On Thursday 13th June, the Pauline novices visited the “Stefano Lamera house” in Rome, where two Pauline priests, Fr. Emilio Cicconi and Fr. Roberto Roveran, are living with the members of the two Pauline institutes: Jesus the Priest and Holy Family.
Close to the Church of St. Anthony Padua, the house is named after Fr. Stefano Lamera, who was a Pauline very much close to our founder Blessed James Alberione. Fr. Lamera dedicated his life to build up the community of Jesus the Priest and of the Holy Family and coordinated their cooperation. The house, unlike other Pauline houses, relies mainly on the providence of the Lord while hosting many couples from the Holy Family and priests and seminarians from around the world virtually free of charge. And the house has never lacked anything.
We had the opportunity to listen to a sharing of Mr. Pinuccio and Mrs. Annafranca, a Catholic couple from Sardegna, who have been married for 47 years. The Holy Family Institute has accompanied them in the ups and downs in their married life, in taking care of their children, and in living the Christian faith in a society thatis becoming more and more secularised. After around eight years in formation, they are going to take their perpetual vow in a few months. The thing that helps them most, they said, was praying together, particularly the rosary.
Then, it was another sharing from Fr. Abel, a diocesan priest from Madagascar, who has joined the Institute of Jesus the Priest a few years ago. He is particularly intrigued by the spirituality of the Divine Master, Way, Truth and Life, saying that Jesus is the ultimate model of “agape”, the love that is capable of saving the whole world. Entering the institute, he really enjoys fraternal life.
We had a delicious lunch together, which was prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Pinuccio. It was a rich but brief firsthand experience with the two institutes in the Pauline Family that we only have heard of in our countries. Surely, there are still a lot to learn about them, but if we combine the sharing of the Holy Family couple and Jesus the Priest cleric, we may have some emphasis on the fraternal praying life. When the world is mesmerised with technical advancement and all the conveniences, usefulness, and entertaining effect it can bring, there are people living in the world, busily occupied with many worldly and just worries, who still found their strength and help from God in their time of prayer. And they found God in prayer together, both in its fatiguing searching, its simple process and its authentic, real-life fruitfulness. Their 47 years together is a magnificent testimony to the effectiveness of their prayer life. In other words, they have shown that prayer keeps them together and make them flourish in their vocation. Perhaps, in our apostolate, when too busy making connection with the world, we have forgotten to care for the connection with God and the community that we are living In. This particular important aspect is the very soul and animation, the power, the source of creativeness of our mission in communication: communal prayer. “All your progress depends on the progress of prayer. Those who are constantly on the go need ever better prayer: if this is elevated, your whole life is also elevated.” (“Prayer life” – Constitution SSP) May we be reminded of our Divine Master’s word: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt 18, 20).
