DRY THE TEARS
The Lord Jesus promised his disciples that he would not leave them alone, but at all times in life he would remain close to them by sending his Spirit, the Comforter (cf. Jn 14:26) to help, sustain and console them.
At times of sadness, suffering and sickness, amid the anguish of persecution and grief, everyone looks for a word of consolation. We sense a powerful need for someone to be close and feel compassion for us. We experience what it means to be disoriented, confused, more heartsick than we ever thought possible. We look around us with uncertainty, trying to see if we can find someone who really understands our pain. Our mind is full of questions but answers do not come. Reason by itself is not capable of making sense of our deepest feelings, appreciating the grief we experience and providing the answers we are looking for. At times like these, more than ever do we need the reasons of the heart, which alone can help us understand the mystery which embraces our loneliness.
How much sadness we see in so many faces all around us! How many tears are shed every second in our world; each is different but together they form, as it were, an ocean of desolation that cries out for mercy, compassion and consolation. The bitterest tears are those caused by human evil: the tears of those who have seen a loved one violently torn from them; the tears of grandparents, mothers and fathers, children; eyes that keep staring at the sunset and find it hard to see the dawn of a new day. We need the mercy, the consolation that comes from the Lord. All of us need it. This is our poverty but also our grandeur: to plead for the consolation of God, who in his tenderness comes to wipe the tears from our eyes (cf. Is 25:8; Rev 7:17; 21:4).
In our pain, we are not alone. Jesus, too, knows what it means to weep for the loss of a loved one. In one of the most moving pages of the Gospel, Jesus sees Mary weeping for the death of her brother Lazarus. Nor can he hold back tears. He was deeply moved and began to weep (cf. Jn 11:33-35).
The evangelist John, in describing this, wanted to show how much Jesus shared in the sadness and grief of his friends. Jesus’ tears have unsettled many theologians over the centuries, but even more they have bathed so many souls and been a balm to so much hurt. Jesus also experienced in his own person the fear of suffering and death, disappointment and discouragement at the betrayal of Judas and Peter, and grief at the death of his friend Lazarus. Jesus “does not abandon those whom he loves” (Augustine, In Joh., 49, 5). If God could weep, then I too can weep, in the knowledge that he understands me. The tears of Jesus serve as an antidote to my indifference before the suffering of my brothers and sisters. His tears teach me to make my own the pain of others, to share in the discouragement and sufferings of those experiencing painful situations. They make me realize the sadness and desperation of those who have even seen the body of a dear one taken from them, and who no longer have a place in which to find consolation. Jesus’ tears cannot go without a response on the part of those who believe in him. As he consoles, so we too are called to console.
In the moment of confusion, dismay and tears, Christ’s heart turned in prayer to the Father. Prayer is the true medicine for our suffering. In prayer, we too can feel God’s presence. The tenderness of his gaze comforts us; the power of his word supports us and gives us hope. Jesus, standing before the tomb of Lazarus, prayed, saying: “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me” (Jn 11:41-42). We too need the certainty that the Father hears us and comes to our aid. The love of God, poured into our hearts, allows us to say that when we love, nothing and no one will ever be able to separate us from those we have loved. The apostle Paul tells us this with words of great comfort: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or the sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35, 37-39). The power of love turns suffering into the certainty of Christ’s victory, and our own victory in union with him, and into the hope that one day we will once more be together and will forever contemplate the face of the Trinity Blessed, the eternal wellspring of life and love.
At the foot of every cross, the Mother of Jesus is always there. With her mantle, she wipes away our tears. With her outstretched hand, she helps us to rise up and she accompanies us along the path of hope.
Pope Francis
Thursday, 5 May 2016
THAILANDIA – SOCIAL CENTER DI SAMPRAN
On 1 May, in the church dedicated to St. Camillus of the Camillian Social Centre of Sampran, the following celebrations took place: the beginning of the novitiates of six Vietnamese young men; the first professions of five Vietnamese young men; the renewal of the professions of fourteen temporary professed, of whom three were Thais and eleven were Vietnamese; and the solemn profession of Paolo Suphakorn Khantharaksa. Numerous priests and religious brothers of ours took part, together with Msgr. Chiusak Sririsut, the titular bishop of the diocese of Nakornratchasima where a new Camillian centre for elderly people is being created. Fr. Felice Chech, a representative of the Camillian Delegation of Taiwan, also took part in these celeebrations, as did Fr. Alfons Oles from Indonesia. For us great joy, and also gratitude to the Lord, who, specifically on the day of St. Joseph the worker, wanted to give us new forces so that they could work in his vineyard!
