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Requests, opinions, good received (30)

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 14:23 am

Your letters from June 2015

Written by Super User

Getting ready for the big step

Dear Don Mario,
I attended the TV2000 broadcast in which she participated. It's true, not dying alone, shaking the hand of those who are making the "passage", the Easter of our earthly existence is truly necessary. We would need hospices within or near hospital facilities. Today the average human life has lengthened and I myself, in the course of my working activity, have assisted and accompanied creatures who have passed from earthly life to life... in eternity. Many died alone. In your opinion, could a "structure" and/or areas of welcome and love for these creatures be created, among which we could suddenly be there too?

Giovanna

Dear Giovanna,
dreaming forcefully makes even the most arduous dreams possible. However, we all have the possibility of implementing a therapeutic alliance: medicine and prayer as a relationship of solidarity with our brothers and sisters scattered around the world. Praying is breathing with the breath of God and in this communion we also give a little oxygen to our brothers and sisters. Saint Joseph helps us in this. In a letter the famous poet Goethe wrote to a friend that he would have very much wished for him to be present at the moment of his death so as to feel the warmth of his hand with an additional courage in facing fear. May God always give us the strength to equip the penultimate steps of active life with the flavor of the final steps on the threshold of eternity. Congratulations.

Don Mario

Saint Joseph, protector of the living and dying

Esteemed Director,
I am writing to tell you that I met Saint Joseph about fifteen years ago, I was twenty-five years old and I became devoted to him thanks to a group of people who met regularly to discuss daily facts and problems with a religious, not bigoted, view. They were open to everyone. Due to a neighborhood problem (a servitude problem that I tried in every way to resolve without the intervention of lawyers, but at the request of the other party brought to court) I prayed the novena. The day after finishing it, I received the news that the judge had agreed with me for the second time. However, since the situation was not definitively concluded, I recited the novena again and, once concluded, I received the communication from my lawyer again on March 21st that the situation was definitively resolved. Personally I venerate Saint Joseph more as the protector of family and work than as the protector of the dying, but I realize that sudden death is always around the corner.

Fabio Angiolini – Varese

Dear Fabio,
thank you for your testimony which makes us discover how Saint Joseph embroiders our lives with his timely interventions. Sometimes they are evident and punctual, in other circumstances they are patiently waited for, but I am convinced that in the majority they are like the caresses of the wind that Jesus talks about in his conversation with Nicodemus: we feel the effect, but we don't notice where it comes from. they come from and where they are headed. In our life everything is grace. Passionate about the present moment, our requests to Saint Joseph concern the immediate, but we should learn not to feel like islands, but give prayer a universal breath. In our prayer, the souls who daily knock on the door of the house of divine mercy from all over the earth are entrusted to the intercession of Saint Joseph. Our prayer inhabits the "already", but also the "not yet" which is the heart of our future.

A prayer without limitations and boundaries

Dear Director,
First of all, I thank you for the beautiful 2015 diary you sent me. I appreciated it very much and I also thank you for the magazine I receive every month; It's a real balm for me to immerse myself in reading the different articles, especially the editorial written by you. I send a small gift for the Pious Union, a drop in the ocean. Pray for my family and especially for my son and wife who have lost their jobs. I thank you and greet you.

Eufemia Corsi, Montreal, Canada

Dear Mrs Eufemia,
we are the ones who thank her who gives us the joy of being useful in keeping the faith alive and sparkling. The Agenda wanted to be a floral tribute, we wanted to give each day a spark of light, a good thought, an elevation upwards to try to breathe the very breath of God. For members abroad, many like her, our correspondence, the San Giuseppe magazine aspires to keep our ties alive and also not to let us forget our sweet Italian language. We also have the family of her son in our hearts, we pray that this economic crisis, which is also expanding in "rich" countries like Canada, passes. Saint Joseph, who experienced hardship and poverty like any worker, is attentive to our prayers and I hope that when he reads this response everything will be resolved happily.

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Monday, 16 March 2015 14pm

The letters of March 2015

Written by Super User

Miracles have a different face than imagined

Dear Director,

I am a member of the Pious Union of the Transit of Saint Joseph, I would like to inform you of the painful loss of my mother Lorenzi Maria Celeste who died on 16/12/2014, registered with your association after the death of her mother in 1991, also a member for more than sixty ' years.

I know that you send the report card of the deceased, and I will continue to spread the devotion to the Patron Saint of a good death, two people have signed up, my mother-in-law, and a friend.

My mother died of cancer, lung cancer, 10 brain metastases, and also adrenal cancer, and it had attacked her throat and mouth.

The miracle according to the doctors is that she never complained of pain, when she said she suffered stomach pain they started pain therapy. She left in two days, without suffering. She was 73 years old.

I know that Saint Joseph intervened, even though he had just finished the recitation of the Sacred Mantle, convinced that he would perform a miracle in accompanying her in the death of the righteous.

I won't deny that I was also angry with the Saint who didn't answer my pleas, but it was the pain that spoke, now reason is more realistic and accepting.

We cannot all be pardoned and even science and medicine throw in the towel, and then only faith intervenes. Best regards. I'm waiting for the report card. Thank you.

Alessandra - Bergamo

Dear and kind Mrs Alessandra,

I understand his outburst and his anger; faced with the pain of the death of a person dear to us, the questions can cry out with acrimony, but even in the moment of suffering God is always a patient and merciful Father.

The Creator gave laws to nature, these laws know no reason, they walk their way and sow suffering. The presence of God, through the example and prayer of Saint Joseph, ensured that the mother did not complain and endured the pain with courage and tenacious will.

There are divine presences in our existences that our human logic is not always able to grasp.

Who wouldn't want to have their mother close for a very long time, but it is a law of nature that children must survive their parents. Big trouble if the opposite were to happen.

Mother Maria Celeste can only be up there, next to God and, in the very eyes of God, see your life, keep it firm and lively and help you in times of need.

In the Perpetual Suffrage registration report card, which we send you by post, you will find an invitation, attributed to Saint Augustine, which begins like this: "If you love me, don't cry".

I will remember mom and you too in our prayers. Take heart, our dearly departed are not far from us and do not abandon us. God bless us and comfort us always.

The paternal threads of a providential fabric

Dear Don Mario,

I have been your associate for many years after the death of my aunt (Dear Maria, your associate and great devotee of St. Joseph). When I was a teenager, together with her, in the evening, we recited the Sacred Mantle and the Rosary and this led me to continue this spiritual journey.

I am married and have a daughter, during dark times, as in all families, I ask for help from the Great Saint and Mary; in fact in 2013 my husband lost his job, we tried never to lose hope thanks to the prayers of many people around us and above all not to make it burden our daughter who together with us in the evening prayed for her father to come a job offer has been communicated. Receiving your monthly magazine, which is a wonderful source of news and prayers, I was struck by the letter from a girl who (by fate or coincidence) had the same name as my daughter, the same age and her father who was also unemployed and looking for of work; the girl expressed thoughts similar to those of my daughter. The next day I took the article to be read at the school where my daughter attends, the nuns thought that the letter had been written by her.

After having turned to many employment agencies, a month ago my husband finally received the job from a construction company.

We will never tire of praying and attending Holy Mass and offering a service at the Sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie and Santa Maria Goretti, singing during the celebration at 9,00 am; Our choir is made up of 14 year olds and mums and dads.

I ask you to pray for families in both economic and spiritual difficulty.

I await your reply

Best regards

Visci Maria Cristina

Dear and dear Mrs Maria Cristina, it is always a great joy to be able to share the fruits of the intercession of Saint Joseph who makes people's paths smooth. Sensitivity of soul and spirit of faith make us understand the events guided by the beneficent hand of God the Father who desires nothing else other than the good life of his children. The channels of divine grace do not always find people willing to favor them, but above all we have the certainty that God's tenderness does not abandon anyone. Our grandparents said that "God sends clothes according to the cold". Nobody dies of hunger, but too many - we see it every day - die because of human selfishness.

God bless you and may you always find the feeling of gratitude in us.

