FRATERNITY:

actuality and expectations of the one who wants to “be there”!

The members of the Fraternity live the appeal to sainthood, to the gift of oneself, to the witness, committing themselves to looking for the Kingdom of God in the practical context of their lay life (LG, 31), drawing inspiration from the Charism of Father Louis M. Palazzolo, in a particular unity with the Congregation of Poverelle Sisters (Art. 3 of the Statute).

“The Fraternity Father Louis Mary Palazzolo is formed by some laity who want to realize in the Church an experience of faith and service to the neighbour, according to the spirit of Father Louis Mary Palazzolo”.

ACTUALITY

The Fraternity, come out from the choice of the religious Congregation of Poverelle Sisters to offer, to people already making way with them, the opportunity of participating in the spirituality and in the strength of the Charism of the Founder, Father Louis Palazzolo, appears even today to be of a great actuality. Its proposal of a style of life, of relations and service, in humility and simplicity, to the “unreached” ones, to the “crucified” of history, finds in the Gospel of charity its source and last point of checking.

Engaged on the different fronts of witness and of actual service to the needy, the Fraternity, in July 2003, is:

in Italy, where it counts 48 members,

in Congo, where it counts 68 members,

in Brazil, where it counts 12 members and

in Ivory Coast, where it counts 12 members.

Other people here, there and everywhere, are studying in depth the Charism and are preparing for a choice of life in those terms.

The Fraternity Father Louis Mary Palazzolo asks its members to take a lifestyle that be fit to the professed choice.

It is important for this to have a great confidence in the Holy Spirit, whose particular action is to make people able to achieve their call to discipleship, in everyday experience. Everybody must devote some time to the listening of the Word, to prayer, to the fraternal comparison: what is proposed, in fact, is a way and a witness that is not only a personal one, but a group one, an association one.

Every member of the Fraternity is also called to a social and political responsibility that is the result of his being Christian and is translated in his announcing and living the Gospel of Charity, in the sound fulfilment of his duties and in serving his poorest brothers with a Palazzolian style, that is with humility, joy, simplicity and generosity.

“The member, in his living environment, according to the Charism of Palazzolo:

  • commits himself to taking a lifestyle that express simplicity and sobriety, trust in Providence, acceptance, spirit of service and of sharing and joy;
  • is careful to the different kinds of poverties;
  • avoids every compromise with any kind of social injustice;
  • arouses consciences before the plight of poverty, bears witness and promotes a culture of charity” (Art. 14 of the Statute).

EXPECTATIONS

The lay believers – then all the members of the Fraternity – are asked to announce the Gospel in the world that is changing, offering the light of a vision of human experience, rooted on values that go beyond the mirages of progress and of self-realization and on the strength of a witness that “speaks the language of facts”, as Palazzolo said.

In this world that is dizzily changing, even among the members of the Fraternity we could see, during the last years, some wishes and new needs, which pave the way to dreams and perspectives for the future.

Some years ago, the dream of the members of Fraternity was the one of succeeding in having the push and the enthusiasm of the youth to renew their inner self. Afterwards, the entry of a group of young people has led the Association itself to ask itself questions on some subjects, such as the need to give realism and visibility to its witness; the acceptance and the enhancement of cultural and generation differences; the integration of disabled people, that are considered legitimately integrated, even if with different modalities of participation, to the way of the Association.

The reflection has still further specified some fundamental values, that now are considered as a thing that is ascertained: the dimension of spirituality, of the inner rooting, can never be lacking to our action; it has been said that the action comes after searching and understanding what God wants from us, that is the evangelic realism cannot exist without a great faith and a solid reference to the Plan that God has on everyone in particular and on the community as a whole. On the other side, a spirituality that was not translated in the concreteness of works, would remain empty and not able to ask people some questions and to arouse positive changes.

