Maria Teresa, a Yes that gives life

Twenty years ago, on 23 March, Maria Teresa Canavese, a sister of our Fraternity, was preparing to go to Mass at seven in the morning when she was struck by a massive cerebral haemorrhage and departed for Heaven. She had arrived here in Jordan just one day earlier, to be a mother to the Fraternity that would shortly open the Arsenal of Encounter in Madaba, but the Lord found her ready to be a mother to us in Heaven, beside Him.

Twenty years on, the memory of the suffering and of the enormous trial that this passage represented for all of us is still very much alive in our hearts, but we also see clearly how Maria Teresa’s life – given and offered until the very end – has been and continues to be a blessing for our Fraternity, and especially for our mission in Jordan. During this particularly difficult time, we often find ourselves entrusting to her what we are experiencing, our hardships, the war so close to us, but also our hopes, the service we continue to offer, and the protection of all the little ones entrusted to our care... And we ask her to help us learn ever more deeply to live as she lived.

Thinking of Maria Teresa, there could be many words to describe her. We have chosen six: availability, humility, unconditional love, faith, wonder and gratitude.

Availability: Maria Teresa, faced with every unexpected situation and every request, always had these words on her lips and in her heart: “I’m here!” You never heard her place conditions on the proposals made to her within the Fraternity. She trusted and put herself on the line, always!

Unconditional love: Maria Teresa knew how to be with people who were important to her as well as with society’s “outcasts”. Every person she encountered was, for her, a soul whose dignity had to be respected and who had to be loved. How many people violated and disfigured by life found in her a point of reference and the strength to change direction... With discretion, but also with firmness, she knew how to put herself in everyone’s shoes, supporting them, encouraging them when they were struggling, and helping them discover and bring out the best in themselves.

Humility: Maria Teresa was not someone who sought to stand out, but she was always there! A humble person, who knew how to take the last place as well as the first. And wherever she was, she was always herself, serene in the “yes” she had given, simple, discreet, yet always attentive and capable of noticing every need, every necessity.

Faith: thanks to her faith in God and her trust in Ernesto, Rosanna and the entire Sermig, Maria Teresa understood that – even without having any particular abilities – together, in God’s presence and entrusted to Him, great things could be accomplished even in the silence and simplicity of everyday life.

Wonder and gratitude: in the face of “great” things, Maria Teresa always experienced a growing sense of wonder and a deep feeling of gratitude towards God and towards all those who shared with her the adventure of Sermig. Her life was a Magnificat.

I believe that each of us who knew her has a particular reason to say “Thank you” to Maria Teresa and to her Yes that gave life. We ask her to continue to protect us, accompany us and encourage us, so that the “Thank you” that arises within us every time we think of her may become ever more fully a source of life for many, just as hers was.

The Sermig Fraternity
NP April 2026