LETTERS

LETTERS

School of Community
Dear Fr. Julián:
I am writing to you firstly to thank you from my heart. Yesterday, I went to the School of Community with the hope that something new would happen. I am 43 years old, and I can say that I am successful in my profession, I am married, and I am the happy father of two marvelous children, but in recent years it was as if I was lacking air, unable to live a conscious recognition of His presence, blaming the fact that the main concern seemed often to be the community as an organization, and this irritates me; it is like not being able to breathe. Yesterday, I finally recognized the Lord and came home full of His Presence. For the first time, after a long period, I did not come home empty, with a sense of loneliness, as would happen even after spending a very nice evening with friends, but without the novelty of His real Presence recognized. The School of Community brought me a revolutionary novelty when you said that the point in question is what Fr. Giussani stressed in the first page of the chapter on communion which, like everyone else, I think, I saw only as an introduction to the theme that I believed more important, which comes later: our companionship and our relationship with it.
I realized that, in the end, I had an idea of communion as a “social” problem, of relationship between us, at the most with a bit of moralism (concern for how the relationship among us can be constructive, good, right), without realizing that in this way we destroy the novelty of the Christ Event. Normally, without theorizing, our concern is firstly to measure ourselves as to how we attend the initiatives of the community, how available we are to take part (as if it were enough to be passively present in order to be a presence!), how good we are at organizing initiatives, or how good we are at accompanying each other. All these are right, but alone they don’t make us happy and, after a time, no longer interest us. When, yesterday evening, you spoke of communion as relationship with Christ, as something that we don’t bring about but that we are called to recognize, to be witnesses of what He makes happen amongst us, it was as if my eyes were opened. I was blind and I suddenly began to see. That crowd of people who came to the School of Community, many of them standing, and all rather pressed together, even tired, was not there, clearly, only because you were there, but because, even without realizing it, it was looking for Christ, and He, really present, was making the miracle of communion happen again in such an imposing way! That crowd was so full of expectation and I was at first sad, then curious after the first interventions, and then as if re-born at the recognition of His Presence that was happening in me as you showed Him to me with your words. For when you asked us to stop at the origin, to pay attention to how He brings us together “to make us enter into His life, which is the root of all things,” and you said that “communion is this life of His that He wants to communicate to us” and when one discovers it, His life fills all things and we begin to experience the full satisfaction of life, I started with wonder and joy. I then began to understand that I was wanted by an Other, that an Other wanted my “I” to recognize that, mysteriously, He has always wanted to give me a superabundance of life that is born from the relationship with Him and asks me only to recognize Him!  Then you said that we always take everything for granted  and so are not aware of Him who becomes present when we are together and we don’t recognize the presence of Him who wanted us here. It is as if, all of a sudden, my eyes were opened. I realized that an Other was making this fact happen: though unaware of it, we were all called there by Him, by the desire for Him which is in our hearts, and it was His presence making my heart glad while I heard you speaking of Him! I came home filled with joy because of this recognition and thought what a novelty has been introduced into my life: the Mystery who makes all things, He for whom, aware or not, I long for every day in the desires of life, who is my traveling companion, and wanted me to realize it, to recognize Him! It is really true that you become a witness to this novelty and it can be seen in your eyes. The following morning, I was waiting impatiently for my wife to wake up to tell her what you had said and of how I was moved for having become aware, listening to you, of that Presence that corresponds so much to my heart’s expectation, that responded to the question that I had come there with, but in an unexpected way, communicating Himself to my life. I didn’t bring home a speech to repeat or instructions for use, but the treasure of His recognition; and I said that every day could therefore become a novelty, every circumstance could be the occasion for becoming aware of Him, in all that we do.
I saw the wonder and the discreet joy that lit up my wife’s face and the novelty that was coming into our relationship in telling her this. The whole day was an event with this light in our eyes; I told many of our friends (at work and on the telephone) about Wednesday evening’s School of Community (I assure you that I have never, or hardly ever, heard friends talking about the previous day’s School of Community. At most, if someone was not there, he’ll ask you how it went, and you’ll answer, “Okay.” But we hardly ever communicate the newness.) I want also to tell you, lastly, how true I found what you said during the Exercises about the fact that it is not enough to be present passively in order to experience the novelty of His presence. With the help of a group of friends, I have tried to be faithful in the work on the School of Community, in reading what the Movement tells us on certain great occasions, in reading Traces, and in prayer. How far away from me was the dimension of prayer! I tried to take seriously what you said during the Exercises. You said, “In Jesus, familiarity and dialogue with Him who creates us in every instant becomes not only enlightening transparency, but historical companionship,” and, “We not only need prayer as a dimension, but also the act of prayer as necessary training in this awareness.” So I asked some friends to help me to be faithful to a gesture of prayer–so as to learn this recognition–and we have begun, on Saturday mornings, to take part in the recitation of the Rosary followed by the Mass in our Church, after taking the children to school and before beginning our work for the day. I am certain that this is contributing a lot to make us aware of our dependence on the Mystery and to enable us to recognize Him. I am grateful for what you are helping us see and for the irreplaceable help you are in the journey of life. A warm greeting to you also from my whole family.
Antonio

