Luisa and Baby Jesus

Advent: a time of waiting and preparing for every Christian who truly feels the call for a transformation of inner life, to do the so-called “quantum leap”. Living it together means feeling that this desire is present and alive in all of us.

The retreat, which was held at the Parish Center “Luisa Piccarreta” of the Church Santa Maria Greca at  Corato, saw the participation of all the groups belonging to the Association and that of the group from Termoli that, with the Association, follows the same journey of faith.

• After the opening prayer, led by Sister Assunta with the praises to the Divine Will by Don Benedetto Calvi, the Holy Mass presided over by Fr. Sergio Pellegrini followed and then a reflection on the theme of Mercy and Justice.

The theme of Mercy is, as we know, at the base of the Jubilee opened last December 8 by Pope Francis and it is clearly analyzed and explained in his Bull of Indiction  Misericordiae Vultus. As he explained in an interview with the weekly magazine “Credere”, Mercy is the life of the Church: Paul VI anticipated it in the Second Vatican Council and Pope John Paul II highlighted it in his encyclical letter Dives in Misericordia.

God never fails to show His Mercy to creatures, knowing their limitations and weaknesses, their continuous wandering between “falls” and desire to “get up.”

Sin, Fr. Sergio says, horrifies us only when we experiences God, for having opened our hearts to Him; when we are in front of the Deity, we acknowledge our fault and that’s when the cry of the sinner who fears the total abandonment by God arose. In His humanity, Jesus lived and comprehended everything in the garden of Gethsemane: the enormity of sin and even the abandonment by His own Father.

Jesus’ death would be certain, If Mary, his Mother, had not sustained him by Her own Will, by Her own Mercy just as any mother would do with her son when he asks for help.

But Justice corresponds with Mercy  and that is where Luisa, the little servant of the Divine Will, is called to carry out her office of “victim soul” to prevent the Divine Justice from unloading Itself upon all creatures when they insist on doing their own.

In short Mercy and Justice come to constitute the “supports” on which the humanity of Christ rests and those two supports are Mary and Luisa respectively, because by living in the Divine Will, they lived of His attributes, of His virtues, contributing to the fulfillment of the Supreme Fiat and the good (salvation) of mankind.

In the second part of the retreat we couldn’t leave out the reflection on the theme of Christmas and the value of this great feast that has its own roots in the Incarnation and prodigies that come with it.

• Starting from the Gospel of John, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14), and in the light of the Divine Will, God’s descent from Heaven is an unstoppable flow of power, of wonders, of wisdom that His infinite love come to pour upon the earth.

It’s impossible for creatures to understand it fully, but the Supreme Being who possesses His incessant motion by nature and therefore the life of all things created in heaven and on earth, can’t stop His motion, otherwise all Creation would remain paralyze.

The Incarnation, therefore, departed from this incessant motion, the first and only motion, that multiplies itself enormously, and forms so many divine lives for how many creatures exist, since it is the Divinity itself that,  for justice, comes to redo every single life to return to the Father the glory and praise of all men.

And so much is the ardor of Jesus’ love for the creature that He takes no account of her ingratitude and in order to fulfill His great works He covers, for mercy, all her miseries with His Love, with His Will. Jesus come into the world to redeem all of us that were bought with a price because of His Love. So, it’s with the Incarnation and birth of Jesus that Christmas takes on its true meaning and the feast becomes the Feast of the Divine Will.

With these new meditations the day of Advent Retreat 2015 ends with the intention also, if we strongly desire this, to renew hope and experience the joy that the darkness can be converted into the light: Come, Lord Jesus, You are the light of the World!

[gview file=”http://luisapiccarreta.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Newsletter-No.-163.pdf”]

[gview file=”http://luisapiccarreta.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Novena-for-Holy-Christmas.pdf”]

The third edition of “The Towers of Corato”, was held on Saturday, November 14. It was an evening of awards organized by LO STRADONE newspaper. The purpose of this initiative is the knowledge of those people from Corato who excel in their respective professions giving prestige to our town. Also this year, the majority of these excellences came from the most important cities in the country and abroad.

