CONVENT OF THE POOR CLARES OF SANTA CLARA
Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In our community 30Dias is particularly appreciated

Nova Iguaçu, 8 June 2009

Dear Mr Giulio Andreotti,
Please receive our most cordial embrace of peace and good!
We want to thank you very sincerely for the wonderful magazine 30Dias that we receive free every month. In our cloistered community this journal is particularly welcome and appreciated. We are struck mainly by the content, so rich in spirituality, enriched by beautiful images, which keeps us in touch with the main events of the Church and the world.
Our thanks continues in prayer before the Eucharist for all your intentions. May the Lord bless you today and always and grant you those graces most needed to advance this most uplifting work which is the magazine 30Dias!
Affectionately, on behalf of the community of Poor Clares,

Sister Maria Conceição da Immaculada, OSC, Abbess


BENEDICTINE NUNS OF THE CESCAU CONVENT
Cescau, France

I just rediscovered you thanks to the internet... and God

Cescau, 5 July 2009

Dear brothers in Christ,
I just rediscovered you thanks to the internet ... and God!
I am happy that your magazine still exists.
Could you please give me some information (send me the contents index of the issues of these last 3 or 4 years), send me the April 2009 issue as a present and the conditions of subscription?
Thank you in advance and I request you to believe in our fraternal and religious sentiment in Christ the King,

Sister M.B. Sérayet, OSB


PASSIONIST SISTERS OF THE DE LA PASSION CONVENT
Mamers, France

30Jours for a small convent

Mamers, 6 July 2009

Gentlemen
I have been three years in the convent of the Passionist sisters in Mamers, where we receive 30Jours.
The magazine is so beautiful, well presented and serious that I would ask you, if possible, to send it free also to to the convent of Marie Mère de l’Espérance. It is a small, poor foundation.
I thank you already from now and I guarantee my prayers in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Sister Marie Daniel de l’Eucharistie


CLOISTERED DOMINICAN SISTERS
Lourdes, France

Qui prie sauve son âme is very nice

Lourdes, 7 July 2009

Dear friends
Thank you very much for sending the booklet Qui prie sauve son âme, it is very nice and will help many people. We pray for you who are contributing to spreading the Christian message, for which we also work. Today we gave a gift of a copy of the booklet to one of our Polish Dominican brothers.
United in prayer

Sister Marie de Jésus and Sister Marie-Isabelle


BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF THE GAUDIUM MARIAE ABBEY
San Antonio de Arredondo, Córdoba, Argentina

We derive great profit from every issue of 30Días

San Antonio de Arredondo, 3 October 2009

Gentlemen of 30Días,
Thank you for the important work of spreading Christian culture and spirituality which you do and that comes to us as a generous gift. We derive great profit from every issue of 30Días! It helps us to know, to love and pray for our beloved Church.
I trouble you to ask you to change the address for the next issues. I enclose the correct one.
Many thanks,

Sister Silvia


SISTERS OF OUR LADY OF MERCY CONVENT
Vynthala, Kerala, India

Greetings from this distant and beautiful land of India

Vynthala, 26 October 2009

Dear Senator Andreotti,
Please receive a fraternal greeting from this distant and beautiful land of India where we have been by the mercy of God for almost nine years. We are a Discalced Mercederian Nuns community of contemplative life. Going, sometimes, to our community in Spain we have come to know your wonderful magazine that is doing so much good there. We hope that it can also do so for the young fellow sisters we have here. So we would be very grateful if you could send the magazine in English and twenty copies of the booklet Quien reza se salva, also in English. We would all be truly grateful to you.
The articles of the magazine, rich and interesting because of their relevance, are a good means of information and formation, safe and trustworthy. For the community it will be like an open window on the Church and the world.
Rest assured that these young nuns are praying for you and expect from your kindness and generosity that our request be granted.
Thank you, may God bless you,

Sister Trinidad Montes

«Veni ergo Domine Iesu... Ad me veni, quaere me, inveni me, suscipe me, porta me»
“Come, then, Lord Jesus … Come to me, seek me, find me, take me in your arms, carry me”

