To all the members of the St John of God Hospitaller Family

Next Saturday, 16 November, we shall be celebrating the Solemnity of the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, and for this occasion I send you my best wishes, trusting that we shall all joyfully celebrate the feast of our Mother and Patron.

The 70th General Chapter of the Order, held in Częstochowa (Poland) from 15 October to 7 November, concluded a few days ago. At the Shrine of Jasna Góra, at the foot of the Black Madonna, we shared an unforgettable experience of hospitality, fraternity and synodality with all those attending the General Chapter: the brothers and Co-workers, secretarial staff, interpreters and other people who helped to make everything run smoothly. We are particularly grateful to the Polish Province for their hospitality and efforts to ensure its success. All of us, under the mantle of Our Mother, lived the Chapter experience where we laid the foundations for a new phase in the Order's life which is now beginning, and in which we are being called upon to respond to the many challenges of an ever-changing world.

The General Chapter reaffirmed the fact that the future of our Saint John of God Family is full of hope, based above all on two key points: the gift of hospitality, which the Lord continues to bestow on many men and women around the world; to some as Brothers, and to many others as lay people. This news fills us all with joy and is at the same time a call to organise and develop our institution based on this broad vision of the vocation to hospitality, promoting participation and synodality in everything.

The second point that the Chapter wishes to reaffirm the fact that it is Our Lord who is calling us to continue broadening and expanding the mission of hospitality. Above all, we are being called upon to continue to respond to the new emerging needs, with the compassionate and merciful heart of Our Lord and our Founder, Saint John of God. It is no time to withdraw, "it is a time to widen the tent and the space of the service of hospitality".

There are also other very interesting fruits that the Holy Spirit has given us at the Chapter, regarding the life of the brothers and the Saint John of God Family in general. Little by little we shall be passing them on to everyone and, above all, we shall have to welcome them with joy, boldness and the firm desire to implement them in practice, just as the community of Antioch did when it received the news from Paul and his companions of the outcome of the Council of Jerusalem (cf. Acts of the Apostles, 15, 30-31).    

Everything was experienced and "generated" at the feet of the Black Madonna. I wish to offer everything to our Patron, Our Lady of the Patronage, so that just as she accompanied and guided Saint John of God throughout his life (Fuenterrabia, Guadalupe, Granada...), she may continue to do so with the Family of Saint John of God, with me, and with all the people who will form the General Government Team. Let us entrust everything to her protection, so that the rich fruits of the General Chapter may be multiplied for the good of suffering humanity, the Church and the Order.   

Let us commit all the sick and the many people being cared for in the Order's Centres and facilities and their loved ones to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, praying that she will protect them, comfort them and cover them under her motherly mantle.   

I wish you all a very happy Feast of the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary and pray that she will accompany us over the six years that are now dawning and will continue to bless our beloved Order and all those of us who make up the Hospitaller Family of St John of God.

Bro Pascal Ahodegnon, oh