Anawim Community
‘O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand’. (Isaiah 64:8)
The Anawin Community is made up of lay consecrated Catholics. The community was started in 1987 and established in the Diocese of Gozo as a Public Lay Association on Thursday the 28th of November 2013 in accordance with Canon Law and according to our constitution. We took our name from a Hebrew word found in Sacred Scripture meaning ‘the little ones’. This word is used for any type of poverty: the weak, the neglected, those who own nothing and therefore mean nothing for the others. They all depend entirely on God.
Our Spirituality
Inspired by the Word of God and the example of Jesus who is poor and humble always ready to do his Father’s will, we try to experience this sense of fidelity in the service of the poor and those who are abandoned. This becomes the aim of our apostolate.
“ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. ” Luke 4:18-19
The Lay Consecration ‘Living in the world but not of the world’
‘Lately, the Holy Spirit endowed the Church with a valuable gift; He has been calling lay Christians to live an ordinary life in the world, as they consecrate their lives in order to serve as light and sustainment to others in the temporal realities such as the family, education, culture, the place of work and even politics’.
Our Mission
We work and provide services in favour of life and share our life with those who number themselves among the poor of our age. We help particularly:
- The unmarried mother;
- Those who wish to have a child;
- Those families who are expecting a baby;
- Those who are going though a hard time during pregnancy.
Besides this:
- We work so that the life of the human being is protected and given the dignity it deserves;
- We support widows;
- We help in the formation of youth.
For Whom is the Calling?
For youth, men and women, and for widows who feel they want to give their life to God in an act of consecration while they remain living their normal lives.
The Anawim Family
Consists in lay people who:
- Live the Anawim spiritualy in a committed way;
- Help in the apostolate of the community;
- And they themselves become a source for new apostolate.
These can be families or other persons who live by themselves.
Other Groups
In order to spread the spirituality and apostolate of the Anawim, the Community may establish or animate new groups, among them a group of lay people called Anawim Family. The members of these groups are encouraged to participate in the apostolate of the Community.