The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, as everything they owned was held in common. (Acts 4:32)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1994/199401.htm)
BUILDING NEW RELATIONSHIPS
In inter-human relations giving requires receiving, because it is giving and receiving that create communion, fraternity and consequently equality.
Giving means then to share, the communion of spiritual and material goods. With these attitudes of giving we overcome other attitudes of giving which exist in the civilization of having: that which offends because they are flawed by the desire for power over others; that which in the act of giving one seeks ones own satisfaction, ones own vainglory; that “utilitarian” that even though giving, it is finalized and directed to ones own usefulness, ones own gain.
True giving that creates new relationships is that which Jesus taught us in the Gospel. That giving which, lived by the first Christians, did such that one could say of them: “they were of one heart and soul and among them there was no one in need” (cf. At 4,32).
Nothing less than this is required of Christians today in order to construct a united world.
Chiara Lubich said at a large gathering of youth at Palaeur in Rome in 1990:
“Jesus defined the commandment of love “mine” and “new”, because it is typically His, having filled it with a very new and singular content. “Love one another – He said – as I have love you”. And He gave His life for us. Thus in this love there is in play here ones life. And a love that is ready to give ones life is what He asks of us also toward our brothers. It is not sufficient for a Christian only friendship or benevolence toward others; philanthropy is not enough, nor even solidarity alone. The love that Jesus asks is not exhausted in non-violence. It is something active, very active. It requires that one no longer live for oneself, but for others. And this requires sacrifice, fatigue. It asks of everyone to transform themselves from cowardly and egotistical people, concentrated on their own interests, their own things, into little daily heroes, day after day, they are at the service of the brothers, ready to give even their lives in their favor”.
In these relationships that come untied in everyday life and in the strong moments of life, the person arrives to the maturity of emancipation, and, thus, of authentic sociality.
Vera Araujo
(Vera Araujo is a Brazilian sociologist; she teaches social doctrine of the Church in the international citadel of Loppiano and collaborates with various magazines. Beyond being a consultant to the Movement "New Humanity" – a social expression of the Focolare Movement – she took part as an "expert" at the Fourth Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) held in 1992 in Santo Domingo.)
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An Experience of Life:
I have always been attached to my cloths and each year I tended to accumulate them. A month ago, during the change of season, I realized how much I was conditioned by this attachment; I felt a strong push to eliminate from the closet all that was superfluous. In the end I ended up with a few things and a great freedom of heart; I discovered the beauty and the importance of the communion of material goods!
This little cutting permitted me to re-give the proper value to things putting again God in the first place.
(A seventeen year old girl)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Luke 1:37
For with God nothing will be impossible! (Lk 1:37)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9912.htm)
These words were spoken by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. I would like to quote the words of a Servant of God, Igino Giordani. He was a writer, a journalist, a politician, an ecumenist and patrologist; he is one the persons who most represents the twentieth century, a many-sided personality that has left deep imprints and opened prophetic prospectives on the cultural, political, ecclesial and social levels. (1984-1980). (http://www.scamat.it/news/iginogiordani.htm; http://www.iginogiordani.info/). The following quote reads better in Italian because it is closer to being poetry than pros. (http://www.indaco-torino.net/liturgia/08122005.htm)
- - -
Full of grace, the Lord is with you! (Lk 1:28)
Mary enters into history while she prays. The archangel surprises her in prayer. Her joy is to pray: her life is to pray. To pray is to converse with the Lord, to effuse oneself in Him, to give oneself to Him. What does it matter the misery of the cubbyhole, dugout in the tuff, from walls which ooze with the water from the hills or burns under the sun on the plain, when against her, on the sand dunes, one can build the richness of the love of God, distilled in the colloquy between the daughter and the Father, between the handmaid and the King, between nothingness and All? Mary lost herself and found the Eternal.
And all of this for an intense heat of love, where she was transfigured at the feet of God. The prayer of Mary was transfusion of love. (…)
Mary is the whole religion, all of virtue: truly in her the love of God made Itself love of man and, in the ardor and light, generated the purity on the foundation of humility with the expression of wisdom, virtue protected by silence.
