{"id":327058,"date":"2015-02-06T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/living-the-gospel-welcome-one-another-no-matter-what\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T14:59:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T12:59:29","slug":"living-the-gospel-welcome-one-another-no-matter-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/living-the-gospel-welcome-one-another-no-matter-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Living the Gospel. Welcome one another no matter what"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20150206-01\"<\/a>\u201cBecause of my professional military training <\/strong>and also because of my overly rigid personality, it was very difficult for me to relate with my children. I was aware that I had to correct my attitude, but I didn\u2019t know where to begin from. The words of the Gospel invited me to place love at the basis of my child-raising, and therefore to make a change in my relationship with them, a major breakthrough, not halfway, but radical. Beginning, constantly beginning again, little by little, the path of communication was opened. I tried to enter into their world, to be more interested in their aspirations and concerns. I came to know their problems, we suffered and rejoiced together and, in that way, the distance between us disappeared even with the one with whom it was most difficult. My role as a father took on a new dimension: now I\u2019m also their counsellor, friend and brother. (F. U. – Per\u00f9<\/a>) \u201cI\u2019m 29 years old, and I come from Sri Lanka. <\/strong>In my country I was a cook and fought for greater justice among social classes, but that was looked upon with suspicion and I was obliged to leave my country and go to Europe where everything is quite different for me. As soon as I arrived I felt tremendously alone and filled with rancour towards everyone. Then, someone in the refugee camp told me about some young Christians with the same ideal as mine: to make the world a better place. Amazed at the thought that others could share my dream, I felt heartened and began to look at the people around me, to be more cordial with others, to greet people. A lot of human relationships were begun among the people, to the social worker\u2019s great surprise. I\u2019m a Buddhist and through my relationship with Christians and with the West my own faith has grown.\u201d (S. – Sri Lanka<\/a>) \u201cI thought that by deciding to go to Lourdes as a stretcher bearer for the UNITALSI Lourdes Association in service to the sick, <\/strong>it would make me really experience a pilgrimage filled with surprises, with \u2018special effects\u2019. Actually, accepting my good will and this not-so-disinterested intention, God used my circumstances to make me understand what He wanted; that is, that my service to the sick , yes, is important for them, but also and especially for me. I am the one in need of them. Because \u2013 I share this as the synthesis of my experience at Lourdes \u2013 if I am fortunate enough to give away what I have freely received from God, the sick repay with the maximum that they have to give: a smile, a gesture of gratitude, a warm greeting. . .\u201d (M.G. – Italy<\/a>) Source: Il Vangelo del giorno, febbraio<\/em> 2015<\/a> – Citt\u00e0 Nuova Editrice<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From diversity of opinions to disappointments, from mistakes to forgiveness, there are so many occasions where we can experience the beauty of mutual acceptance. Some flashes from life, which bring us back to February\u2019s Word of Life: \u201cWelcome one another.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}