{"id":385882,"date":"2025-08-11T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/?p=385882"},"modified":"2025-08-11T09:13:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:13:28","slug":"living-the-gospel-with-treasure-in-our-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/living-the-gospel-with-treasure-in-our-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"Living the Gospel: with treasure in our hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The dissatisfied mother-in-law<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

My mother-in-law was dissatisfied with the work carried out by the worker her son had organised for her. When we pointed out that she was never happy with anything, she reacted strongly. Later, at dinner, she was still sulking, and when I tried to downplay the incident, she flew off the handle, reproaching me for things I really didn\u2019t feel guilty about at all. <\/p>\n\n

She even got up from the table and went to take refuge in her room. Ah, if only everyone had stayed at home! But inside me, the voice of charity which covers faults and weaknesses like a cloak, prompted me to go to her. I found her in tears. When I asked for forgiveness, she also blamed her son. I felt I had no choice but to leave. I felt I had done enough… but then the same voice as before suggested I try again. After clearing the table, I went back to her to convince her that I was truly sorry, and I hugged her as I would have hugged my own mother. I only left her once the tension had eased and I saw her doze off. I thanked God, and the next day my greeting with a smile removed all trace of embarrassment from my mother-in-law’s face.<\/p>\n\n

Maria Luisa \u2013 Italy<\/em><\/p>\n\n

In hospital<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I was admitted to the hospital in Ribeir\u00e3o Preto for a nose operation. It wasn’t the first time, because I have a rare disease and need frequent treatment. That’s why I don’t like hospitals, and I was really scared but I did everything out of love for Jesus. <\/p>\n\n

For example, I drank milk with cream which I don’t like at all; on the day of the operation, I put on the hospital clothes without complaining; I didn’t eat lunch so I could have the anaesthetic; I waited with love for four hours because there was a delay with my operation and tried to love the other children who had also been admitted to hospital. After the operation, I waited several more hours for the doctor to call me for a check-up. <\/p>\n\n

I was already hungry, tired and nervous, so I knocked over a chair and grumbled. But I immediately remembered what I had promised Jesus and repented. Shortly afterwards, the door opened. It was the doctor calling me. <\/p>\n\n

Paulinha, 7 years old \u2013 Brazil<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Reciprocity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

One morning, I heard the doorbell ring: the person at the door introduced herself as B., the tenant who was living in the flat below me and has Alzheimer’s. She asked me to let her in because she had accidentally locked herself out of her flat while her husband was away. I opened the door and invited her to stay with me for a while until he returned home. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
\u00a9 svklimkin-Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

I could see she was sad and confused (sometimes she is aware of her condition). So as not to make her feel bad, I pointed out that this kind of unexpected thing can happen to anyone, through carelessness. We chatted for a while until she remembered that she was locked out and became anxious again. <\/p>\n\n

Since I didn\u2019t feel like leaving her in that state, even though I’m in a wheelchair, I went with her by lift to the floor below to calm her down.<\/p>\n\n

But first, B. also showed herself to be a neighbour to me by taking the trouble to place a mat in front of my front door so that it wouldn\u2019t close. In that way I was able to keep her company until her husband arrived. <\/p>\n\n

M. \u2013 Italy<\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

(taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Citt\u00e0 Nuova, year X\u2013 no. 1 July-August 2025)<\/em>Foto: \u00a9 Pixabay<\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our daily lives, unexpected situations sometimes arise that alter our plans. We can let ourselves be overwhelmed by them and end up feeling bitter about what we have experienced. If, on the other hand, we keep in mind the \u201ctreasure\u201d, which is love for our neighbour, we will find a way to deal with those situations and the sweet taste of peace will remain in our hearts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":385756,"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":[3286],"tags":[3349,3196,3664],"class_list":["post-385882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonianze-di-vita-en","tag-notifiche-en","tag-ppg-en","tag-vangelo-vissuto-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385882","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=385882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385883,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385882\/revisions\/385883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}