Marian love does not ask; it gives. It does not pretend; it considers itself in debt. If it is left alone, it endures; if it is ignored, it rejoices; if it is trampled on, it leaps in God. It makes of Calvary on earth a springboard to heaven. Where it is re-loved, it is well; where it is not loved, it draws nearer to the Crucified One.
It is not regretful if it is not understood. Hidden, it is more valid: as at Nazareth. It draws its value in seeing, with its help, the brother rejoices and is lifted up, even if the loving soul, in itself, is discouraged. What merit of love there is in making itself one with the one loved, even if the one loved resists unity. Its beauty is in submitting itself; it obeys, not commands; it disappears, it does not appear; it is silent, it does not defend itself. Like Mary: the handmaid of the Lord, in whom one sees that if one make oneself nothing, one thus obtains the All. For this making herself nothing, Mary, a humble daughter of peasant craftsmen, in a remote village, was considered worthy to become the Mother of God.
(Taken from “Mary the Perfect Model” (“Maria modello perfetto” by Igino Giordani).
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An Experience of Life:
I have on my study desk two very beautiful images, with captions of equal status: the Most Holy Trinity of the Jubilee (“Thou dost beset me behind and before” Psalm 139) and our Lady (“Mary, Mother of tenderness and mercy, you are the image and sign of the new creation”).
I draw from these icons for my daily prayer. In particular I pray to the Lord to help me to grow spiritually, in order to give witness in my life as a young person, in a world that is changing, according to the design that He has given to me.
To Mary, who knew how to recognize the will of God for herself, who received it with joy, who with courage brought it to fulfillment, I ask for her presence and for her love in order to accomplish the steps that bring me to the realization of the mission of God for me.
I am certain in this way to “contemplate the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”, in the expectation of Paradise.
Franceso (Italy)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9912.htm)
These words were spoken by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. I would like to quote the words of a Servant of God, Igino Giordani. He was a writer, a journalist, a politician, an ecumenist and patrologist; he is one the persons who most represents the twentieth century, a many-sided personality that has left deep imprints and opened prophetic prospectives on the cultural, political, ecclesial and social levels. (1984-1980). (http://www.scamat.it/news/iginogiordani.htm; http://www.iginogiordani.info/). The following quote reads better in Italian because it is closer to being poetry than pros. (http://www.indaco-torino.net/liturgia/08122005.htm)
- - -
Full of grace, the Lord is with you! (Lk 1:28)
Mary enters into history while she prays. The archangel surprises her in prayer. Her joy is to pray: her life is to pray. To pray is to converse with the Lord, to effuse oneself in Him, to give oneself to Him. What does it matter the misery of the cubbyhole, dugout in the tuff, from walls which ooze with the water from the hills or burns under the sun on the plain, when against her, on the sand dunes, one can build the richness of the love of God, distilled in the colloquy between the daughter and the Father, between the handmaid and the King, between nothingness and All? Mary lost herself and found the Eternal.
And all of this for an intense heat of love, where she was transfigured at the feet of God. The prayer of Mary was transfusion of love. (…)
Mary is the whole religion, all of virtue: truly in her the love of God made Itself love of man and, in the ardor and light, generated the purity on the foundation of humility with the expression of wisdom, virtue protected by silence.
Marian love does not ask; it gives. It does not pretend; it considers itself in debt. If it is left alone, it endures; if it is ignored, it rejoices; if it is trampled on, it leaps in God. It makes of Calvary on earth a springboard to heaven. Where it is re-loved, it is well; where it is not loved, it draws nearer to the Crucified One.
It is not regretful if it is not understood. Hidden, it is more valid: as at Nazareth. It draws its value in seeing, with its help, the brother rejoices and is lifted up, even if the loving soul, in itself, is discouraged. What merit of love there is in making itself one with the one loved, even if the one loved resists unity. Its beauty is in submitting itself; it obeys, not commands; it disappears, it does not appear; it is silent, it does not defend itself. Like Mary: the handmaid of the Lord, in whom one sees that if one make oneself nothing, one thus obtains the All. For this making herself nothing, Mary, a humble daughter of peasant craftsmen, in a remote village, was considered worthy to become the Mother of God.
(Taken from “Mary the Perfect Model” (“Maria modello perfetto” by Igino Giordani).
