Curicó, September 28, 2010
Dear family, Brothers, trainees, missionary groups and friends scattered 'throughout Italy,
after a long silence (if I remember correctly my last letter was on the Feast of St. Anthony), I do live and I hope all are well! Just a few days for the Solemnity of St. Francis and these days I return to the mind and heart the faces of all you friends of the mission.
spiritual preparation, in this climate spring for us (everything is in bloom: apple, ciglieci, plum, juniper, ... a true wonder!), The feast of our Seraphic Father Francis, I read the letter that Fr. Elijah wrote to the monks to announce the death of the saint, and the words hit me where fr. Elijah says that Francis was indeed a light impression from the true light that enlightens all who were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, to direct their steps towards peace. The light was shining from his heart and his will, he warmed with the fire of his love, so inflamed, he preached the kingdom of God and convert the hearts of the fathers to the children and the foolish prudence of the righteous, and preparing the world a new people for the Lord. What a beautiful and true are these words of Fr. Elijah! How much light they need our eyes, what peace we desire for our hearts, how much hope we long for our life and finally, what has our world needs a new people for the Lord!
After a few months that I am in Curio and after all that is past (to say the earthquake is not real brother and abnormal Clam, Last Thursday, a strong shock-VI-degree Richter us fuck out of the race from the convent and danced around for 40 seconds, and this night a high kick, fourth-grade-Mercalli, woke us up and shook for about twenty seconds) peace, the serenity of the bargain is a reality that we desire so much. We also feel and live with people of the precariousness of life and this situation makes us truly experience the fragility and weakness of the human person. Despite this, we all have the heart to start over and start again with new enthusiasm and new energy to build something new, different, not only houses, bridges, schools and hospitals, but most re-establish their lives on real and lasting values, strengthen human relationships and found safe on the rock of our existence.
addition to the lively and challenging task to stay close and listen to the many people who struggle and hope, as you know we brothers, we are supporting a project that the Foundation CRATE (diocesan association that deals with helping in various areas: economic , social, occupational, psychological, ..., families in difficulty) has put in place immediately after the earthquake of 27 February. For our part we have channeled the offers came from Italy in the crater and now there are many families who received a small house. The buildings have been materials come in our parish and in other areas of the diocese strongly affected by the earthquake of February. I agree with you only a story of a family of the parish. Mrs. Nuria and her husband Sergio one day in early March, went to the parish and I had explained their predicament. A family soo, composed of six people, most parents of four children. With the earthquake had lost everything, the only thing that remained was also by far the most valuable, and I'm talking about the gift of life! The situation that I had Nuria and Sergio was desperate: their children were studying (the largest outside the university and Curicó three other high schools to Curicó), all of the needed school supplies, pay the fee for the school, school uniforms, ..., and to complicate matters and the work of Sergio was questioned, given that the company winery where he worked, had been seriously damaged and had to send license number of employees (perhaps he was one of them). Adding to the difficulty to live in a small tent, because their house was not rimansto practically nothing. In reality they were waiting for a "house (6x3m.) if you can call it that given by the state. With representatives of the CRATE we analyzed the situation and we decided to include Sergio and his family in this progetto. A fine giugno hanno ricevuto la loro casetta e ora non gli sembra vero che gli sia arrivato questo regalo dal cielo. Sergio e Nuria e i loro quattro figli vivono felici e sono sereni, il loro cuore é in pace e ringraziano il buon Dio per questo grande regalo. ( vedi foto nel sito www.viviamaspera.tk )
Altra realtá che desidero condividere con voi e che stiamo vivendo in questi giorni che precedono la festa di San Francesco é che come comunità religiosa stiamo pensando il come presentare in parrocchia la figura di San Francesco. Stiamo pensando e proponendo una serie di attività semplici e collegate alla nostra spiritualità francescana. In primo luogo ci serviva un’immagine di San Francesco da mettere in chiesa, la parrocchia until now had no link with San Francisco and we were missing a statue to be presented to the people. Actually a bit 'of the Franciscan tradition exists in the parish, one of the areas where we operate is related to the figure of Saint Francis and is called Convento Viejo. Tradition says that in this area: Convento Viejo, perifieria city today, was born Curicó. Curicó was founded on October 9, 1743, the then governor of the kingdom of Chile Don José Antonio Manso de Velasco. Curico in Mapuche language means "black water". Thanks also to the presence of the Friars Minor at this date begins the realization of the work of building the city in Convneto viejo, now belongs to our parish. Leaving by the historical parenthesis, and returning to the statue of St. Francis parish in which we needed, we decided to retrieve the statue of St. Francis, who was present in the church of St. Francis fell in the earthquake. After restoration work (done at home or better in the sacristy), the statue appeared in our church and be with us all week Franciscan. How
told you in another letter Latia popular religion in America is very much alive and important. This religiosity needs to be able to see and touch the image of the saint, a candle and offer to lay it down on foot. For this reason it was important to find a statue of our Holy Father to put in church during the days of preparation. The people in our church to see the image that was present in the church of San Francesco (now a pile of rubble) and was very pleased with the devotion directed prayers, thanks and requests.
Essentially what we want as a community of monks, together and in harmony with the three Francesacne Missionary Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd to help in the parish, is that people will know and love St. Francis, patron saint of not only CEME aminal but for what it is St. Francis. So we've decided to offer, as well as a film, which tells the life of the saint, other times like: Lectio Diva, a penitential liturgy, the spigazione the crucifix of San Damiano, Franciscan catechesis for children and young people. The day of the festival, October 4th, certainly not miss the blessing of the animals, but the climax will be a solemn Mass with the participation of all parish groups. Franciscan
are small initiatives that we want to put in place to bring people to our style. In relata, the parishioners already know us and love us, what we want to offer now are the foundation of our spirituality. We hope that this week Franciscan help us all, in the first place we monks, and then our parrocchiami in San Francisco to see the saddle that guides our path to true light, the light that enlightens every man, Jesus! We feel important and at the same time it looks nice, especially for young people, who know the figure of the saint of Assisi as a whole, know him as a free man, courageous, consistent, loving the good, in a word, a man of the Gospel.
As you can guess by my words of our mission Curicó want to have with people, sharing the joys, hopes to share the hardships and sorrows of everyday life, we try to be men of hope, men of God in the style of San Francisco helping our parishioners to meet the Light that enlightens every type of Case Study, sadness and grief.
end with a heartfelt thanks to all of you: thank you for your prayers, for the love and practical help for that always comes generous.
the intercession of Saint Francosco the Lord bless you all, keep all of you, show you his light and give you peace of heart.
Paz y bien a todos
fr. Tullio
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