The Municipal Theatre of Corato that hosted the event was crowded, with the participation also of the Consul General of Venezuela, Amarilys Gutierrez Graffe.

The event, which had as its theme “creativity”, opened with the notes of the famous tune of the Marseillaise  to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks that took place in recent days in Paris. Marina Labartino, vice-director of LO STRADONE, presented the event with Luigi Di Zanni, versatile artist

The eight winners of this edition are:

Domenico Petrone: founder and president of Viasat Group. Tarshito (Sanskrit: thirst for inner knowledge): his first name Nicola Strippoli, architect, artist and designer. His creative genius derived from his meeting with the spiritual dimension of India. Nicolas Vangi: cosmopolitan artist, painter and teacher of art therapy for the Epilepsy Foundation of Florida. The biggest lesson arising from his creative work is that you can turn a disease into a virtue. Epilepsy, that distress him for years, was also one of his first sources of inspiration. Art is catharsis and therapy, positivity and joy of living. Gregorio Sgarra: artist of international renown,  he is famous for his sacred icons and his paintings both classic and modern. Mariateresa Padula: set designer and decorator of environments. Her decors adorned famous movies and plays. Pino Leone: fashion photographer, ready to capture beauty in people and nature. Luigi Quinto: sculptor; he is very known for his original and precious wooden works especially with religious subjects. Some of his most significant works are four wooden sculptures, the largest in the world. Arcangela Gallo: embroideress of the ‘tombolo’ (lace making). She developed a passion for this ancient art of bobbin lace since she was very young. This ancient tradition is now in danger of extinction, so Arcangela aims to set up an association in Corato that could bring it back to life. Her fine laces adorn the most beautiful trousseaus of young brides.

In this respect, her testimony is very significant. She said that before starting work, she prays  another her fellow citizen, who shared with her the same love for this art: the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, born in 1865 and died in 1947 in the odor of holiness. Luisa, in fact, supported herself with her work of ‘tombolo’. She welcomed the girls who wanted to learn that art, and  through art she taught spirituality. Arcangela asks Luisa to work together, as well as Luisa asked Jesus not to leave her alone. In fact, one day, while the servant of God was working, she physically felt a hand moving inside her hand: it was Jesus who was accomplishing her acts.

On the initiative of AIC  (Association of Entrepreneurs from Corato), a Special Prize was awarded to a young girl graduate for her thesis on the theme “business and industry of Puglia”. In this connection, Dr. Marina Mastromauro, administrator of the Pasta Factory Granoro,  granted a scholarship named after her father, Attilio Mastromauro, founder of the Pasta Factory  who died recently, but still alive in the memory of the people of Corato.

“A dream remains so until you decide to make it happen” was adopted as a significant maxim by LO STRADONE throughout this event, as Marina Labartino said, with the intention to encourage young people to pursue their own objectives even if they are difficult and ambitious, following the example of the guest awarded, who have shown that thanks to their persistent efforts and their firm determination it is possible to overcome any obstacle and achieve positive results.

[gview file=”http://luisapiccarreta.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Novena-for-Holy-Christmas.pdf”]

40 day countdown to Christmas Day 

Thanksgiving (Nov 26),

Advent begins (Nov 29),

the Immaculate Conception (Dec 8),

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec 12),

St John of the Cross (Dec 14, for all you Carmelite Fans),

then Our Lord’s Birthday (Dec 25)

followed by the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ,
the first drops of his innocent blood shed for humanity, on New Year’s Day!

Get Ready for Christmas by praying the Christmas Novena!

[youtube]https://youtu.be/Tq-ppsQ9zkA[/youtube]

[gview file=”http://luisapiccarreta.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Newsletter-No.-162.pdf”]