The merciful are those who are able to forgive others and often even themselves. However, mercy is not just an inner disposition, it is the way that unites us with God. His immense love for us is not a feeling but an action; the act through which each of us is ‘reborn’. Living in peace It was not the first time I had noticed trespassing on my land. I had never had any enemies and my father had taught me how to build good relationships, but on this occasion I wanted to see clearly what was going on.  I asked Our Lady for help and one night I went into the orchard with another farmer.  As I suspected, at a certain hour I saw my neighbour arrive with two sons armed with fruit boxes. The plan was to photograph them in the act: bewildered by the flashes, the three of them immediately ran off, leaving the harvested fruit on the ground. The next day, towards evening, our neighbour’s wife asked my wife if she would kindly destroy the photos and not press charges against her husband. As agreed, my wife replied: “I don’t know what photos you are talking about, my husband has been away for two days”. From that day on, things started to change with unusual kindness and a willingness to help with the picking… During one of the breaks, the neighbour admitted he had come to get some apples ‘to try them’ and had seen flashes. I replied: “Strange things have been happening in the village for some time. What’s important for us is to live in peace”. (V.S.E. – Italy) A real change When I retired and looked back on my life all I could see was a total failure! I never got married because my parents were against my choice of a guy who was good but not one of our ‘rank’. My relationship with my brothers and sister had almost completely broken down because of an inheritance that according to them had been unfairly divided. I could call myself rich but what a void has been created in and around me! While I was in hospital a niece came to visit me who said something that really troubled me: “The trouble with you Aunty is that you are possessed by evil. Every trace of goodness in you has disappeared”. When I was finally discharged, I looked for a priest in whom I could confide what was distressing me. When he had finished listening to me, it seemed to him that I somehow wanted to take revenge on life, on family, on everyone, so he urged me to start thinking more of other people by celebrating relatives’ birthdays with gifts, taking an interest in the neighbours’ news, writing to former students.  They were small gestures but steps towards the light. In desperation I put his suggestion into practice.  It is hard but I really feel something is changing. (G.I. – Spain) Friends in sickness While my mother was in hospital I got to know her roommate, Klari who was at the same stage of cancer and undergoing the same series of chemotherapies. They had become friends, but something was dividing them.  As a young woman, Klari had been a communist activist and did not accept the Catholic faith my mother professed. They did not argue, but you could feel that neither of them wanted to let go of their own beliefs. Nevertheless, my mother was always available and to help Klari who had no relatives she had involved us in the family with her needs – just little things, like dealing with some paperwork for her, phoning friends, etc. When their health started to deteriorate for both of them, each reacted differently to the illness.  A great peace shone out from my mother, who always remained attentive to her friend. Klari, on the other hand, became impatient and aggressive, but before she went into a coma, she thanked my mother for the way she had always been by her side. She had now become one of our family. (P.F.H. – Germany)

Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta (taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VIII, no.2, November-December 2022)