The beauty of filial love

Dear Father Director Mario Carrera,

I am very happy to write them again, and I was very happy that my first letter was published in the monthly magazine La Santa Crociata in Honor of San Giuseppe.

In the June issue, which I received promptly, I was very struck by the prayer to Mary, our traveling companion, a wonderful prayer, which gives an inner strength that cannot be explained. 

I was struck by a phrase in this beautiful prayer, when it reads: «That the heaviness of the past prevents us from giving credit to the future». it's exactly like this, if we want to be followers of Jesus we must not look back, we would not be able to think of a peaceful present and future; the mistakes of each of us must make us stronger, they must help us not to make the same mistake again, without sitting there dwelling on it. This way we will be able to face life more peacefully. Being witnesses of Jesus, of that Jesus who gave all of himself for us without holding back.

And as Pope Francis says regarding holiness, each of us can be a joyful, cheerful and full of life little saint to follow Jesus in the two things so dear to him: humility and charity.

Domenica Tarantino,

Calabrian lace

Dear Sunday,

I share with her the joy that sings in her heart, the effort in editing the magazine has the aim of making noble feelings vibrate in the souls of our readers both before God and our brothers and sisters. Monsignor Tonino Bello's letters to the Madonna are a masterpiece of humanity permeated by great faith. He was truly "a bishop made Gospel", for all the people he met in life and for those who meet him reading his writings; it is a perennial fragrant message of evangelical wisdom. He spoke of the Church and dreamed of it as a mother with "the apron" always on, like the mothers of yesterday, always careful to keep the house in order and in permanent service for the well-being of the entire family. And he suggested something important: "Never close the apron in the wardrobe of sacred vestments, but understand that the stole and the apron are almost the obverse and reverse of a single priestly symbol."

With Baptism, even all lay people acquire a priestly character and, therefore, the entire existence passes into our hands and our hearts with a scent of blessing that leaves the flavor of eternity.

A fragment of Italy in the USA

Dear Don Mario,

I am late replying to your note regarding our participation. My husband and I read the beautiful magazine with great pleasure and it is true that we do not actively participate in the magazine and this also makes me sad about the decline in readers. We are two retired old men and we help one of the children raise the children. They are our consolation and at the end of the day we are happy to have them but also for the tiredness they cause us. My husband reads the magazine first, especially the advice column for the small vegetable garden that he successfully grows and the cooking recipes.  

Thank you. I hope Saint Joseph continues to bless my family.

I wish everyone a good continuation!

(Sorry for my poor Italian, I haven't been from our beautiful Rome for over 50 years)

Wilma L. Mazzulli, USA

PS My brothers and I were students at St. Joseph's school, and under the saint's protection from birth; my parents and in-laws are enrolled in perpetual masses.

Dear Wilma, 

what a joyful breath of beautiful nostalgia in his writing. She brought a piece of our world overseas and our work at the Pious Union is not only to keep the gaze of Saint Joseph vigilant on the people consecrated to him, but also to make the "sweet" Italian dialect resonate in your homes and also to avoid losing the heritage of a memory as a reserve of values.

I will try to pay attention to your wishes and to be able to cultivate on American soil the traditions of the "smells" of our gardens and our tasty cuisine for which we publish some simple recipes. Let's not forget that the earth is always mother and invites us to look up where life comes from.

A pleasure for the mind and an energy for the soul

Reverend Don Mario,

even if my economic conditions do not often allow me to support the magazine and the works of mercy you carry out, nevertheless I assure you that you are in my thoughts and prayers and in the future I will try to help you more. 

I take the opportunity of a friend of mine coming to Rome to send you my solidarity also to support the expenses of the magazine, for which I send you my cordial thanks for the beautiful articles which are a real pleasure to read both for the mind and for the soul and which allow me to maintain a strong relationship with God and communion with our patron saints. 

I hope that this beautiful magazine will never come to an end and that Saint Joseph will keep us away from all evils. 

With a cordial and affectionate greeting I ask you to pray for me and for our family. God bless us!.

Giovanna Puggioni,

Oliena (NU)

Dear Mrs Giovanna,

the freshness of his feelings shows the nobility of his soul in sharing our faith and keeping his soul open to the passage of God who, like breathing, nourishes and regenerates our trust in his mercy and allows us to work with commitment by entrusting ourselves to love fatherly of God who watches over our affairs with loving sympathy.

May Saint Joseph help us to walk the paths of daily life with the same trust that he preserved and exercised even in dark moments, humanly incomprehensible, but which turned out to be a winning bet. The hands of God weave our future with threads of light, it is important not to abandon the hope of his constant presence.

Keep your genuine faith, many of our associates also need it, sometimes prisoners in the grip of evil. 

The gift of a lifetime to sow joy

Rev. Don Mario,

it is difficult for me to express in words the emotion of receiving greetings on the occasion of my name day on time every year; I thank you from the bottom of my heart and also for your special prayers. I hope that Jesus, Mary and Saint Joseph will always be my dear patron saints, that they will guide me in these days of life that the Lord grants me after 91 years of life. 

The month of March, dedicated to Saint Joseph, is life for me: on 6 March I took the religious habit, on 20 March 1948 my religious profession, this year the 70th of consecration.

Thank you Saint Joseph, my great help and protector. I recommend the prayer and protection of Saint Joseph for me and in particular for my family.

In union of fraternal communion, with esteem and gratitude.

Sr. Maria Flavia Saraceno, Roccamorace (PE)

Dear and esteemed 

sister Maria Flavia,

we are the ones who thank you for letting us share the joy of this 70th anniversary of consecration to Love. Seventy years are a poem of feelings, of gratitude to the divine goodness that allowed her to sing with Mary, the mother of Jesus and the wife of Joseph, the song of gratitude, for having looked at her with such benevolence since the first years of her life. youth. Those who have enjoyed her good have seen first-hand how God is able to build cathedrals of love through the fragile weakness of our lives. The lives of people, of religious women who spend their existence in arousing joy are comparable to a carousel that hosts children for free for a ride and thus provides life with reasons for joy, a constant smile to enjoy the good shared with others.

May God preserve her serenity, clarity of mind and enough energy to still feel like a musical note in the song of life for herself and for others.