With hearts full of gratitude and joy, we wish to share the beautiful experience of the spiritual retreat held at the Monastery of Santa Croce in Bocca di Magra. Several sisters from the Mother Caterina Province in Rome had the blessing of gathering in this place of extraordinary beauty—embraced by the blue sea and surrounded by olive trees—to experience a time of prayer, reflection, and interior renewal.

We gathered to meditate and pray around the theme: “Attentive to the signs of the times, with hearts open and ready for the newness of the Spirit, to promote the culture of life.” This theme opened up profound horizons for reflection and invited us to view the reality around us with new eyes, rediscovering our call to be living signs of life in its fullness in today’s world.

The heart of the retreat was an intense and moving biblical journey, centered on the lives of Mary, Mother of God, and Jesus. Through the Sacred Scriptures, we rediscovered how their lives illuminate and nourish our own path as consecrated women, offering us concrete models of openness, faith, and total surrender to the Father’s will.

The meditations guided us step by step through key moments in the lives of Mary and Jesus. It was a time of true contemplative prayer, of fruitful silence, and of deep listening to the Word.

Among the many biblical passages that nourished our prayer and meditation, certain words left a particularly deep mark on our hearts: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30).

These words, spoken by the angel to Mary, reminded us that we, too, are called to live without fear, secure in the knowledge that we are loved and sustained by God at every step of our consecrated life. “For nothing will be impossible for God” (Lk 1:37)—a promise that has become a renewed foundation for trust. “I must be about my Father’s business” (Lk 2:49)—the words of the young Jesus in the Temple resonated as a renewed call for each of us; this is our deepest vocation: to attend to the Father’s affairs with all our heart and with our entire lives. This retreat was a time of authentic grace for us. The Scriptures, the beauty of the surroundings, the shared fellowship, and the fruitful silence of prayer renewed our spirits and rekindled in our hearts the desire to consecrate our lives to the things of God. We departed with hearts that were freer, more receptive, and more open to the newness of the Spirit.

We thank the Lord for this precious gift.