Perseverance and faith a winning combination

Dear Don Mario,

Below I report your email with which you, last February, with feelings of Christian empathy, responded, comforting me greatly, to my desperate message. With a registered letter sent to your Pious Union, I requested Holy Masses and prayers to obtain the intercession of this great Saint. I was asking God for a grace of no small importance. Sinister symptoms afflicted me, in a state of serious malaise and unusual asthenia.

Thus began an ordeal of tests, analyses, and a journey through some of the most qualified hospital departments.

I have not stopped praying to God every day, through Saint Joseph and the Holy Family, but also to the other Saints that my devotion had led me to know, so that the cause of my illness could be found and I could thus be treated adequately.

Doctors ventured hypotheses which were later denied by other doctors. We continued with other tests, in painful uncertainty. In May, the specialist who was supposed to see me canceled my booking due to unforeseen circumstances.

Disappointed and demoralized, I fortunately manage to book a new visit at a private clinic, with another specialist, unknown and never heard of before. This expert but not at all old doctor, in a few minutes he examined my case, documentation, tests etc. -Hasty and laconic, he carries out a fibroscopy in the throat.

Sparing words, he writes the diagnosis, prescribes the therapy and leaves me. I still hadn't understood anything, but on that May morning I had the internal sensation of having solved my problem.

Having started adequate treatment, in mid-June I regained my usual desire to live and feel good despite being almost 70 years old! Only months later did I notice the date, which I had marked, as the end of my "ordeal": it was May 13th. A special day for those who are devoted to the Madonna.

My prayer was heard. I still pray to Saint Joseph so that he will assist me and so that when that time truly comes I can be comforted in faith.

Fernando

Dear and esteemed brother in the faith Fernando, you don't know how much joy your letter brought me; I am really happy that his illness has evolved benevolently with a combination of providential circumstances that offer her the possibility of looking to her future with serenity and the desire to live.

Choral prayer has great effectiveness and the silent, humble and comfortable assistance of Saint Joseph always offers a source of joy, comfort and hope in grasping from life those precious gifts hidden in the most remote corners, which only the warmth of prayer can make. to flourish.

It will still be in my prayer of gratitude and a strong invocation to the Holy Spirit who through the intercession of Saint Joseph will give her energy, vitality and strength for many years in offering the contribution of his good will and intelligence to raise the level of well-being of the our society is so asphyxiated and anemic.

I wish you many consolations and courage to live with a confident attitude of faith and enjoy good health in spirit and body.

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Wednesday, February 18 2015 15: 47

The letters of February 2015

Written by Super User

Joyful memories of a life lived with commitment

Dear Don Mario Carrera,

I enjoy reading your magazine, including letters from readers. I am an elderly person born in Meduna di Livenza in the province of Treviso in October 1921. I am in good health despite being ninety-four years old, I have a very strong memory. […]. During the Second World War, I joined the Julia Alpini regiment to fight on the Russian front. Fortunately, I am one of the few from my country who returned home safely.

I walked, mostly, during the winter with temperatures reaching -40 C. The day of my return to Italy was March 19, 1943, the feast day of St. Joseph. And for this my gratitude goes to Saint Joseph, for safe passage and during my life for many other things: my devotion to Saint Joseph remains forever. In 1949, I immigrated to Canada with my wife Alma and we settled in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I have worked all my life as a baker and pastry chef and with Alma we raised our two children, Lidio and Elena. […] I would be grateful if you could remember us in your prayers.

Nicola Soldera

Woodbridge, Ontario (Canada)

Dear and nice Mr. Nicola,

in the certainty that you will read the response to your letter, I assure you of a cordial invocation to God, father of life, and I express my congratulations and the warmest wishes for long years of life so as to testify to your faith in God and trust in Saint Joseph who protected her in the flower of her youth and allowed her to find her relatives at home and fall in love with Alma.

I imagine his suffering returning from the Russian "campaign", where thousands of young soldiers gave up their lives sacrificing their future for the madness of a war born of pride and presumption.

Faced with these memories we are urged, every day, to invoke God's gift of peace, wisdom and dialogue for peoples in conflict. We pray that blinding pride will stop soaking the earth with the blood of victims and the tears of orphans.

Jesus, author of peace, through the intercession of Saint Joseph help us to live in tranquility and peace.

Able to look death in the face

Dear Don Mario,

a few days ago I received a happy name day card for my husband Vincenzo and I thought I'd inform you that my husband passed away on December 29th, the Sunday of the feast of the Holy Family. We were participating in the Holy Mass broadcast on television, when at the end the priest gave the blessing and my husband took his last breath. The “transit” was serene and peaceful. He would have had his birthday on January 16th. His children had prepared everything to celebrate the day of his birth on earth, but instead we celebrated the birth of a new life. I prepared the liturgy for the funeral rite the day before the funeral and the priest then checked if everything was going well. I, my children, their wives and grandchildren read the readings and the prayers of the faithful. Before the celebration the priest remembered my husband by saying that Vincenzo was a holy man and to pray to the Lord so that he would grant each of us the ability to live a life of faith like his.

I say these things not to boast but to give glory to God for everything he has given us. With my husband Vincenzo we worked in the parish in the liturgy, for marriage meetings and other ministries and above all for the education of my children in the faith.[…] Vincenzo was looked after by me at home until the end of his days, difficult years , difficult days faced with faith and trust in the Lord who invites us to have faith in Him, to pray incessantly because prayer made with faith moves mountains. Now I live alone, but my beloved Vincenzo is always with me, I talk to him and tell him everything I do and in the faith we shared. I place all my loved ones under the protection of Saint Joseph. I greet you with affection and respect.

Anna Maria Caporale

St. Leonard, Quebec, Canada

Dear Anna Maria,

reading his letter, the first feeling was praise to God who arouses such noble feelings in people's hearts supported by a faith that does not bend to the blowing of the cold winds of life, but with nobility of soul testifies to an admirable spirit faithful.

In a widespread climate of fear and thoughtful spells when it comes to death, his letter opens the heart to hope.

On the occasion of his grandfather's death, a child asked me what death looked like. I replied to him that «Death does not have a face, but from time to time it has the face of the person who dies. On that day he had his grandfather's face." Vincenzo's face, even in the cold of death, was the chrysalis from which the soul colored with merit and warm with love had emerged. The liturgical reform, after the Second Vatican Council, favored the joyful aspect of eternal life and, with the light with the colors of dawn, warm colors that accompanied the risen Jesus on Easter morning.

The sense of emptiness is understandable but God leaves it open so as to help us maintain a mutual communion that is nourished with prayer and with an affection that is not canceled but transformed.

Thank you for your testimony and God, with the help of Saint Joseph, maintain this joyful presence and the desire to bear witness to it.

Happy Lent also to his dear family. I would like to suggest that you continue reading the articles in our magazine, not only so as not to forget the Italian language, but above all to support Christian hope.

Silent, humble, hidden and precious service to parishes

Reverend Don Mario,

I have long been a subscriber to "La Santa Crociata" which I respect and appreciate so much for its validity and elegance of printing. Compliments!

I read it with great pleasure, being very devoted to Saint Joseph, whom I honor every day. I have sent you an offer for the celebration of Holy Masses in memory of Monsignor Lino Magenes, my lifelong spiritual director. I lived directly with him for fifty-three years and I really want him to be included in the list of the deceased of "our" San Giuseppe family. Don Lino was a precious spiritual guide, a priest truly enthusiastic about his Ministry, which he exercised with such vitality, bringing many people to consecrated, religious and lay life. Don Lino died on October 4th and, if possible, I would like the holy masses to be celebrated on the 4th day of each month, for a year, but I am sure that the gentleman does not keep a calendar and there is no need to remind him of what we care about it. I also warmly thank you for the touching memories of each of my name days: it is a joy that is always renewed. With exquisite gratitude, I greet you.

Anna Biancardi

Muzza of Cornegliano Laudenze,

Lodi

Esteemed and dear Mrs Anna,

with sympathy and gratitude for his generous goodness, also on behalf of the ecclesial community of the diocese of Lodi, I allow myself a heartfelt thanks for the good done in his land. Dear Anna, the ecclesial community has benefited from the priestly activity of Msgr. Lino Magenes; he, undoubtedly, was able to start and carry out many activities also thanks to his precious collaboration. Don Lino sowed in many people the abundance of divine grace which is still bearing fruit in holiness in many souls today.

