, not anonymously, but as a concrete, real and personal reality.” … “TO YOU MISSIONARIES”: acting people who speak out, who act, who love. It is a dialogue between people involved in different fields, living in different circumstances and exchanging feelings and actions.

This is our objective: to make ourselves known in order to know, to appreciate and to love others. We do not ask for anything, other than understanding and fraternal love.”

•  From Ticino … to you, missionaries – September 1968, No. 1 

1.5. Slide presentation (Brief history of AMM Mendrisio – Pictures and comments in annex – duration: 7 min).

2) YOUTH GROUPS IN MM MENDRISIO

2.1. Young people, the new driving force

It was in 1980, 20 years after the Association was set up, that members of the Committee decided to set up a “Youth Group” to continue the work of the group with new energy: The following year, as a result of prayer, a group of 12 young people, including myself, came to bring a breath of fresh air. Fresh air and fresh enthusiasm, these are the rewards for our any prayers and sacrifices.

This adventure, which is a little mysterious, has given us new courage, and without making too many commitments, we started off on this new road, guided by our spiritual director and by the person in charge of missions. These people helped us t grow and imparted Christian and spiritual formation to us. They also confirmed us in our Marian-Vincentian charism and in our charity initiatives such as supporting the Mission in Polur, in India , where we built a village dedicated to the Divine Mercy.

There have been many initiatives enthusiastically and energetically supported by the Youth Group in favor of missionary projects. The young people were always prepared to take the message of the Miraculous Medal to the various parishes of the canton, to organize sales of work and take other initiatives to make people aware of the problems of the Third World.

4) From Ticino … to you, missionaries – September 1986, No. 55

These have been years of intensive activity and great human enrichment, full of enthusiasm and solidarity. During that time many different young people arrived and became new forces within the Committee of the Association, always ready to introduce new initiatives. Others continue to as active members of the Association, fully committed to prayer, to disseminate the message of the Virgin, and to give tangible support to missionary projects.

There remains much to be done to fully involve the young in our Association, but we trust in Mary and in Jesus, and we are sure that we will get all the help we need to continue in our commitment to the poor and needy. Maybe some day another group of 12 young people will feel called to follow Jesus by disseminating the message of the Miraculous Medal and supporting missionary projects: that is our dearest hope and we make the commitment here and now that, just like our predecessors did it many years ago, we pray that Jesus and Mary will give us that grace.

2.2. Missionary work camps 

In 1995, 35 years after the Association was founded, members wondered what could be done for young people, how they could be attracted to the true values in life and drawn away from the apathy, selfishness and indifference that reign in the world. What message could be sent to them to make them aware of God's plan for each one of them? How can the mystery and the message of love that the Virgin has for each of her children who put their trust in her?

We pray for young people, who are the future of the Church, of society and of the world. In prayer we have reflected on our concerns for them, entrusting everything to Mary as she is the first missionary who brought us her Son Jesus. From this reflection grew the idea of providing a missionary experience for some of the young people who were close to our Association.

The following year, in cooperation with various parishes in Mendrisiotto, we organized a mission for a few keen young people. This was the start of a new adventure, in which I myself took part and which introduced many young people to working as volunteers in missionary work. In this experience they rediscovered their Christian roots and served the poor, the marginalised, the sick and the old.

After these first missionary experiences, the spiritual director of the Association and other priests joined the young people to share in their work experience. It became clear that spiritual guidance of the group was very important, both before the missionary experience and during it. It is important to reflect in depth on the way we live, act, share, help, and above all, on the way we are witnesses to the Gospel in our own lives.

2.3. “Leave your homeland and go…”

Helping young people to discover new horizons is a wonderful challenge. Their response has been the same as that of Abraham, who responded to God's invitation to him: “Leave your homeland and go…!”

In those early years we supported projects in Ecuador . We helped setting up a Centre for the formation of indigenous catechists and leaders, and another centre for the promotion of indigenous women.

We give you a few representative witnesses published in or magazine. They are the experiences of some of the young people who participated in our work camps in Ecuador .

As a missionary group we have tried to experience these days in a very intense manner. Every moment we met around the statue of Our Lady to entrust our day to the “Lord of our lives”: Before meals we gave thanks for the food on our plate, and in the evening we sang to give thanks for the graces of the day. This, in short, is our experience and we happy to be able to say that we are happy to have responded to God's invitation to “leave our homeland to go …”

“I was touched by the generosity of our young people who, have seen the need and felt it in their heart, sparing nothing in their efforts to give whatever support was needed. It was even more marvelous to work with the young indigenous people, working with them and giving each other help and assistance: They made themselves understood through sign language; the language of love worked very well.”

