God provides when we give
Due to the economic crisis in our country, work was decreasing and our income diminishing. Our customers were no longer sending in orders. At home, we cut down on our expenses and tried to live on less. I began to spend more time with the children so that the situation would not affect them too much. I was able to fall asleep at night despite knowing that we were in debt.
I began to pray again and believe very firmly in the words of the Gospel that say, “Give and gifts will be given you.” We experienced the truth of this almost every day. We did everything we could to increase our income – collecting newspapers, cartons, cans and glass bottles to sell. Even the children went to sell bags of sweets. Many people came to us to ask for food and we often gave away the only thing we had left.
One day, my wife gave a kilo of rice to someone and that very same evening, we received two kilos of lentils. A neighbor of ours left a car in front of our house with a note saying, “Use it for now and pay me when you can.” This meant that we could now take our third daughter who has Down’s Syndrome for the treatment she needed.
(M.T., Chile)
Making the choice to love
We had noticed that our son was changing and behaving strangely. One day, I delicately asked him if anything was wrong. He confided in me that he was taking drugs. I told this to my husband and neither of us slept a wink that night. We felt helpless, thinking we had failed as parents. Our son sometimes brought friends home and their behavior made us suffer too.
My husband and I realized that we had to make a choice and decided to love and serve these boys. To support our son, we canceled our holiday so that he would not be left alone. At the same time, the certainty that love would win out began to grow in us. One day, our son told us that he wanted to continue living in our family home and asked if we could help his friends too. A new life began.
Although we had no formation or training other than living the Gospel, we founded a support group in our city for the families of drug addicts. It is called Families Anonymous. This group continues to help many young people recover from drug addiction.
(O.P., Portugal)
Becoming part of the community
We heard that a young refugee was looking for accommodation and so we helped him in his search and, let him stay temporarily in our house. Our relatives did not agree with what we were doing and created lots of problems. They even said that we were being naive.
Even though our relationship with them was strained, we found a very deep unity and strength as a couple and this helped us to persevere. After a short time, we found a suitable apartment to rent and a local craftsman we know decided to hire another refugee worker. We went to the refugee detention center together to fill out the necessary documents.
The center made a big impact on us all – hundreds of people were waiting for accommodation. We felt powerless but eventually, our craftsman friend decided to hire not one but three refugees. One of them was a minor so he personally provided foster care.
It only took a few months for the three young people to find permanent work and become integrated into the community where we have tried to involve as many people as possible to make them feel part of a big family.
(H.E., Italy)
Caring concretely, renewing relationships
My fiancée, Giorgia, wants to get married in church. To do so, we both need a Confirmation certificate. I don’t have one so I joined a Confirmation preparation seminar. At first, it all seemed simple but when I found myself listening to catechism lessons with boys a lot younger than me, it seemed too much and I wanted to give up.
Giorgia, however, didn’t change her mind, she’s convinced of the value of the sacrament of Matrimony. Since this seemed to be a block in our relationship, we postponed the date of the wedding. There were months of hard work and issues to face. Though I’ve been brought up to see the Church as an outdated institution, there I was, begging for a certificate.
What made me angry was that for Giorgia this was not a formality but a way of setting up the family. Our relationship began to break down but at that point, my mother was involved in an accident and was left paralyzed. Giorgia went to visit her every day and my mother discovered that she was not only a friend; her presence also helped her to calmly face her situation.
I understood that Giorgia has deep motives for acting that way. Every doubt in me disappeared: cost what it may, she is the woman with whom I want to share my life.
(M.A., Italy)
