{"id":342372,"date":"2013-10-01T03:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T01:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/walls-knocked-down-hospitality-and-generosity\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T12:10:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T10:10:33","slug":"walls-knocked-down-hospitality-and-generosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/walls-knocked-down-hospitality-and-generosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Walls knocked down, hospitality and generosity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSt Paul tells us that mutual love is a debt<\/em>, and so we must be the first in loving as Jesus was with us. This type of love takes the initiative, it doesn\u2019t wait or put it off for some other time.\u201d In the following experiences, simple events from daily life, there emerges the choice of concrete love<\/em> with a capacity for understanding, anticipating, being patient, trusting, persevering and generous.<\/p>\n

\"\"The aunt who was erased<\/em>.<\/strong> \u201cI have an auntie whom I loved very much. During school holidays I would go and work on her farm. I was her favourite niece, but when I married things began to change. She never wanted to come to my house and never met my children. I was so angry that for fifteen years I never put foot in her house. I had totally erased her from my life. Recently, while reading the Gospel I came across the words: Love your neighbor<\/em>. I said to myself that I was missing something important, forgiveness for my aunt. I returned to the village and convinced my mother to accompany me to her house, because I didn\u2019t even remember the way. When we reached the house, I felt like the Prodigal Son. We both wept tears of joy. She happily accepted what I had brought for her. It was difficult to say goodbye to each other, and she greeted me over and over again. Peace had returned to us, and now I try to always keep the flame of affection burning in my family and around me.\u201d S. P. (Africa) <\/p>\n

<\/strong>Hospitality. <\/strong>\u201cWe received a letter from our married son, asking us for hospitality, although not explaining what was pushing him to leave his family and come back to us. We were very bewildered, but, in spite of all the questions and concerns that tormented us, we began to prepare a room for him, and welcomed him with serenity and respect for his pain. After a while he began to open up to us, sharing his difficulties and problems with us. We listened with open hearts, without inquiring or giving advice. Surrounded by love and trust he was able to reflect in peace and arrive at the decision to return home. Perhaps God had made us of us to help him put his family back together again.\u201d N. C. L. (Peru)<\/p>\n

\"\"Apres ski boots. <\/strong>\u201cOne morning a young Albanese woman knocked at our door, asking for some clothing and shoes. I began putting some things together as my children watched me going back and forth to the door. Then I saw my son Gianni\u2019s favourite apr\u00e8s ski boots sitting by the front door. I asked him why they were there: \u201cGive them to the lady,\u201d he replied, \u201cfor her children. Besides, it\u2019s not going to snow anymore.\u201d It was the middle of October. It\u2019s really true that generosity begins in our children when they see it in us.\u201d F. P. (Italy) <\/strong><\/p>\n

The bag.<\/strong> \u201cHaving immigrated to Europe, one day I noticed a lady on the road. She was carrying several heavy bags: \u201cMadam,\u201d I said, \u201ccan I help you?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d she replied, \u201cI can manage alone.\u201d \u201cBut I\u2019d like to help you.\u201d \u201cVery well, take this bag.\u201d She invited me to her home and offered me supper. Through this family that welcomed me so well, I was able to find a job. People like me often have concrete problems: finding a job, a home, a means of support; but sometimes there is only need of someone to chat with, for a telephone number you can call in the difficult moments. the solidarity I\u2019ve found among Christian families has made me realize that God is Father of all and loves everyone as his child.\u201d L. E. Morocco<\/p>\n

Source: The Gospel of the day, in October 2013, Citt\u00e0 Nuova Editrice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Word of Life for October. Experiences from daily life, taking the initiative in reaching out to others even when it\u2019s difficult October\u2019s Word of Life returns to the theme of love for neighbour and its infinite nuances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342372","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\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}