The priests' collaborators in the parish are a source of blessings. Our brother, the venerable Msgr. Aurelio Bacciarini, during his episcopal ministry in the Swiss diocese of Lugano, had sensed the need to bring together some people to be at the service of the parish priests and parishes. In 1926, ahead of his time, he founded the secular institute "Compagnia di Santa Teresa".

This quality of ecclesial service, which one day might have seemed like a "hothouse", limiting itself to decorating the flowers on the altar or just cleaning the church, today is open to the periphery with the poor to be helped and the sick to be visited; in short, carry out those works of mercy that our usual lack of time makes us forget.

Dear Anna, I assure you that we bring into the heart of our prayers not only all the priests, but also the collaborators who work in the parish houses and the many mothers and sisters, who generously stand next to their son or brother priest, helping them to multiply the time to dedicate to their ministry.

Wishing you good physical and spiritual health, I entrust you to the protection of Saint Joseph.

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Wednesday, 17 December 2014 13pm

Your December letters

Written by Super User

The example of faith of mothers

Dear Don Mario,

My name is Marco D'Agostino, I have been a member of the Pia Unione for years, I followed the example of my mother, who has been a member of yours for many years. I always saw her reciting the Sacred Mantle, every day, in every difficulty or serious situation, but also in beautiful moments, she always had the opportunity to remember the help that Saint Joseph never let us lack, even in serious situations and in dangers, which I won't mention, but God knows what.

it was she who encouraged me to trust St. Joseph and become his friend, at least I hope that's the case.

When we can, together we send an offering for the guests of the Guanellian houses or sometimes for those assisted by the Pious Union, the important thing is that it is to help someone in their needs, because San Guanella said to give bread and the Lord, but he also gave importance to bread. I can say that it gives me happiness to support the Pious Union of the Transit of San Giuseppe, of which I feel I am part. Now my mother is turning eighty-seven, which she will be on December 25th, naturally hence her name, Natalina. she is completely disabled, but not in her heart and spirit, but she needs total assistance in her serious health problems, but it is a beautiful thing to be able to keep her with us. Now, on September 24th I will have to have surgery, a hip prosthesis, which despite being, let's say, young (I'm fifty-one years old) is unfortunately inevitable. I then turn to my friends, to the family of Saint Joseph to obtain from Him the grace that everything will go well and that I can continue to take care of my mother and resume my work.

Thank you for your prayers, I greet you dearly, and with you, all those who help you.

Marco

Dear Marco,

on the day of your surgery we accompanied you with our prayer and asked Saint Joseph to invoke the Holy Spirit to guide the hand of the doctors, so that he could help their surgical skill to give you the opportunity to resume your work activity and assistance to the mother with such effectiveness and affection. Solidarity and affectionate care for the sick is worth more than medicines or at least in the same percentage. Loneliness and the feeling of being a burden are like a slippery wall that extinguishes the light of hope and causes one to fall into despair.

Thank you also for your beautiful testimony of faith in God and trust in the intercession of Saint Joseph: he is the model of obedience to God and the abundant source of the evangelical virtue of humility that makes people great. He says the Gospel: «He looked at the humility of his servant». The reference is to the Madonna, but the eyes of God are constantly on the path of humble people. Courage, dear Marco, and a double wish for a Merry Christmas also for mother Natalina's birthday.

With Saint Joseph I walk of humility, silence and availability

Dear Director,

I am happy that our Pious Union with prayer and with the magazine keeps alive the devotion to Saint Joseph, patron saint of the universal Church. In our times, even at the level of ecclesial life, we live a little over the top. From a faith point of view, too often, it seems to me that we accept only those truths that caress our pride. Sometimes we are tempted to cultivate our commitments in the parish with a spirit of service which however hides the search for personal satisfaction. One gets the impression that in our relationships with God and with our brothers we were born adults, without an apprenticeship in the path of life and faith. I often pray to the Holy Spirit to keep me with a willing heart open to his desires.

Anna Maria - Reggio Calabria

Dear Anna Maria,

We too experience this spiritual satisfaction of hearing Saint Joseph walking alongside us in giving us an example of how we can help God build his Kingdom of love, brotherhood and peace. The specific qualities of the spirituality of Saint Joseph are: humility, silence and the willingness to act promptly on God's desires. These qualities often do not have the honor and satisfaction of the limelight and applause, but are energies that give life to our actions. I like to think of the figure of Saint Joseph as the dynamo of a bicycle which produces light from friction with the wheel and illuminates the road. His life, in the shadows and in silence, was moved by a powerful energy, as enthusiastic as the rhythm of the pedals of a young man in love. The spirituality of Saint Joseph is supported by evangelical values compared to the roots and ferments of the Kingdom of the Father, which from a tiny seed becomes a tree in the secret of the earth, to the yeast that ferments and is dispersed in the flour. The style of Saint Joseph is the realization of his own name, in fact, the name of Joseph means: he who causes growth. It is the task of every Christian: to help brothers and sisters grow in humanity and holiness.

Diary of a "Registered" letter

Dear Don Mario,

human living is driven by feelings. Even a sheet of paper, slipped into an envelope and posted in a post box, is a vehicle of feelings. These feelings, before the advent of the internet, traveled on the surface, they were journeys, at times, rapid or less rapid, calm or insidious. Always and in any case, payment notices: fast as hares; letters from boyfriends: slow as turtles. The consolation that they travelled. The fundamental verb for postal correspondence is: walk. This isn't always the case. For this reason, here is an imaginary conversation with a real «Registered» letter.

This is how the confidence begins.

«It was around midday on February 27, the climate was harsh, the people, padded in heavy coats and wrapped in scarves, were walking at a brisk pace. I too enjoyed the warmth of the sender of the letter. His warm hand reached me and handed me to a post office employee who placed me on a separate table. I was treated with respect because I was not a common letter, but a "registered letter". I heard the other letters whispering in a malevolent tone that they looked at me as a "privileged" person who didn't line up like the other letters. The privilege consisted of not traveling with the troops, but in priority lanes. I saw that all the other letters were moving en masse, haphazardly and all piled up: I was the "privileged" one and a "registered" route had been reserved for me. In my "privileged" solitude I thought that my journey would last, if not a few hours, at least a few days. It was about arriving in the heart of Rome, starting from the outskirts of Milan. From my feeling of being treated with respect I went to the deepest despair. I had left the movement and found myself parked in a dark, isolated environment, where nothing ever happened. Silence and stillness. I felt the days getting longer, the light warming the rooms, the birds chirping, the operators' voices having a cheerful tone. I thought spring had arrived. The resurgence of nature affected people's mood. There was a moment when I thought the world had stopped. I had begun to count not only the days but also the weeks. In the handwritten letter, which my envelope contained, the sender dated the writing on the eve of Lent. From the slowdown in correspondence and the muffled chatter of the staff, I realized that we might be in the Easter holidays; in fact, my calculation of weeks corresponded to this Easter period: forty days. When I was delivered to the post office it was just before the start of Lent this year 2014 (3 March, ed.). My wait was almost resigned to lie in oblivion.

Then the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost passed, but nothing: absolute immobility. More weeks passed: nothing. But the summer holidays have stirred something.

During a period of rest from work, I returned to a work table and finally on August 19th I was delivered to the friendly hands of the recipient. Who was very happy not only for the news I brought him and the break in a prolonged silence, but above all because it allowed him to escape from an apparent and involuntary shadow of indifference towards the writer."

The registered letter is fiction, but the fact is true and is not unique.

From Milan to Rome in 174 days, with a distance of 3,57 km per day. And to say that since the time of the ancient Egyptians, racing pigeons traveled 50 to 100 kilometers a day.

To inform Members of complaints that they do not always receive the magazine, we can assure them that regularly, every month, we send the San Giuseppe magazine to everyone; however, one regret remains: if we pay for a service, out of justice, we have the right to have it performed both towards our Association and for the correctness of relations with our Members.

