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Read and listen to the prayer of April 12, 2023

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Summary

Today was one of those strange days for me, the ones where the sun doesn't penetrate my bones.

It must have been the alarm reset, it must have been the return to the usual routine, or perhaps a post-holiday mood, but I felt even more alien to the world than usual.

When these days happen, I face them head down and with silence. Yes, the primary need is really silence within me, I can't speak, and unfortunately even listening is hard for me.

Then, a message from a friend is enough, Francesca's joy (and her sulks) on returning from school, and everything regains heat. Yes, heat. The beautiful one, which warms the heart and calm inside.

preghierina del 12 aprile 2023 — Prayer of April 12, 2023 3

I have met many mothers and fathers who, like us, have angels in Heaven. Who was older, who for many years, who due to illness, who by accident... the comparison with their stories, very often, makes me remember moments of our history that I had hidden.

Sometimes, I realize, that having had a Cross to hold on to, a Light to look up to, is our salvation. Without having the certainty of Eternal Life, the separation would have been atrocious. I always say that if there was no Eternal Life, Life on this Land that would be awful.

What explanation to give to a sudden death? to a little boy who leaves us in the middle of his adolescence? and what explanation to give to those who are over 100 years old in health? No, there is no logical explanation. We will never have it on this Earth. The certainty is, that we were born, and not we will die never again.

Let us pray then for all the parents who are still waiting for the Light.

Good night

Next door

commentary of Lk 24,13-35, edited byVerena M.

I walk on your heart,
and it is a finding of stars
in sleepless archipelagos,
night, brothers to me
a bending of secret orbits
fossil emerged from a weary wave.
Salvatore Quasimodo, Give me my day

Who knows where I'm looking for you, now that I'm convinced you're gone. Where do I think I'll find something to fill the void you've left. Walking is not enough, talking is not enough. All I have in my heart is the unbearable weight of your absence.

Pain dulls my senses, I can't see further than a step. Your face is not enough, your voice is not enough... you walk beside me and I don't hear you, lost listening to the beating of my heart that misses you. You are gone and I no longer see anything, I only have in my heart the anger and sadness of those who have not been loved enough not to be abandoned.

You walk beside me and my stunned heart has a flicker: those hands are your hands, this bread you give me is your bread of life. How can it be? You're the same one I'm angry with, because you went away and abandoned me - yet you're here, you're with me. You looked for me, you accompanied me, you stand beside me.

With patience you recognize my needs before I'm even aware of them and satiate them with the simplicity of hands that break bread. And now I know, now I know that you really loved me: you walk beside me in this new life.

Verena M.