A hug to the entire community of San Pier Niceto was extended today by auxiliary bishop Monsignor Cesare Di Pietro, on the occasion of the pastoral visit planned in the municipalities of San Pier Niceto, Torregrotta and Monforte San Giorgio. Monsignor Di Pietro visited the grandparents in the retirement home “Magnificat Divine Zeal” and was welcomed by the parish priest Francesco De Domenico, by the municipal administration in the person of the mayor Domenico Nastasi and the councilors Mariagiovanna Cattafi, Pietro Insana and Giuseppe Ruggeri, by Antonina Amabile of the “Magnificat” community and by many faithful. The grandparents, in the role of “journalists”, asked questions to the bishop, who appreciated how the elderly are cared for in a significant and proactive way.
This was then followed by the celebration of the Holy Mass in the Mother Church of San Pier Niceto, where Msgr. Di Pietro embraced the entire community, recently hit by fires. “The pastoral visit is an experience aimed at demonstrating the paternal tenderness of God – said the bishop -. A visit that has stabilized in the modern age but which has much older, even apostolic, roots. The Lord does not take away our crosses, but helps us to cross them. May all daily difficulties become not a tunnel with no way out, but a path to hope. We must transform a moment of desperation, such as that caused by fires, into rebirth – said Mgr. Di Pietro -. For the reforestation of the countryside, every child can plant a sapling. Let us look to the future with confidence. God calls us to total and radical love, because a mediocre love would be the denial of love itself. The wounds must become slits, because may they release light and treasures of grace – he added -. Love can never be a command, but a spontaneous need of the heart. You have experienced the gravity of the danger, but also the strength of God’s love. He will continue to always be our strength. Without pain there is no love and without love there is no life”. The pastoral visit will continue tomorrow with Archbishop Giovanni Accolla, who will meet the world of work, the world of school and finally that of politics with a meeting that will will take place in the Torregrotta council chamber in the presence of the mayors.