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Saturday, November 08, 2014 12pm

Your October letters

Written by Super User

A solidarity that makes the distant close

Dear Director,

with a little modesty I feel compelled to communicate to you an inspiration I had in recent weeks, which I obeyed with enthusiasm, first, and then with satisfaction.

I am a grandfather who loves and is loved by four beautiful grandchildren. Wanting to give them a gift for Christmas last year, I had the inspiration not to hand the gift package into their hands, but to pass it on to them; a gift that would caress them but to go far away: adopt a child in a mission land. I explained to them the meaning of the gift that went to children who do not have everything they enjoy. I explained that many children live without the affection of their parents, others without a home, a school to educate them and, sometimes, with little food to get through the day. With satisfaction I must say that they willingly accepted the "gift" and rejoiced in knowing that in a distant land, they have a little brother who is growing up with them.

Letter signed from Milan

Dear and dear «Grandpa»,

her modesty does her honor and she obeyed the word of Jesus who invites us not to blow trumpets to make good deeds known; even, Jesus warns that not even the right hand knows what the left hand is doing.

I am happy with your communication for at least two reasons. The first reason: I believe that it is a wise pedagogy to make children understand that one cannot be happy alone and that shared good increases the joy of living. Don Guanella said that "on the journey of life, of this life, which is sometimes so difficult, finding good friends is of great comfort"; this allows us to look to the future with the certainty that God does not abandon anyone and that every hand that offers us support is the same hand of God that becomes Providence.

The second reason is "contagion". Returning to Don Guanella, I must remember that his pedagogy of the heart also passed through the path of contagion: good is, by its nature, contagious. It is to be hoped that his testimony can truly be contagious.

An offering of light and strength to those who are fragile

Dear friend, Don Mario,

A sickly, old and tired grandmother writes to her to tell her that I am very grateful because I continue to receive the magazine La Santa Crociata in honor of Saint Joseph, even if in my difficult economic situation I cannot send you anything to cover the expenses. My debt is great, so may the Lord reward you. Sometimes my eyes are tired and I would like to pray the Sacred Mantle in honor of Saint Joseph, but I lack strength. I ask: don't you have a cassette with the recording of the Sacred Mantle and the holy rosary in honor of Saint Joseph? It could help me pray with greater consistency and fervor.

Lidia - Manerbio (BS)

Dear grandmother Lidia,

thank you for the "dear friend" who makes me feel at home and allows me to tell you that the word of Jesus is always dear to us when through the mouth of Saint Paul he states: "there is more joy in giving than in receiving". Saint Joseph provided for the needs of his family in Nazareth and we are certain that he will arouse feelings of generosity in the souls of people who are less "sick and less tired with the weight of the years" to make up for her.

Our publication and constant prayer are gifts of the Spirit to offer new life to the fatigue of daily living. The written reflection, offered by the authors of the articles, wishes to be a supplement to the soul of the associates to maintain the enthusiasm of faith and preserve that "fire" of generosity that Jesus lit in our lives driven to fix our gaze on that pierced Heart from a spear of ingratitude, but transformed into a source of love. "They will look at him whom they have pierced."

Our publication aims to be an eye drop capable of strengthening our gaze and better admiring that beating heart, symbol of Jesus' passionate love for us.

We keep your idea of recording the prayer of the Sacred Mantle and the rosary in honor of Saint Joseph warm in our hearts and we will try to see to its realization as soon as possible.

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Wednesday, July 30 2014 11: 34

Letters from July-August

Written by Super User

Perseverance moves the heart of God

Dear Don Mario,

my wife and I have already had the opportunity to write to you for various reasons, in particular for the request for national adoption that we presented for the first time in 2009. I got to know Saint Joseph and his wonders better through my wife - for many years she has been registered and he enrolled friends and relatives in the Pious Union - which repeatedly requested and obtained many graces through his intercession.

I don't like novenas very much, but when the desire for fatherhood strengthened, I thought of turning to the intercession of Saint Joseph not only so that the adoption would take place, but also so that I would be fit to play the role of adoptive father. So in 2009 I prayed to the Mantle and in the end I had a very deep certainty in my heart that everything would come true. In fact, the inclusion in the Court's lists took place on 19/03/10. The years have passed without any calls, and with them some of my certainty has faded. But on March 18 of this year, just as we were choosing the association to undertake international adoption, we were summoned by a Juvenile Court and accepted a match with a child. I will tell you briefly that many others have occurred around this event, apparently without connection, positive and negative - the latter having become a source of further grace with the intervention of the Lord - with such perfect direction that it seems incredible to me, even if I had many, many opportunities to experience God's surprising cuddles, and, to reach the final outcome, at Easter, in record time, the baby was already sleeping in our house.

My/our joy is obvious, but it is always unexpected and astonishing because the Lord performs wonders - if you can use the expression - even more wonderful than we can imagine or desire, to which the always certain contribution and intercession of Saint Joseph is undeniable. . Thank you also for his and your prayers for him.

Letter signed

Dear and Dear Friends,

I wanted to remain anonymous also to protect your son's privacy. I am truly happy that perseverance has crowned your dream and that Saint Joseph has delivered not only a license as a "putative father", but also the guarantee of being a traveling companion in the growth of the new creature entrusted to your care.

We too join the chorus of praise and gratitude to God for the benefits obtained and also the perseverance in knowing how to wait and in grasping the hand of Providence which is designing our history with the rhythms and times designed by divine wisdom.

Alessandro Manzoni compares the events of our life to a colorful embroidery. We admire the designs, the harmony of the shapes, the figures, but if we look at the back we find a tangle of threads that cross and overlap in a chaotic way. Our worries make us see the back and the hand of God draws the right; What is required of us is patience and the wisdom of faith which makes us see reality with the very eyes of God.

We stand in solidarity in prayer, alongside you we also include all parents in our invocations to Saint Joseph so that the Holy Spirit may illuminate their educational action.

God bless you and Saint Joseph support you.

A ferial sanctity knows how to make harmony flourish

Dearest director, this is to inform you that a subscriber but above all devoted to the patron saint Joseph, left us last August 23rd.

No longer very young, 87 years old, Pinetta (this is the name by which the whole town knew her), was a young and fresh soul.

A door, his, always open. There wasn't a day that went by that someone didn't knock on his door, just to say “Hello!” or “How's it going?”. On the day of her name day, Saint Joseph, her house became a sort of sanctuary... everyone came to wish her a happy birthday and she always said: "Saint Joseph gave them to me before you", and happily showed the postcard that you sent them.

Her life as a wife, as a mother, as a grandmother was truly a force of sympathy, and even if sometimes she let herself go... all it took was for her to receive a phone call or for someone to knock on her door to return as calm as before.

She was proud of her children, her daughters-in-law and her beloved grandchildren, Marta and Marco, but she was proud of all the people dear to her and friends (among these was my mother, Corinna Colombo, also very devoted to Saint Joseph), very happy to host my sister, Sister Maria, her goddaughter, during the holiday period.

Now the courtyard where he lived is empty, although inhabited. His neighbors, his cousins Angelo and Ada (among other things, ancestors of the dear Saint Luigi Guanella), experience his absence with great pain.

He did not build large works, skyscrapers or anything else but he was able to build small bridges in his life, cemented by friendship, goodness, devotion and prayer to Saint Joseph. I greet you with respect.

Elisa Mauri sees Polastri (Lecco)

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Monday, June 16-2014

Letters from June 2014

Written by Super User

The ferial sanctity of mothers

Reverend Don Mario Carrera, I have sent the offer for a scholarship intended for one of your aspirants to the priesthood. With it, I would like to remember my deceased and, in particular, my dear mother, Bruna, who ascended to heaven last July 6th at the age of 93. Mom was an exceptional person; she has always been close to me in her long and laborious existence, in happy and sad moments, she sacrificed herself in a thousand ways, not having her own income she deprived herself of many things; she was more than a sister and a friend to me, in adolescence and even after; she often helped me to resolve differences with my father, a very honest and correct man, an excellent parent but authoritarian and not very demonstrative, who did not always show her the affection and consideration that she deserved. Having remained a widow, the mother lived with us in the family, until five months before her death, always offering us emotional and economic support, even in the education of our son, without ever asking for anything in return, always in a silent and discreet manner. For these reasons, I and all of us miss her presence very much. You console me with the great confidence that Saint Joseph adequately assisted you in the supreme hour of the passage from time to eternity. I thank Saint Joseph and the Holy Family for having long enjoyed such a precious mother and for the constant intercession that I always experience in times of need. I ask for the grace to be able, with my husband, to be useful, God willing, to my son's family, for many years to come, following the example of my mother. I thank you and the Pia Unione for the prayers.

