Focolare Movement

The Living Gospel. “I am with you always.”

May 28, 2017

Jesus’s promise to his disciples encourages us to seek God on our journey.

Tax payments “We were expecting our third son. The little money we had saved up suddenly disappeared because of the unfavorable bank exchange rates, and the banks were beginning to stop lending. One day, out of the blue, we were informed that we had to pay a huge amount of taxes. Where would we find the money when we were barely surviving on what little money we had? We entrusted ourselves to God, to the Father who never abandons his children. Then we went to ask for help from the city hall and … surprise! We were the only ones who were given the opportunity of receiving financial assistance.” X. A.- Croatia Sales representative 20170526-a“I work as a book representative. At my first exhibition I didn’t sell anything. The second time was the same. The third time was even worse: there was no room in the meeting hall and I had to content myself with a bad location downstairs, far from where the people gathered during breaks. There was no lift, so I had to transport the boxes in arms, sweating because of the incredible heat. Meanwhile I caught myself saying: ‘Who’s making you do this?’ Passing a chapel, I stopped in to vent with Jesus, who seemed to say to me from the tabernacle: ‘What are you doing?’ ‘God’s will,’ was my answer. ‘Well, relax then and I’ll take care of it now.’ I had to use chairs at the exhibit because there were no tables. A priest walked by and noticed a volume of a volume from a set of encyclopedias on the Saints. He exclaimed: ‘It’s not possible! I’ve been looking for that for years!’ He bought it and, after that, I didn’t stop selling.” Marta – Italy Be like a father “My father left my mother before I was born. I suffered because of his absence and never forgave him for going away. When I was around 17 years old I went looking for him, hoping to renew a relationship that never really existed. Unfortunately I was met by indifference, and his relationship with his wife wasn’t going well either. During that period I got to know young people who were living the Gospel and, through them, I got to know God better. Later, during my university studies, I began to work on a social project that put me in contact with abandoned children. The pain I had gone through had made me more sensible to the pain of others in whom I tried to love Jesus. Little by little, I became a reference point for many of those little ones, to the point that they started calling me Papa. As for the relationship with my father, it’s still a challenge: I try to see him with new eyes every time, always taking the first step.”  J. L. – Brazil

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