Columns
from issue no.11 - 2008
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The Director's mailbox
LETTERS FROM THE CONVENTS
URSULINES IN ADDIS ABABA
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Thank you from Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, 30 July 2008
Dear Senator Giulio,
I had as a gift from a friend two issues of your magazine 30Giorni nella Chiesa e nel mondo. I and all the sisters of the community liked it very much, for its content rich in spiritual stimuli and its truly current and interesting news.
I would like to request the great gift of being able to receive your magazine in English free, since our mission in Ethiopia has limited economic possibilities.
I will be eternally grateful for this gift of yours, imploring the Lord abundant blessings for you and for all your colleagues.
Dear Senator, trusting in your generosity I also dare to ask financial assistance for one of our very poor missions. It’s for the children of Tullo (Awasa) Kindergarten in the south of Ethiopia. They come to school without having breakfast. It is the desire of the sisters working there to be able to offer them some bread and a cup of tea.
Thank you sincerely for what is within your possibilities to do in our favor. May the Lord bless you. With great respect and gratitude,
sister Abrehet Kahsay, Superior delegate in Ethiopia
To help the children of the Tullo (Awasa) Kindergarten
Bank account: 01730-280714-00
Swift: CBETETAA
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia - Addis Ababa branch S / A
Made out to: Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat Congregation of Ursuline/Orsoline sisters
CAPUCHIN NUNS OF SAINT VERONICA GIULIANI CONVENT
Città di Castello, Perugia
Thanks for the interesting publication Montini e Agostino
Città di Castello, 7 October 2008
Dear Director,
I want to thank you and your colleagues for the interesting publication Montini e Agostino sent to us by you as a gift. We really appreciate your gifts for which we reply to thank you warmly, assuring you remembrance in prayer so that you may continue in this delicate and demanding apostolate with ever renewed fervor and intellectual honesty.
With grateful appreciation, we offer our most sincere wishes for every good in the Lord Jesus, our peace,
Capuchin Sisters
NOTRE-DAME ET SAINT-PIERRE ABBEY
Faremoutiers, France
Our gratitude for the magazine and the distribution of the prayer booklet
Faremoutiers, 7 November 2008
Sir,
We receive 30Jours and thank you for the variety and quality of the articles and the photos that accompany the text.
With this letter I request twenty copies of the prayer booklet Qui prie sauve son âme, in the French edition.
You can send this order to the address on this letter. Unless otherwise indicated by you, we’ll pay by cash on delivery.
Receive, sir, all our gratitude for this magazine and the distribution of the prayer booklet,
sister Clotilde-Marie, OSB, Prioress
ROMITE BAPTIST NUNS OF GENOVA CONVENT
Genoa
Chi prega si salva is very beautiful and we would like to donate it to friends
Genova, 8 November 2008
Dear Director Mr Giulio Andreotti,
For some time we have been receiving, free, the wonderful, in all respects, magazine 30Giorni and I am embarrassed at the delay in expressing our warmest thanks. So we ask pardon!
The undersigned is the one who enjoys it most, it truly enthuses me, I photocopy the articles that strike me most and then pass them on to friends, and also so as to have them always at hand.
Sometimes I read it beginning at the end, as I did with the last number for the article on dear Don Giuseppe Morosini.
What a fine impression! What a great man! What a great priest and, why not?, a great saint. I was immensely pleased that you undertook to bring to light the unknown lives of these great heroes of charity. I think that this will do good to those who do not in fact know what a war lived at first hand is.
With this magazine you do a great good. May the Lord help you and all your colleagues and bless you. For our part we remember you in our prayers.
In Jesus and Mary we cordially greet you,
sister Maria Gabriella Passoni,
Vicar, and fellow Sisters
P.S. We’d like to have another dozen booklets of Chi prega si salva the same size as those received as a gift. They are so beautiful and we would like to donate them to friends and family who have lost the habit of praying. For the payment please provide the account number. Thank you for everything...
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Thank you from Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, 30 July 2008
Dear Senator Giulio,
I had as a gift from a friend two issues of your magazine 30Giorni nella Chiesa e nel mondo. I and all the sisters of the community liked it very much, for its content rich in spiritual stimuli and its truly current and interesting news.
I would like to request the great gift of being able to receive your magazine in English free, since our mission in Ethiopia has limited economic possibilities.
I will be eternally grateful for this gift of yours, imploring the Lord abundant blessings for you and for all your colleagues.
