On important holidays in the Jewish tradition there is the custom of leaving a place free at the table, because the prophet Elijah could return and ask to be welcomed.

In the Gospel, Jesus states: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me”. The brother in need is always the image of Christ who stands at the door and knocks; if we have sensitivity and a loving heart we open the door and invite him to the table and share bread with him.

In recent times, long-distance adoption has become widespread: the tables of many families have extended to reach other continents and ideally the hearts of many families have an ideal guest at the table every day: a boy who breaks a loaf of bread with them with the flavor of benevolence with eyes bright with joy. With long-distance adoption, when a family sits down at the table, they ideally celebrate a domestic Eucharist, in which distances are shortened, love breaks boundaries and the step towards the future becomes one of solidarity.

Alessandro Manzoni wrote that life is not fun for some and suffering for many, but a responsibility for which we must all be accountable: this is why the Christian cannot be satisfied with being happy alone, but needs company. God who is gift and gratuitousness par excellence, to be recognized as God needed company: man and woman. The son of God, Jesus, to become one of us and taste the flavor of our tears and the joy of a smile, was born into a family, surrounded himself with friends and wanted his friends to bring other friends to share a friendship with the flavor of eternity.

The Pious Union acts as a bridge to bring together people of good will who wish to add a place to their table by doing a long-distance adoption in the country they desire or where there is greater urgency and need.

Let's light up a smile by giving the future to a child at least for a year.