The Little Community of the Porziuncola

The Little Community of the Porziuncola is formed by links of friendship in God, that follows the steps of the Father, in the Passover of Jesus Christ, enveloped in the Trinitarian mystery in Mary of Saint Joseph.

We recognize ourselves as children of the Father in the Son, living in the love that is the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, in links of friendship. Walking together we create a community that widens like a tent (Is 54:2) to live and to make discover the merciful love of God.

We are characterized by a particular freedom of action that allows us to form a "spiritual monastery", being people of different states of life, regions of the world and religious communities. 

We live in communion of prayer between us and with the communion of the saints, in anticipation of the New Jerusalem. It is to live as the image of Jacob's ladder, which unites heaven and earth, going up and down, in order to live the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven (Gen 28: 11-19). This is the kingdom that we ask for every day in the Our Father: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

We feel called to reflect the mercy of God, by the grace of Forgiveness: being light in the darkness, with our prayer life and prayer of intercession.

From our experience until now we find that our community brings:

• mutual support in one's mission with prayer centered on Jesus the Eucharist,

• a joyful communion of hearts that transforms existential solitude,

• a trusting prayer of intercession for the suffering.

The Little Community of the Porziuncola lives within the Church for the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Our prayer is supported by In Maria, a daily email which helps form community. With virtual interaction we strengthen existing friendships in different parts of the world to build a prayerful community, which is not subject to space or time but to the heart of the believer.

To grow in our spirituality, we propose to do The Exercises of the Little Ones to live in the Trinity, following the writings of the Abbot Bernardo Olivera (Monasterio de Azul, Argentina), emeritus general Abbot of the Trappists. We arrive at this space that we call The Small Community of the Porziuncola from the contemplative Marian movement, founded by him: Soledad Mariana (SM, www.soledadmariana.org).

Marian Shrine of the Porziuncola, Door of Eternal Life, inside of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, Assisi, Italy 

The Porziuncola del Cuore

The Porziuncola of the Heart, the Father's Home

The Porziuncola of the Heart, the Father’s Home, is that tiny space, pure and immaculate, where we welcome the Triune God, in Mary.

To live in the Triune God is to live in the protective arms of God the Father who envelops us with His Light and calls us "sons."

To live in the Triune God is to live in communion with Jesus, the Beloved Son of the Father, resting in His Merciful Love, which preserves our humanity; it is to be united to his redemptive action, on the painful cross offered with love, which thus becomes a glorious cross, while creating a saving space for others and for us. ("...if we share his passion, we will share his glory" (Rom 8: 17b). 

To live in the Triune God is to live in the Holy Spirit who is grace in superabundance with his gifts poured out for the fulfillment of our vocation in the service of the Kingdom, surpassing and fulfilling the desires of our heart; it is the Spirit of Truth who enlightens us, guides and inspires us to live in communion amidst the cares of life, and makes us exclaim: "Our Father" (Rom 8:15) and "Jesus Christ is the Lord" (Phil 2:11).

 It is to live the Trinitarian mystery in Mary of St. Joseph. Mary is filled with Grace in the Holy Spirit, who living in communion with the Father gives birth to Jesus for humanity. It is this space of Trinitarian grace that Mary lives with St. Joseph, in the intimacy of the virginal spousal communion, according to the plan of God.

The Porziuncola of the Heart is the place where the Lord lives in the communion of Friends, links of friendship. With them we share the joys and crosses of life; and this prayerful communion reaches all the children of God. We are living stones that the Father forms to make us builders of the City of God in the world.

La Portiuncula, The Father's Home

The Portiuncula

is the home of the Father!

In  the Portiuncula

of our hearts

the  Father

wants to be loved,

 called Dad,

through the Son, Jesus.

 With His Body and Blood Eucharistic,

holds us in the embrace

with the Father,

in His Light,

that surrounds us

in His Peace,

in  His Spirit of Love.

In the heart of the Portiuncula

the Word made flesh

wants to be accepted

in His Word,

in  Mary,

beloved daughter of the Father,

Immaculate,

of the Annunciation,

to say with  her:

"We are the servants of the Lord,

happen to us in accordance with your words".

The path of the small community

 belongs to  the "small" and "poor" in the world.

"Small" because

it is God who works

and builds

our lives,

our home,

day to day,

and humbly

we surrender

into the arms of the Father,

full of mercy,

because He knows

what we need,

in each one's mission and vocation.