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An Experience of Life:
I have on my study desk two very beautiful images, with captions of equal status: the Most Holy Trinity of the Jubilee (“Thou dost beset me behind and before” Psalm 139) and our Lady (“Mary, Mother of tenderness and mercy, you are the image and sign of the new creation”).
I draw from these icons for my daily prayer. In particular I pray to the Lord to help me to grow spiritually, in order to give witness in my life as a young person, in a world that is changing, according to the design that He has given to me.
To Mary, who knew how to recognize the will of God for herself, who received it with joy, who with courage brought it to fulfillment, I ask for her presence and for her love in order to accomplish the steps that bring me to the realization of the mission of God for me.
I am certain in this way to “contemplate the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”, in the expectation of Paradise.
Franceso (Italy)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9911.htm)
We know that the Beatitudes are not a negative presentation of Christianity. The image before us is that of a king who in his program inserts a special attention for the category of the weaker ones, as the object of predilection.
The beatitudes are therefore not moral virtues but gifts of a new prospective.
Who then are the pure of heart? They are the simple people, without hidden wrinkles, who know how to see God in life and in the phenomena of nature, as a sun which shines from within everything and behind everything in existence. They are the ones who do not fall into the malice of suspicion as their only criteria to judge their neighbor, but live the phrase of Jesus: “If your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light” (Mt 6:22).
Our job is to purify our outlook, and life will be immediately, now, blessed. The saints are our first models.
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
I go to the school of cinematography. Even today the professor is shelling us with images of naked pseudo art. He says that he does this to prepare us for the work that we will have to encounter in the future. At the end of the lesson, I went to him: “I would like to say to you that I disapprove of the constant study of these images in order to acquire our professional licence”. His reply was cold: “Miss, you have something inside of you that is not resolved, but I am not the one to psychoanalyse you”.
I was not frightened; I listen to him and I remained in the reality that I had in my heart: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. As we continued to talk for a while he began to abandon his professorial tone. “If you knew how many times I cried because I had to do something that was against my principles! – he confided to me in the end. - But life has taught me to put up with everything, and you too will do the same!”
Unexpectedly the following day, the professor invited me to express my thoughts to the class regarding the sexual scenes. I looked at my companions: I knew that the greater part of them had very confusing ideas and I felt that it was the moment to transmit, with love, my certainty regarding the respect for others and for life. The professor supported me and declared that he shared my reflections.
After a few days, my companions came to tell me that they were in agreement with me, but they never before had the courage to express themselves freely. I took this opportunity to speak also about their difficulties and sentiments. They asked my advise. I emptied myself interiorly in order to receive each one of them. I listened to them thoroughly and they discovered by themselves the answers that they needed while rediscovering the values that they did know that they had in their hearts. There was born among all of us a freedom and a confidence unimaginable only a few days before. Jesus entered the school of cinematography and He is making headway in the souls of my companions. Only He is the medicine that can cure from the inside the confusion and the sicknesses of our society. (Sonia A. – Argentina).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9911.htm)
We know that the Beatitudes are not a negative presentation of Christianity. The image before us is that of a king who in his program inserts a special attention for the category of the weaker ones, as the object of predilection.
The beatitudes are therefore not moral virtues but gifts of a new prospective.
Who then are the pure of heart? They are the simple people, without hidden wrinkles, who know how to see God in life and in the phenomena of nature, as a sun which shines from within everything and behind everything in existence. They are the ones who do not fall into the malice of suspicion as their only criteria to judge their neighbor, but live the phrase of Jesus: “If your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light” (Mt 6:22).
Our job is to purify our outlook, and life will be immediately, now, blessed. The saints are our first models.
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
I go to the school of cinematography. Even today the professor is shelling us with images of naked pseudo art. He says that he does this to prepare us for the work that we will have to encounter in the future. At the end of the lesson, I went to him: “I would like to say to you that I disapprove of the constant study of these images in order to acquire our professional licence”. His reply was cold: “Miss, you have something inside of you that is not resolved, but I am not the one to psychoanalyse you”.
I was not frightened; I listen to him and I remained in the reality that I had in my heart: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. As we continued to talk for a while he began to abandon his professorial tone. “If you knew how many times I cried because I had to do something that was against my principles! – he confided to me in the end. - But life has taught me to put up with everything, and you too will do the same!”
