Conversion. From exclusion to conversion.
Conversion. From exclusion to conversion.
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The location
The location
The ghetto of Rome is considered the oldest in the Western world.
It was Pope Paul IV who ordered its construction in 1555 revoking all rights granted to Roman Jews and originally providing it with only two entrances to enter and exit.
Life for the Jews was very hard and was subject to a series of obligations and prohibitions: the obligation to reside within the ghetto and carry a distinctive sign of belonging to the Jewish community at all times, the prohibition on engaging in any kind of trade except rags and clothes, and the prohibition on owning real estate.
The Jews made a virtue of necessity by becoming, thanks also to these prohibitions, shrewd clothing merchants and skilled businessmen in the field of loans.
Over the years the ghetto has widened its territorial boundaries more and more until the “liberation” of 1849 when, following the proclamation of the Italian Republic, segregation was abolished. In 1870 the Jews were equated with Italian citizens and over the years the old streets and old buildings were demolished to make way for new constructions and the creation of three new streets: Via del Portico d’Ottavia, Via Catalana and Via del Tempio.
At dawn on 16 October 1943, the Nazis surrounded the neighborhood and captured over 1,000 Jews forcibly removing them from their homes. Two days later, the prisoners were loaded onto the wagons of a train to Auschwitz:of the 1,023 deportees, only 16 survived the extermination.
Traces of Christian life
Traces of Christian life
From the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9:1-2)
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
From the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Timothy (1Tm 1, 12-17).
12 I thank him who has given me strength for this, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful by appointing me to his service, 13 though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; 16 but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The right questions
The right questions
While the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles focus on the figure of Peter, already from chapter 9 the central character becomes Shaul/Paul. This centrality would later transfer into history: through the letters he wrote or attributed to him, he would leave a significant imprint on Christianity.
Although for nearly two millennia Paul was seen as an opponent of Judaism and a denigrator of the Torah, more recent acquisitions have profoundly changed the interpretation of his figure and role, showing how he was deeply connected to his roots.
His encounter with the Messiah Jesus on the road to Damascus – which he never calls a “conversion” – thus turns Shaul’s existence upside down and, from that moment on he feels, like an ancient prophet, the urgency of the mission to the gentiles, so that the salvation bestowed by God through his crucified Messiah reaches the ends of the earth.
Paul, as a true son of Abraham, believed that in Abraham all the families of the earth should be blessed. Paul is not a convert, he is a converter.
He wants to create a new people to add to, not replace Israel.
He also thought that non-Jews were not required to observe all Torah precepts.
He understood that the religious life of the followers of the Messiah Jesus from the gentiles could not be limited to the observance of certain precepts.
Living according to the spirit involves abandoning the works of the flesh, that is, sins, “clothing” with a new man in the Messiah-Jesus , having faith, hope and charity penetrate deeply into one's conscience, to be communicated concretely in service WITH others.
What works of the flesh would you like to abandon and fail to abandon?
What does it mean for you to “clothe” yourself with Jesus?
Faith, hope and charity: the first makes us believers, the second credible, the third believed. What are you?
What do you actually communicate in the service WITH others?
Dynamic
Dynamic
Write your first letter to Timothy: give thanks for converting your heart toward those you had excluded in your life.
Put the letter in the envelope, write the sender and addressee, paste the stamp and post at a post office.
Traces of Hope
Traces of Hope
In light of what has been read, experienced, reflected upon, shared... insert words here that summarize the experience.
AGESCI - Branca R/S
AGESCI - Branca R/S
A journey that knows how to make a pilgrimage to the Jubilee of Young people, from 28 July to 3 August 2025, with a rich program and an experience proposed by the Branca R/S for all young people and their communities of reference: Tracce di Speranza (Traces of Hope).
traccedisperanza.agesci.it available to all, born in the Jubilee Year!
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