2.4. The joys of volunteering

From Latin America we moved to Africa, and specially to Rwanda , where the genocide of 1994 left many children orphaned and many mothers widowed. This what our adviser, Fr. Angel, wrote as he returned from the camp:

Fixed in my eyes and in my heart is the image of the summer camp in Rwanda with a group of young people from our parish: the girls, working on the hill of Rutongo, with the “Sisters and friends of the Poor”, very tenderly washing the poor little malnourished children in a saucepan. Everything taking place in silence and in an atmosphere of serenity.

5) From Ticino … to you, missionaries – September 1997, No. 99

Little orphaned children, with bellies swollen from malnutrition, taken in by these Rwandan sisters who follow in the steps of St Vincent de Paul and who remind me of Mother Teresa of Calcutta : some of these children will not survive – they say it simply because they know it. For us this is very sad and difficult to accept, especially when all the children, recently bathed and smelling nice, perform a graceful dance for us. I look at the girls … and I get the feeling that they do not only pour water over limbs and backs, but that their hearts overflow with such tenderness that can heal all the wounds those poor children have suffered deeper down.

We return to the meeting room, our hearts full of joy, but also with great sadness. Maybe because we had to leave these children and the sisters behind in order to come and fill our bellies with huge plates of food, or maybe because we felt that our days of volunteering ought to lead to a change of life, every day of our life. And maybe this makes us a little afraid. Thank you , Rwanda !

2.5 Young people for mission

With these young people I discovered their vocation to service, their desire to give a real meaning to their lives and to renew in themselves the deepest gifts that are often difficult to express.

By confronting different situations and comparing different experiences of volunteering and service, they are surprised by the gift which the Lord has for every person, and they come to understand that they are part of the people of God on the road to salvation.

In this way, the desire is awakened in them to live in closer contact with the poor, working in support of missionary projects. And for these young people there is another form of volunteering that is also important: providing medical assistance and providing guidance and accompaniment. To be close to the poor, the needy and the sick and forming a community with them is enriching for all concerned.

6) From Ticino … to you, missionaries – September 2001, No. 115

Establishing a relation of trust means discovering the true dimension of spiritual and fraternal charity, a real message of hope that continues to be valid today.

Following in the footsteps of Blessed Mother Teresa, another “work camp” was organized in 2003 for 15 young people, accompanied by three priests, to be of service in Calcutta, a noisy and chaotic city, taking part in the great human and spiritual adventure lived by this “small big” sister, unmistakable in her white and blue sari. Typically, as a great devotee of the Miraculous Medal, she chose to live among the poor and the sick, in the depth of their misery, caring for them with great tenderness, absolute dedication and absolutely no favouritism. We try to follow her example and, imitating her ardour, we try to share the love that Christ has for us and which we are called to share with others. It is significant that as we started our service, the sisters of Mother Teresa gave us each a miraculous medal.

In Calcutta we discovered that prayer is the main source of true service: It is in prayer that we find the strength and the courage to enjoy the great gift of life which is mystery, wealth, love, struggle, happiness, beauty, sadness and a challenge that is worthwhile so that we may always grow closer to Christ's love.

The response of the young people, after their missionary experience, is the result of the need to reflect on many questions that come to mind.

2.6 Let us go now to Bethlehem !

The invitation came to us as a star in the night and, just like the shepherds, we responded without hesitation: “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us” (Lk 2:15).

Around the time of Christmas 2004, the parishes of the region, in cooperation with the Association of the Miraculous Medal, mustered the commitment and solidarity of the communities in their midst, to do something to help the country where Jesus was born – Bethlehem – to relieve the poverty of its inhabitants and overcome the isolation caused by the wall built around the town.

Solidarity flourishes when, in their hearts, people can leave behind their own comforts and their own way of life – their often very busy life – in order to go as pilgrims where “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14).

That is how the desire took shape to organize a “Work and pilgrimage camp” in Jesus' native land. As always we particularly wanted the young people of our communities to share in this service of charity. It was also to be a way to deeper faith and a search for our Christian roots.

7) From Ticino … to you, missionaries – December 2003, No. 124

Paul VI, when visiting the Holy Land , said:

“The first grace of a pilgrimage to the holy Land is to re-discover the relevance of the Gospel today, and to follow in the footsteps that Jesus left in history, to listen to his call in the depth of our heart and to listen to his message of salvation.”