After publishing the first documents of the Magisterium of the Church on the grace of Christ (the canons of the Council of Carthage in 418; the Indiculus, The Small Roman Catechism; the canons of the Council of Orange in 529), before starting the publication of the Council of Trent dogmatic documents, we present some prayers of the holy Fathers of the Church which express the doctrine of faith regarding grace in the most simple and immediate manner. We begin with Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milan.
We publish a prayer taken from Expositio in psalmum 118, Tau, 28-30.32

«Quaere», inquit, «servum tuum, quoniam mandata tua non sum oblitus».
“Seek your servant,” says [the Psalm], “because I have not forgotten Your commandments”.

Veni ergo, Domine Iesu, quaere servum tuum, quaere lassam ovem tuam, veni, pastor, quaere sicut oves Ioseph.
Come, then, Lord Jesus, look for your servant, seek for your exhausted sheep, come, shepherd, seek Joseph like a flock.

Erravit ovis tua, dum tu moraris, dum tu versaris in montibus.
She has gone astray your sheep, while you lingered, while you tarried on the mountains.

Dimitte nonaginta novem oves tuas et veni unam ovem quaerere quae erravit.
Leave your ninety-nine sheep and come to find that one that went astray.

Veni sine canibus, veni sine malis operariis, veni sine mercennario, qui per ianuam introire non noverit.
Come Thou without the dogs, come Thou with no evil workers, come Thou without the mercenary who doesn’t know how to enter through the door.

Veni sine adiutore, sine nuntio, iam dudum te exspecto venturum; scio enim venturum, «quoniam mandata tua non sum oblitus».
Come Thou without an aide, without intermediaries, already for a long time I have been expecting You to come, for I know You're coming, “because I have not forgotten Your commandments”.

Veni non cum virga, sed cum caritate spirituque mansuetudinis.
Come not with the stick, but with charity and a spirit of mercy.

Noli dubitare relinquere in montibus nonaginta novem oves tuas, quia in montibus constitutas lupi rapaces incursare non possunt.
Don’t hesitate to leave your ninety-nine sheep in the mountains, because as long as they are on the mountains ferocious wolves can not attack them.

In paradiso semel nocuit serpens; amisit ibi escam, postquam Adam inde depulsus est; illic iam nocere non poterit.
Once in paradise the snake could harm; but in doing so he lost the bait, after Adam was expelled from there; and there he will no longer be able to harm.

Ad me veni, quem luporum gravium vexat incursus.
Come to me, I’m afflicted by the assault of vicious wolves.

Ad me veni, quem eiectum de paradiso serpentis diu ulceris venena pertemptant, qui erravi a gregibus tuis illis superioribus.
Come to me, who, driven from paradise, have long been tested by the poison in the wound caused by the snake, I who moved away from your flock that is in the mountains.

Nam et me ibidem conlocaveras, sed ab ovilibus tuis lupus nocturnus avertit.
In fact You had placed me there too, but the wolf that came by night tore me away from your fold.

Quaere me, quia te requiro, quaere me, inveni me, suscipe me, porta me.
Seek me, because I need you, seek me, find me, take me in your arms, carry me.

Potes invenire quem tu requiris, dignaris suscipere quem inveneris, inponere umeris quem susceperis.
You can find whom you seek, You deign to take in your arms whom You found, to place on Your shoulders whom You have gathered in your arms.

Non est tibi pium onus fastidio, non tibi oneri est vectura iustitiae.
A burden of love is not a discomfort for You, the bringing of justice is not a weight for You.

Veni ergo, Domine, quia, etsi erravi, tam «mandata tua non sum oblitus», spem medicinae reservo.
Come then, Lord, because even if I did wrong, in any case “I did not forget your commandments”, I cherish the hope of being cured.

Veni, Domine, quia et erraticam solus es revocare qui possis et quos reliqueris non maestificabis; et ipsi enim peccatoris reditu gratulabuntur.
Come, Lord, for You are the only one who can bring back the stray sheep without making those that you've left sad, they too will in fact rejoice at the return of the sinner.

