His Promise in Full Color!

The exhortation to not fear takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us with confidence through the familiar love of the One in whom we trust.

Indeed, when we free our spirits from fear and open our hearts to confidence, hope appears to us as a great rainbow in the sky. Not as a mere symbolic sign, but as the sure sign of a true reality – a reality truer than all the concerns that keep us anxious. It is the rainbow of hope, painted in many colors, symbol of our eagerness to walk toward the ultimate and final goal, while still pressed by the demands of our daily living. It is the luminous sign of our oblation that grows and enriches our lives with many gifts, blending into harmony the various parts of the same body – despite all our poverty and limitations.

This sign appears to us not only as a sign of hope, but also as a messenger of peace, inviting us to overcome divisions and to become witnesses of something new, something greater.
(Giuliana, Aug. 2004)

Theology of Risk: Rainbow of Hope

There is a reality that goes beyond us: the tomorrow that we must build, a tomorrow that logically involves risks, but for us it is not so important to finish the work as to work for the Lord.

We must build the future, as much as is possible one understands, as instruments, as useless servants, keeping always this will of building together with a sense of optimism. It serves nothing to depress ourselves. Let us try to have a supernatural outlook: where we finish, God begins. We have trust in Him. Let us not forget that in our equations we cannot take everything into account, because there is an unknown, and this unknown is the infinite omnipotence of God. We must know how to look toward the future, not only our personal one but also that of the Institute, rooting ourselves in the Lord. We must have a healthy sense of optimism that will give us the courage to face the difficulties. We are here to pray the Holy Spirit to infuse this courage into us, not, obviously to be imprudent, but to know how to look to the future with generosity and to know how to risk.

We must know how to accept so much that is imperfect, negative, finite, limited that there is in the work of the last five years. We are not here to judge or to judge ourselves, but to love each other, to look ourselves in the eye, to understand in what way, counting above all on the love of God the Father, of Jesus Christ, of Our Lady, we can together face this new moment, this new development of the Institute.

Here we have the theology of risk become a rainbow of hope, full of light. I am certain that this will be our Chapter. (Bishop Giaquinta, Theology of Risk)

The Rainbow of the Covenant

In the morning we must raise our thoughts and words to the Lord. At the rising of the sun, the Lord must be our thirst and our desire: “O God, you are my God; for you I long. For you my soul is thirsting, and my body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water…” (Ps 63:2). Only in this way we can avoid making the numerous activities of our day a burden for our heart, or allow them to separate us from what is good. Only in this way we can allow the confused dreams of the dark night of our soul be dispelled by the light of a new day. Only in this way we can silence the confused range of our thoughts and useless words, and make room for the Risen Christ.

It is also in the light of the new day that we wish to prepare for the Celebration of the Covenant – the rainbow of thousand colors that unites heaven and earth. I am speaking of the Celebration in which we renew our yes to the oblation – offered for every man and woman, so that all may be led to the infinite love of the Lord. Let us pray for a renewed commitment to Fraternity – offered for the building of a civilization of love. Let us ask for a Cenacle that lives in communion and is at the service of the Church and of the world.
(Caterina Fava, March 2008)