BAGT, Voghera (Pavia)

Dear and kind friend,

the saints we have known in our lives did not have a golden halo on their heads, but in their eyes the luminous reflection of the soul and in their hands a divine energy in helping people walk in serenity and joy of living.

Thinking of such silent and widespread goodness, the experience of the prophet Elijah on Mount Horeb comes to mind. He had taken refuge in the desert with a bitter and discouraged soul in search of the face of God to be consoled. He looked for him in shocking and extraordinary phenomena: the earthquake, the lightning, the impetuous and cutting wind of the desert, there was fire, but the Lord was not in these elements. After the fire the prophet Elijah came out of the cave and "there was the whisper of a light wind". That light wind reminds us of the presence of our loved ones who, with their affection and spirit of service, make God's holiness present in our lives. A crowd of anonymous saints (mothers, fathers, aunts, relatives and friends) stands before God and with their prayers they intercede for us so that the treasure of our life has its specific weight in love and goodness.

When I read the words of the prophet Isaiah who solemnly states that no mother can forget the fruit of her womb, I think that at the moment of our birth the umbilical cord is only physically broken, but an unbreakable bond remains which provides a constant flow of vital energies for an honest and dignified existence.

The effectiveness of prayer

Reverend Don Mario Carrera,

in January 2012 I wrote her a letter where I explained all the serious problems that were bothering us.

Finally, I am able to take the time to bear my testimony in honor of St. Joseph.

I want with all my heart to thank "my" great protector, advocate and friend St. Joseph.

We received the requested graces, one of which was at the last minute: the sale of the house without which we could not buy the other: the offer to purchase the accommodation, immediately accepted, arrived on Friday and the contract for the purchase of the another expired on Saturday, the following day... after more than a year of waiting. We also thank you for the work found in the area, all in 2013.

In the meantime, a beautiful little girl, Lucia, born on March 20, 2014, has also arrived to complete and cheer up the beautiful family where Sofia, 4 years old, and Pietro, almost 3 years old, already live.

I would like to place these grandchildren of ours: Sofia, Pietro and Lucia Giovannini under the Mantle of Saint Joseph.

Since then, I as a grandmother have never stopped reciting the Sacred Mantle and also the novena for my family and the families of our children, to obtain psychological healing and above all a deep and true conversion for everyone. I also pray that they will keep their jobs in these difficult times. I also ask Saint Joseph for help for all those who ask for support like I did. There is so much need for help in this world…

As promised at the time of my supplication to Saint Joseph, I continue to send you my offering every time I receive the magazine to expand charity towards the poor.

With much gratitude, I thank you all for your prayers.

Grandma Franca

The sacrament of Marriage is for eternity

Very reverend Don Mario, I have been associated with the Pia Unione del Transito for more than twenty years together with my husband Angelo who returned to the Father's House on January 24th. I believe that Saint Joseph, thanks to the prayers of all the associates, was close to him at the moment of the transition from this life to eternal life, which occurred with great serenity. Our marriage lasted 54 years plus six years of engagement (we didn't have the means to get married before) in mutual respect and love and the fruit of our marriage were our four children (one of whom is a little angel in Heaven). Angelo dedicated his life to his family with so much love. About forty years ago we were fortunate enough to undertake a journey of conversion together. He joined the Diocesan Caritas where he collaborated and was involved in the Listening Centers until a few days before his death. On May 28th he would have turned 89.

Even if sometimes with tears in my eyes, I thank the Lord for all these years that he has given us in sharing everything. Every evening we recited the Holy Rosary together; now I recite it alone but he is spiritually close to me and, as he promised me, he always will be. Please write down my husband's name to the Suffrages Union, I would be grateful if you would like to celebrate a Holy Mass for him on June 24th. I thank Saint Luigi Guanella (whom I pray to every evening) for having founded this great Work in honor of Saint Joseph and for all the good that comes from it for the living and the deceased. I also add my poor prayer for the dying and a modest offering that will go to the relief of your poor who are also ours.

Letter signed

Dearest Subscriber, your letter is a midday of light for the joy of your existence spent in love and for love. In her words you can feel the fragrance of the Song of Songs, the unchanged amazement of your youthful years and the patronage of richness of soul that you have acquired in over sixty years of mutual exchange of gifts. In this season of fragile and "seasonal" loves, these strong testimonies give us the certainty that God sows the story of love and wants it to be leaven to transform the story into loving eternity. A renewed love to continue, eternally, in the fullness of the resurrection.

All children under the protection of Saint Joseph

Dear and beloved Saint Joseph, you were the guardian of Jesus and for this reason I would like to entrust all the children of the world to your protection and in particular my nephew Matteo, a wonderful creature, on the occasion of his first birthday. Like every child in a family, his presence gives joy and happiness, multiplies energy, makes fatigue light, and challenges us on the never-ending path of being fully human.

When we play together with a child it is as if we were on the "street" and celebrated our encounter between what the child is and what we are, so that they come together like a chord in a play and shine like a drop of dew.

When we rejoice in each other it is as if we mysteriously understood each other and by magic we become as light as acrobats on the trapeze: we soar in the sky and dive into the depths of the sea abysses to discover many worlds, so we are proud, of each other, of our magnificent lives.

These feelings are in my soul and I pray and dream that they can sing in the souls of many parents so as to grow in harmony of feelings and love under the vigilant protection of Saint Joseph, affectionate guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Milva

Dear and dear professor, your gesture of having entrusted not only your nephew Matteo but also the children of the world to the affectionate hands of Saint Joseph is noble. It is a cliché to say that the world of tomorrow belongs to children, but we who believe in the merciful goodness of God know that every human creature that enters this world is a star that lights up in the sky of humanity, but above all it is the certainty that God has not tired of us and that, despite us, he still smiles at us and invests in our future. The future of the world is entrusted to Matthew and the children and we with faith entrust it to the custody of Saint Joseph; he who with Jesus, the new Adam of renewed creation, dreamed and hoped for a renewed world, can protect it and bring to maturity the seeds of creativity, imagination and holiness that God entrusts to those who enter human history.

With Matteo I assure you that all the children every morning at mass are before the face of God with a prayer of intercession so that everyone can realize the dream that God has dreamed for their lives.

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Monday, May 12 2014 12: 15

Letters from May 2014

Written by Super User

Memory of a staunch defender of life

I am writing to invite you to include Prof. in your prayers of «Perpetual Suffrage». Mario Palmaro who, like a lighthouse in the night, went out while still very young.

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Monday, April 07, 2014 10:22 pm

April 2014

Written by Super User

Prayer for a big dream

Reverend Don Mario,

I come to you to thank you for the Gospel you sent me, I really wanted to have it, I really want to keep Jesus, so simply in my heart.

I'm taking up some of your time, but I would like to tell you a great little secret: how I would like our son Francesco, whose memory of his First Communion I sent you, to become a priest!

Thus, my husband and I, as we show him with our love the beauty of marriage, of the family, so we transmit to him our love, our gratitude for priests.

When we got married, now twenty years ago, the Gospel of John that we chose (Jn 15,9-17) said: «You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit remains."

Thank you Don Mario, who listened to me: I spoke to you like a father, because sometimes my heart bursts with joy.

Letter signed

Dear friend,

We would all like to "burst" with joy in cultivating and seeing the noble feelings in the soul bear fruit, but reality, heavy like ballast, drags us to the ground. I thank you for communicating your feelings and intentions animated by a beautiful and great faith in the God of life.

I assure you that our invocation to God is frequent, we ask Him daily to multiply vocations to the priestly and religious life so as to guarantee the baptized faithful merciful arms that prolong over time the beneficial and Samaritan action of Jesus for the benefit of fragile people, poor in spirituality, in need of help to grasp in life many reasons to thank God for the privileged gift of having been sent to this earth to collaborate in the construction of a kingdom of brotherhood and justice.

