The Vincentian Youth Pastoral Group (PGV) Lazio organised a service camp in Catania, involving young people of different religious faiths. During their stay, they stayed at the Samaritan Inn and participated in various assistance and training activities, meeting people in need and sharing moments of prayer.
PGV acronym for Vincentian Youth Ministry, we are a group of young university students, high school students, of different religions (Muslims, Orthodox, Catholics), animated by the same desire to help our neighbour. Beyond study and work, we have been committed for some time to meeting the poor; each of us, with our own diversity and uniqueness, our own religious beliefs and training, invests our time dedicating ourselves to the needs of our brothers and sisters who live in a material, spiritual and psychological disadvantaged situation. We believe that in the encounter with the poor, God reveals himself to each one of us through their gestures, their words, discovering in reality how much wealth there is in every poor person. For some years we have been collaborating with the service group of street unit in Rome in Saint Peter’s Square with the members of the Vincentian Family and we call ourselves Vincentians-Lazio. In the service we live the beauty of collaborating together in communion giving each one what they possess in their diversity.
Recently, we held a service camp in Catania, where we had different experiences: moments of prayer, sharing, conviviality and Vincentian formation. It was an all-round service experience, we stayed at the Locanda del Samaritano a place of welcome and support for people in need, run by the Vincentian Missionaries in Catania, where we shared the experience of being served and serving. In the basement of this building, there is the Casa Lumière, a place characterised by special lighting that echoes the name of the structure itself, in which some women victims of violence are housed; the aim is to help these people regain hope. The Locanda accommodates different realities and is therefore very attentive to the architectural, organisational and regulatory details of the lives of the people accommodated in order to restore a sense of dignity and the possibility of starting again to live life to the full. We began our mission here, celebrating the Holy Eucharist with Father Rrok, we listened to the Word of God in which Jesus, speaking of Charity, called his disciples to himself and sent them out two by two with a precise mission. It was a clear sign from God that he had gathered us together with our personal diversities and characteristics to bring to all one message the hope of the Light. Each of us received gifts, such as essential objects that accompanied us throughout the experience: a scented bar of soap, the Miraculous Medal and the shirt with the words “Shine and make shine” “to make a difference in people’s lives”.
In this week, we first came into contact with the origins and history of Vincentian charity in Catania by visiting the House of Charity where we were welcomed by the Daughters of Charity, Sister Rosanna, Sister Stella and Sister Giulia, who introduced us and gave us a moment of Vincentian spiritual formation. We were able to get to know the essence of Catania’s charity: Baroness Zappalà, who had started the work of helping the sick, which still exists today, and Sister Anna Cantalupo, currently in the process of beatification, nicknamed ‘the Mother Teresa of Catania’. We prayed and meditated on some exemplary deeds of her life at the foot of her tomb in the church inside the House. It was a very decisive and intense moment of beginning in which we entrusted all our deepest and most dedicated prayer intentions to those in need of her intercession. After this moving meeting, we took part in some services alternating with moments of fraternal sharing with Sister Ivana, Father Mario, Father Rrok and Sister Rosanna. Dividing ourselves into small groups, we had several experiences, such as the one inside the Bethany Family Home, which gave us the opportunity to get to know some of the families housed there and some children of African origin. On this occasion we came into contact with children who were very curious, warm and eager to share an afternoon with us. The joy and amazement could easily be read in our eyes. Afterwards, we experienced the home visits run by the House of Charity in coordination with the Daughters of Charity, the volunteers of the Vincentian Family and the pre-postulator Pier Grazia. In this very delicate and at the same time exciting service, we entered the heart of Catanese charity, visiting homes and families with all their particularities, sufferings and human wisdom.
Each of us was able to experience the beauty of bringing our own light and being enlightened in turn by some words specially deposited in our hearts. Finally, the service experience ended with the street unit, in which we were accompanied by the municipal centre. On this occasion we were able to experience the different realities of the streets of Catania, getting to know many stories, through which we were able to listen and acknowledge, but at the same time receive in return a vivid truth that directs our attention to what really counts in our lives, showing us that true wealth lies in the small things and relationships we take for granted. At the end of this experience in Catania we organised a wonderful party with all the brothers of the Samaritan Inn, a moment condensed by dancing, games, lots of laughter, gratitude and mutual thanks.
Actually, that’s not all… on our return from Sicily, we were hosted in Naples by Sister Marisa, who made us feel at home with her hospitality, giving us a precious pearl to take home with us, which we think is a summary of the whole experience: some of us, showing our gratitude for what Sister Marisa was giving us, said ‘you’re spoiling us like this’, to which she replied ‘this doesn’t mean spoiling us, but it means welcoming us’.
We believe that anyone can have the opportunity to share the experience of serving the poor, as each of us has something important to offer in our uniqueness and diversity, but also something important to receive. Every poor person in their poverty can enrich our lives, just as, by recognising our poverty, we can become richer than we thought we were.
Jacopo Tiberti
