There was a rift between us

Source: Living City

Restoring the relationships opened God’s hands

We were a group of six young guys who lived in Milan in a small apartment. We were rooming together to prepare ourselves for what we had discovered was our path in life. We wanted to follow God in a total way, trying to live the Gospel twenty-four hours a day. Young and inexperienced, and as different as we were from one another, it wasn’t without its problems.

One evening, because of the commitments each of us had that night, we ate a little earlier than usual. Little by little, as we were eating our meal, we began talking about the practical aspects of our living together. It was like a detailed analysis of what wasn’t going right. No one named names of who was in the wrong, but in reality it wasn’t difficult to guess.

At a certain point we realized that there was a rift between us. And even though one of us said, “It’s getting late,” no one got up. We stayed there in silence until someone said he was sorry, then another and another, until all of us had. Then we spoke for a long time, calmly and relaxed, and slowly we came up with a few ideas which we all agreed could help improve things. We felt so happy and realized that from that moment onward, our little community had taken a qualitative leap forward.

By putting mutual love into action, the presence of Jesus in our midst had been restored. The words, “Where two or more are united in my name, there am I in their midst” (Mt 18:20), resounded in our hearts. The next morning, going to work, we were sorry to leave the house. It was so good to be together now. While saying goodbye, someone said, “When you feel that there’s communion, that there’s unity amongst us, you feel the urge to ask the Father for anything you can think of, certain of obtaining it.” It proved to be enough just to have wanted it… “If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” (Mt 18:19).

In the kitchen we had a little blackboard where we wrote down what we needed to buy. That morning before leaving one of us had written the word: tuna. Later on, in the early afternoon, another one of us came home and because he particularly liked tuna, he added the words “right away” to the blackboard. A couple of hours later, before leaving to do the shopping, the doorbell rang. It was a woman who heard through other people that a community of young people were living the Gospel. She had brought a huge box for us. She asked if we could go down and get it because it was very heavy. We opened it and what do you think we saw? Fifty cans of tuna.          

— P. D. R., Rome, Italy