Veni, ut facies salutem in terris, in coelo gaudium.
Come, to work salvation on earth, joy in heaven.

Veni ergo, et quaere ovem tuam non per servulos, non per mercennarios, sed per temetipsum. Suscipe me in carne quae in Adam lapsa est.
Come, then, and seek your sheep not through servants, not through mercenaries, but You in person! Take me in the flesh that has sinned in Adam.

Suscipe me non ex Sarra, sed ex Maria, ut incorrupta sit virgo, sed virgo per gratiam ab omni integra labe peccati.
Take me not through Sarah, but through Mary, virgin inviolate, virgin preserved by grace from every stain of sin.

Porta me in cruce quae salutaris errantibus est, in qua sola est requies fatigatis, in qua sola vivent quicumque moriuntur.
Carry me on your shoulders on the cross, which is salvation for those straying, in which only is rest for the weary, in which only does he who dies find life.

Dicit ergo et anima, dicit et Ecclesia: «Erravi sicut ovis quae perierat»; sed dicit: «Quaesivi quem dilexit anima mea».
It is the soul therefore and the Church that says, “I went astray like a sheep that was lost”, but also says: “I sought Him that my soul loved”.

Hoc est dicere: «Vivifica servum tuum, quoniam mandata tua non sum oblitus».
That is to say: “Give life to your servant, because I have not forgotten Your commandments”.

Ego te quaesivi, sed invenire non possum, nisi tu volueris inveniri.
I sought you, but am not able to find you, if You do not want to be found.

Et tu quidem vis inveniri, sed vis diu quaeri, vis diligentius indagari.
And You want to be found, but want to make Yourself be desired at length, You want to be sought with a growing desire.

Novit hoc Ecclesia tua, quia non vis ut te dormiens quaerat, non vis ut iacens te investiget.
This Your Church knows, because you do not want it to seek you as if it were sleeping, You do not want it to follow your footsteps while in bed.

Denique pulsas ad ianuam, ut excites dormientem, exploras, si cor vigilat et caro dormit.
And so You knock on its door, to awaken those who are sleeping; You scrutinize whether the heart is awake, and the flesh sleeps.

Vis iacentem levare dicens: Surge qui dormis et exsurge a mortuis.
You want those who are in bed to get up, when you say: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead”.

PIME MISSIONARIES
Macapá, Amapá, Brazil

I have been a missionary in Brazil for forty-four years

Macapá, 2 July 2009

Dear Senator Andreotti,
For a year now I have been getting your magazine 30Giorni and thank you for the courtesy.
I always try to find some time for reading your articles. I find especially interesting news that is not published by other newspapers and magazines, especially those that explain the causes of certain events of the Church, or of human history. I also appreciate the articles of solid spirituality. I have been a missionary in Brazil for forty-four years, half passed in southern Brazil, and half spent here in the north. I send my new address.
Sincerely,

Father Giovanni Pontarolo


XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES
Dhaka, Bangladesh

The 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci, a missionary pioneer of dialogue with China

Dhaka, 30 July 2009

Peace and joy in the Lord!
Dear Mr Giulio Andreotti,
A cordial greeting from Bangladesh. Encouraged by your gracious reception, I trouble you again for a noble cause.
Next year the 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci will be celebrated, a missionary pioneer of dialogue with China. To draw together his inspiration, I have translated into Bengali his book Sull’amicizia (On friendship), which well reflects his method of evangelization.
Consulting various sources, I came across the the title of your book: Un gesuita in Cina. 1552-1610: Matteo Ricci dall’Italia a Pechino (A Jesuit in China. 1552-1610: Matteo Ricci from Italy to Beijing).
I was comforted to note that Ricci has something to say to a politician also! In parentheses: perhaps it would be useful to know what kind of books the new generation of politicians read. But I will come to the point: is your book still available? I would be very happy to be able to read it.
Thank you most sincerely, remembering you to the “Roman” Madonna that Ricci gave a representation of to the Emperor. But is it still the custom to give certain gifts?
Sincerely,