Unexpectedly the following day, the professor invited me to express my thoughts to the class regarding the sexual scenes. I looked at my companions: I knew that the greater part of them had very confusing ideas and I felt that it was the moment to transmit, with love, my certainty regarding the respect for others and for life. The professor supported me and declared that he shared my reflections.
After a few days, my companions came to tell me that they were in agreement with me, but they never before had the courage to express themselves freely. I took this opportunity to speak also about their difficulties and sentiments. They asked my advise. I emptied myself interiorly in order to receive each one of them. I listened to them thoroughly and they discovered by themselves the answers that they needed while rediscovering the values that they did know that they had in their hearts. There was born among all of us a freedom and a confidence unimaginable only a few days before. Jesus entered the school of cinematography and He is making headway in the souls of my companions. Only He is the medicine that can cure from the inside the confusion and the sicknesses of our society. (Sonia A. – Argentina).
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Matthew 22:39
Love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22: 39).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9910.htm)
Jesus in a heated debate with the theologians of His time, reassumes in the love of God with ones whole heart, soul and mind and in the love of neighbor as oneself, the greatest and the first of the commandments. How simple! Man finds in this double love his unity, the meaning of life, the fundamental style that gives eternal value to every little action.
But, if love is in our DNA and thus we can all love, it is also true that one must learn to love. To learn the art of loving is the most important and exciting job of life. Let us begin to train ourselves putting into practice that “as yourself”. Saint Frances de Sales used to say it like this: “Put yourselves always in the place of your neighbor and put your neighbor in your place, so you will judge well. When buying, imagine to be the one who sells and when selling to be the one who buys: in this way you will buy and sell fairly”.
Visit also: “The Hope of the World!” (http://trueevangelization.blogspot.com/2010/01/hope-of-world.html).
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An Experience of Life:
I was returning from “Gen Camp” in the bus. I wanted to make a visit to my parents and, not knowing much of the area, I asked for information from the passenger who was next to me. He rudely treated me like an ignoramus and I became angry. After this incident I remained silent, looking out the window. At a certain point I remembered what we proposed to ourselves during the Camp: to be new men who construct a new world. I had to change and re-begin from the top with this neighbor in the present moment. I mustered up the courage and I excused myself. Even he, surprised by my attitude, excused himself with me and after a little while he asked me who I might be. “I am a Christian”, I said to him. And he: “Now I understand the reason for your attitude; we Muslims are not used to excusing ourselves; I am happy to have met a Christian person.” From that moment the relationship changed totally. He too was going to the same city as me. When we arrived, he asked me where I was going and to my surprise he accompanied me in a “Tonga” (a type of cart drawn by horses), even paying for the ticked. When we took leave of each other, he embraced me and said that he was happy to have known a brother Christian. This experience of dialogue left in my heart the certainty that I too, together with the Persons of the Trinity and so many brothers and sisters, can build up a united world.
Shakeel, Pakistan
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9910.htm)
Jesus in a heated debate with the theologians of His time, reassumes in the love of God with ones whole heart, soul and mind and in the love of neighbor as oneself, the greatest and the first of the commandments. How simple! Man finds in this double love his unity, the meaning of life, the fundamental style that gives eternal value to every little action.
But, if love is in our DNA and thus we can all love, it is also true that one must learn to love. To learn the art of loving is the most important and exciting job of life. Let us begin to train ourselves putting into practice that “as yourself”. Saint Frances de Sales used to say it like this: “Put yourselves always in the place of your neighbor and put your neighbor in your place, so you will judge well. When buying, imagine to be the one who sells and when selling to be the one who buys: in this way you will buy and sell fairly”.
Visit also: “The Hope of the World!” (http://trueevangelization.blogspot.com/2010/01/hope-of-world.html).
