Testimonies from the 12th Convention

I

I am Gabriel, and I want to testify how much the Lord has accomplished for me. The Holy Spirit has performed so many wonders in me, but the first thing, the most important thing, is that he has given me a new heart, free from complexes, unencumbered by fears and resistances, he has worked true healing. It was in the moment when we prayed for each other that the Lord made me know the beauty of surrendering to Him, the sweetness of feeling pampered by His true Love. And to confirm how true it is that praying for one another is a most precious service in God’s eyes (even when one does not feel like it, is tired or whatever …),I want to narrate an episode that happened to me recently. It was the day when the brothers who had finished the new life seminar were to receive the prayer of effusion. In those days I was experiencing a kind of spiritual dryness, and I felt far from God … to make a long story short: a tempting thought was telling me that God did not love me as much as before … maybe He had stopped loving me (but what crazy thoughts the Evil One inspires!!! And so foolishly I was listening to it…). I did not want to pray for those brothers; I thought I could not give anything but my barrenness. I knelt down praying to the Lord: I gave Him a challenge… “If you love me, Manifest yourself!” Immediately , a thought crossed my mind, “But for what reason, who am I, that I should deprive these brothers of God’s love?” I went together with the other two people with whom I was supposed to pray. We invoked the Holy Spirit, and I asked to be an instrument of grace, so that the Spirit would descend with power and abundance. And that day about twenty people received the gift of the Spirit for the first time. But the Lord also delivered me from my fears and bad thoughts. Praise God, for where sin has abounded, His Grace has abounded a thousandfold. Amen!

During these days, it has been crucial for me to listen carefully to the teachings of our speakers. The Lord really knows how to speak to our hearts with teachings, certainly also with “beatings.” I discovered that I too have the attitude of “giving points” and making rankings with relationships, I realized that as long as we are close to Him (of strong emotional impact was the image of Eucharistic adoration), we are members of His body and the Spirit can act freely; that if I am content with what I am now, I will not be able to progress in the journey, but will regress, but if I get rid of the ballasts and fuel the flame of faith, I will surely be freer to let the Spirit lead me where He wants.

And now that God has given us His Spirit of light, love, joy and peace, it only remains for us to bring the gift of Pentecost to the nations, and to bring the glad tidings of Jesus’ Merciful Love to all. Amen. Blessed be God.

Gabriel

II

I still rejoice when I think of how much I received in these three days!

…I forgot: my name is Antonio, the city where I live and that I love is Naples, I am a lawyer and if I find myself on the road I owe it to a small grace that the Lord has given me: that of transforming my small problem of walking into the means to get closer to Him, to know Him better and through Him to discover that Other part of the world made of Light and brothers, in their nothingness, as beautiful as the Sun; a part of the world to which otherwise, probably, I would never have looked!

What struck me, what did I feel, what did this retreat give me? …well, let me premise that I always take a while to carbonize (disposing of the weight of the daily grind that you carry with you to give yourself entirely to the Lord, is not always immediate, it is not for me!). On this occasion, by the way, my retreat was coming to a close on the first day: having become aware of the serious vicissitudes into which a Little Sister had fallen shortly before the beginning of the retreat, (at this very moment – 11:35 a.m. Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 – I received a message from the Lord, the Lord, who had been with me for a long time. 2012 – I received a message from her telling me that she was in the waiting room awaiting referral, but she seemed joyful and wished me – and I extend to Whoever reads the Wishing – “to bring the gifts of Montesilvano in every second of our day”) resuming the discourse, I had already studied the train connections, except then managing to talk to her, reassure myself (I owe her so much) and …finally enter the retreat for real!

What gave me the most of this retreat, has remained with me and continues to bring me joy, mindfulness, was not so much the catechesis (many of which I listened to and, where Called, also did), teachings (all beautiful and as much as ever attended), but instead, the unceasing Praises, the SONGS that together we raised to the Lord, and above all, an incredible thirst for CELEBRATING through the Holy Mass with All that was given to us in them (from the Homily, to the Prayers, Readings, passing through the presence of so many Priests, Bishops, to His Body).

One moment out of all of them was the prayer of one another where, finally, I was also able to give a few tears to the Lord!

And, not at all second to the first, was the gift of Little Brothers and Little Sisters, those I already knew and even more those I got to know, for a moment sitting at a table or who benevolently accompanied me the whole way and with me shared these days even if only in Prayers and Lauds! (well, hopefully I have given as much to Them and to those who are now here sharing by reading).

A fraternal greeting
Peace to You and Glory and Praise to the Lord.

III

We are Anita and Vincenzo from the Elce-Perugia fraternity. Our reflection on the General Convention in Montesilvano, can only be a thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus for what He has given us.

Thirsty and hungry, we have been quenched and satiated with the Word, with joy, with brotherly love. We will continue to pray for the “new Pentecost” to become a firm daily and concrete reality for our lives. May our journey in Community coincide with the spiritual progression, which Fr. Livio spoke of, to acquire lightness and fly high abandoned to the action of the Holy Spirit.

We loved the image of the hot air balloon presented by Joseph, and we thought that walking in pairs, although it may be limiting in some ways, is a great grace because when one cannot make it to leave the ballast holding the hot air balloon to the ground, the other can help and support him/her! Finally, we thank the Lord for all He has done and will continue to do but especially for recovering us from sadness and desolation through the Magnificat Community.

IV

The Holy Spirit worked powerfully during the conference in my spiritual and relational life. Although, again this year as has often been the case in past years, I arrived at the retreat laden with fatigue and problems accumulated before the Christmas holidays, God’s grace and the experience of an ever-growing body that loves God invigorated my strength and gave new impetus to my daily activities.

During the retreat I experienced, as I have not in a long time, the power of communal praise. Seeing and hearing a thousand and more people praying and praising God with their arms raised is not only an experience for the eyes and ears, but a witness that invigorates the spirit and does not allow boredom and listlessness to take the field. Even my initially numb and tired arms, perhaps by induction, rose to thank God, and my heart changed. I think it changed because many of us were in the same status as me, and what occurred in all the community prayers was that the Lord took our tired and demoralized hearts and transformed them into one heart, pulsating with joy and eager to make God known to many brothers and sisters.

The most fruitful fruits of the retreat, however, I have experienced in these post-convention days. On Monday morning, I decided to start again in my daily routine from the 7:30 a.m. Eucharistic celebration in a nearby parish Perugia to which I usually arrive with my eyes half-closed from sleep and unable to do anything but struggle with my latent desire to fall asleep.
This time everything went another way. Even though I arrived a few minutes late, I had a really hard time not raising my hands, and my heart charged with the body’s accumulated praise in Montesilvano made me notice how much difference there was in my standing before Jesus before and after our conference. Joseph’s teaching to us on the last day of the retreat really spoke so much to my heart and life, to my way of living in community and bringing God to brothers and sisters who do not yet know Him. In fact, this year the retreat was titled “A New Pentecost,” and I believe the Lord did not inspire our leaders casually, but because the time of the conference was really a rebirth in the Spirit for many brothers. Personally, the Pentecost depicted in the retreat poster with the moving flames gave me much more awareness of how much dynamism there is in the life of the Christian who follows the Holy Spirit. A Christian who cannot stop, but always look ahead, where the Spirit leads him, where God himself sends him.

Francis