I too accompany you in prayer and we will join these intentions of yours to the chorus of prayers of the members of the Primary Pious Union.

God bless you and your family and Saint Joseph, who educated Jesus, help you and your husband to be close to your son with "yes" and "no" so that he grows in wisdom, age and grace before God and men .

The weight of loneliness

Dear Don Mario, after forty-three years of marriage - I am seventy-six years old - day and night I mourn the death of my husband Arturo, because it is especially in the evening that I miss him most, also because the house falls into a deafening silence. Wouldn't it be better if the Lord took me too? Left alone, what am I going to do now? I don't want to be ungrateful or blasphemous but I ask myself: why didn't the Lord take us both? I ask forgiveness first of all from the Lord and also from you, director, if my profound pain suggests perhaps un-Christian considerations.

Maria

Dear and kind Mrs Maria,

when you got married in the "yes" that you and your husband Arturo said, there was a definitive yes that bound you together for eternity. it is natural that this broken bond bleeds, because saying to a person: "I love you" is like saying: "You will not be able to die. Our souls will be bound by a bond of alliance that God himself has guaranteed with the celebration of a sacrament." If every sacrament celebrated is a pact of alliance between God and man, the sacrament of Marriage is pre-eminently so. Only hearts that love are able to launch their affection beyond the hedge of time and experience the nostalgia of being reunited after a separation as painful as that of a death. Her desire to be reunited in the light of God with her husband is legitimate, but we often say it: "God's ways are not our ways". Everyone has a divine plan to carry out and until it has reached maturity, God invests in our ability to do good; a good that is invisible to our eyes, but truly present like breathing in the lungs.

Let us not forget that prayer is a moment of vital communion even with the people we love. Prayer completes a communion triangle; here are the three sides of the triangle: "God-us-neighbor", held in an embrace of love.

A young friend of Saint Joseph

Dear director of the Pious Union, I am Francesca Maria, a fourteen year old girl. I am writing to you to pray to Saint Joseph to help my father who is in difficult conditions having been left without a secure job. He is worried about the daily needs of the family which he has to deal with and I experience this discomfort of his without being able to do anything for him who instead, together with my mother, does everything to ensure that I do not lack the necessary things. My parents never squandered or chased superfluous and unnecessary things while guaranteeing me a dignified and normal life like other young people my age. I really hope that the help of Saint Joseph will arrive for him and for our entire family so that this situation which takes away from all of us the tranquility that a family needs is resolved as soon as possible. In the meantime, I thank the Lord because mine is a united family, which is no small thing!

Francesca

Dearest Francesca,

I not only have the joy of sharing your family concerns, but of responding to help you invest your future with hope and trust in God. We live in a difficult time economically. The effort of having to adapt to a difficult lifestyle due to work difficulties is very heavy. Your young age, your ability to get enthusiastic about noble causes makes you discover unsuspected resources in the roots of your soul. Last but not least, the response in prayer and trust in God. God the Father sent Jesus to share the hardships of our human condition. In Nazareth he experienced the hardship of a precarious job with Saint Joseph. Even the practice of piety of the "Sacred Mantle" echoes the difficulty of life of the holy family of Jesus.

According to legend, the "Sacred Mantle" was born from an unfortunate circumstance. Giuseppe had a work commission, but did not have the wood to satisfy this request, so he was forced to pawn a very precious shawl that he had given to Mary during the time of the engagement. Once he had the wood and completed the work, he went to redeem the shawl, but whoever had lent him the money for the wood wanted to keep it for himself, since using it had found benefit for some ailments that afflicted him.

You pray, dear Francesca, and truly keep your family under this mantle of protection. We thank God and ask him for the grace that you can continue to live in a united family that gives you trust and the joy of feeling loved. Repay this love with your commitment, studying and achieving prestigious goals of honesty and industriousness, collaborating within the family.

A grandmother and the young friends of San Giuseppe

Dear Director,

I read with pleasure the boys' prayer addressed to Saint Joseph. In the next few days we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our marriage together with all my family members, daughters, grandchildren and I would like to solemnize this circumstance by placing my grandchildren: Luca, Andrea, Mattia and Lucia under the protection of Saint Joseph.

If I receive the registration card for our fiftieth anniversary, it will be a joy for me to hand over this devotion to St. Joseph to my grandchildren as an invigorating viaticum for their existence.

I greet you and thank you for the San Giuseppe magazine which is becoming more and more interesting.

Guglielmina of Mandello

Dear Mrs Guglielmina,

First of all, I assure you that you and your husband have been at the heart of our prayers to thank God for fifty years of life together and for your testimony of Christian life. The sacrament of marriage has made new lives flourish and has fueled a river of Christian life capable of warming many frozen areas of our society with the warmth of faith. By entrusting her grandchildren to the protection of Saint Joseph, she delivers a heritage of hope to the custody of Jesus' earthly father.

God the Father, creator of heaven and earth, the almighty, entrusted the custody of Jesus to Saint Joseph. He trusted this man; he ensured that the feelings of love towards the Savior were poured out by Saint Joseph onto Jesus with equal intensity, constancy and dedication. Joseph's silent obedience brought Jesus' human qualities to maturity; he dedicated himself with all his strength so that nothing could be missing from that Child who carried in his flesh the mission of saving the world. I hope that many parents, grandfathers and grandmothers can imitate his gesture of affection and hand over the hopes of the future to the effective paternal custody of Saint Joseph.

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Wednesday, March 12, 2014 16:34 am

March 2014

Written by Super User

The invisible graces from the intercession of Saint Joseph

Dearest Don Mario, in my town there is a lot of devotion to Saint Joseph. Devotees invoke him with faith and the saint generously manifests his benevolence. What strikes me are not so much the graces of a material nature but the graces of the intimate, that is, those of a spiritual nature; we witness real conversions of people notoriously far from God. People who, albeit in particular circumstances, have recognized their mistakes and reconciled with the Lord. All this, in my opinion, is the fruit of the Holy Masses celebrated by the Pious Union and the numerous registered priests. This "holy crusade" of holy Masses and prayers, born from the heart of San Luigi Guanella, is a daily miracle of universal love and charity in which we, all associated with the Pious Union, are called to participate. May the Lord bless us and be merciful.

MTL

Dear and dear Associate,

I thank you for your testimony of faith in the patrimony of graces linked to our prayer of intercession, above all, linked to the main source of our communion with God, the Holy Mass. There are thousands of priests scattered throughout the world who form a chain of intercession with the celebration of the "perennial mass"; it is a source of graces that is poured daily into the boundless aridities of our existence.

Benedict It is desirable that priests rediscover this communion of prayers to Saint Joseph for those who find themselves in the ford, between the shores of earthly life and eternal life. We can hear Saint Augustine's expression echoing in our soul: if you have helped a soul to be saved with your prayer, your testimony has built a guaranteed bridge towards landing at the Father's house.

The calendar like a wing stroke

Reverend Mr. Director, I thank you for the 2014 calendar that you sent me with those beautiful thoughts or rather meditations useful to make many people reflect, troubled and shocked by so much confusion that reigns in our country and in the world. Chaos seems to be increasingly taking over our daily lives.

Society is crumbling under the weight of the misunderstandings and scandals that in recent times seem to characterize and mark our days. Often, more and more often I take refuge in prayer for a moment of tranquility and comfort, where I recharge my spiritual energies. The Lord always gives me relief and the strength to continue. I ask Saint Joseph for the grace of a holy life, in peace and serenity for me, for my family, for this world of ours. Let's pray together.

Letter signed

Dear and kind friend,

I am the one who thanks you who gives me the satisfaction of seeing how our calendar is a boost to our spirituality which, every morning, sees with my eyes a familiar image and the invitation to an invocation to the thoughtful and affectionate member of the family of Nazareth.

It is a note of optimism to face the day aware of being in the company of people who love us and want our best. Let us meet with the eyes of the soul in these images and prayers familiar to us.