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
I was returning from “Gen Camp” in the bus. I wanted to make a visit to my parents and, not knowing much of the area, I asked for information from the passenger who was next to me. He rudely treated me like an ignoramus and I became angry. After this incident I remained silent, looking out the window. At a certain point I remembered what we proposed to ourselves during the Camp: to be new men who construct a new world. I had to change and re-begin from the top with this neighbor in the present moment. I mustered up the courage and I excused myself. Even he, surprised by my attitude, excused himself with me and after a little while he asked me who I might be. “I am a Christian”, I said to him. And he: “Now I understand the reason for your attitude; we Muslims are not used to excusing ourselves; I am happy to have met a Christian person.” From that moment the relationship changed totally. He too was going to the same city as me. When we arrived, he asked me where I was going and to my surprise he accompanied me in a “Tonga” (a type of cart drawn by horses), even paying for the ticked. When we took leave of each other, he embraced me and said that he was happy to have known a brother Christian. This experience of dialogue left in my heart the certainty that I too, together with the Persons of the Trinity and so many brothers and sisters, can build up a united world.
Shakeel, Pakistan
Friday, September 3, 2010
Matthew 18:22
“I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9909.htm)
It is not easy to live this word of Jesus. In fact, in many cases, it would be impossible without the help of God (Mt 19:26)! But what happens when this word is not lived? This is what we see before our eyes everyday. There are nations in the state of latent conflict, as in the Middle East, where terrorism is the reply to a situation seen as offensive and oppression, and reprisal is the reply to terrorism. There is still applied to the letter “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. This is the political wisdom of men. They do not realize that this way of doing things, as St. Paul tells us, is folly (1Cor 3:19). It does not resolve anything, it does not break the chain of evil, but perpetuates it and aggravates it. Revenge produces revenge, and so it will be, unfortunately, until the end of the world. This is the reality, but we have understood that this is not the Gospel with its invitation to forgiveness for those who have gone wrong, but it is “the reality”. But let us not let ourselves be upset by the disparity between the ideal and the reality, but let us continue to commit ourselves to striving to bring forth the Gospel, beginning with ourselves. Who, when finding himself in his living place, does not have at once a few pardons in suspense to courageously offer?
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An Experience of Life:
Young Jerry, a small black boy from Washington, had already learned to live these words of Jesus. He was put in a special class at school because of his high I.Q. All the other children were white. But his intelligence was not enough to make his classmates understand that he was their equal. They didn't like him because he was black, and when Christmas came and they all exchanged presents, they left him out. He was upset, as you can imagine. But when he got home he thought about Jesus: “Forgive… Love your enemies”, and with his mother's permission he went out and bought gifts which he gave with love to all his “white brothers and sisters”.
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9909.htm)
It is not easy to live this word of Jesus. In fact, in many cases, it would be impossible without the help of God (Mt 19:26)! But what happens when this word is not lived? This is what we see before our eyes everyday. There are nations in the state of latent conflict, as in the Middle East, where terrorism is the reply to a situation seen as offensive and oppression, and reprisal is the reply to terrorism. There is still applied to the letter “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. This is the political wisdom of men. They do not realize that this way of doing things, as St. Paul tells us, is folly (1Cor 3:19). It does not resolve anything, it does not break the chain of evil, but perpetuates it and aggravates it. Revenge produces revenge, and so it will be, unfortunately, until the end of the world. This is the reality, but we have understood that this is not the Gospel with its invitation to forgiveness for those who have gone wrong, but it is “the reality”. But let us not let ourselves be upset by the disparity between the ideal and the reality, but let us continue to commit ourselves to striving to bring forth the Gospel, beginning with ourselves. Who, when finding himself in his living place, does not have at once a few pardons in suspense to courageously offer?
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
Young Jerry, a small black boy from Washington, had already learned to live these words of Jesus. He was put in a special class at school because of his high I.Q. All the other children were white. But his intelligence was not enough to make his classmates understand that he was their equal. They didn't like him because he was black, and when Christmas came and they all exchanged presents, they left him out. He was upset, as you can imagine. But when he got home he thought about Jesus: “Forgive… Love your enemies”, and with his mother's permission he went out and bought gifts which he gave with love to all his “white brothers and sisters”.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Luke 1:45
“Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:45)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9908.htm)
In the midst of delusions, of sufferings and of persecutions in our present times, the celebration of the Assumption invites us to look at Mary as a sign of sure hope and to live in this world constantly oriented toward the eternal goods. Faith in the presence of our Lord which sustains our walk, and charity which fills our heart with the presence of God and which brings us close to the needs of people, permit us to feed the hope in the realization of the promises of God. By faith the whole man gives himself to God receiving that which He has made known. Through the faith of Mary there is accomplished the work of Salvation: the Son of God comes to us. Because of her faith, Mary is said to be blessed: blessed because she believes in the Word of God. And the first beatitude, the one that is fundamental: faith in the promise, which permits the Lord to live “today” in the believers who listen to this Word. The beatitude of Mary is shared with each believer who listens and lives the Word. The Word is to be welcomed as it truly is, the “Word of God which is at work in you believers” (1Thess 2:13).
