Living the Gospel: everything is a gift

The will of God is the voice of God that continually speaks to us and invites us; it is God’s way of expressing His love to us, a love that demands a response from us so that He can accomplish His wonders in our lives.

The truth that does not pass
After 4 years in India and 25 years of life lived totally at the service of others, my ‘batteries’ were completely flat, I returned to Italy to try and regain the health that I feared had been irreparably damaged.  During those long months of inactivity and solitude (albeit surrounded by the love of my companions in community), ‘outside’ of the life that had been so dynamic and rich in relationships on which my outgoing temperament has always thrived, something very important happened – on an inner, existential level – which is difficult to put into words: a return to my original choice, and understanding a fundamental truth that everything is a gift, and we need to thank God for everything whilst being ready to lose because it is not the truth.  The truth that does not pass is something else.  It is our personal relationship with Him, the only ideal of all time: God and nothing else. Contrary to what I had feared, I did regain my health. And so begins a new period in the newfound joy of working at His service, whilst treasuring the new union with God that was born from that trial in the depth of my heart.
(Silvio – Italy)

I used to be a nurse
Struck by the fact that so many doctors and nurses were risking and even giving their lives, I decided to re-register as a reserve nurse in a hospital since I had been a nurse 30 years earlier (but had later changed jobs).  Recently I was asked to help out once a week in the intensive care unit. It is a huge challenge for me (so much has changed in the last 30 years with regard to hospital equipment and hospital care), but an enormous joy for me to still be useful.  The greatest reward I could have received was when my children that I try not to neglect told me they were proud of me.
(Martina – Czech Republic)

New essentiality
In the care home for the elderly where I work as an animator I grew very fond of the guests.  Understanding how best to help a patient with Alzheimer’s disease or patients with other degenerative diseases had made my service a true network of intense and living relationships. Then Covid came into the home and one by one they all became ill. It was heart-breaking for me to feel I was the link between the patient and their relative but could do nothing to fill that void.  Then I too contracted the virus – maybe when I was helping a very sick elderly woman talk to her family via her mobile phone. In my loneliness I understood even more what these elderly people were going through and rediscovered the value of prayer. Every time I received news that someone had died my grief increased along with my sense of helplessness but I began to pray more intensely, often not on my own but with those who were still there. The pandemic has brought us to a new ‘essentiality’ beyond that caused by illness and old age.
(G.K. – Slovakia)

Edited by Lorenzo Russo

(taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VII, no.3, May-June 2021)