True Friendship
When you arrive at the doors of the Community, the biggest wound that you carry in your heart is not drugs, but the solitude that you have inside, the sadness of not being yourself, and the fear of not being loved. The first concrete experience you have when you enter is friendship. Someone who was desperate like you welcomes you without self-interest, and you see in his eyes that there is life inside him. The guys at the house where you enter stay close to you. They make you see that your life, and the decision you made to let it come alive, are gifts for them. It is the strength of friendship that supports you in overcoming tough moments at the beginning. The ones that are by your side, that speak to you, that explain things, that listen, and that smile at you help you to be strong and persevere. Then you realize that you must become a friend to yourself and that you don’t know who you are in goodness in this new life. In the light of brotherly friendship and, most of all, in the light of the prayer that helps you to become Jesus’ friend, you rediscover yourself as someone who is capable of doing good, of forgiveness, of silence, and of suffering without trying to escape from it any more. You learn to accept the interior poverty of your brothers, but you also recognize and acknowledge their gifts. You do not stop in the face of difficulty or pride, but you choose to suffer in order to love concretely, to rejoice together, without jealousy, thanking God for the gift of life. It is through the love of those who are by your side, close to you, that you discover the greatness of God’s Love for you and your dignity as a child of God. Truly in Community you discover that having a true friend and being a true friend is to possess an inexhaustible treasure of peace, strength, forgiveness, life, and joy in your heart.
“Friendship is built upon simple things that are sometimes hidden to others, but help us to stay good in our heart.”
-Mother Elvira
“Friendship is built upon simple things that are sometimes hidden to others, but help us to stay good in our heart.”
-Mother Elvira
True Friendship
When you arrive at the doors of the Community, the biggest wound that you carry in your heart is not drugs, but the solitude that you have inside, the sadness of not being yourself, and the fear of not being loved. The first concrete experience you have when you enter is friendship. Someone who was desperate like you welcomes you without self-interest, and you see in his eyes that there is life inside him. The guys at the house where you enter stay close to you. They make you see that your life, and the decision you made to let it come alive, are gifts for them. It is the strength of friendship that supports you in overcoming tough moments at the beginning. The ones that are by your side, that speak to you, that explain things, that listen, and that smile at you help you to be strong and persevere. Then you realize that you must become a friend to yourself and that you don’t know who you are in goodness in this new life. In the light of brotherly friendship and, most of all, in the light of the prayer that helps you to become Jesus’ friend, you rediscover yourself as someone who is capable of doing good, of forgiveness, of silence, and of suffering without trying to escape from it any more. You learn to accept the interior poverty of your brothers, but you also recognize and acknowledge their gifts. You do not stop in the face of difficulty or pride, but you choose to suffer in order to love concretely, to rejoice together, without jealousy, thanking God for the gift of life. It is through the love of those who are by your side, close to you, that you discover the greatness of God’s Love for you and your dignity as a child of God. Truly in Community you discover that having a true friend and being a true friend is to possess an inexhaustible treasure of peace, strength, forgiveness, life, and joy in your heart.