Eladio Reyes: As a family we use the Cube of Love to help us put our faith into practice. Even though we try to love each other so that there may always be God’s presence among us, one day we had a moment where we experienced a painful situation at home. We prayed more and asked God to help us so that we could get through this as a family.
In that moment, my wife and I decided that she should go back to college to finish her dream: to graduate as a medical assistant. After that decision, we had a family meeting and talked about how we were going to help in the house when Tania went back to school. Everybody had different ideas on how to help out.
Eli (16): When my mother was in the first semester of college, considering that she had her hands full with her homework, I decided to help my father with house chores and in moving things that were really heavy. During the second semester I started helping my mother with her schoolwork, but I still mainly helped my father with the heavy hard chores.
Ezequiel (13): During the first semester I was mainly helping my mom with her schoolwork. I helped her revise her essays for grammatical errors. Because English is not her primary language, I knew it was going to be a bit challenging, so I was by her side in case she needed help. During the second semester I still continued to help my mom, but I also started helping my dad and siblings with regular house chores, such as washing dishes and doing the laundry.
Elihan (12): When my mom was in school I helped 99% with house chores. I was in charge of the laundry. I also was in charge of telling my siblings what chores I needed help with. I also helped with cooking. I helped make the seasoning for the meat and on Saturday mornings, Ezequiel and I would make pancakes with eggs and other breakfast treats for the family because we all worked hard over the week.
Elany (10): During the first semester, I was my mother’s personal assistant. Whenever she needed something to drink, I would run right away to get what she needed. In addition, whenever my mother wanted to eat something, I would serve her the food. I also did the minor details for her, so she wouldn’t get stressed out because of them. In the second semester, I still continued to help my mother as her assistant, but I also helped my brothers with the chores.
Tania: Throughout the whole year, I felt the immense love and unity that my family showed toward me. Without their love, unity and support, I don’t think I could have made it through the school year. When I went to receive my graduation diploma at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, I wished I could’ve given a whole speech on how thankful I was to my friends and family, who had supported me through this process.
I was grateful that, with mutual love among us, we were able to make it through this time together. We noticed that the unity among us has grown throughout this year.
(For Focolare websites, can be reprinted with attribution and a link to www.livingcitymagazine.com starting November 1, 2018)
