On October 21, 2019, a large group of sisters and lay people gathered in the community of St. Vinzenz in Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil, to participate in the celebration of the First Profession of Sr. Marinês da Silva Bezerra. Sr. Marinês comes from Maranhão, a federal state in the North-East of Brazil. It was a beautiful and significant celebration, presided over by the Archbishop of Porto Alegre, Dom Jaime Spengler. Also present were: the Rev. Fr. Laênio Francisco Custodio, the Provincial Coordination and many women from the old people's home of Vila 2, where the Sisters of St. Vinzenz community live and work and where Sr. Marinês did her internship during the novitiate.
The community had prepared everything beautifully. The way they had arranged the room was an invitation to prayer. Quietly and assertive, Sr. Marinês expressed her request that she wanted to belong to the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence and Sr. Sandra Maira Pires, the Provincial Coordinator, answered in the affirmative to the request. In the end, the juniors took Sr. Marinês into the junior group. After the celebration there was a wonderful get-together of all those present.
Sr. Marinês said: "I felt like a daughter beloved by God and could confirm my desire to follow his Son Jesus as a Sister of Divine Providence. This was a unique moment, a moment of deep joy in my life and on my vocation path. Through this step, I have made a covenant with the one who loved me first. I entrusted my life to him and offered myself for the service of the Kingdom of God."
We thank God for this young woman who consecrates herself to God through religious life and is ready to belong to our congregation. We support Sr. Marinês and accompany her with our prayers, so that she feels happy with us and as a disciple. Thus, then she will be able to realize her mission with joy and enthusiasm in the service of the Kingdom of God.