Goodbye and hello!

As 2025 folds into memory,

I am grateful—

for memories, for experiences, for encounters.

We said goodbye—

to family, to friends, to Sisters,

to those whose pilgrimage on this earth is complete.

Their absence feels like a quiet room,

waiting, still, softly echoing.

We said hello—

to a Jubilee of hope, of mercy,

of remembering what it means

to walk as seeker, follower, disciple.

A year of hope, a gentle flame,

lighting hearts, calling names.

A Jubilee for all—

the young, the old, families, the servants, the struggling,

the curious, the doubting.

All roads lead to Rome,

to the unforgettable stillness

of a million young souls

in Eucharistic Adoration, in a field.

Goodbye to Pope Francis, pilgrim to the end,

who goes home to the Father,

amidst Easter bells still ringing the Resurrexit song.

Hello to Pope Leo,

who takes the wheel,

guiding St. Peter’s Barque

with quiet strength and steadfast heart.

A month with our silver jubilarians—

listening, learning, walking slowly together,

bringing us back to Alba, Guarene-Piedmonte,

to the humble, still roots

of those who dreamed before us,

where service and prayer meet.

Hello to new places—

visits near and far,

my heart wide with marvel at Africa, at Korea, Portugal,

everything new, yet somehow the same.

Hello to new opportunities,

goodbye to fears,

welcoming the weight of responsibility,

allowing nostalgia to brush the edges

of a wholehearted “Yes”

to wherever He calls.

Discernment bends the path,

yet hope threads through,

forging new ways ahead.

2026 waits—

a horizon folded in mist,

its shape uncertain, its call gentle,

its promise quiet.

The world keeps turning,

time unfolds in whispered dreams,

the future holds.

And I am already grateful.

I am already hopeful.