To respond to the charity of Christ
Interview with Father Alphonse Bakthiswalagan,
superior of the Guanellian Community in Iaşi
edited by B. Capparoni
Cdear father Alphonse, you have become a priest ten Years ago. How many years have you been in Romania? Have you gotten used to this new environment?
My first ten years of priesthood were "years of grace from the Lord". I must say that I have always kept a great joy in my heart and I have always felt accompanied by the action of the Holy Spirit and by Mary, mother, friend and sister on the journey of faith. I arrived in Romania on March 1, 2015 and began learning the language and pastoral service among the elderly of the home of the Guanellian nuns and the soup kitchen. I came with great trust in the Lord, even though there were difficult days. But difficulties are often a sign that we are on the right path, the one that the Lord wants. I know that I can count on the prayers of many.
Family memories in the Pious Union
We want to inaugurate a space on La Santa Crociata where we can publish the congratulations and memories of our Associates. Not all anniversaries will be as important as Mary's, but there are many others that deserve fond memories and require warm wishes. I'm thinking to significant anniversaries (25th, 50th...) of married life, to the baptisms of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to some happy family circumstances.
For a new prophecy of charity
In Romania with the Guanellian nuns now also the Servants of Charity. They continue the precious service to the disabled started by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. For an investment of means they knock on the door of the Pious Union.
of Fr. Gabriel Cantaluppi
SDon Guanella wrote that "doing good to old and good-willed priests has always been a source of blessing for the House of Providence", because thanks to them he had been able to extend his work to places where he would never have imagined. At the invitation of a Romanian priest, guest of the Casa Santa Maria della Provvidenza in Rome, the Guanellian nuns opened a charitable work in Romania, which had recently been liberated from the communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu.