Reading Benedict XVI and Conversion
Dearest Father Carrón: A few months back, I became friends with a girl who I had known for a number of years, but with whom I never had the chance to have a deeper relationship.
Shortly after meeting her, she told me that she was to be baptized on the Easter Vigil and she asked me to be her godmother. Her story is incredible. Her family, of enlightened-agnostic persuasion, did not raise her a Christian. Nonetheless, through the study of Italian literature and art history, and reading the texts of Benedict XVI on the relationship between faith and reason, she requested admission into the Church. The day after the Epiphany, she became a catechumen, and on that occasion, while introducing herself to the assembly, she said that she recognizes the Christian identity of Europe and that she believes that only affirming this identity makes a true dialogue between cultures possible. On one hand, I was awestruck in realizing how the Pope’s invitation to widen our reason–when taken seriously–can change a person’s life. On the other hand, I’m thankful to Father Giussani for helping me recognize the reasonableness of our faith.
Caterina, Pavia

A Winning Gaze
Dearest Fr. Carrón: Some time ago, my daughter in law, a pediatric neuro-psychiatrist working at a hospital facility near Milan, quit her job to work at another facility. Many of her patients were children coming from families burdened by heavy problems and afflictions. I was moved, listening to her describe the last day before leaving, because she had to tell a Muslim mother, whom she used to take care of along with her child, that their meetings would come to an end. They found themselves in each other’s arms, crying, because a relationship of esteem and affection was born between them.
A Christian woman and a Muslim woman were able to care for each other, beyond any ideological barrier, because only the gaze of a friend who welcomes you and loves you can conquer everything.
Gabriella, Milan

The “Holy Land”
Dear Father Carrón: The encounter with a friend, totally unexpected and far from my usual interests, led me for the first time to go and work with my husband and eight friends at the Holy Family Hospital in Nazareth. The vast majority of us were retirees–but still with plenty of commitments–with the experience of building the Rimini Meeting behind us, starting in1980. So, in November 2004, we embarked on our first “adventure.” Two years went by and we have gone back to the Holy Land four times. Besides Nazareth, we worked in Jerusalem, Capernaum, and Magdala for the Franciscans, and in Bethany with Samar. We found ourselves doing the most unthinkable jobs and on weekends we would go and visit the Holy Places. What recollection and what emotion: to be able to be in the cave of the Annunciation, or the Sepulcher, or Calvary, peacefully and in silence, and to go back there every day for Mass or to say the Angelus! What stays with me after each trip is a reinvigorated love for Jesus and for the Church, a deep affection for the Holy Land, and a great thankfulness and esteem for those who, through the centuries, faithfully took care of those places for me, too.
Each time it’s a new gift, a new grace, and a privilege that gives me goose bumps. At times I have asked myself if it was really necessary to go all the way down there to love my “roots” more, and to live the memory of Christ and make it more alive and real. The answer I gave myself is that each one of us, wherever he is, has within him his Holy Land. It is God’s inerasable footprint on our hearts, and if you recognize it, everything can become and is “holy land”–your home, your family, even everyday chores. But it is also true that if circumstances give us the possibility to be moved in front of the Sepulcher of Christ, or to put our hand in that hole on Calvary and touch the rock where the Cross stood, or look at the sunset standing in St. Peter’s house in Galilee... well, blessed be those circumstances!
Going back to Rimini wasn’t jarring. There is a continuity in the life of my community, in the friendship and the closer companionship with some people, and in working for the Meeting. On top of all this, I am now accompanied by the “moved” gaze that I learned when I was there; every day I ask the Lord to help me not to lose this gaze.
Tiziana, Rimini

Come and See
Dear Father Carrón: Last year, coming back from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, I received an invitation: “Come and see.” That’s how I met the Movement.
Now I can say that the encounter with those new friends was Mary’s gift, answering my prayers. Without these friends, I wouldn’t have been able to face the reality that I was and am living with a sympathetic attitude. After years of violence and abuse, I am living alone with my child, but thanks to this pain, to this husband who keeps tormenting us, I had the chance to truly meet Christ. Now, still living my painful circumstance, I can affirm that my marriage has been a grace. I can look back and not see a failed marriage: I gave my promise in front of God and I can keep it anyway. Nowadays, we forget all too often that what we really need is Christ, and maybe this is the reason why so many families are torn apart. If we don’t see Christ in our companion, for better or for worse, staying together will become increasingly difficult. Sooner or later we’ll come up against insurmountable flaws, and he or she will never be good enough or beautiful enough, because that’s not what our heart needs. My heartfelt thanks goes to all the friends who support us with prayers and invitations, and most of all to the small Fraternity group that I recently joined, but that I feel like I’ve known forever. For me and for my child they are family–it is true that God gives a family to those who do not have one! That’s what happened to us.
Name withheld

The Awaited Gift
After the great grace of the Retreat in Rimini, the three of us looked at each other and it became clear that we couldn’t stand still. It was obvious that we had to communicate to our classmates what we had experienced. At a certain point, toward the end of Saturday’s lesson, Father Carrón said that the Presence is so real that it blooms in the circumstances and that, with all our limitations and struggles, what wins is a goodness and a new beginning: the Resurrection embraces everything. Right now, I’m really struggling; I study a lot and I am tired. But it is true that you just need a moment, a glimpse, and you realize that indeed a Presence blooms within the circumstances. In fact, this morning we decided to give the Christmas poster to fifteen of our classmates. We carefully picked our targets, meaning that we chose the people who we already had the chance of getting to know better, for example those we invited last year to a talk or to the presentation of The Risk of Education. What struck me most was that they were all really surprised. The common reaction was: “Are you really sure you want to give this to me? To me, really? Great!” They were full of wonder at our attention to them. One of them kept thanking us. I was surprised because they all said that they would hang it up–some of them in their bedrooms, some beside the crèche, others in the kitchen... The greatest thing happened when I gave it to an “über-Italian” classmate of mine, who was born a Catholic but, strangely enough, is now an Islam convert. He is the best in the class–a straight-A student! Right before I gave him the poster, he was talking to a friend, saying that he would not celebrate Christmas. I gave it to him anyway and I told him that in choosing who to give this to, his face came to my mind first. He could accept it or toss it but, nonetheless, Jesus is born, and that’s a fact. Not only did he take it, but he also told me that for sure it would be the best gift he would receive. He really meant it!
But the best was yet to come. As I do every year, I gave the poster to Rino, along with my Christmas wishes. He told me, very seriously, “You know, this is a moment I look forward to every year! It moves me to think that-for a long time now-every year you think of me, that you care for me so much, but most of all that you pray for me even though I’m a sinner and I’m worthless.” Then, getting a little choked up, he gave me a big hug. It’s true that the Resurrection embraces everything; it’s still a self-evident fact even though at times I struggle and I am full of limitations. Next week, I have an appointment with two of my professors to give them Traces and the poster…
Laura

Back from San Diego
Dear Fr. Carrón: Your words from San Diego are ringing true my first day back since the Diaconia! You made my life as a Christian sound so simple: to say “yes” to an invitation. When my fellow coworkers (teachers) asked why I went away this weekend, I saw this as my invitation. Instead of being generic, as I usually am, I really risked myself (even telling them about how I met Giussani in Italy)! A secretary now has two copies of Traces that she received with a gracious heart–clearly searching for truth in her life. At the copy machine, another coworker shared her struggle with being a disciplinarian with an agenda vs. being concerned with her students’ lives. Her dilemma mirrors Katie’s from California! Again, instead of just nodding my head, I gave her a copy of my notes from San Diego. I got very excited in doing this and remember you saying that others will be attracted to the change in me. I can say with certainty that this is true, from my experience today.
Erica, Indianapolis, IN

A Useful Place
Dear Fr. Julián: I am a seminarian from the diocese of Wagga Wagga, in New South Wales, Australia. I have been staying in Sydney for the past couple of months, for a course in hospital chaplaincy. I wanted to tell you how useful it has been for me to be able to do School of Community with the small group we have here in Sydney. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a very spectacular enterprise, just five or six people getting together now and again, but it has given me an understanding of why I feel a sense of belonging in this company. We may not be able to answer all the questions that our lives pose to us but we know that we are together with people who are asking the same questions and doing the same searching. There is something very beautiful in coming together to do this. I wanted to make a solid commitment to this experience, so I asked to join the Fraternity. The day after the letter of acceptance came, I read the article “Faith and Nihilism,” in which you quote Calvino who urges us “to recognize who and what, in the midst of hell, is not hell, and make it last, and give it room.” I have found the people who are not hell, and I want to stay with them.
James, Australia

A Real Encounter
We publish here a letter sent to Fr. Mahon from one of his parishioners after having attended the School of Community with some other new members
Dear Father Jerry: Thank you for inviting us to the CL gathering last night. I have thousands of questions and am not sure if I am mature enough to understand, but the one thing that I know for sure is that all of the friends you have introduced us to have that certain something that is very attractive to my heart. It is something that I like to stay around and am very intrigued by. It is something that I wish for my kids to see in both Rory and I and as well as to have for themselves. What “it” is I don’t know–it reminds me a lot of the way the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity move about their house. It is a focused movement with huge gentleness and accuracy. It all comes from the unshaken peace within that they have which I always watch when I am with them–and I have seen that same kind of movement in your friends. What it is that I want is to rest in that peace throughout my day and also have it in my eyes as I look at my children and my husband and whoever else I meet. At this point in my relationship with God, I have asked for His criticism so that I may be able to listen to Him and not wander too far off. I recognize that your friends, real people, seem to be looking for what I am searching for. This grace that I see in them can only be from Christ, the One that Rory and I want to follow. We want to stay with you guys because it is so evident that you have found what we are looking for, too!
Anna Maria, Rochester, MN

A “Positive
Contamination”
Dear Father Julián: I work at a bank. I could define the bank environment as slightly “aseptic,” meaning that nobody reacts to anything that happens, or to any opinion one can express. Nobody takes a stand on anything; we always agree with everything and everybody, following the mainstream. I’ve been working there for seven years now, and because of this widespread blasé attitude, I’ve always felt uneasy and a bit discouraged about inviting people to events or meetings. But this year, after proposing the Food Bank initiative, two of my colleagues covered a shift there with me, while the others went grocery shopping. A few days later, after telling them how the Food Bank started, we found ourselves with the need and the desire to “do something” together. So I e-mailed everybody, suggesting a long-distance adoption through AVSI. They all responded positively and enthusiastically, and so, even in that infamous aseptic environment, a “positive contamination” happened.
Andrea, Fagnano Olona

A Chance Encounter
The familiar sound of the doorbell in the last hour of the day, right before closing time… and at the door, an unusual scene: a man laying on the ground. He is drunk, and he is stretching out his hand to get up. From the cars at the traffic light, people watch the show, unconcerned. If that man who I am struggling to pick up let’s call him Alberto had come to my door on his feet, I would have gotten rid of him in a flash. Instead, he grabbed my hand, and it looks like tonight he wants to drag my life, too, down his vortex of solitude and desperation. This was my only day off in the week before Christmas! I had already made plans, but now, who knows if I’ll manage to get to dinner? I drag Alberto into the office and he starts to talk, incoherently. He mumbles names and details. Little by little, he depicts a scenario of loneliness and violence. His story could be mine. The thought of judging him doesn’t enter my mind, not even for a minute. I am that man. Without the encounter with Jesus and with His friends, I would be just like this man. How can I solve his problem? I try to call a cell phone number that Alberto gets from inside his empty, worn wallet. His wife picks up. She sounds distant, even hostile, after the umpteenth beating. I’m flooded with loneliness and impotence–there is nothing I can do for this man! I am able to move only as I recall the face of Alessandro, a friend in my Fraternity. I call and ask him to come. Alberto insists he wants to take a shower and change. He doesn’t ask for work, money, or shelter; he asks for a shower to regain his strength. Alessandro arrives and I can breathe again. Together we witness the spectacle of a rudderless humanity. We look at each other, trying to tip-toe into Alberto’s story, which is dramatic yet sacred, because it is a sign of the Mystery. In the attempt to respond to his need, no stone is left unturned. Even the police show up, but we immediately send them away, because their answer is inadequate for this man. They could take the problem off my hands for now, but they would leave me with the cry of this man, wounded by life. So we start from his simple request for a shower, and Alessandro goes home to pick up a few clothes for him. Lorenzo and Marta, his children, help with searching the closets, and ask questions about the guy that daddy met. Silvia, Alessandro’s wife, entrusts little Marco to her aunt, so as to be able to work better. Roberto, a friend from School of Community, joins them and suggests that Alberto spend the night at the parish house. Alberto goes into the bathroom, emerging a new man after twenty minutes. It is as if the water went all the way to his soul. The first words out of his mouth are: “I’ve never been welcomed this way. I don’t care about dinner, or where I’ll end up spending the night, because I have already received a lot, and it’s enough for me.” He gets dressed and leaves happy, with something for dinner in a bag. It was already 10 pm when he leaves. Now I can go back to my dinner and my night off. How different is this night though! I carry in my heart the peace of an encounter that has given me back to myself. I decide to watch a movie about Fatima, to keep staring at the face the Mystery that has visited me.
Father Lino, Sottomarina