Let us live united in the Spirit

in Communion and sharing,

to be light

in the Light of His Glory,

loving as in Heaven so also on earth.

To be instruments

of His Mercy for all,

in Mother Mary,

they all may know the Love of God,

 Our Father.

The way

of the Porziuncola

of the Heart

is "poor",

because we have nothing

but God,

in the Spirituality

of the Porziuncola of our heart.

Porziuncola,

the Father's house,

Door of the glory of God,

in the Porziuncola of our heart. 

May 1, 2013, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker

What distinguishes the Small Community of the Portiuncula

What distinguishes small community of Porziuncola," geographically dispersed but spiritually united," is only a spirituality in Friendship which unites us in communion, in the freedom of God's children, without excessive superstructures. Its characteristic is to be solitude in solidarity, simple and light, without economic aspects; it is only communion in God One and Triune from the everyday life of contemplation in Mary of St. Joseph.

We communicate through a webpage of prayerful communion and particularly each day with "In Mary."

We are children of Bernard, Abbot General Emeritus of the Trappists. With Soledad Mariana (SM) (www.soledadmariana.com.ar), the movement of Marian and contemplative spirituality which he founded, we maintain communion: the people involved can do the exercises of SM, or may choose to do some or just participate from their own spirituality. Friends, links of fellowship, share these points of the small community of Porziuncola:

The Small Community of the Portiuncula is small because it is formed by links of friendship in God, following the Passing of the Father, from the Passover of Jesus Christ and clothed in the mantle of Mary of St. Joseph.

I

Portiuncula, Gate of Heaven

Porziuncola

with Benedictine roots,

now, on high, at the end of your Jacob's ladder, Father,

your seven children who are monks await you (testament of Fr. Christian),

your men,

to take us to an eternal embrace in you, our Father,

in the eternal light of your love that surrounds us in your peace.

With their continual prayers of praise and forgiveness,

and together with St. Francis, with the grace of the forgiveness of the Porziuncuola, they intercede before You, Most High, so that you be Loved,

especially by those who do not know Your Merciful Love.

Good Father, envelop each person

especially those who do not know your Son Jesus, the Christ,

perfect reflection of Your Merciful,

Porziuncola of the heart, Your sweet dwelling place, Father

in Mother Mary, who takes us by the hand to lead us to you,

Your Favored Daughter, Mother of your Son Jesus,

in the creative Spirit that dwells in her,

to bring us to You, Father,

from her solitude of solidarity, contemplative, Mary of St. Joseph,

to live in prayerful communion, in Jesus Eucharist,

in our humble and simple daily life.

Amen

  1st November 2013

Light in the darkness

Let us be light in this world covered in darkness and gloom. To achieve this, we are invited to make our way in fidelity to grace, with prayer, purity of heart and abandonment to the Father. God's light in us will shine through our testimony to peace and goodness. We are called to stop evil, responding with charity and forgiveness and with constructive proposals that give life. It is to bring the light of truth to the culture of death and deception that dominates our society.

Power, possessions and the pride of the world distracts many and distracts us, instead of giving glory to the God One and Triune with our lives.

"Dear children: Today also today I call you, so that you, likewise, be like stars, who with their splendor give light and beauty to others, joy and peace, and prayer, especially, for all those who are far from my love and the love of my Son Jesus. Little children, bear witness to your faith and prayer in joy, in the joy of the faith that is in your heart, and pray for the peace that is a precious gift from God.

Thank you for having responded to my call."

Message of Our Lady of Peace, Medjugorje, 9/25/14

The Child Jesus

On a Christmas night, St. Francis takes the baby Jesus in his arms; it is the first living nativity scene ...

Our little praying community of the Porziuncola, marked by the glorious cross in the Our Father, was born in a sweet, gentle joy in the Spirit, without noise or conceit, but in the simplicity of a prayerful life, common and everyday, in the greatness of the mystery of Mary in St. Joseph.

 And just as on a 24th of December, Fiorella and I, Silvana, shared for the first time the desire for community in our lives, thus on a December 24 is born THE PORTIUNCULA OF THE HEART on the website, the small virtual community of the Porziuncola, a gift from God the Father in Mary of St. Joseph for Baby Jesus. 

December 24, 2013 

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome 

In communion with the Church

The Small Community of the Porziuncola humbly desires to be Church, where God the Father puts His gaze and rests on her, as the husband rests on his wife.

