In reaffirming the importance of being responsible and following  the indications of the Italian Government regarding the emergency of the Cod-19, we all hope that through our responsible actions, this affliction for the whole community will end as soon as possible.  It can happen to anyone that we might be tempted  to build a sort of refuge to protect ourselves  but however distances us more and more from others. Listed below are some small gestures of pure fraternity, disinterested gestures that push us beyond the boundaries that each one of us is raising and this is revealing a face of our country that perhaps we do not know or have not appreciated much before.

Such as a group of young people from the Castelli Romani( a district of Rome) who have made themselves available to do the shopping for those who do not have the opportunity to go to the shops; or the many who continue to work with self-sacrifice in hospitals or prisons. In the last few days, some riots have broken out in a penal institution and Adriana who is deputy director has asked us to pray and think about her so that she will have the courage of love to go on.

Giulia Chiara Guarracino, a young woman from Ischia, wrote:
“We must learn to understand that this is a fight against our selfishness and not against a virus.
This is an opportunity to turn an emergency into a solidarity contest.
Let’s change the way we see and think.
I am no longer the person who says”I am afraid of contagion” or “I don’t care about contagion”, but I am the one who preserves the OTHER.
I care about YOU
I keep my distance for YOU
I wash my hands for YOU
I give up that trip for YOU
I’m not going to the concert for YOU
I don’t go to the shopping centre for YOU.
For YOU
For YOU that because of my carelessness and my indifference you’re in an ICU room.
For YOU who’s old and fragile, but whose life is just as valuable as mine.
For YOU who’s struggling with cancer and you can’t struggle with this too.

Please let’s up our game.
You’re not stronger or better if you put pictures of you hugging each other that say, “I am stronger than the coronavirus!”

I hope in #solidarity doesn’t stop in Italy.
Everything else doesn’t matter”.

So many situations, so many difficulties but also so many opportunities to testify to our brothers and to God  our extreme trust in this journey that we are all living.