Your Eminence: I am deeply grateful to you for this fraternal gesture, which you wished to live with us in memory of Fr. Giussani, our father in a life of reasonable faith and on the 25th anniversary of the pontifical recognition of the Fraternity.
I want to thank you for the words of affection with which you spoke to us of Fr. Giussani, and for the esteem for our history that was born from him. So, in the name of all the friends of Communion and Liberation, I say, “Thanks; wholehearted thanks.”
This evening, we renew our availability and commitment to collaborate with your pastoral mission in the Diocese of Milan in response to your invitation. Feel us ready to welcome the words of Christ: “You will have the strength of the Holy Spirit and you will be my witnesses,” offering our contribution to the building of the Christian community amongst the youth and adults, according to the “educative genius” proper to our charism and to Fr. Giussani’s method, within the great riverbed of the great Ambrosian tradition.
We are sustained by the Magisterium of the Holy Father, secure point of reference for our faith, who in this time of confusion continues to look with sympathy and tenderness at the human heart, offering the Christ event as “the” road that makes life beautiful and useful.
We ask you to pray to Our Lady that we may be ready for the great encounter with Benedict XVI on March 24th, for the anniversary of our Fraternity. From the Holy Father, we await the indication of the road that is waiting for us so as to serve the presence of the Church with that intensity of life that we have learned from Fr. Giussani’s Catholic heart and which he defined at the beginning of our history with these words: “Untiring openness; most faithful unity...” Thank you, Your Eminence.