Reverend Mother Sofia Garduño Nava
Founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Catechists of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Mother Sofia was a young woman of her time, joyful and restless, she had a family in which she learned her Christian life. It was a family committed to God and to the Church, for in her time, religion was forbidden, but the family was committed to taking care of the priests, to having Mass celebrated in their home and to taking care of the Blessed Sacrament in their own home. This is how her love for the Eucharist grew in her, in a relationship with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, so close and personal, that it marked her life forever.
Mother Sofia Garduño Nava, moved by the power of the Holy Spirit, was captivated by the love of God for her and for others, she found this love expressed in the Heart of Christ, she enjoyed this love and experienced feeling happy and loved, on the other hand she suffered when she saw the suffering of the people of her time. She was sensitive to the pain that families went through during the time of religious persecution in Mexico. She felt in her heart the power of the Holy Spirit to go everywhere, preaching the Good News of God’s love.
As a primary school teacher, she realised that children did not live love in their homes. Moreover, Mother Sophia was a promoter of women in their homes so that they would be good mothers and good citizens. Thus, on October 7, 1918, she founded the Congregation of Missionary Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Inspired by the situation of neglect in families, she initiated religious instruction for adults, especially for the Mothers of Families, which she called “The Conferences”.
Consecrating herself to the service of God and of families through the Sacred Hearts was the meaning that Mother Sofia gave to her life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it is the great and wonderful meaning of life for the Missionary Catechists of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Today the congregation is present in various places in the United States of America, Spain, Africa and Mexico in the north and south of the country.
Mother Sofia always encouraged the sisters in their various missions by means of letters exhorting them to seek holiness in community and to be a witness to the families of her time. “For a courageous heart nothing is impossible” RVD. Mother Sofia Garduno Nava.
Sister Angelica Valle Cabrera
Missionary Catechists of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
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- Sister Angelica Valle Cabrera