Dear Senator, trusting in your generosity I also dare to ask financial assistance for one of our very poor missions. It’s for the children of Tullo (Awasa) Kindergarten in the south of Ethiopia. They come to school without having breakfast. It is the desire of the sisters working there to be able to offer them some bread and a cup of tea.
Thank you sincerely for what is within your possibilities to do in our favor. May the Lord bless you. With great respect and gratitude,
sister Abrehet Kahsay, Superior delegate in Ethiopia
To help the children of the Tullo (Awasa) Kindergarten
Bank account: 01730-280714-00
Swift: CBETETAA
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia - Addis Ababa branch S / A
Made out to: Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat Congregation of Ursuline/Orsoline sisters
CAPUCHIN NUNS OF SAINT VERONICA GIULIANI CONVENT
Città di Castello, Perugia
Thanks for the interesting publication Montini e Agostino
Città di Castello, 7 October 2008
Dear Director,
I want to thank you and your colleagues for the interesting publication Montini e Agostino sent to us by you as a gift. We really appreciate your gifts for which we reply to thank you warmly, assuring you remembrance in prayer so that you may continue in this delicate and demanding apostolate with ever renewed fervor and intellectual honesty.
With grateful appreciation, we offer our most sincere wishes for every good in the Lord Jesus, our peace,
Capuchin Sisters
NOTRE-DAME ET SAINT-PIERRE ABBEY
Faremoutiers, France
Our gratitude for the magazine and the distribution of the prayer booklet
Faremoutiers, 7 November 2008
Sir,
We receive 30Jours and thank you for the variety and quality of the articles and the photos that accompany the text.
With this letter I request twenty copies of the prayer booklet Qui prie sauve son âme, in the French edition.
You can send this order to the address on this letter. Unless otherwise indicated by you, we’ll pay by cash on delivery.
Receive, sir, all our gratitude for this magazine and the distribution of the prayer booklet,
sister Clotilde-Marie, OSB, Prioress
ROMITE BAPTIST NUNS OF GENOVA CONVENT
Genoa
Chi prega si salva is very beautiful and we would like to donate it to friends
Genova, 8 November 2008
Dear Director Mr Giulio Andreotti,
For some time we have been receiving, free, the wonderful, in all respects, magazine 30Giorni and I am embarrassed at the delay in expressing our warmest thanks. So we ask pardon!
The undersigned is the one who enjoys it most, it truly enthuses me, I photocopy the articles that strike me most and then pass them on to friends, and also so as to have them always at hand.
Sometimes I read it beginning at the end, as I did with the last number for the article on dear Don Giuseppe Morosini.
What a fine impression! What a great man! What a great priest and, why not?, a great saint. I was immensely pleased that you undertook to bring to light the unknown lives of these great heroes of charity. I think that this will do good to those who do not in fact know what a war lived at first hand is.
With this magazine you do a great good. May the Lord help you and all your colleagues and bless you. For our part we remember you in our prayers.
In Jesus and Mary we cordially greet you,
sister Maria Gabriella Passoni,
Vicar, and fellow Sisters
P.S. We’d like to have another dozen booklets of Chi prega si salva the same size as those received as a gift. They are so beautiful and we would like to donate them to friends and family who have lost the habit of praying. For the payment please provide the account number. Thank you for everything...
Spiritual reading/23
“Even the first step toward grace is a grace: we
need a mysterious action of God that descends into the secrets of the heart
to move it to salvation, an inspiration, a push. Saint Thomas teaches us
that ‘man cannot prepare to receive the light of grace, if not
through a gratuitous help of God that moves internally’1. God
anticipates”.
“This leads us to recall something very obvious, but important, that is the function that prayer has with respect to the life of grace. Prayer is the condition par excellence of grace. Prayer is the best disposition to obtain it, to keep it and increase it. What has not been written and taught on this subject! It is one of the most fruitful topics of theology and spirituality. We will content ourselves here with a quotation from Saint Augustine, unparalleled doctor also in this field. He said he was convinced that ‘no one goes to salvation if God does not invite him to it; then that nobody reaches his own salvation without God’s help; but that no one deserves this help if he does not pray’2. In this respect prayer becomes, as Saint Alphonsus says, the ‘great means’. As you can see, the lesson becomes very large, but very simple. To encounter grace, we must pray. To save ourselves we must pray. To be admitted to the supernatural order we must pray. To obtain the Holy Spirit we must pray”.