Best wishes from the card. Poletto

Dearest Director, I am grateful to you for the memory and the good wishes you sent me, again this year, on my name day.

I heartily reciprocate with my prayer for you, for the Operators and for the entire family of Associates and I invoke a special blessing from the Lord on each one.

With sincere respect I greet you cordially.

+ Severino Card. Poletto

Archbishop emeritus of Turin

Eminence,

we wanted to make public his constant and affectionate participation in the beneficial activity of the Pia Unione and of the basilica of San Giuseppe al Trionfale of which he is the owner. We are comforted by his blessing and his prayer for our lives that they may always be directed towards that path of holiness that God has sown in the life of every believer with the sacrament of Baptism.

Our magazine celebrates one hundred years since its birth. We wanted to give an impulse to our communication, always inspired by the faith and example of Saint Joseph, with a new layout and new columns. On this renewal project we ask for your blessing and the comfort of your prayers.

The dam of an honest life to counteract indifference

Dear editor, I congratulate you because what you publish is excellent. It's like breathing pure oxygen in the current miasma. Everything seems to be questioned, human values, society, the family. The current economic crisis is driving many people and families to desperation. There seems to be no way out and day after day things get more and more difficult. A society, today's, which in addition to the frenetic daily life is characterized by a social situation that is worrying to say the least. I pray to the Lord every day that he may improve this general situation of uncertainty and that there may be a safer future, especially for our young people, whom I entrust to dear Saint Joseph.

Maria Bellanova – Milan

Dear Mrs Maria,

How can we not share the bitterness of his considerations? Beyond this low and foggy horizon we have in our hearts the certainty that God does not abandon us and that Jesus himself passed through the tunnel of suffering and the grip of death. Just as at least three legs are needed to balance a chair, so our society needs the collaboration of the entire community, the light of God - guaranteed by his covenant - and the personal contribution of each of us. If we do not have a good will to convert in the depths of our conscience, a leg will always be missing from the balance of our community life. May Saint Joseph obtain for us a supplement of energy to brighten the horizon of this very complex moment.

Nostalgia for the past gives joy to the present

Dear director, on the occasion of the centenary of the monthly "La Santa Crociata" I am pleased to remember that my grandmother and other people in the family were already members of the Pious Union and subscribed to the periodical since the times when the contribution for the subscription was lire 5. I keep among my memories report cards, novenas and the rosary of Saint Joseph, which I recite every day, remembering my loved ones and the priests who directed the Pious Union at the time and also you who now direct it.

You remember me in prayer, I need it and when a soul feels the need for prayers, that soul is not far from God. Thank you for the prayers you offer for us all associated with the Pious Union. Saint Luigi Guanella said that “…holiness will save the world”. So to save the world we must all become saints.

Maria Teresa Tuoro –

S. Maria Capua Vetere

Dear Maria Teresa,

his writing urges me to make a cordial prayer of gratitude to God for the good he has sown in the souls through the work, prayer and passion for the cult of Saint Joseph of my generous and hard-working predecessors.

I invite you and all the associates to continue to pray that God may preserve for us that heritage of grace that makes us available to maintain the cult of the earthly Father of Jesus and help materially and spiritually the increasingly numerous poor.

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Thursday, 30 January 2014 14pm

January 2014

The precious legacy of grandparents

Very Rev. Don Mario,

reading the Holy Crusade I noticed that not only were the names of the deceased published but a report card for perpetual suffrage was also sent to the family. I am writing to you to remember my beloved grandmother who acted as my mother, and who was very devoted to Saint Joseph.

My grandmother asked Saint Joseph for a secure job because her husband was seriously ill. She became a nurse and was hired at the hospital on St. Joseph's Day, March 19. Since then in our house a lamp has been lit day and night in front of the statue of Saint Joseph and I promised my grandmother to continue to keep this lamp lit as a sign of faith in God and out of devotion to Saint Joseph.

We love Saint Joseph and I know that my grandmother Nerina can now finally see him and be with him to contemplate God.

I ask for the Blessing through the intercession of the Glorious Patriarch.

Maurizio Buscemi Good morning.

Dear Maurizio,

thank you for your beautiful testimony and perseverance in anchoring your faith in Jesus and, above all, in your earthly father, Saint Joseph. The silence of Saint Joseph is a mine of wisdom and ready willingness to carry out the Father's will. God, the creator, entrusted the custody of his Son to the care of this carpenter from Nazareth so that he could grow in humanity, wisdom and grace by introducing him into the life of his people. Saint Joseph is the last of the Patriarchs. He made himself available to God by entrusting his life to the desires of the Eternal Father, thus completing the plan dreamed of by Abraham, the first of the patriarchs. Saint Joseph is a Saint to be invoked and imitated.

The perpetual light in front of the image of Saint Joseph in memory of grandmother Nerina is the sign of a brightness reflected from the heart of her faith, dear Maurizio, as well as the testimony of her works of charity in favor of others.

The populous frontiers in need of charitable arms

Dear Director,

I am writing to you with tears in my eyes due to emotion, because I am following the arrival of Pope Francis in Lampedusa on television. How many graces the Lord gives us! We should work very hard. Giuseppe, my husband, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for forty years, rejoices at these manifestations, but he suffers a lot, like all people affected by this terrible disease. In Cosenza and Calabria there are over 1500 multiple sclerosis sufferers, many of them are alone. As AISM we are committed (many friends have joined the invitation) but the lack of civil service has not allowed us to keep all the therapy support services open. You work a lot but you are never completely efficient. Dear director, I entrust everything to his prayers.

Anna Flaminia Veltri Botta,

Cosenza

Dear Mrs Anna,

we must say that unfortunately almost every day tears well up in our eyes as we see the immense pain of these brothers and sisters of ours who venture into these uncertain adventures in the name of a hope called well-being. Pope Francis invites us Christians to frequent the outskirts of social life, but not only the extreme outskirts of the waters of Lampedusa, but the outskirts of our towns, the homes of solitude in our condominiums, the unsmiling homes of lonely old people or debilitating illnesses .

We all need an extra dose of love towards others. Those who truly believe in the God of love must not be satisfied with words, but sing to life with the actions of brotherly love.

The prodigious signs of an intervention by Saint Joseph

Dear Director,

I have been a subscriber to La Santa Crociata and a popularizer of the Sacred Mantle for over fifty years. Since I was a young girl I had chosen to live under the protection of Saint Joseph, and not only because I bear his name. The graces that my dear Saint Joseph has showered on me and my family are infinite. The most amazing grace I received was last May 6th, in the afternoon, when my husband suffered an acute coronary heart attack, so serious that the doctors, after seven defibrillations and six adrenaline shots, were unable to resuscitate him. Seeing my husband in those conditions I desperately asked Saint Joseph for help. Rushed to hospital, he was operated on and transferred to intensive care for ten days, intubated and with a guarded prognosis. On the 13th, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, he reopened his eyes. Transferred to the cardiology department, he slowly began to improve, much to the amazement and disbelief of all the doctors at his prompt reaction. I have always hoped and prayed a lot to my patron saint and after about a month of hospitalization my husband returned home and continues to feel well to the joy of all of us. I have no words to thank God, the heavenly Mother and my dear Saint Joseph.

Pina Cherchi Fiorucci, Genoa

Dear and kind Mrs Pina,

his writing depicts the feelings of the Samaritan who returns to thank Jesus for the healing of his leprosy disease. Jesus invited the Samaritan to get up and resume his journey with this injunction: "Go, your faith has saved you." Faith is trust, confidence, letting ourselves be held by the hand and walking with the certainty that God does not abandon us. Saint Joseph helps us find the hand of God and walk alongside him in the awareness of entering a world programmed by love even if our clock does not always strike the hour with God's. Never as in the case of an extraordinary healing science and prayer complement each other for the benefit of a human creature.

God is always with us and tells us not to be afraid because our life and its destiny are in the hands of a loving Father.