TAIWAN
On 7 March the traditional ceremony took place of the handing over of academic mortar boards to the new nurses who had ended their pathway of teaching and training. This year the ceremony took place in the new church dedicated to St. Camillus.
Every year in Ilan there is the show of green with flowers and plants.This year we brought the old people from the parish on , May 11 In the year of mercy we organize many pilgrimages to the different shrines to let people get plenary indulgence.
The new charge’d’affaires of the apostolic nuntiature on May 25 comes to visit us in Lotung and our Institutions
On 21-24 April 2016 an international meeting of directors of centres for pastoral care in health and of Camillian universities, together with Camillian medical doctors, took place at the Centre for the Humanisation of Health of Tres Cantos (Madrid).
READ HERE A SUMMARY OF THE MEETING
THE DELEGATION IN KENYA
Here are the pictures of the priestly ordinations of four of our religious brothers from Kenya: Fr. William Augo, Fr. Samwel Oleck, Fr. Kizito Omari and Fr. Justus Ombati.
DELEGAZIONE IN REPUBBLICA CENTROAFRICANA
Bernard Kinvi, a Camillian who works in the Republic of Central Africa, is amongst the finalists of the Aurora Prize which every year is awarded to ‘a person or group of people who have put their lives at risk to allow other people to survive’. The prize was established by Vartan Gregorian, Noubar Afeyan and Ruben Vardanyan, the co-founders of ‘100 LIVES’, a project created to commemorate the individuals and institutions that saved the lives of many Armenians during the genocide that took place a hundred years ago.
Video della cerimonia
Galleria fotografico
Messaggio del Generale
BRAZIL
Download here the programme of the pan-American Camillian meeting on ongoing formation which will take place in San Paolo, Brazil, on 27-30 June 2016. SPANISH/ PORTUGUESE
On 1-25 May of this year the Superior General with three members of the General Consulta – Br. José Ignacio Santaolalla, Fr. Aris Miranda and Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon – visited the communities, our religious brothers, and all the Camillian initiatives of Brazil. While awaiting the reflections and the final message of the visit, here are some photographs which can illustrate the climate and the style of these multiple meetings!
The archdiocese of Alba Julia (Gyulafehérvár), of Transylvania (Erdély, Romania), on 2-3 May 2016 organised a pastoral conference entitled ‘We are Real Signs of the Mercy of the Father!’ One participant at this conference was the Camillian religious Fr. Alfréd György who gave a paper entitled ‘Healing Presence. The Church, a Community that Heals by Healing’. During the conference there were various important meetings. Various diocesan priests active in the social/pastoral care field were also present. The Camillian charism is present in the diocese through the activity of the Lay Camillian Family. Amongst the young Hungarian Camillian vocations, there were three religious from this diocese. The spirit of St. Camillus still exercises its appeal!
THE CAMILLIAN DELEGATION IN CHILE
Every year Fr. Pietro Magliozzi offers his course ‘Salud y Cultura’ to the students of medicine and other degree courses of the Catholic University of Chile. There are about fifty students on average in each course and overall down the years they have numbered over five hundred. The pathway of formation will lead the students to have a critical approach to the world of treatment and health in order to enable them to avoid accepting everything that is offered to them at a technical-scientific level as an absolute fact; to distinguish between what is good medicine and what is not; to know how to understand; and how to use alternative and interdisciplinary methods. The course will end with a workshop on non-conventional and spiritual medicine.
In Talca (South of Chile) the project ‘Unit for Accompanying and the Humanisation of Health’ has been inaugurated. This initiative has the goal of receiving the parents and relatives of children who enter the children’s section of the city’s hospital and it has the special feature of having professionals of the health-care sector as its members.
This project arose from a group animated by Camillian spirituality that was founded by Fr. Pietro Magliozzi between 2012 and 2014. In September 2015 they began to plan the work of this unit and hitherto it has already offered support to sixty-seven families.
THE DELEGATION OF ARGENTINA
Download here the final programme of the ‘XX Encuentro de Formadore y animadores vocacionale’ which will take place in Buenos Aires on 1-5 September 2016.