Even the Statute of the Fraternity expresses clearly this double vision:

“Being in the Fraternity expresses itself by the will to keep on realizing one’s Christian vocation, as an individual, as a couple, as a family, in the environment of everyday life, opening one’s heart and the actual life to a greater and greater evangelic sensibility towards all the kinds of poverty that exist today in the world” (Art. 6 of the Statute).

“Each member commits himself to being ‘light of the world and salt of the earth’. The Fraternity, as an Association, does not take any work and any structure of its own of service and apostolate. It is willing to collaborate to the works of the Congregation and to other ecclesial activities of charity” (Art. 16 of the Statute).

Another aspect that turns out to be fundamental for a real witness, today and for the future of the Association, is formation.

Each member is asked for a serious commitment of permanent, and up-to-date, formation, placed “inside” the environment where everybody is called to live.

So, it has been decided to revise the texts for the basic formation of the members of the Fraternity (work accomplished by a commission of sisters and members of the Fraternity) and to take more care of the meetings of formation proposed to each group in order to give better answers to the present needs of Christians engaged in the Church, in work and in the social context, as well as in the Association.

The participation to the “School of Charism” – that provides for the treatment of specific subjects about the history of the Congregation and the development of the Charism in its meanings of spirituality, lifestyle and mission – has been an enriching experience for some members and in the future it will be like this for others who will join it.

One of the important aspects of “palazzolian” formation is the continual reference to the teachings that come to us from the actual life of the poor that we approach: this one is a school of humanity, of poverty, of abandon and of delivery in the good Hands of the Amiable Infinite Father, able to reach everywhere His favourite sons and to become their shield and defence.

At the school of the poor everybody can learn “a different kind of life” and becomes, little by little, able of evangelical choices against the general trend.

Lately, we have been able to see the birth of the wish of some members of the Association to undertake some new ways, impracticable so far, to dive, in some measure, into the concreteness of works; it is a search that remains open and that has to reckon with the real possibilities, both personally and juridically.

Fundamentally, it seems that, in the Association, the will to do something together is rising, to give a certain “visibility” to one’s staying together, to know each other and to tackle one another, to be able to live with a stronger depth one’s being “fraternity” and to give a more actual and incisive witness to the Gospel, in a society in a ceaseless evolution and in a progressive secularization.

“DUC IN ALTUM” is an inducement and an encouragement to continue all together the way led towards some wide and new horizons, with a broad heart, disposed to accept the challenges of history and of the context where the Lord put us to live.

Each member commits himself to being “light of the world and salt of the earth” (Mt 5, 14).

The Fraternity, as an Association, does not take any work and any structure of its own of service and apostolate. It is willing to collaborate to the works of the Congregation and to other ecclesial activities of charity (Art. 16 of the Statute).

They strive to realize a sign of the unity of the Kingdom living the fraternal communion and the family spirit in the interpersonal and group relations.

The friendship among the members becomes a reciprocal support, above all in the local groups, with the heart open to the whole Fraternity (Art. 4 of the Statute).

The communion among the members expresses itself first of all in the fraternal prayer, that becomes more intense in the moments of suffering and death (Art. 17 of the Statute).

IDEAS FOR A PLAN OF PERSONAL FORMATION

  • I intend to consecrate a fixed time during the week to formation:

on ……………………… from ……. hours to ……. hours.

  • I choose for my personal prayer:

-the praises …………………………………………….

-the vespers ………………………………………….

-the rosary …………………………………………

-the meditation of the Sunday’s Word of God ………………..

-the prayer of compline………………………………

  • I detect the fittest moment to pray together in the family.
  • I begin to listen to the people in need that the Providence makes me meet and I let me be helped to understand what the Lord wants to say to my life through their requirements or their evidence.
  • I try never to be absent, in what depends on me, at the group meetings during the year.
  • I organize my work and family engagements to be able to participate in some days of exercises.
  • I detect what attitudes or ways of life I must change to make the choices required by the “palazzolian style” and concentrate my engagement on something concrete and verifiable.
  • According to the possibilities connected to my condition of life, I experience the service and the welcome of the poorest and, if possible, I involve friends and relatives as well.

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