God's prerogative is forgiveness

Dearest Director,

I'm almost sixty years old and I've spent most of my life without God. Catholic family, all the sacraments, parish and then around the age of seventeen I simply didn't go to church anymore. In 2000 I had to undergo a cornea transplant in both eyes and I began to be afraid, to return to church, to Holy Mass and later with the very strong intercession of Saint Rita of Cascia my conversion led to a radical change of life, which began about four years ago: separation from my husband with whom I was only married civilly (he was already divorced), move to my hometown (Mantua) where my mother and brother live, start of a simpler life.

I didn't think much about St. Joseph, even though I attended the Church assiduously until on Christmas Day 2011, listening to the homily of a Carmelite friar on St. Joseph, I felt the urge to pray to him. When I returned home I found the Mantle of Saint Joseph in a prayer book.[…]

I started praying with the Mantle of St. Joseph and thirty days later, exactly on the thirtieth day, I signed the preliminary sale agreement. I continued the Manto and exactly on the thirtieth day I signed the deed of sale. The real estate agent didn't believe what was happening, but I explained that it was the intercession of St. Joseph. The buyers are a young couple, "good guys", simple, enthusiastic about the house and I about them.

Since then Saint Joseph has been my "financial advisor", living on his pension, having incurred large expenses for the purchase of a new house etc., I pray to him to help me make the right choices, seeing as before I had "my hands empty ".

I repeated the Mantle to help my brother on two occasions and was always granted. I confide my concrete problems to Him and ask Him to help me in everyday practical choices. He always helps me, always intervenes even in the most banal requests. Greetings.

Maria Teresa DV Mantua

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Thursday, December 05 2013 16: 25

December 2013

From Biella a journey of solidarity

Dear and esteemed Director Don Mario Carrera, in the month of August 2013 dedicated to the BVM Assunta, we received the welcome letter and with full joy in our hearts we were filled with surprise and wonder in feeling encouraged by the primary headquarters in Rome " Pious Union of Transit".
We feel profoundly united with a special spirituality, confident in the powerful protection of the patron S. Giuseppe and the founder S. Luigi Guanella, whom we devoutly venerate in our small sanctuary in Biella/Riva.
At our artistic-historical shrine every first Wednesday of the month the Holy Mass is celebrated. votive mass in honor of St. Joseph, at 21.00 pm with a fair-good participation of faithful, pilgrims, devotees, friends and associates; we sing, we pray for all the deceased registered for suffrage and for the members of the Pious Union; a well-prepared and well-prepared function.

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Thursday, 05 September 2013 13 pm

Your letters

«Bread and Lord» and preventive method

My mission is among the disabled children of the special school which is under the patronage of St. Joseph, St. Joseph Nivas special school for the physically and mentally challenged. It belongs to the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence. Twelve Guanellian nuns specialized in the education of children with disabilities work full time in the school. The nuns, following the spirit of San Luigi Guanella, offer not only education and assistance but a home in which healthcare and rehabilitation professionalism is combined with care for the soul and for the quality of the time that guests spend together through entertainment and socialization; as St. Luigi Guanella says: «Bread and Paradise», with the preventive method. The first grace we received through the intercession of St. Joseph is the legal recognition (from the Indian State) of our school.

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Wednesday, 19 December 2012 10pm

December 2012

A clear faith

Dear Father Mario Carrera, it is with deep emotion and pain that I inform you that my father Luciano Motzo has flown to heaven. Dad had been a member of the Pious Union for years and was very devoted to Saint Joseph, the Madonna and Jesus.
He prayed for hours every day and participated in Holy Mass daily. Dad was good and sweet, he adored my children Andrea now 10 years old and Myriam 3 years old, who doted on him and still talk about him as if he were here. Dad was a fervent believer, he had a very strong faith and infinite goodness and I am these are the values that he also passed on to my children who spent most of the day with him and their mother. Dad flew to heaven after a very strong suffering, during which not only did he never complain, but he never missed his sweet smile. He is in heaven together with his beloved Saint Joseph, the Madonna and Child Jesus, remembering him in the Holy Mass and enrolling him in the perpetual Holy Masses. With devotion and gratitude.
Motzo Rina, Cabras (OR)

The fruits of a loving education

Dear Director, Giovanna Mattei, 59 years old, has died after a long illness. For a whole life she was a good, affectionate and authoritative teacher at the Kindergarten. Giovanna leaves behind her husband Giuliano and her children Gabriele and Michela. Some children from that time sent us a tender memory, testifying to the affection that teacher Giovanna had been able to win over with sweetness and commitment. Here is the text of the letter: «Hello teacher Giovanna, you were among us children at the Kindergarten for forty years, the first lay teacher to support the nuns of Maria Bambina. You followed us with love, educating us in your joyful way, always ready to see the beauty and the positive in us. You left us after a long illness that you fought with courage, finding in the people who alleviated and cured your pain, some of the children who many years ago had called you "teacher Giovanna". Even recently you have truly been a teacher of life. Thank you for your example."
Letter signed

For common edification

Dear Director,
I have always been devoted to Saint Joseph, to whom I turn for all family problems, he has always listened to my wishes; so completely trusting in his intercession, about a year ago I turned to him when my husband was diagnosed with bone metastases. Thus began an ordeal of tests: blood tests and specialist visits to various centres.
The specialists came to the conclusion that it was necessary to intervene with targeted chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Meanwhile, I had already immediately started praying to Saint Joseph, certain that he would grant me grace. However, before starting the therapy, the specialists, since not everyone agreed, decided to have a specialist visit carried out; this examination excluded the presence of metastases and also of the tumor for which it was not necessary to carry out any therapy. My entire family and I are certain that God, through the intercession of Saint Joseph, has granted us this great grace, so we wish this email to be published in honor of him.
Letter signed

A prayer of trust

Very Rev. Don Mario,
I am your associate and I always read your magazine and it is also thanks to this that I find comfort in the midst of the many sorrows, fears and suffering that I am experiencing. It would be too long and complicated to tell my story. I limit myself to asking you to entrust me and my family to St. Joseph, to whom I am so devoted.
Please support me in prayer, I need it so much, and bless me and my family. In saying goodbye, I thank you and all of you for your kindness, for your availability and for all the work you do.
Letter signed

A promise kept

Dear Director, if today I find myself writing this letter of mine it is to keep the promise made to Saint Joseph but above all to simply say "thank you Saint Joseph because you have never abandoned me".
It was a winter night when I was suddenly hit by a violent panic attack.
I didn't know what anxiety or depression meant but little by little this "world" began to be part of my life, with very hard periods. I started reciting the Sacred Mantle and I entrusted myself to Saint Joseph with the hope that sooner or later I would be healed.
I am the mother of a child who was 6 years old at the time; I was scared of not being able to control the panic attacks in his presence, but above all of feeling bad on the days when my husband was not present. And it was exactly like that. Perhaps the Lord wanted to test me. I felt sick in the middle of the night, alone and with my little son.
Out of desperation I thought of holding the rosary tightly in my hands, I lit a candle and began to pray, but the anxiety, the tremor, the tachycardia, the fear of having to die were so strong that I could no longer control myself; at that point I begged Saint Joseph with all my strength not to abandon me.
I picked up one of the many precious magazines that I keep of "La Santa Crociata", I opened a page at random, it was that of the "Pages of Recognition", and I began to read the testimony of a lady from Campobasso who thanked Saint Joseph for the healing of his sister from anxious depression.
Suddenly a sense of tranquility spread over me that I can't describe and little by little the anxiety began to disappear. I cried with joy. I still have that issue of the Santa Crociata magazine (No. 11 December 2006) and in some way I would also like to say thanks to Mrs. Brusciano. Panic attacks have increasingly decreased until they disappear. I sincerely hope that as Saint Joseph helped me, he can help many of my friends of the Pious Union to soon find the comfort and graces they need. Jesus, Joseph and Mary, thank you for all the blessings that you have given me and all my family members up until today.
Immensely grateful.
Letter signed

A song of praise

Dear ones, almost a year ago, I asked you to pray for Tiomir, a friend of my brother. Here, with great joy, I inform you that the Lord has given him the grace to heal him from the 3 malignant tumors he had!
In recent days he has had a check-up with the doctor and everything is fine, it is clear that he is still afraid of finding himself in that situation again, but we trust in God's mercy!!! Thank you all very much!!!! God bless you. A hug
Susy

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