A letter to the “dear brothers and sisters of the beloved land of the Campi Flegrei, those fields that burn and which due to their particular environmental, historical and archaeological characteristics are a pearl that the whole world knows”. It was written by the bishop of Pozzuoli and Ischia, Msgr. Carlo Villano, highlighting how “this beauty” brings with it, in these days, “also a lot of suffering due to the particularity of our subsoil. These are days in which we are experiencing a lot of worry and tension that characterizes everyone’s daily life.” The prelate, gathered together with the Pozzuoli clergy for a moment of prayer in the Seminary Chapel, this morning, Friday 24 May, read this letter addressed to the faithful of the Church of Pozzuoli.
“To all of you I feel like expressing my personal closeness; the whole Church of Pozzuoli is alongside you in this time of trial. In the most difficult moments we are called to bring out the ability to be human, to become experts in humanity – highlighted the bishop -. It is in moments like this that we are experiencing that we experience how the ordinary can become extraordinary. The importance of being close to each other, the attention we are called to have towards the people who need it most, carrying each other’s burdens, these are the small daily exercises that make us grow more every day in humanity and in the ability to weave social relationships”. Hence everyone should make their own “the words that the Apostle Paul addressed to the Galatians when he exhorted them to help each other carry one another’s burdens, and thus be faithful to the law of Christ (Gal 6.2)”: “Only if we will know how to concretely take the weight of the other on our shoulders, only to the extent that the other becomes a person to carry and endure will we be able to give value to this time which, for some, will only be time to pass quickly, but which, instead , could become a favorable time for us to rediscover the roots of our faith and to increase the ability to create relationships and generate community”.
In these days the “particular thought” of Msgr. Villano goes “to the little ones so that it is not a time in which, after the time of the pandemic and the ‘piecemeal third world war’ that seems to darken the horizon, they feel deprived of the future; a thought, again, to the sick and elderly who, already experiencing abandonment and loneliness on a daily basis, can, on the contrary, be placed at the center of our attention: they are the ones who most need care and concern in this critical and delicate period”.
The bishop then expresses his “personal thanks” to “all those who are helping us to face and overcome difficulties with great humanity: it is the Church of Pozzuoli, through the diocesan Caritas, the parishes and the respective Caritas which, alongside to the relevant institutions, offers its service to be of help and support”.
Finally, an exhortation: “Sisters and brothers of Pozzuoli, all citizens of the Campi Flegrei, courage! The Lord of life shares our anxieties and invites us to look to today and tomorrow with trust and hope.”
, “increasing the ability to create relationships and generate communities”. Appeal for the little ones, the sick and the elderly){kind=link}