2 Jun 2017 | Non categorizzato
The last stop on my visit to Jordan was to a women’s jail on the outskirts of Amman. At the visitors security entrance, Omar, the friend who was accompanying me, was asked to remove his watch and sunglasses. Mine were also likely to be taken away, but I let them try them on and the young guard realized that without them I could hardly see. We reached the first waiting room on the other side of a long courtyard. The day was already summery. We got through the umpteenth security checkpoint and submitted the paper with the name of the person we wanted to meet. Two young women were waiting for someone in the waiting room. Who are you waiting for, a sister…or a mother? There was also a man in his fifties with Arab features. He was fixing his ragged shoes as he also waited. My friend went to sit down, but the chair broke. Any other time and in any other place, everyone would have burst out laughing at such a sight. But there in that waiting room no one dared. They were all taken by their pain. The climate in that room was like the one you feel when you’re about to get some news from a doctor about a very sick friend. The scratchy voice over the loudspeaker and the way the old man jumped to his feet, made me realize that it was his turn. Soon after it was ours. There was a narrow corridor. All the cells had a small window on the side with those classic old-fashioned telephones on each side of the pane. Our friend was unexpectedly joyful, gesticulating and quite excited to see us. She spoke into the receiver and let us know that we could ask to meet in another room, face-to-face. It was Easter Day and Christians were allowed to receive visitors. We exited the facility and re-entered through the official entrance. We had to show our passports again, answer questions and the name of the person we wanted to see. We waited in a hall, helping out the employees to stuff documents in numbered files. It was a long wait. Perhaps for her it was also a long road, made of opening and closing doors. She finally arrived. She could have been around forty years old, South American and quite jovial. “My cellmates will be so jealous!” She was a sweet person. She acknowledged she had made some mistakes. She would be released in a few months and was counting down the days on a calendar she had constructed. During her two years in jail, she had become a grandmother and hadn’t yet met her grandson. Her two oldest children have left school to work, and she doesn’t have a husband. “When I go back they’ll blame me, and it’s only right that they should be angry with me. I manage to hear from them on the phone once in a while. My wish was to open an orphanage for street children. Life is hard in here, at times I thought about ending to it all. You become bad. But I can’t; when they become angry or beat me, I stay calm. I just can’t bring myself to react. I have friends in here, some for many years. Fernanda’s been here for eight years, but she’ll be let out soon. She’s 29 years old and dying with a serious illness. She came in very young, for a more stupid offense than mine. She went and swallowed a few rolls of that junk. I thank God, in spite of it all. I feel He is close to me, and that’s why I feel privileged.” We said goodbye with a hug, and it’s difficult to describe what I experienced at that moment. I wanted it to be a small way of taking on some of her suffering and pain. Perhaps on such a sunny day, at least a ray of His Love had shone through the prison bars and gray walls. It’s a special Easter morning and I can’t but thank God for what he made me live: resurrection and true freedom. I met a free woman in jail, because she was so aware of God’s love for her. (Ago Spolti, Italy)
1 Jun 2017 | Non categorizzato
Baptism “It was almost lunchtime when a man knocked on the door of the parish to schedule a baptism. Since he wasn’t a parishioner, I had some questions. His situation was complex: his partner had given birth to his son, but his sister was the one who insisted that the child be baptized. I tried to take down his details quickly and said goodbye. As we were going out, I thought that I had treated him in too hurried a way. Having his address, and without thinking too much, I went to visit him, in an apartment that was very much in disarray. He was surprised and even alarmed: were there problems with the baptism? I reassured him that it was only to check that I had gotten down all the details. He and his partner opened up and invited me to join them for a modest lunch. So I got to know about people who are somewhat excluded, but above all it was a reminder of my only right: to be of service to others.” (K.L. – Poland) Testing ground “I manage a gift shop in a popular part of the city. For me, every person who comes into the store is more than a customer. I consider the relationship important, beyond the fact that I need to make a sale. There are some who come at times to confide their problems. I listen, and if I can, try to tell them mine. My father makes fun of me a bit, saying, ‘It seems more like a confessional than a shop.’ The fact is, for me work is a testing ground for my being Christian.” (Rachele – Italy) Superintendent “I work as the superintendent for two buildings, where people used to know each other only by their last names. Looking for chances to build relationships, I started telling a couple about life in the parish. The husband, despite not being a churchgoer, appreciated the gesture. I met someone from Thailand who thanked me by giving me chocolates. I then invited everyone to a barbecue: it was a successful evening that we repeated other times as well. Every once in a while I’d offer people returning from work a cup of coffee. These were simple gestures, but little by little some people felt they could confide in me more personal things. Like the tenant who considered prayer a waste of time. When I promised him to pray for him, he answered, ‘No one has ever spoken to me like this before now. I won’t forget it.’ An Italian couple, who were moving back to their country, before leaving invited all their neighbors to try some Italian specialties.” (Maria Rosa – Switzerland) Garbage “Coming out of school, I came across a dog on the sidewalk who was opening and destroying bags of garbage in search of food. I kept walking without thinking much of it, but something inside of me urged me to do something for others. Even though I was embarrassed, I went back and put the bags where they belonged. I had just turned the corner when I saw the garbage truck coming in the distance. I was happy because in our area it sometimes happens that the garbage collectors don’t pick everything up if they find things a mess.” (M. B. – Argentina)
31 May 2017 | Non categorizzato
From May 31st to June 4th, events will be held in various parts of Rome to mark the 50th anniversary of the Charismatic Renewal, a Catholic ecclesial movement which came to life in 1967 in the United States, during a spiritual retreat with a group of twenty students from the University Duquesne Of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Since then, the movement has spread throughout the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, India and Africa and Oceania. It has a strong presence in France and Italy, and it is growing in Eastern European countries. Through retreats, prayer meetings and “life seminars in the Spirit”, CCR spreads a Pentecostal lifestyle centred on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
31 May 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Lake Rotorua is the second biggest lake of the North Island of New Zealand, in the southern Pacific Ocean. Formed from the crater of a big volcano, active up to 240 thousand years ago, today it is a splendid canoe and kayak training ground. A tourist destination since the 19th century, here, as everywhere in the area, a strong smell of sulphur recalls the intense thermal activity which pushes boiling water out of the subsoil, forming pools of hot mud of the most incredible colours from apple green to yellow, cobalt lakes and a myriad of fumaroles. Nearby, the Lady Knox geyser erupts once a day venting out sprays of water and steam 20 metres high. 
The same bubbly warmth was seen in the 170 participants of the Mariapolis hosted from 26 to 29 April 2017 in a camp situated right on the banks of the lake. Also families from the Philippines, India and Korea participated, including more than 50 teenagers and children, and some Italian visitors comprising of two married couples, Roberta & Stefano, and Beatrice & Franco. They wrote: “We departed from Sydney and after a flight of about four hours, we reached Auckland where we were joined by Yob and Bruno from Melbourne. After a journey of about four hours by car, we arrived in Rotorua. We spent three days there and we felt so enriched by the personal relationships created among all the families. 
There were many experiences on the living the Gospel, a workshop on ecology, a much felt theme here, and one on the art of loving, some reflections of Chiara Lubich, and also on communication in the family and the education of children, not to mention the enchanting walks along the lake and in the forest.” It’s no wonder the North Island was chosen as one of the locations to shoot various scenes of Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”. But the territory is particularly interesting also from an ethnological point of view. In fact the Island is inhabited by the biggest Maori communities of New Zealand. Up to 40 years ago the Maori language was spoken by a small number of people, but thanks to an integration program initiated by the government, today the culture and language of the Maori (about 20% of the population) have become an integral part of the nation. “During Mass,” Roberta and Stefano explained, “we recited some prayers in Maori, a people whose civilization and culture are well integrated.” After dinner, the Mariapolis included an evening program animated by children and young people which focused on an an interesting ecological theme regarding respect for creation and the environment. 
As in the simplicity of life in a big family, also in the Mariapolis everything was shared, like birthday celebrations and a wedding anniversary. “They were three very special days spent getting to know each other through personal chats, sharing joys and sufferings together, facing the challenges through the support of the community, and remaining faithful to the Gospel with coherence and constancy.” From here the “Mariapolis people” departed to return to their various places of origin, taking with them the energy and warmth of Rotorua.