THE PROVINCE OF NORTH ITALY
The Day of Fraternity will be celebrated on 9 June of this year at the religious community of Capriate San Gervasio (Bergamo).
This day will be divided into two parts. The first will be concerned with the life of the Province of North Italy and will witness the real celebrations. The second will revolve around information and a connected discussion because there will be a number of experts of the Fondazione Opera San Camillo. Our religious are asked to be present in large numbers for the celebration and for the debates about our life and the lives of our works.
Anniversaries of the Religious Professions and Priestly Ordinations of our religious Brothers of the Province of North Italy for the year 2016.
THE PROVINCE OF SICILY AND NAPLES
Free breast cancer screenings at the Santa Maria della Pietà Hospital of Casoria (NA).
Free breast cancer screenings and a bouquet of flowers for all mothers. This is the initiative that was launched by the Santa Maria della Pietà Hospital of Casoria (Naples) on the occasion of mother’s day. This was a way of thanking in a concrete way women who every day make motherhood an absolute commitment and of remembering that prevention can save lives.
THE JUBILEE YEAR – ROME – THE RECTORY CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE
Jubilee pilgrimage of the ‘heart of St. Camillus’ to the ‘Umberto I’ Polyclinic of Rome
The Umberto I Hospital of Rome on Thursday 12 May of this year received the relic of the heart of St. Camillus.
Here are the pictures of the liturgical procession and the Holy Mass presided over by His Excellency Msgr. Leuzzi, the auxiliary bishop of the city of Rome and the delegate for university pastoral care and pastoral care in health, animated by our religious sisters of the Daughters of St. Camillus together with a large group of young people and future nurses.
Maria Salus Infirmorum on 12 June 2016 in St. Peter’s
On 10-12 June 2016, Pope Francis will celebrate in Rome the Jubilee of the Sick and of disabled people, sensitising all those who undergo the experience of illness and cultivate sensitivity to care. This event will witness the involvement of many faithful from all over the world.
On Sunday 12 June, the venerated picture of our Lady Salus Infirmorum, which has been kept for centuries in our Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Campo Marzio, Rome, will be shown in St. Peter’s square during the celebration of the Eucharist presided over by the Holy Father.
The intention of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, which has recently sent the request to us, is that the veneration of this Marian icon refers to the mercy of God expressed through the tenderness of Mary which we Camillian religious have cultivated and disseminated since the beginning of the foundation of the Order, specifically in line with the spirit of St. Camillus de Lellis.
THE CAMILLIANS AND OUR LADY OF HEALTH
OUR LADY OF HEALTH – HISTORICAL REFERENCES PDF
THE OFFICIAL PROGRAMME OF THE JUBILEE OF THE SICK AND THE DISABLED– Rome 10-12 JUNE2016
ROME – CAMILLIANUM
On 24-25 May 2016, a conference was held on the subject ‘God and Mercy: Witnesses in the Name of God’.
The aim of the conference was to examine the language of mercy which is not opposed to the language of justice and rights, but, rather, is therapy against exclusion, disintegration, violence and marginalisation. Theological analysis is conjoined with pastoral commitment for a world which is a setting for the Gospel, recognising the complexity of the present without presuming to have solutions for the problems that are linked to changes now underway.
ROMA – O.N.G. ‘SALUTE E SVILUPPO’
On 31 March 2016 the project ‘The Construction of Surgery Wards for the John Paul II Hospital of Bossemptelè’, which was begun a year previously on 1 February 2015, came to an end. This initiative, implemented thanks to the contribution of the Foundation Assistance International (FAI), allowed the construction and the equipping of a ward with beds for patients who have to undergo surgical operations at the John Paul II Hospital of Bossemptelè. This project, which was implemented in a scenario of war and social vulnerability, was successfully completed despite the difficult context thanks to the determination and the professionalism of our local contacts.