Father Silvano Garello


DIOCESE OF CRATO
Crato, Ceará, Brazil

I will give a gift of Quem reza se salva to the new deacons

Crato, 12 August 2009

Mr. Giulio Andreotti,
With great joy and with a deeply grateful heart, I inform you that I have received the booklets Quem reza se salva. I am impressed by your gesture of helpfulness and your quick response.
On 4 August last, our bishop, Monsignor Fernando Panico, MSC, ordained ten new permanent deacons for our diocesan Church. I will give them this very useful gift that you have sent us.
May God in His infinite goodness, grant you abundant blessings,

Deacon Polycarp Rodrigues Filho, Registrar of the Bishopric of Crato


CHARLES LWANGA COLLEGE
Monze, Zambia

30Giorni brings us close to the life of today’s Church

Monze, 15 August 2009

Dear Mr. Andreotti,
It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I write this letter. Since 1980 I work as a missionary in Zambia. Some time ago I came acroos your beautiful magazine 30Giorni. I was privileged to have somebody to sponsor and pay the subscription for the magazine for two years.But last year the subscription expired and I had nobody who could help me with paying it. I thought it was the end of enjoying 30Giorni. I wrote to the administration of the magazine and I am glad to inform you that I continue receiving the magazine regularly.
It is a great joy and pleasure to read the articles and admire the very well done pictures in the magazine. The content brings me inspiration and awakes courage in our missionary work. I must really compliment and congratulate you Mr Senator for such a beautiful magazine. It is very well published and brings us closer to the life of the Catholic Church today.
Because of the great value of your magazine I do not read it alone, but share it with the teaching staff of our College and our students. Our College, which celebrates fifty years of its existence this year, is a Catholic institution run by the Jesuits. We train primary school teachers for Zambian schools. It is a great challenge because education is not always considered the highest priority in many families and yet it is a necessary element of preparation for successful life in modern society. Our students and staff belong to various Christian denominations, so it is important they have accurate knowledge of the Catholic Church today. 30Giorni contributes very well towards achieving that goal.
As I write this letter on the solemnity of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother Mary I invoke the intercession of Our Lady upon you and the whole staff who produce such a lovely magazine that God may continue blessing your efforts and fill your hearts with joy and peace and enrich the readers with an ever deeper sense of faith and adherence to our Mother Church.
Yours sincerely in the Lord,

Father Gerard Karas S.J., Chaplain


CABOXANGUE MISSION
Caboxangue, Guinea Bissau

I read 30Giorni with pleasure

Caboxangue, 15 September 2009

Dear Director,
Here there is no mailman, the correspondence is deposited in a post office box and brought to the mother house, the Cumura mission, from which it then goes to the various destinations brought by some missionary who passes by there.
Caboxangue is in the south of the country, about 260 kilometers from the capital Bissau; the problem is the last 37 kilometers: a real despair because of the impassable road. Many times we are bogged down in the mud or deep holes; because of this we are cut off from communications. Here it is difficult to receive radio broadcasts or use mobile phones, there is no television. So we can live a little like hermits.
Thank you for sending 30Giorni, which I read with pleasure because of the choice of topics, updated and edited with competence.
I wish you all good,

