“Charitas is the message that Jesus gave us and that the saints, like St. Francis of
Paola, they wanted to give to everyone.” Thus the bishop, Monsignor Serafino Parisiin saying goodbye at the end of the meeting procession of San Francesco di Paola and underlining that “this year – he said – I thought I’d send you a message that goes like this center a word that is the word that brings us all together, among other things St. Francis of Paola places it precisely as an identifying word of her life, of her service, of his presence as a Christian, as a believer in the midst of the world, and it is the word charity, Charitas”.
“This theme of charity – added Monsignor Parisi – which, then, is love, it is that theme that makes us capable of looking each other in the eye and recognizing each other, not as enemies, not as adversaries, not as rivals, but belonging to the same family. I mean, it does recognize as brothers. And I think we need to reflect a lot and work a lot on this theme of brotherhood because in many situations there are outbreaks of hatred, let’s think, for example, of the great wars that exist in the world around us they worry: a distant war, a distant war, it’s not that far away and far enough so as not to create concerns for us too in many respects”.
“And then, there they are the wars between usthe closest ones, which sometimes happen for small things. So, we must work on the message of love, on the message of Charity a little, all in such a way, really, that we all recognize ourselves within a single great one hug, which is that hug that the Lord Jesus wanted to give us visually on the cross. As Crucified, that is, with his arms outstretched, he wanted it give us this message of union: united within this offering of life, of the body of Jesus, of his existence”.
“And he’s dead – tomorrow we’ll have the feast of Corpus Christi – so that each of us can live and rejoice”. For the Bishop, therefore, “this message of Charity is also for the benefit of everyone us, not only because if we recognize ourselves as brothers we don’t waste so much energy because we use them, perhaps, to love each other, to find ourselves, to weave together beautiful relationships.”
“But, this message of love also brings us to expression full of our life and the full expression of our life is the possibility of express ourselves in joy” which “is truly that joy of the heart, that strength of rejoice and always see the positive aspect of our existence, even within difficulties, even in suffering.”
“Let’s say that, through the difficulties, the pain, the suffering, the believer who knows that God is close to him – the Lord is close to us this is the message -. The believer knows he can rejoice because the Lord never abandons. There presence of the Saints within the history of humanity indicates that the Gospel we can live it at all times in all latitudes. The message of the Gospel which is a message of love and joy can be experienced and can be offered to everyone.”
“Us too, then – concluded the Bishop -, we become like the Saints, carriers of this message of goodof charity, and we all truly become bearers of joy. That is, going into the world and saying that if the Lord is with us, we can, we must, just live and rejoice. Indeed, rejoice to live and live to rejoice. And this the wish that I make to all of you this evening in the name of the great Saint Francis of Paola”.
The novena, to which the biblical scholar Father Ernesto Della Corte also gave his contribution as a preacher, had as its underlying theme the theme “The Church – people of God, body of Christ, temple of the Holy Spirit”. In fact, in this journey of preparation for the feast, the faithful were encouraged to reflect on this theme with the phrase as their starting point: “At all times and in every nation it is acceptable to God
everyone fears him and works out his righteousness.”
“Yet it pleased God to sanctify and save men not individually and without any connection between them, but he wanted constitute a people of them who would recognize him in the truth and serve him in a holy way. He therefore chose the Israelite people for himself, established an alliance with them and formed them progressively […]. However, all this happened in preparation and in the guise of that new and perfect Covenant which was to conclude in Christ […] that is, the New Covenant in his blood, calling people from the Jews and the nations, because yes merged into unity, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit.”
Continue reading on StrettoWeb