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
I BELIEVE IN THE LOVE OF THE FATHER
One day, while going to the university, I passed by a church. I was praying when a boy who was limping and dressed in rags with a heavy knapsack came up to me to ask for alms. I got up and we went toward the door so as not to disturb the people seated in the pews.
There he tells me all about his situation: in three days he will be able to enter a community for detoxification and rehabilitation, but he does not have money to eat nor does he know where to go to sleep for three days. He shows me an ugly wound on one of his legs.
I had with me only enough money to buy a book for the exam and to eat in the cafeteria. I turned towards the altar with faith: “Jesus – I said to him in my heart – you know that I need this money, but I believe in the love of the Father…” I took the money and I gave it to the boy, whose face lit up. Even outside of the church he continued to thank me… Then I went to the school faculty, and the morning passed by without thinking anymore about this event.
At noon, at the dining hall, I fill my tray and I give my magnetic card to the cashier, who gives me a receipt stamped on it “euro 0”. How come? The cashier asks me if I had asked for a study grant. I said yes, but my request was not accepted. The cashier said: “You did not get the study grant, but in recompense they offered you free meals for the whole year”.
I feel a “thump” in my heart: the Father up there did not even wait two hours to reciprocate!
Stefano (Padova, Italy)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9908.htm)
In the midst of delusions, of sufferings and of persecutions in our present times, the celebration of the Assumption invites us to look at Mary as a sign of sure hope and to live in this world constantly oriented toward the eternal goods. Faith in the presence of our Lord which sustains our walk, and charity which fills our heart with the presence of God and which brings us close to the needs of people, permit us to feed the hope in the realization of the promises of God. By faith the whole man gives himself to God receiving that which He has made known. Through the faith of Mary there is accomplished the work of Salvation: the Son of God comes to us. Because of her faith, Mary is said to be blessed: blessed because she believes in the Word of God. And the first beatitude, the one that is fundamental: faith in the promise, which permits the Lord to live “today” in the believers who listen to this Word. The beatitude of Mary is shared with each believer who listens and lives the Word. The Word is to be welcomed as it truly is, the “Word of God which is at work in you believers” (1Thess 2:13).
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
I BELIEVE IN THE LOVE OF THE FATHER
One day, while going to the university, I passed by a church. I was praying when a boy who was limping and dressed in rags with a heavy knapsack came up to me to ask for alms. I got up and we went toward the door so as not to disturb the people seated in the pews.
There he tells me all about his situation: in three days he will be able to enter a community for detoxification and rehabilitation, but he does not have money to eat nor does he know where to go to sleep for three days. He shows me an ugly wound on one of his legs.
I had with me only enough money to buy a book for the exam and to eat in the cafeteria. I turned towards the altar with faith: “Jesus – I said to him in my heart – you know that I need this money, but I believe in the love of the Father…” I took the money and I gave it to the boy, whose face lit up. Even outside of the church he continued to thank me… Then I went to the school faculty, and the morning passed by without thinking anymore about this event.
At noon, at the dining hall, I fill my tray and I give my magnetic card to the cashier, who gives me a receipt stamped on it “euro 0”. How come? The cashier asks me if I had asked for a study grant. I said yes, but my request was not accepted. The cashier said: “You did not get the study grant, but in recompense they offered you free meals for the whole year”.
I feel a “thump” in my heart: the Father up there did not even wait two hours to reciprocate!
Stefano (Padova, Italy)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Matthew 13:45-46
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Mt 13:45-46).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1981/198107.htm)
Having found the pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Jesus wants to make us understand the value of the Kingdom of God which is actually the value of Jesus Himself. Before the Kingdom, we are called to decide for ourselves for that which counts.
