{"id":18203,"date":"2026-06-12T15:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/dio-ci-offre-unamicizia\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T15:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:01:11","slug":"god-offers-us-a-friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/god-offers-us-a-friendship\/","title":{"rendered":"God offers us a friendship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ZAVARISE<\/picture>
Classes on Italian cooking with the youth of the parish of St. Paul in Taipei.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

In the parish of St. Paul in Xinzhuang, where I have been parochial vicar for around one year, I am always struck when adults -younger and not so young- come to us to ask to become Christian. The majority of them, after some time in a path of catechumenate, receive Baptism during the Easter Vigil. It is truly moving to welcome these new brothers into our companionship and, through them, to remember our own \u201cyes\u201d to Christ. I want to tell you all the stories of two of these persons, whose path helps me more deeply to understand this gift, Baptism, with which Christ makes us His own and introduces us into His life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is that of Valentina (invented name), a 17 year old girl. A friend at school told her some things about Christianity and this ignites an interest in her. When she asks her mother about the matter, the mother -who is not Catholic- brings her to the kindergarten where she works as a teacher: it is our own parish kindergarten! When we met her for the first time, she told us clearly: \u201cI want to receive Baptism.\u201d We proposed to her a unique path of catechumenate, asking her to participate in the Youth Group, in Mass and in the life of the parish. From that day on, our companionship became her home: it seemed that she was waiting for nothing other than this invitation! After an adequate preparation, Valentina received the sacraments of Christian initiation on the day of the patronal feast. And so, the celebration of the community became her celebration as well. It seemed to me a great sign of the action of Baptism: it frees us from sin, unites us to Christ and gives us His friendship, that is, the communion among us in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In Taiwan, I am learning to rejoice together with God in these small miracles<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The second story is that of Anna (invented name). Her husband and children are Catholic. Since she moved close to our parish, they regularly attend Sunday Mass. Seeing that everyone was going, then why not? She came too. After some time, a parishioner proposed the Catechism for adults to her, and she decided to participate to get to know the faith of her husband. Anna had a preparation journey that was very beautiful, sustained by family, embracing the fatih with great simplicity and joy. She received the sacraments on the vigil of Easter two years ago. For Anna it was not a formal or taken-for-granted step, as if to say \u201cMy husband is Catholic and therefore I should be too.\u201d It was instead a personal decision before the calling of the Lord. Since then, besides participating in the life of the community, she began to live a mission towards those of her household who are not yet Catholic. Often, I see at Mass relatives or friends of hers whom she drags there to see this event that has transformed her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories of these two persons help me to look at the Mystery of God, at His voice that calls in the heart of man and offers him His friendship, in ways that to us, at times, are unimaginable. In Taiwan, I am learning to rejoice together with God in these small miracles, in the midst of so many persons whom still I do not know but who, deep down, like Valentina, are waiting for exactly the same invitation: I do not invite them to some thing, some activity, some course, but to come to know Someone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The encounter with Christ and the desire for Baptism. Two stories of conversion from Taiwan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"God offers us a friendship - Fraternity of St. Charles","description":"The encounter with Christ and the desire for Baptism. Two stories of conversion from Taiwan."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[378],"tags":[362,1010],"writers":[246],"regions":[382],"cities":[444],"class_list":["post-18203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonies","tag-amicizia-en","tag-battesimo-en","writers-martino-zavarise","regions-asia-en","cities-taipei-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18206,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18203\/revisions\/18206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18203"},{"taxonomy":"writers","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writers?post=18203"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=18203"},{"taxonomy":"cities","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cities?post=18203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}