Father Rino Furlato, OFM


SAN PEDRO APÓSTOL PARISH
Huacaybamba, Huánuco, Peru

Quien reza se salva for our catechists

Huacaybamba, 17 September 2009

Dear Mr Andreotti,
It is a great joy to be able to write to you especially to be able to thank you for the prestigious magazine 30Días: what a surprising gift, which now comes to me regularly, and what updated news it contains! It makes me really feel the catholicity of our Church, for which we live in different places – each with its own traditions, own language, own customs – and through which I feel and we feel very close.
As I wrote in my previous letter in which I had requested the magazine, I am a priest, in the Andes region of Peru, from the new diocese of Huari, which until last year was a territorial prelature. My parish is in a rural area, where there are sixty-eight communities scattered along the banks of the great Río Marañón. In the nearby forest, unfortunately, the dough base of cocaine continues to be extracted; every day many young people risk their lives or end up in jail working as traffickers for a few cents, driven by the poverty in which they find themselves. Furthermore, this parish was hit very hard by “Sendero Luminoso” in the ’eighties and ’nineties. You can imagine how many vanished lives, how many orphans and widows are left and how many injured there are among the population; this is the reality of our parish. Now I have the habit of “nourishing” the parishioners with the Word of God, the sacraments and some social works, and especially for this we send 2 to 3 rural catechists to every community. For this reason I wish to ask you, appealing to your courtesy, to give us, if possible, 150 copies of the booklet Quien reza se salva which, thanks to your generosity, has arrived throughout the world, in various languages. I would like to give it to each of our catechists as a gift from you. They, in thanks, will offer their prayers for you and all the staff of 30Días.
I did not want to go on at length in my letter, but I wanted to describe our reality for you.
With my blessings and prayers in the Lord

Don Benito Filemón Guzmán Santiago, Pastor


THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ST FRANCIS
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The information of 30Giorni expands horizons

Dar es Salaam, 27 September 2009

Very Dear Mr Giulio Andreotti,
For several months now we have received your interesting and valuable magazine 30Giorni. We thank you wholeheartedly for this. We are a young community of the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The magazine is invaluable for our sisters. Its information on the Church and the world broaden horizons and make prayer more universal. The sisters really like your magazine and everyone wants to be the first to know the latest news.
I can only thank you and ask the good God to accompany each day, with His blessing, you and your work. The entire community of the Little Sisters of St Francis prays for you.
Allow me to ask you for two copies of the booklet Wer Betet, wird gerettet (Who prays is saved in German) and ten copies of Who prays is saved (in English). May the Lord reward you a thousand times for your goodness. Our novices would be very grateful for the booklet.
In union of prayer and love, I greet you sincerely,

Sister Paulin Bommer, Mother Superior


PIME MISSIONARIES
Ipil, Philippines

30Giorni for the children of our parish

Ipil, 12 October 2009

Peace and joy in the Lord!
Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti,
Heartfelt thanks for the magazine 30Giorni which you kindly send me every month. Thanks also for the booklet Chi prega si salva.
I am a PIME missionary. I work here in the Philippines, on the island of Mindanao, in the Prelature of Ipil. In addition to pastoral activity, I am engaged in promoting the education of the poorest children who otherwise could not attend even elementary school. For the poorest, I organized two reception hostels in the parish, for boys and girls. The state high school is nearby but those who live in remote villages can attend it only by being here. I welcome them because they need not only to be supported with education costs, but also with food and clothing, given the difficulties of their families. This year I host a hundred and twenty guests, with all expenses paid. I don’t deny a certain difficulty in always coping with the diverse needs. But the Lord helps.
It is also planned to open a College here in the parish, so that the students don’t have to go to distant cities. The project is sponsored by the Sisters of URC (University of Regina Carmeli) in Manila. My problem is to provide housing and support education costs for the young poorer people. Fifty-five young people have already asked to live here because their families are very poor.
I thought it would be very helpful for these young people to read the magazine 30Giorni. So I dare ask, if possible, to send me the issue in English.
Thank you most sincerely in the Lord, our peace,