"If the love of God for humanity, for his chosen people, Israel is presented by the prophets as the love of a husband, such an analogy expresses the "spousal" condition and the divine and not-human nature of God's love:"

"Your husband is your Maker (...), the God of all the earth he is called. "(Is 54,5) Christ entered history and remains in it as the Bridegroom who "has given himself" (v.25). To give oneself means "to become a sincere gift" in the most complete and radical way: "No one has greater love" (Jn 15:13). In this way of thinking, through the Church, all human beings -men and women- are called to be the "Bride" of Christ,  Redeemer of the world."

(St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter "Mulieris dignitatem / Dignity of Women", 25)

Where are we going?

To live the Trinitarian nuptiality.

"Because if we understand well that the Father is the one who kisses and the Son is the one kissed, it is not wrong-headed to conclude that the kiss is the Holy Spirit, since and this Spirit is imperturbable peace ... the inseparable love and invisible unity and the invisible unity of the Father and the Son. "(SC, 8.2)

San Bernardo

"... this embrace ... is the Holy Spirit. Who is the communion of the Father and the Son, which is charity, friendship and embrace. He himself is all in the love between the husband and the wife." (Exp. Cant. 128)

William of Saint Thierry

(Bernardo Olivera, Abbot of Azul, Monastic Writings)

Our Objectives:

1. To live friendship as the integrative dimension of life; and, in the richness between men and women:

2. To live the human, interpersonal, spousal dimension, a gift of and for God:

3. To live the Paschal and Eucharistic dimension between Christ and his Church; we want to be the Church of Christ!

In the solidarity of the Banquet ...

"On the agreed upon day St. Clare went out of the monastery with a woman companion and, escorted by St. Francis' companions, made her way to St. Mary of the Angels. She devoutly greeted the Virgin Mary at the very same altar before which her hair had been cut  and she had received the veil, and then she was taken to see the convent until it was time to eat. Meanwhile, San Francisco had the table set on the floor, as it was in his custom. And when the time to eat came, they sat at table together, St. Francis and St. Clare, and one of the companions of San Francisco beside the companion of Santa Clara; and then the rest of the companions came humbly to the table.

As the first dish, St. Francis began to talk about God so gently, with such elevation and so wonderfully, that, coming upon them the abundance of divine grace, everyone was caught up in God. And being thus enraptured, with eyes and hands raised up to heaven, the people of Assisi and Bettona and from all around saw that St. Mary of the Angels and the whole convent and the woods that were next to the convent at the time burned violently, as if the convent and the woods at the same time were fodder for the flames of the church; so that the inhabitants of Assisi ran down at full speed to extinguish the fire, believing that everything was burning. Upon arriving and seeing that there was no such fire, they went inside and found St. Francis with St. Clare and with all the companions enraptured in God by the power of contemplation, sitting around that humble table. With which they were convinced that it was a divine fire, not a material one, miraculously kindled by God to manifest and signify the fire of divine love in which the souls of those holy brothers and of those holy nuns were burning. And they returned with a heart full of consolation and saintly edified.

When they came to themselves, after a long while, St. Francis and St. Clare, along with the others, well-invigorated with the spiritual nourishment, took little care for the bodily food. And, when they had finished the blessed refection, St. Clare returned well-accompanied to San Damiano."

(Little Flowers of St. Francis, Chapter XV: FF 1844)

In Communion with the Saints

Let us not forget that it is precisely the saints who make the Church go forward and grow

- Pope Francis, canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II

The saints, our heavenly friends, teach us to live in a continuous Easter dynamic, with our stigmas of body and soul, embracing the cross, which is made glorious in communion with Jesus Eucharist. They become our "accomplices" to help us understand the unfathomable mysteries of the Triune God in our lives and in the humanity's salvation history.

In communion with them we remain in Christ and bear fruit. Together we pray and intercede so that the Triune God pour forth His graces through Mother Mary upon us and the whole world.

Padre Pio

St. Maximilian Kolbe

St. John Paul II

St. Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein

Michael the Archangel

St. Therese of Lisieux

Blessed Mother Esperanza

Blessing of the Holy Father Francis

The Vatican Secretary of State sends its sincere greetings and, at the same time that it informs you that what is sent to the Supreme Pontiff regularly arrives at its destination, expresses in His name a cordial recognition for your thoughfulness, and conveys to you the Blessing, pledge of abundant heavenly graces.

sent Dec. 13, 1213