Riccardi

October 19, 1970 In today’s consumer society the main thing we want to save is time. If we read advertisements, or listen to the radio and T.V., we often hear the expressions: "instant, ready-made, immediate delivery." Even sculptors and painters now work fast and take shortcuts, whereas in the past, the artist took his time. The changes came fast in our own familiar cities. The field at the city limits has now been transformed into a suburb. In just a few months time, streets that we walked along for years are turned into highways. Everything is done quickly and efficiently, a lot is prefabricated.This is even more true in the field of communication. It is now possible to reach people far away, saving a lot of travel time. It is impossible not to be influenced by this new pace that humanity is caught up in, even for Christians who are careful and are attracted by the mysteries of the spirit, even for people open to the most sublime things, especially where

Letter (1949?) to the young girls of the Third Franciscan Order This undated letter is certainly written at the beginning of Chiara’s adventure because of her underlining the concrete love of neighbour: in fact, the first response to God, discovered as Love, was to assist the poor people of Trent.Even though in this letter Chiara does not yet speak of unity, the emphasis is put on mutual help and the horizon is widened to universal brotherhood. My dear sisters! St. Francis, the Saint of fire and deeds, from the highest Heaven, where he lives blessed and anxious to fulfil the Work of God entrusted to him till the end of time, he looks at us, young people burning with vibrant life with the hope of a Saint. Listen to your neighbour’s heart! Break through every dam, every darkness, every difficulty, every petty thought and look to Heaven that awaits us and is the prize which we will enjoy for an everlasting period. Too little do we think of Paradise! To us,

When we have known suffering in all shades of its most frightful forms, in the most varied kinds of anguish, and have stretched out our arms to God in mute, heart-rending supplication, uttering subdued cries for help; when we have drunk the chalice to the last drop and have offered to God, for days and years, our own cross mingled with his, which gives it divine value, then God has pity on us and welcomes us into union with him. This is the moment in which, having experienced the unique value of suffering, having believed in the economy of the cross and seen its beneficial effects, God shows us in a new and higher way something that is worth even more than suffering. It is love for others in the form of mercy, the love that stretches our hearts and arms to embrace the wretched, the poor, those whom life has ravaged, repentant sinners.A love that knows how to welcome back our neighbour who went astray, our friend, brother or a