“Prayer is, in many respects, the fruit and soil of grace. While it yields it, it derives from it. This is a secret of God’s action in the soul. Saint Paul says: ‘The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words’ (Rm 8, 26). So that praying is breathing in grace”.
(Three excerpts from the speech delivered by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, on the Feast of Pentecost, 17 May 1959)
1 St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II q. 109 a. 6 co.
2 St Augustine, De ecclesiasticis dogmatibus liber Gennadio tributus, in PL 42, col. 1213.
Council of Orange 529
“Even the first step toward grace is a grace”
Canon 9. De adiutorio Dei. Divini est muneris, cum et recte cogitamus, et pedes nostros a falsitate et iniustitia continemus; quoties enim bona agimus, Deus in nobis atque nobiscum, ut operemur, operatur (Denzinger 379).
Canon 9. The help of God. It is thanks to the gift of God that we think correctly and preserve our steps from error and injustice; in fact every time we do something good, God works in us and with us, so that we can act.
“To save ourselves we must pray”
Canon 10. De adiutorio Dei. Adiutorium Dei etiam renatis ac sanatis semper est implorandum, ut ad finem bonum pervenire, vel in bono possint opere perdurare (Denzinger 380).
Canon 10. The help of God. The help of God must always be asked for even by those who are reborn and healed, so that they can both attain a good end as well as persevere in good.
“This leads us to recall something very obvious, but important, that is the function that prayer has with respect to the life of grace. Prayer is the condition par excellence of grace. Prayer is the best disposition to obtain it, to keep it and increase it. What has not been written and taught on this subject! It is one of the most fruitful topics of theology and spirituality. We will content ourselves here with a quotation from Saint Augustine, unparalleled doctor also in this field. He said he was convinced that ‘no one goes to salvation if God does not invite him to it; then that nobody reaches his own salvation without God’s help; but that no one deserves this help if he does not pray’2. In this respect prayer becomes, as Saint Alphonsus says, the ‘great means’. As you can see, the lesson becomes very large, but very simple. To encounter grace, we must pray. To save ourselves we must pray. To be admitted to the supernatural order we must pray. To obtain the Holy Spirit we must pray”.
“Prayer is, in many respects, the fruit and soil of grace. While it yields it, it derives from it. This is a secret of God’s action in the soul. Saint Paul says: ‘The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words’ (Rm 8, 26). So that praying is breathing in grace”.
(Three excerpts from the speech delivered by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, on the Feast of Pentecost, 17 May 1959)
1 St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II q. 109 a. 6 co.
2 St Augustine, De ecclesiasticis dogmatibus liber Gennadio tributus, in PL 42, col. 1213.
Council of Orange 529
“Even the first step toward grace is a grace”
Canon 9. De adiutorio Dei. Divini est muneris, cum et recte cogitamus, et pedes nostros a falsitate et iniustitia continemus; quoties enim bona agimus, Deus in nobis atque nobiscum, ut operemur, operatur (Denzinger 379).
Canon 9. The help of God. It is thanks to the gift of God that we think correctly and preserve our steps from error and injustice; in fact every time we do something good, God works in us and with us, so that we can act.
“To save ourselves we must pray”
Canon 10. De adiutorio Dei. Adiutorium Dei etiam renatis ac sanatis semper est implorandum, ut ad finem bonum pervenire, vel in bono possint opere perdurare (Denzinger 380).
Canon 10. The help of God. The help of God must always be asked for even by those who are reborn and healed, so that they can both attain a good end as well as persevere in good.
LETTERS FROM THE MISSIONS
Boys in Kaolack Diocese First Communion class with the booklet IQui prie sauve son âme/I
Kaolack, Senegal
Through prayer we are in communion in the Church
Kaolack, 24 November 2008
Gentlemen,
Our diocesan pastoral service received through your great generosity a substantial number of copies of the booklet Qui prie sauve son âme.
Indeed your subscriptions service had us receive these two thousand copies from an anonymous donor. We believe with good reason that this book can help our lay faithful to relate to God in prayer, through the prayers of the Church.
After the experience of its benefits in spiritual practice, on behalf of our bishop Monsignor Benjamin Ndiaye, on behalf of all the beneficiaries of this book (families, communities and single individuals) and on my own personal behalf, I wish to express to you our very profound as well as sincere gratitude and our heartfelt thanks.
Through prayer, we are in communion in the Church-Family of God and we can assure our praying communion for you and your mission.
