Radio Mater broadcast hosted by Don Mario Carrera, every 1st Wednesday of the month
What a beautiful joy it is to be able to greet each other again this evening, ideally shake hands, look into each other's eyes and convey a look of sympathy and, ideally, walk a bit of a journey together, converse, pray, meditate, contemplate.
Ours is a meeting of prayer, of reflection, a conversation between friends as Pope Francis said a few days ago about the Samaritan woman, leaving the jug at the well, freeing oneself from worries and running to announce the joy of having found in Jesus the fixed point of our life.
I would like to remember what a rabbi said about charity: «If you want to lift a man from the mud and slime, don't think you can stay on top, contenting yourself with extending your hand to him. You too must descend into its slime and mud and grab it with strong hands and bring it back to you in the light." Jesus came down from the splendor of heaven and lowered himself to us.
The mud and the slime are represented by the discomfort of loneliness, the lack of friends, of affection, of hope, of security of the future.
Yesterday in the liturgy of the Word Jesus made us meet at the pool of Betzeta. There was a man who had been waiting for a miracle for 38 years and had no one to help him enter the miraculous water.
To Jesus' question, with tears in his eyes he replies: "I have no one."
So this evening I want to greet all the lonely people who live in the company of illness, I would like them to feel the warmth of a caress that comes from God. This caress from God is also for the young and less young who have no work, so that they do not lose their trust and hope.
A caress to those who are experiencing a moment of mourning for the death of a loved one, to those who experience the anxiety of illness. A friendly smile to children who can always live surrounded by people who love them. A hug and a wish to those who celebrate their birthday in solitude today: don't feel alone: God is with us.
In this journey together we would like to be in the company of the earthly trinity, Joseph, Jesus and Mary. Try to discover their way of life and so live their same feelings within us, live our life in their life.