Listen to your conscience
Listen to your conscience
Bolivia: encounter and friendship without borders
Azione Famiglie Nuove (New Families’ Action) is an international non-profit organization of the Focolare Movement that works for the free and integral development of every person, community and nation, starting with the most fragile and disadvantaged in the world. Since 2005 it has also been officially authorised by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers for International Adoptions. Two couples from Vicenza (Italy), Redi and Giacomo and Annalisa and Sergio, are part of this project. Recently they were able to fulfil a long held desire: to meet reunite with some Bolivian families they had met during an AFN Conference in Castel Gandolfo (Rome). From that meeting a simple and authentic bond was born, which no one imagined would continue until it transformed, years later, into a new meeting on the other side of the world.
While there, the two Italian couples were also able to visit the AFN project in Bolivia: the “Clara Luz“ children’s centre in Santa Cruz and the “Rincón de Luz“ social centre in Cochabamba. In Santa Cruz, in the La Guardia district, the “Clara Luz” centre welcomes young children and preschoolers every day. “The classrooms are simple, but well cared for and welcoming,” they explained. “Here children find a safe educational environment, while older siblings receive school support”. Around them, a wider programme involves families: home gardens, small livestock projects and training courses that help build autonomy and dignity. The “Clara Luz” centre also hosts young volunteers from the “Milonga Project“.
In Cochabamba, the “Rincón de Luz” centre is a point of reference for the community. “It is a place that welcomes and supports families in their daily lives,” said the two visiting couples. “Food parcels are distributed every week, while workshops and educational activities for children and parents take place throughout the year.”
During the visit, they were very touched by the meeting with Reina, who shared the origins of the project and how, having returned to Bolivia after a period of formation as a family in Loppiano (FI, Italy), she had felt a strong desire to put the ideal of Chiara Lubich, into concrete action. Involving her entire family, children, daughter-in-law, husband, she began to welcome by welcoming a dozen children into her own home. From there, step by step, the project has grown and developed to reach about 150 children, though there is a lot of need for support.
Many local families live in situations of great vulnerability: poverty, loneliness, bereavement and hardship. Particularly striking was the story of a grandmother who caring for her invalid husband and her orphaned granddaughter: “Every day she walks many kilometres searching for food and whenever she can, she comes to the centre for find help”.
Among the people met was Silvio, one of the first children welcomed by the project. Today he is an active part of the “Rincón de Luz” community: he accompanies families with such sensitivity, distributes aid and puts his time at the service of others. You can feel that this place has truly become his home.
The trip proved to be a very strong experience, allowing them to “touch” not only poverty, but also the dignity and reciprocity between the people of the community. “We thought we were bringing something – they said – but we received far more in return”.
From this experience came the desire to continue this friendship at a distance: “We have realized that what is really needed is a constant drop and we are already imagining new initiatives to involve others, a solidarity dinner, moments of sharing to make the project known, all ways to expand the family experience between families, where the geographical distance I lessened and gives way to a deep and authentic friendship”.
Compiled by the Editorial Staff
Photo © Mariachiara Bianco e Azione Famiglie Nuove
Here I am!
Here I am!
Love, freely given
Love, freely given
Living the Gospel: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20:21)
Let’s learn from the little ones
I was doing some work around the house when I cut my left hand deeply. As I tried to stop the flow of blood before my parents accompanied me to the hospital casualty department, our six year old grandson Emanuel, who was spending that day with us, watched closely as I hurriedly bandaged my hand: “Does it hurt a lot, Granddad?” I reassured him and to help me, he gave me a sweet! Shortly after: “Would you like another sweet, Granddad? It’ll do you good.” After the wound was stitched, bandaged and with a splint on my left thumb (fortunately the tendon was unharmed), when I got back home he came running to me: “Granddad, how are you doing now? Maybe a coffee would help”. “Thank you, Emanuel, after lunch: now let’s go to eat”. My wife had made his favourite sausages. After eating his, he took another one from the serving plate, cut it up and without saying anything put it on my plate. Observing these gestures made with moving simplicity, I recalled that Jesus indicated children as a model for us.
(Giovanni C. – Italy)
A providential holiday
“Beyond Us”, an association that supports people with disabilities, among its many activities organizes a holiday in San Bernardino. The President, whom I have known for years, said to me: “Why don’t you send Benedetta with us?” The idea was appealing, but would the place be suitable for wheelchair users like my daughter? After a visit it seemed that it would In addition, our friend Daniela kindly offered to accompany her and there would also be a nurse there. Benedetta was enthusiastic. I couldn’t believe it. Before leaving, we attended a dinner to meet the other holidaymakers. The atmosphere was cheerful. On 3rd August, Benedetta and Daniela left in our car for getting around locally. I really hoped my friend would not get too tired… I trusted and entrust everything to Jesus. The first news from both of them was reassuring. When they returned I hardly recognized my daughter: she was relaxed and overjoyed especially because she had been able to attend Mass every day, celebrated right there in her and Daniela’s room. God always surpasses us in generosity!
(M.B. – Switzerland)
When you lose your self-sufficiency
The month just past has been a month of “passion,” in the most physical sense of the word. An extraordinary month, in which physical pain was cradled by the tenderness of brothers. My eagerness to recover quickly—that sin of pride which wants always to feel self-sufficient—betrayed me. There were complications after the operation, my knee swelled up, and the doctor was firm: rest and ice. In that bag of ice I found a strange form of prayer. I found myself “small”, dependent on my brother for a glass of water or a lift in the car. But it was precisely in this fragility that I rediscovered the treasure of the priestly community in which I live. I understood that fraternity is not just eating together, but having the trust o say, “I need you”
Dependence on others is not a defeat, but the guarantee of our humanity. Today as a retired priest, I cultivate a few square meters of the world in my garden. And as long as I have a voice (and a crutch to support me), my garden will always be open to those looking for hope.
(Don Peppino G. – Italy)
Curated by Maria Grazia Berretta
taken from the Gospel of the Day, Città Nuova, year XII – no.3 – May-June 2026)
Photo ©Tieffenbrucker456, Alexandra Koch-man, Codi Punnett – Pixabay