From these preparatory meetings with the priests who accompanied the groups grew the desire to say “yes” to the invitation to go and be guided, like Mary, who after the Annunciation by the angel went to her cousin Elisabeth to take her the good news of salvation. That is also what we want to do: to go and be missionaries, to share the joy of being the bearers of a message of fraternity and peace, to share the life of those who fight for survival and who suffer unjustly. This is what our parish priest had to say about this:

“Words are not enough to share such a rich human and spiritual experience. Of course, we have received the gift of going to the Holy Land (Palestine, Israel … so many names to describe a piece of land that has never known peace), where Jesus walked and where people continue to suffer today, where pilgrims inevitably share in the sorrow of the people. Twenty two young people and two priests left, not only to go to Bethlehem like the shepherds and wise men, but also to be transformed, and to try and heal and enrich the people who live in Bethlehem today. This has been the humble service given by our volunteers in Bethlehem . And as well as the faces of the people we met in the course of our service, we also saw the face of Jesus as we visited the holy places in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

“Take off your sandals … you are on holy ground” - Fr. Luigi Boticaria.

Jerusalem , Nazareth , Lake Tiberias, Mount Tabor , the shores of the Jordan ... Interesting surroundings for a fruitful work camp and pilgrimage: one sheds light on the other … we sow the seeds of hope and a great wish for Shalom-Salam-Peace!”

3) Association of the Miraculous Medal – What place do young people have? 

When we talk about a Marian-missionary group, we must not only talk of objectives reached, but also of new frontiers that have to be explored.

It is in that spirit that, on 27 th November next, the anniversary of the apparitions in rue du Bac, and on the occasion of its 45 th anniversary in Ticino, MM Mendrisio will have a special Eucharistic celebration to renew its commitment to Mary and entrust to her who was the first missionary, the future of the association and all its members, benefactors, friends and young members, and all who share the same ideal of loving one's neighbor in charity, following the example of St Vincent de Paul.

3.1. Projects with young people

We must ensure that our association remains young and therefore we must never tire f giving witness with our lives and proclaiming the infinite love of Christ to all mankind and particularly to the young.

Young people are the future, they are our hope, the precious gift we must nurture. We must listen to their wishes, appreciate the young for who they are and for all the wonderful things they can offer.

After our ten years' experience with young people in missionary “work camps”, it is time to issue an invitation to those who participated in volunteer missionary work not to limit themselves to these “work camps”, but to deepen their faith by listening to the Word of God and by breaking the bread of the Eucharist and by fraternal sharing.

These encounters should be occasions to review all the things that were witnessed and lived through so that the missionary experience does not remain an isolated experience, but rather becomes part of the path of spiritual growth.

This is the challenge the future presents to us: to ensure that the Association always remains young and creative, open to young people by making them aware of the part they have to play today in the Church, in society and in the world.

During these years of volunteering and work camps, I have had the opportunity to get close to these young people as they matured in their faith. Some pursued a religious vocation, others became committed missionaries or served on the Committee of the Association. Others made a commitment to prayer and to disseminate the Miraculous Medal.

We entrust the future to Mary, our constant companion in prayer, and we welcome the invitation of John Paul II to return to the rosary as a way to meet Christ, to contemplate His face in the company of His Blessed Mother. If we accept this invitation and recover the strength of the rosary, we can be sure that, through the intercession of the Miraculous Medal, new horizons will open up, and new young people will start out onh the road and join us on our adventure, becoming volunteers, serving the poor, the sick, those who are marginalized, following the example of St Vincent de Paul.

3.2 Conclusion

With the invocation: “Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee”, we entrust to Mary all the projects which the Lord wants to bring about through each and every one of us. We follow the example of St Catherine Labouré and continue with courage, confidence and commitment, so that the Association of the Miraculous Medal in Mendrisio may always be part of that great Vincentian Family in the world and for the world, working in the “vineyard of the Lord”.

On 27 th November next, on the anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to St Catherine Labouré, the association in Mendrisio will celebrate the 45 th anniversary of its foundation. We are called to start out on a new road, which is sure to be yet more arduous, but we can be sure that the Lord and the Virgin Mary will always be there to help us and to protect us.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you all to Mondrisio to join us in our celebration, or at least to join us in spirit on Sunday 27 th November 2005, as we will have a solemn celebration of the Eucharist in our parish church. This celebration will be transmitted live on Radio Maria.

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