LThe image of the Mother of Good Counsel of Genazzano is a fresco from the fifteenth century, with the features of the Byzantine Madonnas of Tenderness. Mary is depicted while, with an affectionate gesture, she bows her head towards her Son, who lovingly embraces her, encircling her neck with his right hand and grasping the neckline of her dress with the other.
IIn these last few days, we have lived through a particularly intense time. The death of Pope Francis has filled our hearts with sadness and, in those difficult hours, we felt like those crowds of whom the Gospel says that they were "like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt 9:36). On Easter Day, however, we received his final blessing and, in the light of the Resurrection, we faced this moment in the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, he gathers them when they are scattered and "keeps them as a shepherd does his flock" (Jer 31:10).
C'it's a coming and going of children and mothers with their hijab (the characteristic colored hats) in some parishes in the outskirts of Rome. With backpacks on their shoulders and still wearing their aprons, some kids enter the rooms of the oratory, sit at the tables, open pencil cases and notebooks. Awaiting them are some volunteer “teachers”. Doing homework together, finding the meaning of the most difficult words, repeating the history lesson out loud: these are the activities. Then comes the time for recreation: someone has brought sweets or a small snack to share.