This morning in the hall there were not only the chapter members but also the laity, FJA, and a group of Italian sisters who in the afternoon presented their service in the existential peripheries.
At 9.30 all were ready to listen the voices of the world: two witnesses one more heart-breaking than the other, “the cry of Syria” and the “voice of the Mediterranean”.
Before entering into the realty of our missions, Alessandro, as each day, offered us a short reflection on the gospel of the day. He quoted the expression from Mat 10: 16-23: “ Do not worry…”. He clarified the difference between the two verbs: “to occupy” and “to worry”. The verb “to occupy” refers to the responsibility and the commitment, while “to worry” refers on the mistaken belief that everything depends on us and therefore it creates anxiety, and takes your breath away. It is as if Jesus wants to tell us “Don’t loose your breath”
The Gospel offers us two antidotes to the worries: prudence and simplicity.
Prudence: to trust in one another, to discern together.
Simplicity: to trust in the Spirit.
Jesus will give us His Spirit when it will be the “time”, the favourable moment. God is always present at the appointment and gives us always the fresh bread, the daily bread.
Sr. Pascale, on behalf of the assembly, thanked Sr. Nunzia for giving the Chapter the opportunity to know little more of our mission in Syria. The presentation of the degradation of the main Syrian cities, after the war, was a heart-breaking moment, but it was also accompanied by a strong witness of hope, faith and dedication to others. The world remains silent!
In the afternoon we listened to Father Camillo Ripamonti, President of the Astalli Center in Rome (Jesuit Service for the Refugees) click on f.Camillo JRS eng. Through him we heard the voices of those who have crossed the desert and sailed the Mediterranean in search of better world and have reached the Italian coasts.
Our four italian sisters told, with emotion, some significant experiences of hospitality of immgrants and refugees:
sr Vincenza about the three small apartments, made available by our mother general and his council at the General House for three refugee women and their children,
sr Angela about her experience of deputy director of the diocesan Caritas of Termoli,
sr Maria Grazia about the different services for illegal immigrants in southern Italy at san Ferdinando,
sr Maria Silvia about sr Carla’s service at the multiethnic surgery Blessed Nemesia in Novara,
