Giving Space to Creativity

By Sister Gloriose Nshimirimana On Jun 26, 2023

Spazio Spadoni organises a meeting to spread the Works of Mercy in the world

Spazio Spadoni, after listening to the brothers and sisters with whom it already works, has decided to offer a space for the creation of new tools to spread knowledge of the Works of Mercy in the world. For this reason, a meeting will be held in Lucca from 17 to 29 July 2023, which will then be continued in the September Convention in Noto.

Laity and consecrated people from all over the world

Laity and consecrated persons, stimulated by great joy and enthusiasm, all committed to the field of evangelisation are preparing to come to Italy to participate in this moment of formation. They will come from India, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Benin.

We feel in our hearts a feeling of immense gratitude to the Lord for this journey in the diversity of languages, cultures, traditions, charisms and knowledge, they are a great wealth.

Indeed, although we know that there is only one language understandable to all peoples, which is the language of Love, it is nice to hear how some of those who will come in July are already learning a few words in Italian.

For Spazio Spadoni, this is already a beginning of re-evolution, because we are aware that, a path leading to change, must necessarily start first of all from oneself, with the will to get involved with courage and willingness even in small things.

Moreover, the willingness to leave one’s own homes, one’s own countries to meet, listen to each other, get to know each other, share resources, think and plan something new, makes one realise that, with the Lord’s grace, everyone can be a precious instrument in God’s hands, for a real change of mentality, methods and means to improve things, enriching them no longer with “it has always been done this way”, but with “we can also do it this way”.

Awareness in doing Works of Mercy

We perform Works of Mercy every day convinced that we are simply doing good humanitarian deeds, or acts of solidarity. We are not always aware in our minds and hearts that our action corresponds to a Work of Mercy.

The sages say that ‘the first knowledge is to recognise that we do not know‘. This puts us in a position of great humility and pushes us to be seekers of dialogue, through open and respectful discussion with all the brothers and sisters we cross on our path, avoiding the risk of thinking ourselves better people than others.

Humility, a necessary requirement

Of course, the time and effort we devote to our interpersonal relationships and the things we do determines their true value. It measures how important we are to others, in our apostolate, sometimes not very visible, but precious in the eyes of the Lord, because it gives dignity to all in their being and acting.

Acknowledging how much there is always to learn at any age, from any person, at any time and in any place, makes us humble persons capable of listening to the Holy Spirit. And at the same time we must allow ourselves to be provoked not only by the Word of God, but also by the recipients of our acts of mercy, who are ourselves in the first place.

Indeed, St Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians: ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, that we also may comfort those who are in any kind of affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are comforted by God’.

We are all convinced of the fact that only to the extent that we recognise ourselves as ‘merciful’ are we able to be credible heralds of the Lord’s merciful works, certainly with our words, but even better with our lives.

By carefully observing the people around us, we can confidently state that there is much good in the world, even if ‘never making a sound’ is not always visible to all, but nevertheless exists and at the appropriate time bears fruit.

Certainly, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, “I have first of all passed on to you what I also received”; it is up to us, once we understand what it means to have the same dignity through the daily practice of the Works of Mercy, to make people aware of this great value, teaching them to call these good deeds by their right names.

And it is also true that, this journey of ours, must be accompanied by the great virtue of humility, to avoid the risk of proselytising the Works of Mercy, but rather making them known under the action of the Holy Spirit.

True wealth is acquired in the encounter with others and in the sincere and true sharing of what we are and have, because the Lord loves the one who gives with joy.

We recall the admonition issued by Pope Francis in his homily during the Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Square on 19 November 2017, for the World Day of the Poor “No one can consider himself useless, no one can say he is so poor that he cannot give something to others in reciprocity”.

Sister Gloriose Nshimirimana
Missionary Congregation Sisters of Santa Gemma

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