Father Ilario Trobbiani

PALLOTTINE NOVITIATE RAINHA DA PAZ
Cornélio Procópio, Paraná, Brazil

30Dias is a source of information and knowledge

Cornélio Procópio, 23 September 2009

Ad infinitam Dei gloriam.
Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti,
To you and all the friends of the magazine 30Giorni, peace and blessings of Christ Who lives.
First, as is customary, I consider it necessary to introduce myself: I am Edvaldo Betioli Filho, am eighteen years old and in the first year of the introduction period (novitiate) in the Society of the Catholic Apostolate.
Here, in our seminary, we regularly receive your magazine 30Giorni, in our language 30Dias. And with every number that is offered us, I confess, there arises a great joy in me, because for me it is a trustworthy source of information and knowledge, in other words of intellectual and spiritual growth. Thus, since 2008, when I first came to know the magazine during the first year of training (postulancy), I began to have great esteem for it, it being always prepared with love and respect. I like it so much that it is useless to continue to enumerate here its many qualities.
Dear Senator, what I want to know, and so I hereby also make a request of you, is how to receive a book published by 30Dias.
In fact, among the many books I see in the pages of the magazine (Quem reza se salva, for example), I was particularly interested in Mio fratello Albino (My brother Albino), to which the section “Nova et Vetera” of this year’s issue number 5 was dedicated.
Really, I would like very much to have and read this valuable work on the holy figure of the “Pope of the smile”, for whom I have a great devotion since I began to live more deeply the Church’s life. Furthermore, I could also share this book with all my brother novices.
I do not know, dear Senator, if this book can be sent free of charge, but I’d like to have a gesture of acknowledgment from you. I see that it is very difficult, almost impossible to buy it here in Brazil, it being, I think, a text neither translated nor distributed in this “Land of the Holy Cross”.
I am a young student of the Italian language, but I still find it difficult to write. Thus, I believe that the book Mio fratello Albino could also be a help in improving myself in this language, in which I have already made some progress with regard to reading and understanding of texts.
I take this opportunity, dear Mr Andreotti, also to thank you for your editorials. They are a great lesson in life. Continue for as long as you can, to provide us with your wisdom that never ceases to educate, especially the younger generations like mine. Thanks, friend!
Receive my faithful prayers, as well as those of all the novices, and a cordial greeting from the entire community of the Rainha da Paz Pallottine novitiate.
In the hope of a response, I take my leave.
I wish you all the peace of the Risen One. May you remain under the protection of the Mother of Divine Love and the intercession of Saint Vincent Pallotti.
Fraternally in Christ, Apostle of the Eternal Father.
Yours,

Edvaldo Betioli Filho


SÃO JOSÉ DIOCESAN SEMINARY
Ourinhos, São Paulo, Brazil

30Dias causes us to be informed and in communion with the Church

Ourinhos, 1 October 2009

Dear Giulio Andreotti,
Thank you for the kindness and generosity you show in sending this beautiful magazine to our seminary, that helps us to know and be informed and in communion with the Church in the world. Thus, as is the desire of our bishop, Monsignor Salvatore Paruzzo and our Poor Clare Sisters, we ask, if possible, to send the magazine 30Dias to the convent of Santa Maria dos Anjos.
I take the opportunity of this request to ask you to forward to our seminary twelve copies in Portuguese and one in Italian of the booklet Quem reza se salva.
I compliment you and thank you once again for your wonderful work.
Fraternally,

Father Altair Gaiquer, Vice Rector


COMBONIAN MISSIONARIES
Cape Coast, Ghana

30Giorni enriches us at the cultural and spiritual level

Cape Coast, 6 October 2009

Dear Director, Senator Giulio Andreotti, and editorial staff.
Congratulations on your magazine that I had occasion to read at various missionary communities in Africa. It is interesting and enriches us not only at the cultural level but also the spiritual one.
I am Father Vincenzo Percassi, a Combonian missionary in Ghana. I work in Cape Coast as superior of a missionary seminary with a group of theology students and as an assistant in a parish in the diocese. I’d like to receive the magazine 30Giorni in English, in order to make it accessible also to our seminarians. Could you please let me know what are the conditions of subscription and if it possible to avail of some discount for missionaries? We would also be interested to have about fifteen copies of the booklet Who Prays Is Saved.

Father Vincenzo Percassi


MAGDALENA DEL MAR SALESIAN SEMINARY
Lima, Peru

I received the precious booklet Quien reza se salva

Magdalena del Mar, 22 October 2009

Mr Director,
A few days ago I received the precious gift of ten copies of Quien reza se salva. You exceeded my expectations, and therefore I am indeed very grateful to you.
I want to express my thanks by offering for 30Giorni, for its staff and for you, dear director, ten masses for your personal and familial intentions, and that the magazine may continue to do immense good, by spreading the most important news and the thinking of the Church. Today you are a clear voice in the midst of the confusion of a culture that increasingly moves away from the Gospel and the faith.
Thanks very much,

Don Pablo Corante, SDB