CELEBRATION OF THE SENDING

Sending Mass of the Superior general Mother Narcisa Maria Pasetto

This Sunday (15 September), the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence, of the Mother of Divine Providence Province, took part in the Holy Mass of Sending of their new Superior General of the Congregation, Mother Narcisa Maria Pasetto. The celebration took place in the chapel of the Mother Mary Home, a social work that Mother Narcisa has directed in recent years. The liturgical act was attended by Sisters, collaborators, volunteers and friends, as well as children and teenagers assisted by the Benedictine Mission of Divine Providence at the Mother Mary Home.

Present at the celebration, the Provincial Superior of the Mother of Divine Providence Province, Sister Maria José Barbosa dos Santos, emphasised that the Sending Mass evokes the sending of the disciples to spread God’s message and bring the Gospel:

This Eucharist that we celebrate today as the ‘sending forth’ of our new Superior General has a very strong meaning. She takes on the mission of leading our Congregation and, through the Sending Mass, we have the opportunity to gather and pray for her and for this new service.

Sister Maria José goes on to explain the mission of the Superior general:

Our documents define the mission of the Superior General thus: ‘Authority is a service of love. The General Superior is the guide and leader of the Institute of Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence. She has the responsibility to ensure its unity and its fidelity to its specific mission. She must also communicate to the Sisters the charity with which God loves them, guiding them to achieve more perfect fidelity to the freely-chosen ideal described in the Constitutions. The General Superior has authority over all the Provinces, Delegations, houses and members of the Institute. United with the Major Superiors and communities, she ensures fidelity to the charism and the growth, vitality and cohesion of the Institute.’

Mother Narcisa Maria Pasetto

Mother Narcisa, who belongs to the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence – Mother of Divine Providence Province, is the sixth child of the couple José Pasetto and Maria de Mattia Pasetto and was born on 31 July 1961 in Nova Veneza (Santa Catarina), Brazil. From the cradle, she and her siblings experienced faith and love for God from her parents, and she was baptised on 5 August that same year.

Ever since she was a little girl, she was very active, clever and intelligent. She was an exemplary pupil at school. She was very active in church. In the family, she liked to take part in everything she could. When she was 15, she became a catechist and an active member of the youth group at St Mark’s parish church. She was also part of the first folklore group, now the Italo-Brazilian group, in Nova Veneza.

At the age of 19, a student of Biology at FUCRI and an employee of Banco Real, she decided to leave everything to follow her religious vocation. She entered the Congregation on 11 April 1981 at the São Pio X Institute in Osasco, São Paulo. The local superior was Sister Adélia Gava. There she did her Aspirancy and Postulancy. She entered the novitiate on 23 January 1983, with Sister Maria José Baldessar as her mistress. On 10 February 1985, she made her First Religious Profession together with Sister Assunta Burtuluzzi.

She completed a degree in Biology in Criciúma – Santa Catarina, a postgraduate course in Psychopedagogy (School for Formators) in San Paul – San Paul, and a degree in Theology in Curitiba – Parana.

During her first years as a religious, from 1985 to 1990, Sister Narcisa devoted herself mainly to teaching children and young people at College São Bento in Criciúma, Santa Catarina. In 1991 she was invited to take on the mission of Mistress of Postulants in Curitiba, Paraná. From 1992 to 2003 she was Novice Mistress in Curitiba, Paraná. In February 2003 she took on the mission of Provincial Superior of the Mother of Divine Providence Province, based in Curitiba – Parana. She carried out this mission for three terms, until February 2012. She was currently local superior and postulants’ mistress at the Casa de Nazaré community in Curitiba, Paraná.

May God bless you on this new journey, Mother Narcisa! Count on our prayers!

At the end of the celebration, Mother Narcisa Maria Pasetto left those present with a message:

A word on my missionary sending

Our lives are built on our dreams. I’ve always dreamed of one day being sent on mission to Africa, but throughout my years of religious life, the Lord, through my Religious Congregation, has asked me for other missions, especially in formation and in the last 12 years here at Lar Mãe Maria. This was also a beautiful dream that we dreamt and built together.

And in all these missions, the Lord has given me the grace to fulfil them with joy and great commitment.

I can say that God has always been very good to me. Perhaps now, at the age of 63, he’s telling me: I haven’t forgotten you. I’m going to fulfil your dream of being a missionary, but not just to Africa, but to the world. This sending out on mission goes beyond Rome to the 15 countries on the four continents where the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence are present on mission.

I don’t know if the mission will be easy or difficult. The challenges will certainly be many.  And do you want to know what gave me the courage and confidence to say Yes to this great mission? It’s that throughout my almost 40 years of religious life, the Lord has always been very close to me, with his grace, with his love, with his Spirit. So, I’m certain that now will be no different. Because he is faithful and he will continue to be with me.

One of the prayers I pray daily is the Prayer of Pope Paul VI:

Holy Spirit, give me a large and strong heart, eager to become like the heart of the Lord Jesus. A big, strong heart to overcome every trial, every boredom, every tiredness, every disappointment, every offence! A heart that is big and strong and constant, even to the point of sacrifice when necessary.

And the Lord has always answered my prayer. It is with the lightness and strength of the Heart of Jesus that I embrace this new mission.

To my Sisters I ask: be patient with me, as you always have. Little by little I am learning and internalising this new mission of being a Mother.

But if being a Mother is being a Mother, I can say that it was mainly here in this mission of the Mother Mary Home, together with each child and adolescent that I learnt what it is to be a MOTHER, because in fact, more than a Sister? these children and teenagers wanted and needed a mother. It was with you that I strengthened my vocation, grew in love with our charism and our beloved foundresses: Mothers Maria and Mother Giustina Schiapparoli.

It was because of you, children and adolescents, that I had the opportunity to make many, many friends… many present here today… generous, big-hearted people, attracted and willing to give and give of themselves in this mission of the Mother Mary Home, of Welcoming, Assisting and Educating, of Caring and very much Loving. You have always been very generous to me and to this Home and I am happy that you continue to support and help in this mission.

Gratitude to everyone who came here to pray with me and for me, to give me strength and courage! It’s so good to see each one of you here at this unique moment for me and for our religious family.

We are together!  The mission is not only carried out by those who leave their homeland, their family, their friends… to evangelise, but it is also carried out by those who stay, by the knees that bend in prayer, by the hands that share generously, in self-giving and service. In this Church of Jesus, we are all disciples and missionaries, we are all Pilgrims of Hope!

In Rome, I’m going to live very close to our dear Pope Francis. But I’m not going alone, I’m taking each of you in my heart and in my prayers. And I’m also counting on your prayers so that I can be the Mother that my Congregation and the Church need most in this time called today. Wherever I go, I want to be that shepherdess with the scent of your sheep.

Thank you Sister Maria José, our Provincial Superior! Thank you Sister Sonia and Sister Celestina for welcoming us here today, the Sisters and formands present. Thank you Father Paulo, Father Joaquim Parron, Father Idelfonso and Deacon Márcio… to the singing and liturgy team for this beautiful celebration and to all of you present.

Infinite gratitude!!! God bless you!

Mother Narcisa Maria Pasetto

São José dos Pinhais / Parana, 15 September 2024.