THE LAY CAMILLIAN FAMILY
The central committee of the Lay Camillian Family (Marie-Christine Brocherieux, Anita Ennis, Giosué Sparacino and Maria Hajnalka Bakó) met at the Maddalena, Rome, on 20-22 May, for a session involving an analysis of the challenges and the programmes for development of the association. VIDEO
PUBLISHING SUGGESTIONS
On Wednesday 18 May 2016, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Piazza della Pilotta, 4 (Rome), the launch took place of the volume San Camillo de Lellis e i suoi amici. Ordini religiosi e arte tra Rinascimento e Barocco (‘St. Camillus and his Friends. Religious Orders and Art between the Renaissance and the Baroque’) (Rubbettino, 2016) edited by Lydia Salviucci Insolera and Fr. Eugenio Sapori, a Camillian. The volume is a part of the Collana di Storia dell’Ordine di San Camillo (‘Series of the History of the Order of St. Camillus’) directed by Prof. Andrea Ciampani.
The many contributions to this work allow us to perceive – within a rich cultural and artistic production of different commissions – the red line that connected individual personalities and religious communities, all of whom had as a common denominator the city of Rome, a natural capital of spirituality, history and art.
From the Introduction by Lydia Salviucci Insolera (the Pontifical Gregorian University)
On 22-23 October 2013 a conference on St. Camillus de Lellis and his friends took place at the generalate house of the Ministers of the Sick (Camillians), in the historic heart of the city of Rome. Religious Orders and art between the Renaissance and the Baroque. The idea of this conference was to analyse the points of contact in the artistic field during the Renaissance and the Baroque between the various Orders in Rome and also between the various houses outside Rome, the central reference point, however, being St. Camillus de Lellis and the Camillian religious. From the outset, the project was warmly supported by the Camillian Eugenio Sapori whose idea was to propose it as a special cultural initiative belonging to the celebrations for the fourth centenary of the death of St. Camillus de Lellis – 1614- 2014. During the two days of this conference an attempt was made to explore the relationship between the various expressions of spirituality of the religious Orders and art, with reference to their mutual influences as well. An analysis was engaged in of the application of the charism of each Order on the basis of the respective architectural and figurative commissions. An attempt was then made to assess the connections, the divergences and the choices of similar or opposing styles. However, all of this was placed within a constant and circular discourse, like the relationship of friendship and spiritual sharing of the various religious Orders who were the protagonists of the life of the Church between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Rome: the Capuchins, the Jesuits, the Oratorians, the Theatines, the Carmelites, etc. The charismatic figures of the great saints of the epoch thus emerged and they were friends: one need only think of St. Camillus who was a friend of St. Filippo Neri who was in turn a friend of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Through the numerous contributions of the speakers, who came from important foreign and Italian universities and institutions, it was possible to reconstruct an initial well-founded outline of the direct and indirect contacts of the various religious Orders with St. Camillus de Lellis, leaving, however, notable space to exploration of the specific commissions of the Camillian religious.
Revista Iberoamericana de Bioética.
Questa nuova rivista di bioetica vede la collaborazione anche di alcuni centri di riflessione e di formazione camilliani: il Camillianum di Roma e il Centro Universitário Sao Camilo di São Paulo in Brasile. Segnaliamo già nel primo numero l’articolo “Evolução histórica e política das principais conferências mundiais da onu sobre o clima e meio ambiente“ a firma di Leo Pessini, Anor Sganzerla.
SCARICA QUI IL PDF degli articoli di p. Christian de Barchifontaine “O papel da Pastoral da Saude na Igreja” e di p. Leocir Pessini ” A espiritualidade come um dos referenciais da bioética?” pubblicati nella rivista Vida Pastoral edita da Paulus
THE REVIEW CAMILLIANI/CAMILLIANS
You can consult online the new issue of Camilliani/Camillians at the following link: : http://www.camilliani.org/camilliani-camillians/
With a small aesthetic innovation: the online graphics are in colour!
INTER-CONGREGATIONAL MESSAGE TO CAMILLIAN MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
This year ,as well, continuing the good and by now consolidated tradition of engaging in some moments of shared prayer and thought, three general councillors, respectively, of the Camillians, of the Daughters of St. Camillus and of the women Ministers of the Sick, after the fraternal meeting of 11 February of this year – the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of the Sick, drew up a Message on the experience of mercy in St. Camillus and our great heritage of ‘Camillian’ holiness, specific to our tradition, which should be discovered, explored, lived and actuated in our contemporary lives.
READ THE TEXT OF THE MESSAGE IN PDF INGLESE
THE WOMEN MINISTERS OF THE SICK – TAIWAN
Using the yellow minibus that you can see in the photographs, the women Ministers of the Sick of St. Camillus who live and work in Taiwan will bring their spiritual and corporal support to the sick and the suffering, privileging the poorest and the abandoned: ‘Works of mercy during the Jubilee journey help us to find practical ways to give practical shape to the invitation of Jesus – do this in memory of me’.
