Monthly reflection by the IMC / MC General Councils
in preparation to the Canonization
of Blessed Joseph Allamano
in preparation to the Canonization
of Blessed Joseph Allamano
Nepi/Rome, 16 July 2024
Dear Consolata Missionaries, Sisters, Brothers and Laity
Dear Consolata Missionaries, Sisters, Brothers and Laity
From his earliest childhood, Blessed Giuseppe Allamano never missed an opportunity to attend Holy Mass, which he did with great devotion. During his priestly formation, this love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament grew and permeated his whole life, becoming the centre of his spiritual life. He awaited his priestly ordination with trepidation. He wrote to Pietro Cantarella, his friend from the days of the Oratory of Valdocco: "What frightens me most, while I long for it, is that in a few months Jesus, the sacrificed Lamb, will come down to offer himself into my hands; what sanctity will I have then?”1. Allamano's life was a constant search for God, and his thirst was quenched in the presence of God in the Eucharist.
Those who knew Allamano could not help but marvel at the devotion and love with which he celebrated the Eucharist and visited the Blessed Sacrament. One of the first Consolata missionaries trained by Allamano, Father Lorenzo Sales, wrote: "If I had to put it in concrete terms, I would say that if you squeezed the heart and soul of Allamano in terms of his spiritual life, you would get a consecrated host". 2
The Eucharistic, priestly and missionary spirituality of the Founder
is born of his love for the Eucharist3.
is born of his love for the Eucharist3.
His vocation to found missionary institutes stemmed precisely from this intimate relationship with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, which gave rise to a deep desire to make him known and loved by those who do not yet know him.
"Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament," he said, "will kindle in you that fire which he came to bring to the earth and which he wants to kindle through you in unbelieving souls”4.
The Eucharistic aspect thus becomes central to our charism. For us, the Eucharist is the fire, the heart that beats and fuels our passion for God and every human being. In the Eucharistic Christ we experience and proclaim the love that saves and creates consolation.
The contact with Eucharistic Jesus received in Holy Communion became for him more and more a heart-to-heart conversation: he considered himself "a living tabernacle"5.
"Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament," he said, "will kindle in you that fire which he came to bring to the earth and which he wants to kindle through you in unbelieving souls”4.
The Eucharistic aspect thus becomes central to our charism. For us, the Eucharist is the fire, the heart that beats and fuels our passion for God and every human being. In the Eucharistic Christ we experience and proclaim the love that saves and creates consolation.
The contact with Eucharistic Jesus received in Holy Communion became for him more and more a heart-to-heart conversation: he considered himself "a living tabernacle"5.
From his personal experience, he explained how one lives with the Eucharistic Jesus: "When you have received him in Holy Communion tell him: Stay with me, Lord, until tomorrow when I will receive you again in Holy Communion... Tell him: Don't go away until tomorrow when you come again"6.
As a young seminarian, listening to a sermon during spiritual exercises, Allamano had perceived the triple presence of the Lord in the Eucharist: as victim, food and friend. This triple expression would become central and constant in his missionary formation. He tells missionaries in a conference:
As a young seminarian, listening to a sermon during spiritual exercises, Allamano had perceived the triple presence of the Lord in the Eucharist: as victim, food and friend. This triple expression would become central and constant in his missionary formation. He tells missionaries in a conference:
"Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is Victim, Food and Friend. Victim in the Holy Mass; Food in Holy Communion and Friend in his continual dwelling in the Holy Tabernacle”7.
Inwardly penetrated by the Eucharistic Presence, Allamano exhorted his sons and daughters to be devotees of the Blessed Sacrament and to be transformed by the love for the Eucharist:
"I want to make you all devotees of the Blessed Sacrament. It is the sun: everything is around it and directed towards it. So be devotees of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, ... be in love... I want this to be the devotion of the Institute ... it must be everyone's ... but I want it to be ours in a special way ... I want you to be many Sacramentines. Holy Mass, Communion and Visitation, these three things must be our three loves"8.
Allamano expresses the same desire for the Missionary Sisters, stressing the intimacy with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament that they must cultivate: "I want you to be Eucharistic: I want you to be Sacramentine Missionary Sisters. It is so beautiful to live in union with Jesus! It is also simple and comforting. You, even if you live an active life, can be a Sacramentine and remain gathered in the solitude of your heart (...) so that in Africa, when you have some sorrow, you will know how to go and place it at the feet of Jesus, you will know how to send Him many streams of love, and so united with Him you will be able to do much good9.
"I want to make you all devotees of the Blessed Sacrament. It is the sun: everything is around it and directed towards it. So be devotees of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, ... be in love... I want this to be the devotion of the Institute ... it must be everyone's ... but I want it to be ours in a special way ... I want you to be many Sacramentines. Holy Mass, Communion and Visitation, these three things must be our three loves"8.
Allamano expresses the same desire for the Missionary Sisters, stressing the intimacy with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament that they must cultivate: "I want you to be Eucharistic: I want you to be Sacramentine Missionary Sisters. It is so beautiful to live in union with Jesus! It is also simple and comforting. You, even if you live an active life, can be a Sacramentine and remain gathered in the solitude of your heart (...) so that in Africa, when you have some sorrow, you will know how to go and place it at the feet of Jesus, you will know how to send Him many streams of love, and so united with Him you will be able to do much good9.
Love for the Eucharist guides and sustains us until we become the broken bread that gives itself to all. This is possible on a personal and communal level when Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, "the Sun", becomes for us the centre of the home, community, each missionary presence and, above all, the centre of everyone's life to the point of being conformed to Him.
Let us accept his invitation to be women and men in love with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to the point of constant union with him. Let us allow our life and mission to begin and continue in this intimate relationship with Jesus, to be those missionaries that the Founder wanted.
At this time, let us read and make our own the words of our Founder when he speaks of the Eucharist and let us pause to contemplate Jesus in the Eucharist.
Let us accept his invitation to be women and men in love with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to the point of constant union with him. Let us allow our life and mission to begin and continue in this intimate relationship with Jesus, to be those missionaries that the Founder wanted.
At this time, let us read and make our own the words of our Founder when he speaks of the Eucharist and let us pause to contemplate Jesus in the Eucharist.
May this Eucharistic Presence, contemplated and loved, help us to become people who are attentive to the wounds of humanity, who offer true consolation, who free themselves from themselves to be presences of peace, mercy, welcome, hope, through humble and generous service, loving to the end, even to the point of giving up one's life.
May this love for the Eucharist be the energy of love that sustains our life and action together as one family united around the same mission of Jesus.
May this love for the Eucharist be the energy of love that sustains our life and action together as one family united around the same mission of Jesus.
1 Quasi una vita... Lettere scritte e ricevute dal Beato G. Allamano, con testi e documenti coevi (a cura di C. Bona), Ed. Missioni Consolata, Roma 1990, I, pp.31-32.
2 Positio super virtutibus, Roma 1986, nota 47, p. 229.
3 Cf. Ibid., p. 229.
4 Conferenze alle Suore, Vol. I, p. 14.
5 Suor Chiara Strapazzon, Positio, p. 231.
6 Conferenze alle Suore, Vol. III, p. 417
7 Conferenze ai Missionari., Vol. III, p. 593.
8 Conferenze ai Missionari, Vol. II, pp. 191, 284, 609.
9 Conferenze alle Suore, Vol. I, pp. 139,140.
