News
Formation to Evangelical Poverty
Napoli (Italy)
On February 12-14, the Naples Provincial House of Our Lady of Good Council Province (IMR) hosted the Second Formation Encounter for the FMA with 1 to 10 years of profession. Accompanied by Fr. Mario Guariento, SDB, the eight young sisters were able to study the theme of 'evangelical poverty'. Also taking part in the encounter was the Provincial, Sr. Mara Tagliaferri, who, in her opening greeting, introduced the theme of the encounter, "Poverty, Sign of Gratuity, of Joy, of the Love of God".
In the morning, Fr. Mario proposed a Lectio on the Gospel passage of Mark 10: 17-22, entitled, "The Rich Young Man: Deluded by Wealth, Loses True Life". In the afternoon, he offered a reflection on the theme: "Evangelical Poverty: be free, offer oneself in goodness, loving attention, humble service in everything to the community, to the young".
From the reflection, it emerged that the evangelical counsel 'of poverty' is at the basis of all the three counsels: we do not love if we are not poor; and we are not obedient if we are not humble.
Sr. Liberata Schiavello, who participated in the encounter, recounts: "Poverty effuses its roots in humility, however, in this upward journey we have two models to imitate: Jesus who divested Himself of everything to become a servant, and Mary, the humble handmaid as she is defined in article 18 of our Constitutions.
Every time we discover new things, also because we ourselves change, situations change, reality changes. Fr. Mario often emphasized as he returned to the passage of the 'rich young man', that after Jesus looked at him and loved him, he went away sad. "The more we love, the poorer we become". In order to remain poor, a journey of humility and love is necessary.