Above all there is highlighted here that the Kingdom is a reality of great value and of rare beauty. Jesus tells us that it is not enough to seek and find; IT IS NECESSARY TO DECIDE. And the motive for the decision is the “joy”, the passion for the treasure. Love for Jesus makes all the rest relative, and free to walk toward happiness. The God in which we believe gives us joy.
JESUS IS THE HIDDEN TREASURE and the precious pearl: whoever, sooner or later, finds it, be it that he is not seeking it like the peasant, or be it that he is seeking it like the merchant. But when he finds it, it is important to sell, to detach oneself from the rest, so that Jesus becomes the center, the “all” of ones life. The joy to have met Him is the force in order to decide to arrive to Him.
Love leads us to decide: it takes away that which does not count for love of that which counts. We know well that the pearls of great value are found in the depths. Let us live, guided by this word, our life deeply. Not to just “survive”, but to “LIVE INTERIORLY”, as Pope John Paul II used to say to the youth.
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An Experience of Life:
“GRANDMA… I HAVE TWO OF THEM!”
During a week of community and missionary animation, in a small region of Lazio, Italy, one of our missionary priests was received with joy in a parish auditorium. And there he shared his experiences and the reality of so many poor brothers, while everyone listened with great interest.
Among the people present was a little three-year-old girl who was listening in silence and seemed to be attentive to every word. At a certain point Father Robert saw that the girl drew near to her grandmother and whispered something in her ear. The grandmother smiled and was moved.
At the end of the meeting both the grandmother and the granddaughter went up to the missionary and the grandmother told what happened a few moments ago: “Do you know father, my granddaughter listened to what you said to us about the poor, about their suffering and about how they need also the simple and normal things. And so she too wants to do something for them. When she drew near to me, she said to me: “Grandma, let us give to Father Robert my jacket for the poor children. I have two of them”!”
In the simple hearts of the little ones, love “runs” swiftly to the essential; calculations are done quickly and sharing what one has with others becomes quickly a reality!
(From “Missionary Community of Villaregia”)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1981/198107.htm)
Having found the pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Jesus wants to make us understand the value of the Kingdom of God which is actually the value of Jesus Himself. Before the Kingdom, we are called to decide for ourselves for that which counts.
Above all there is highlighted here that the Kingdom is a reality of great value and of rare beauty. Jesus tells us that it is not enough to seek and find; IT IS NECESSARY TO DECIDE. And the motive for the decision is the “joy”, the passion for the treasure. Love for Jesus makes all the rest relative, and free to walk toward happiness. The God in which we believe gives us joy.
JESUS IS THE HIDDEN TREASURE and the precious pearl: whoever, sooner or later, finds it, be it that he is not seeking it like the peasant, or be it that he is seeking it like the merchant. But when he finds it, it is important to sell, to detach oneself from the rest, so that Jesus becomes the center, the “all” of ones life. The joy to have met Him is the force in order to decide to arrive to Him.
Love leads us to decide: it takes away that which does not count for love of that which counts. We know well that the pearls of great value are found in the depths. Let us live, guided by this word, our life deeply. Not to just “survive”, but to “LIVE INTERIORLY”, as Pope John Paul II used to say to the youth.
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
“GRANDMA… I HAVE TWO OF THEM!”
During a week of community and missionary animation, in a small region of Lazio, Italy, one of our missionary priests was received with joy in a parish auditorium. And there he shared his experiences and the reality of so many poor brothers, while everyone listened with great interest.
Among the people present was a little three-year-old girl who was listening in silence and seemed to be attentive to every word. At a certain point Father Robert saw that the girl drew near to her grandmother and whispered something in her ear. The grandmother smiled and was moved.
At the end of the meeting both the grandmother and the granddaughter went up to the missionary and the grandmother told what happened a few moments ago: “Do you know father, my granddaughter listened to what you said to us about the poor, about their suffering and about how they need also the simple and normal things. And so she too wants to do something for them. When she drew near to me, she said to me: “Grandma, let us give to Father Robert my jacket for the poor children. I have two of them”!”
In the simple hearts of the little ones, love “runs” swiftly to the essential; calculations are done quickly and sharing what one has with others becomes quickly a reality!
(From “Missionary Community of Villaregia”)
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