To you, generous donor, we express our praying appreciation and our profound gratitude. May God bless your generosity.
We offer these few photos as a gift to your eternal gesture,
father Raphaël Ndiaye
P.S. Please forward this letter and photos to our benefactor, if possible.
DIOCESE OF UÍJE
Uíje, Angola
I would like to give Chi prega si salva to my priests
Uíje, 28 August 2008
Dear Mr Director Giulio Andreotti,
With great joy I have received and read the magazine 30Dias, of which you are the distinguished director. I am very grateful for the magazine that you sent me free, because, through it, I am informed of what’s happening in the world and in the Church.
I have a request, I hope it is not asking too much: I would like to give each of my priests the rich and precious booklet Quem reza se salva. As pastors of parochial communities, they could continue to spread easily, among the faithful, the joy of prayer. I have 65 priests.
In the certainty of always having your understanding, I renew my sentiments of esteem and appreciation, assuring you and the whole team working for the magazine 30Dias of my prayers.
Emílio Sumbelelo,
Bishop of the Diocese of Uíje
COMBONIAN MISSIONARIES
Manila, Philippines
Could I receive 30Giorni gratis?
Manila, 28 October 2008
Dear friends of 30Giorni,
Greetings of peace from Manila!
I am a Combonian missionary priest, and I have been in this mission since 1998. I greatly appreciate your magazine, and I see that you also send it free to missionaries ... Would it be possible to add my name to the list of beneficiaries? I am English speaking, but would prefer to receive the magazine in Italian, a language I love very much, thanks to a stay in Rome for six years (1991-1997) as superior general of my Institute. Thank you sincerely in advance for what you can do for me.
Always united in the Lord,
father David Glenday,
MCCJ
SAN ALFONSO MARÍA DE LIGORIO PARISH
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Quien reza se salva for the families of the district
Buenos Aires, 7 November 2008
Dear Mr Director,
The parish that I administer will celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of its canonical erection on 24 July 2009.
At present the parochial territory extends eighty-two blocks and the population is about ten thousand people. Built with the growing urbanization of this part of the federal capital (now an autonomous city of Buenos Aires), this is a popular residential quarter evangelized first by the Jesuit fathers (1934-1939), then by the fathers of the Most Holy Redeemer (1939-1989) and today by the diocesan clergy of the archdiocese.
This year I received a free monthly copy of your magazine, which I appreciate very much. Apart from appreciating the quality of the information and graphics that it offers on the life of the Church and the world from that privileged observatory that is Rome, I took note of the edition of the book Quien reza se salva (the title refers to a literal expression of our patron Saint Alphonsus). I’d like to distribute this booklet to the families of the district during the parish Mission that will begin in March 2009.
Assured of your understanding, most affectionately in Christ,
father Enrique Maria Serra,
Pastor
LETTERS FROM THE SEMINARIES
SAINT QUY of CAN THO SEMINARY
Can Tho, Viet Nam
Our seminary is in the city of Can Tho, in Viet Nam
Can Tho, 18 July 2008
Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti,
We, all formators and seminarians of Saint Quy Seminary of Can Tho, Viet Nam, thank you and your editorial staff for the free subscription of the international magazine 30Days in the Church and in the World, destined for our seminary.
Your magazine enables us to be connected with the activities of the universal Church. Its contents are very useful for our study and education in seminary.
Our seminary, situated in Can Tho City, Viet Nam, has 180 seminarians of three dioceses. There are 11 priests staying in seminary as permanent formators.
Once again we express our sincere thanks with our prayers for you and for all your collaborators.
In Christ's Love and Peace,
Saint Quy Seminary
SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER SEMINARY
Lahore, Pakistan
Who prays is saved will be of help to our seminarians in daily prayer
Lahore, 8 July 2008
Dear Chief Editor and Editorial Staff,
Thank you for your letter informing about your initiative to give free annual subscription to all the seminaries of your wonderful Magazine 30Days. I appreciate very much you concern for the seminaries and seminarians. At the moment all our students are at home for their summer vocations. The will be back on the 15th of August.
I would be very grateful if you send us a free copy of “Who Prays is Saved”. I am sure it will help our seminarians to grow in their prayer life.
