Actuality
We receive and publish the following note:
Intense week for the Germoglio di Speranza Community of the Fede e Luce Association of Mazara del Vallo which concluded the 2023-24 community journey that began last 15 October 2023. The week was characterized by a particular community meeting at the villa of our friend Pietro where the Holy Mass was celebrated presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of Mazara del Vallo HE Mons. Angelo Giurdanella. The Bishop was welcomed with joy by Father Giuseppe Lupo, parish priest of the Santa Maria di Gesù parish and spiritual assistant of the community who said on behalf of everyone: “Excellence for me and for all of us it is a source of joy to welcome you also because in a few days , and precisely on the 22nd, marks my 33rd anniversary of priestly ordination.
Providence wanted this, in simplicity and in everyday life to be surrounded by this beautiful community which is also the community of Santa Maria di Gesù. Our Lady is close to us, and so we celebrate this Eucharist precisely with this title, with this intention, “Mary Queen of Peace”. Because peace starts from within and we need this peace. Mary is the one who gave birth to the prince of peace. And so we prepare – concluded Father Giuseppe – also with Faith and Light for that great pilgrimage of 2025 to the Madonna of the Rosary of Pompeii which will see us all participate.” The bishop in his homily thanking the Fiorentino family for the warm welcome said: “Thank you for the welcome in this house which becomes a big family, thanks to all of you and we dedicate this mass to ask for the gift of peace but I would like to dedicate it with a special intention for Don Giuseppe because Don Giuseppe in a few days, Saturday marks the anniversary of his ordination, so let us not fail to show him our affection, esteem and prayers.
Home is spoken of in the Gospel and ultimately peace needs a home, – continues SE the bishop – in the Gospel it is said that the angel was sent to the home of a young woman, Mary of Nazareth, who was promised to be married and she was in love with her husband, with Joseph, like Joseph in love with Mary. This evening I like to underline three verbs which are generative verbs, which generate. Since we want to generate. Even with prayer, peace. Then the first verb is conceive, to conceive.
The second verb is to give birth. The third verb is to call, you will call him. Conceive. Conception is a welcoming, a gift. There are many mothers here. And you understand this verb of conceiving, of expanding this space of one’s life, another life that is generated. And conceiving has to do with our intimacy, with our interiority. Deep down in our intimacy, in our interiority we discover our identity. Identity. And God inhabits the space of our intimacy.
Here we have the Faith and Light community, here we have the Fiorentino family, you are many beautiful families. It’s nice to be able to say, to have this ability to know how to welcome others. Not the way I want it, but the other as he is, the other. Then you will give birth. When a person has to give birth, as they say, he has given birth to a boy, a girl. Beautiful. To give light. Light is life. What’s your name? Faith and light. Light and life. For plants, for animals, for people. Put it in the dark and they die.
They die. So she means… Maria, with her yes, has become a point of light. I would say, each of us should be this point of light. Where can we see the brightness of a conscience, of a heart? From the face. Because the face is the expression of our soul, of our inner life. If within us we are reconciled, pacified, then the first thing where we see it is seen from the face. Bright face. Here, then points of light. And then you will call him, Jesus. The sign of familiarity is calling by name.
At home, the husband and wife do not call each other by the roles they have. If a man is a lawyer, his wife doesn’t call him a lawyer. Or the husband doesn’t call the wife a professor a professor. So today, first, so to speak, come the roles and then the person. Instead you will call him. You will call him by name. Giving a name means recognizing, not just to distinguish one from another. One is called Vito. The other is called Giuseppe. The name is not a distinction. But in the name we recognize the value of the person.
The person is the bearer of gifts. A person’s identity. The completeness of a person. The name says it all. Our history, our sensitivity, our projects, our dreams. It’s all in the name. Well, then what do I wish you? – concludes Bishop Giurdanella – I hope you are people capable of welcoming. Make space. I wish you to be bearers of light. I hope you have beautiful relationships. Call you by name. Respectful relationship. So, these are the generative verbs, which generate.
So I wish you to be a generative community, of a good life, of clean, beautiful relationships.” On Sunday 23 June, to celebrate the end of the community year, the community organized an out-of-town trip to visit a very suggestive location near Partinico (PA), the Borgo Parrini, a peasant village founded in the 17th century by the Jesuit fathers which, thanks to the intervention of a local entrepreneur, has become a tourist attraction thanks to the decorations of the rural houses inspired by the style of the Spanish artist Antoni Gaudi In the afternoon after sharing lunch, the community visited the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Ponte located in the municipality of Partinico and dating back to 1300.
The sanctuary also houses a statue of our fellow citizen San Vito Martire that reminds us of the membership of Partinico until 1844 within the then very large Diocese of Mazara del Vallo. It was an intense week full of various contents, from prayer to fraternal sharing and through art and culture they take us back in history to discover our origins as humble Christians at the service of our church. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Mt.
5.9)
