Letter to our Brethren
Accompany
A few days before leaving for Mexico to participate in the General Chapter, I traveled from Rome to Genoa to accompany a young Italian, Elia Guerra, on his priestly ordination. The journey from Rome to Genoa by train takes five hours, which allows you to devote time...
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. First intuitions after the 48th General Chapter
Over the next few months, we will be receiving, piece by piece, various information and materials relating to the General Chapter of the Order, recently held in Mexico. I would like to dedicate this fraternal letter to share with all of you some first impressions,...
A Chapter that welcomes and receives
After a General Chapter, it is usually convenient to write a letter exhorting the brothers to receive and welcome the documents, proposals and options of the Chapter. I will do so in a next opportunity, no doubt. But on this occasion, I think it is better to write a...
Celebrate and welcome the General Chapter
I write this fraternal letter shortly before leaving for Mexico, to participate in the 48th General Chapter of our Order. We have been waiting for some time for this Chapter, which had to be postponed for several months because of the health situation we are...
A new Piarist Vocational Year
Throughout the next year 2022 we will be living a new Piarist Vocational Year. It has been convened by the General Congregation in the framework of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the constitution of the Pious Schools as a religious Order of solemn vows...
“Even if it’s just a glass of water”
On the numerous occasions in which throughout these years I have been able to meet so many people who love Calasanz and collaborate with the Pious Schools, I have tended to speak to them using a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew (Mt 11: 42) that is particularly...
Memory and Prophecy. A story to remember, a story to be built
Memory and Prophecy are two complementary dimensions of the entire historical experience of Consecrated Life in the Church. It is likely that only if we combine them well can we extract from both the deep wealth that they contain. We look at our history to strengthen...
Seeds bearing new life
After a year and a half, we are still living in the midst of a pandemic that we are not being able to control and that we still do not know when and how it will end. It is undoubtedly an exceptional experience for all mankind and, therefore, for Consecrated Life and...
The basic synodality
As you all know, Pope Francis has launched a formidable process of ecclesial discernment on synodality. For two years, the whole Church will be working on this exciting challenge of seeking a"synodal Church, based on communion, participation and mission."[1] There is...
Growing up “as God wishes it”
I am writing this fraternal letter in the midst of a process of reflection on the major nuclei that will be worked on in our next General Chapter, and shortly after having participated in the assembly of the General Piarist Fraternity, which was held in online mode...
“Lord, have mercy on me, because I am a sinner”
I dedicate this Salutatio to a shared reflection on one of the strongest challenges we have as Christians and as religious: clericalism. We are facing one of the ecclesial dynamics most denounced by Pope Francis throughout his pontificate, and I think it is worth...
“The sovereign Lord is my strength; He gives me gazelle legs and makes me walk through the heights”
I write this fraternal letter in the midst of the experience of pandemic by COVID-19, which has so affected the life and mission of the Pious Schools in the midst of this suffering humanity. I do this because quite a few Piarists write to me asking about the situation...