Wish you all the best and be sure of our prayers and support,
Sincerely yours,
father Khalid Yousaf, Rector
PAUL VI MAJOR REGIONAL SEMINARY
Kouékong, Cameroon
Qui prie sauve son âme for our students and teachers
Kouékong, 8 October 2008
The students, the team of teachers and I are happy to receive the monthly international magazine 30Jours dans l’Église e dans le monde, offered free by Senator Giulio Andreotti. We appreciate this gift. The reading of the first numbers aroused lively interest and great curiosity in everyone. We find really detailed information on the life of our Church there. At the same time, this magazine is an excellent tool for training. We derive real profit from it. We thank you for this and assure the members of the editorial staff and Senator Giulio Andreotti of our prayers.
Also, please, if possible, send us a hundred copies of the book Qui prie sauve son âme for our 84 students and 15 teachers.
With feelings of deep gratitude,
Monsignor Benoît Kala, Rector
SAN ALONSO DE OROZCO AUGUSTINIAN CONVENT
Bogotá, Colombia
Thanks for bringing us closer to the Church
Bogotá, 5 November 2008
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You” (Saint Augustine).
Dear Giulio Andreotti and editorial staff,
With the present letter I express my thanks and my greetings. The supplement Credo del popolo di Dio (The Creed of the People of God), of Pope Paul VI, has aroused in our house of formation a fervent desire to love the faith that, following the example of our great Father St. Augustine, fills our lives with joy and passion for our Mother Church.
Thank you, because, with the various articles that the magazine offers us, you bring us closer to the reality of the Church and make us share in such important issues that sometimes we ignore.
God bless and accompany your work,
Frank Chavarriaga Escobar,
Augustinian prenovitiate
Can Tho, Viet Nam
Our seminary is in the city of Can Tho, in Viet Nam
Can Tho, 18 July 2008
Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti,
We, all formators and seminarians of Saint Quy Seminary of Can Tho, Viet Nam, thank you and your editorial staff for the free subscription of the international magazine 30Days in the Church and in the World, destined for our seminary.
Your magazine enables us to be connected with the activities of the universal Church. Its contents are very useful for our study and education in seminary.
Our seminary, situated in Can Tho City, Viet Nam, has 180 seminarians of three dioceses. There are 11 priests staying in seminary as permanent formators.
Once again we express our sincere thanks with our prayers for you and for all your collaborators.
In Christ's Love and Peace,
Saint Quy Seminary
SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER SEMINARY
Lahore, Pakistan
Who prays is saved will be of help to our seminarians in daily prayer
Lahore, 8 July 2008
Dear Chief Editor and Editorial Staff,
Thank you for your letter informing about your initiative to give free annual subscription to all the seminaries of your wonderful Magazine 30Days. I appreciate very much you concern for the seminaries and seminarians. At the moment all our students are at home for their summer vocations. The will be back on the 15th of August.
I would be very grateful if you send us a free copy of “Who Prays is Saved”. I am sure it will help our seminarians to grow in their prayer life.
Wish you all the best and be sure of our prayers and support,
Sincerely yours,
father Khalid Yousaf, Rector
PAUL VI MAJOR REGIONAL SEMINARY
Kouékong, Cameroon
Qui prie sauve son âme for our students and teachers
Kouékong, 8 October 2008
The students, the team of teachers and I are happy to receive the monthly international magazine 30Jours dans l’Église e dans le monde, offered free by Senator Giulio Andreotti. We appreciate this gift. The reading of the first numbers aroused lively interest and great curiosity in everyone. We find really detailed information on the life of our Church there. At the same time, this magazine is an excellent tool for training. We derive real profit from it. We thank you for this and assure the members of the editorial staff and Senator Giulio Andreotti of our prayers.
Also, please, if possible, send us a hundred copies of the book Qui prie sauve son âme for our 84 students and 15 teachers.
With feelings of deep gratitude,
Monsignor Benoît Kala, Rector
SAN ALONSO DE OROZCO AUGUSTINIAN CONVENT
Bogotá, Colombia
Thanks for bringing us closer to the Church
Bogotá, 5 November 2008
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You” (Saint Augustine).
Dear Giulio Andreotti and editorial staff,
With the present letter I express my thanks and my greetings. The supplement Credo del popolo di Dio (The Creed of the People of God), of Pope Paul VI, has aroused in our house of formation a fervent desire to love the faith that, following the example of our great Father St. Augustine, fills our lives with joy and passion for our Mother Church.
Thank you, because, with the various articles that the magazine offers us, you bring us closer to the reality of the Church and make us share in such important issues that sometimes we ignore.
God bless and accompany your work,
Frank Chavarriaga Escobar,
Augustinian prenovitiate
