Living the Gospel: a mother’s heart

Drugs in school
I had to take care of a student who had been using drugs. The usual punishment for this is exclusion from lessons for a week. I didn’t want this student to spend the time in bad company and so I arranged for him to work with a community and to come to school and study on his own in the library. In school, I stayed with him the whole time and helped him with the work his group were doing in class so that he would not fall behind. I found this very demanding but it helped me realise that loving your neighbour means practical action.
M.M. – Spain

A new way of life at home
We are part of a team that runs courses for engaged couples. One day, just before leaving for a meeting, we had a row with our son. My wife and I still left the house and began to make our way to our appointment but we didn’t feel at peace about the situation. After a few kilometres, we realised that we had nothing to offer the engaged couples. I stopped the car and rang our son saying we were sorry for the way we had behaved. We continued the journey but then my wife pointed out that I had spoken in a very curt and dismissive way on the telephone and then we too began to argue. After a few more kilometres, we realised that we were not in a position to talk about mutual love and so we called one of the other couples and said that we were going home. As soon as we set foot inside the door, we explained what we had done to our son who was amazed that we had turned back.  This was a lesson that has helped us establish a different way of life at home.
K.E. – Czech Republic

The school trip
During a school journey, some of my friends threw away food from our lunches without even opening the packaging. I was really shocked. The following day, I made plans in advance:  at lunch time, I collected all the food that my friends hadn’t even touched and put it in a bag. Then I took it to a centre for the homeless that was nearby.
N. – Italy

A new move
After thirty-five years of service, the bishop asked me to move to a new parish. At first, I felt very confused and prayed a lot. Then, I realised that I shouldn’t see things only from my point of view and said that I was ready to make this move. Straightaway, all my fears about my new role and worries about my health vanished. I saw clearly that I wasn’t doing anyone a favour; it was the opposite, I was receiving a grace. This was the solid basis upon which I began life in the new parish – it was very different from when I started my ministry as a young priest many years before.
E.B. – Slovenia

A little act of love
I heard that a colleague had been admitted to hospital. I was following a course in another town but, for a few months, every weekend when I came home I used to go to visit him.  His parents also used to come from quite a distance to see him. I thought that they might like to go for a pizza with me after one of their visits and so I invited them out. I listened to all their worries and walked back with them to the place they were staying. They said they had not had such an enjoyable evening since their son had gone into hospital.
A. – Italy