The founder in our hands
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by Gabriele Cantaluppi
On Don Guanella's birthday, December 19, his religious family (the nuns, priests and Guanellian cooperators) concluded the initiatives planned to solemnize the centenary of his birth into heaven. It has been a year full of ideas to reinvigorate the charism of charity, courageously take the heritage of its sanctity into our hands and take action so that the scent of an increasingly vast action of attention towards the "waste" of our society is "recycled" and returned to the dignity of loved and respected children.
The image of the Good Shepherd and the mystical almond
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The logo chosen for the Jubilee year, designed by Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, presents itself as a small synthesis of these three forms of mercy. In fact, it shows the Son carrying the lost man on his shoulders, recovering an image very dear to the ancient Church, because it indicates Christ's love which brings to completion the mystery of his Incarnation with the Redemption. The drawing is created in such a way as to highlight that the Good Shepherd touches man's flesh deeply, and does so with such love as to change his life. It is visibly a hug.
Praying with your hands
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The cover photo of the November magazine, two hands raised in supplication, prompted me to ask why people keep their hands together when praying. Is it just a symbol or is it a way of keeping the soul focused on the feelings of the prayer itself?
Rovira Alessio, Castel Madama (RM)
In Christian antiquity it was customary to raise one's hands in an attitude of offering or receiving. As we see in the frescoes of the Roman catacombs, it was the attitude of those who are praying, and we can still observe it today. The liturgical rubrics prescribe that the priest, at certain moments of the Mass, pray with his hands raised.
Later the use of clasped hands was introduced. The clasped hands recall the ancient gesture of tying the hands of prisoners (an action that is still alive today for brides in oriental liturgies). For this reason, those who were about to be martyred proceeded with their hands clasped and in those moments they certainly prayed.