In this article the beautiful story of Maira Cabrini that begins like this..
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Ahead of her time: if Mother Cabrini were alive in 2024
Mother Cabrini is my great-great-grandmother. I knew it from a very young age. My parents and grandparents told me. We had books and magazines about her at home, and lots of pictures. But I had never felt her presence as much as when I went to visit Cabrini College on the 125th anniversary of her beatification last November.
That day I realized how deep a mark he has left on the world.
Driven by a calling she could not ignore, by an overwhelming empathy, and by her love for others, Mother Cabrini imagined a world far better than the one that existed. And she built it to help others.
If Mother Cabrini had been born in 1986, like me, in addition to being a Saint, she would have become a leader and a reference in the world of social impact. She would have known how to channel the power of the internet and social media to change negative narratives about migrants. She would have created alliances with governments and multinational companies to focus on those in need. And it would have mobilized to defend the most basic rights of people who have lost everything.
If Mother Cabrini were our contemporary, she would have persevered, against all odds, to achieve a more just world, just as thousands of immigrants do every year in Spain and Europe.
Today, 125 years later, it is his legacy that perseveres. The impact of his work is still palpable and transformative. It continues to touch the lives of thousands of people. And changing the world. Few social organizations today can say the same.
Thanks to her, a girl from Ukraine feels safe and integrated at the Cabrini School in Madrid. And a young boy from Algeria, who is still learning Spanish, doesn’t have to worry about falling behind in school. And these are just two of the children I had the opportunity to meet during my visit. There are more. Many more. Hundreds and thousands who still benefit today from the work of Mother Cabrini and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Hundreds and thousands who have benefited in the past. And who will do so in the future.
Me, I feel pride. And a lot of responsibility. I have no doubt that her legacy also lives on in us, her family. While we can hardly imitate Mother Cabrini’s reach, we can aspire to continue her journey, and to imitate her perpetual search for ways in which to improve people’s lives.
My father dedicated his professional life to UNHCR, providing care to refugees in countries such as Guatemala, Somalia or Pakistan. My sister, as a doctor, takes care of people in the most direct way. I work in an NGO that supports people who are solving some of the most important social problems of the 21st century.
It is 2024, and Francesca Cabrini is still very much alive, in all of us, and in the hundreds of thousands of lives she has touched.
Thank you Violeta – alumna and mother of students – and Cabrini School for reconnecting me with Mother Cabrini, with my family and with myself.“