AGENDA OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL AND THE GENERAL CONSULTA
On 4-13 April 2016, the superior General and Fr. Laurent Zoungrana, the Vicar General, met the Camillian communities and our religious brothers of the Province of France.
MESSAGES OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL AND THE VICAR GENERAL TO THE COMMUNITIES IN FRANCE. PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY ITALIANO INGLESE FRANCESE
GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA
On 15- 27 April 2016, Fr. Leocir together with Fr. Laurent Zoungrana, the Vicar General, visited our religious brothers of the Camillian communities of Anglophone Africa: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
MESSAGES OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL AND THE VICAR GENERAL TO THE CAMILLIAN COMMUNITIES IN KENYA ITALIANO INGLESE, GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA
MESSAGES OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL AND THE VICAR GENERAL TO THE CAMILLIAN COMMUNITIES IN TANZANIA, ITALIANO INGLESE
GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA
MESSAGES OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL AND THE VICAR GENERAL TO THE CAMILLIAN COMMUNITIES IN UGANDA, ITALIANO INGLESE
GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA
During the period 4-12 June 2016, the Superior General together with Fr. Laurent Zoungrana, the Vicar General, will meet the Camillian communities of the Province of Rome.
On 4-11 June, the members of the General Consulta, Fr. Aris Miranda and Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon, will be Burkina Faso, as a part of the preparations for the meeting of the major Superiors which will be celebrated in October of this year.
On 19-21 June 2016, together with Fr. Gianfranco Lunardon, the Superior General, will meet our Polish religious brothers of the Camillian community of Berlin.
The Superior General, together with Br. José Ignacio Santaollalla, the general financial administrator, on 22 June to 3 July 2016 will be in Spain to meet the Camillian religious.
APPROVAL OF THE CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ORDER
By the rescript n. M.73 –1/2014 of 22 February 2016 signed by His Excellency Msgr. José Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., the Archbishop Secretary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CIVCSVA), the changes made to the Constitution of the Order were approved.
The project involving the revision of some elements of the Constitution reached its high point at the General Chapter that was celebrated in May 2013. The resolutions approved by the floor of the General Chapter were then sent to the Vatican dicastery which after a careful examination of the text and a whole series of clarifications and observations approved the final version.
At the end of this pathway, which has involved the religious and the communities of the Order at different levels, it is incumbent upon us to thank Br. Luca Perletti – the former Secretary General of the Order – and Fr. Pieluigi Nava – a Montfortan religious and expert on canon law as applied to consecrated life – for their valuable service in studying the Constitution, formulating proposals to change it, drawing up motivations, gathering together individual proposals, and reformulating the texts generally.
The next step will be to dedicate care to achieving the translation of this normative text into the principal languages of the religious of the Order.
TEXT OF THE CONSTITUTION APPROVED BY THE CIVCSVA
DECEASED RELIGIOUS
‘See, now they vanish, the faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them. To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern’ (T.S. Eliot)
The community of the Daughters of St. Camillus have announced the death of their religious sister Sr. Victoria Alberich, who died on 14 May 2016 at the religious community of Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the age of 89, after 65 years spent as a consecrated woman religious.
The religious sisters of the women Ministers of the sick of St. Camillus have announced the death of their religious sister Sr. Matilde Cerpelloni. For many years she was a woman missionary, a witness to the mercy of God towards the sick and the poor in Taiwan.
The Camillian religious brothers of Madagascar have announced the death of Fr. Zocco, an Italian Jesuit religious, who for many years was procurator of the diocese of Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, in which capacity he dedicated himself to supporting and accompanying the Camillian foundation in that country with friendship and wisdom.
‘Now they live in Christ whom they met in the Church, followed in our vocation, and served in the sick and the suffering. Trusting that the Lord, the Holy Virgin our Queen, St. Camillus, the Blessed Luigi Tezza the Blessed Giuseppina Vannini, the Blessed Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini, and our deceased religious brothers and sisters, will welcome them in their midst, we commend them in our prayers, remembering them with affection, esteem and gratitude’.
THE HOLY YEAR OF MERCY
PRAYER OF THE JUBILEE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
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