In the Morning
Dear Julián: Thank you for what has happened and for what we have lived together and for the love you have for us. For me, this is a new, unexpected life! Early this morning, when I woke up, I looked at my wife and my children, asleep in bed, and it came to my mind spontaneously: “He is here, too!” And so, gladly, I went off to work thinking of you all (one after another, by name), thankful to Jesus for this grace, for what is happening, and longing to live today’s reality as He would like, but certain that I will not go backward from here! As I reached the office, I said, “Jesus, I want to miss You today, too!”
Dario

Reasonable
and Tender
A few evenings ago, our friend Nancym came over for dinner and told us of her splendid decision to convert to Catholicism. As she told us of her decision, I was touched as I recalled the journey we have made together over these two years, a journey marked by the relationship with Fr. Giussani by means of the School of Community and our companionship. As she was speaking, she kept on referring to the reasonability and tenderness that the School of Community has introduced in the way she looks at herself and at reality. She spoke of the Angelus, of how this prayer describes all that she has always looked for and of how it was communicated by means of the Angel. This miracle is a great sign for my life, a sign of the fact that I am her friend and companion because I obey and say “yes” to the vocation that God has aroused through this history. How many times have I thought about “new” forms for introducing the Movement! It is the choice of and love for what is there, and for how it is there, that corresponds to the creative force, to the desire for fulfillment that my life is. So, as the Lord is showing me in this miracle, it is not a form that I think up, but love for the road that He has drawn out, which is the fullness of my life.
Guido, Los Angeles

Guest of Honor
Had my religion teacher not proposed that the class take part in Ms. Morra’s meetings and, sure of the fact that we were given credits just by being present, had we not gone, and if, at the end of the course, we had not held a dinner, the teacher would never have had the chance to invite me to the CL summer camp. Why did I accept? Because of the place, certainly–it was a lovely place, for a low price–and because of my curiosity. These aspects influenced me, but there was something that was not included in the invitation, a feeling that drove me to pack my bags and go, without knowing anyone. I felt that something was missing in my life; I felt alone because I had been painfully wounded by a bad experience. When you go out with “friends” in the evening, you dance and go too far, and at first you enjoy it, you feel you are really living; you feel that nothing can stop you. Then the evenings get repetitive, and you want something more; you want more from those people, from those evenings. Suddenly, you realize that you are with strangers, in a pub with a glass of beer in front of you and the latest boy beside you who wants you only to add another trophy to his collection, and you ask yourself: “What am I doing here?” I felt lonely. In order to console myself, I tried to be strong, cold as ice, impermeable. It is scary to feel fragile, and suddenly I felt myself an orphan, independent. This need, this desire to no longer feel like this, made me suffer. That week, my life changed. It would take more than a day to tell of all the people I got to know, who came to meet me. It was moving because I no longer believed in anything, particularly relationships. And, instead, there I was not alone for a moment, so much so that I asked myself, “How do they do it? Where does all this happiness come from, this way of being together?” I felt like the guest of honor at a party; I felt as if those kids loved me, even though they knew nothing of my life. At times I ask myself, “Why me?” Me, who was always ready to doubt everything, who had closed the shutters. This is the encounter. It is to hear a person you have only recently met tell you that he prays so as to be able to love you, so that the affection may not come from him but directly from Love itself. It is feeling alone and having at hand an address book with more than a hundred numbers; it is being in Bologna during summer vacation and having someone always calling you. For me, the encounter is to come across a living reality, led by “that apparent chance.” How can I be so sure that it is true and not another of my mistakes? Because to those people I cannot lie; because all my insecurity, fears, and fragility find comfort in that friendly look; because only what is truly important reminds me always of what I am, of my life, of what I feel.
Rachele, Bologna

Need for the Other
Dear Fr. Carrón: Two months ago, I moved to Lima, Peru, to begin a new job on an AVSI project. I got here one week after the terrible earthquake that struck the city south of Lima. With Daniele and Ricardo, we decided to visit the area of the earthquake and we immediately wanted write a project to help those affected. I live every day alongside people who have lost everything and I often ask myself what I can do concretely for them. I say this because the Movement has taught me to look at the other person with a look that penetrates everything and aims only at his desire for happiness. The first thing that came to mind was my experience of CLU in Turin, helping with the after-school tutoring sessions at the Sisters’ place. Now, looking at these people, I see that through their request for help the demand for happiness in my own life emerges once again. The other person’s need becomes my own. I want to tell you of an experience I had two weeks ago when a friend of ours, Fr. Michele, came to Grocio Prado with 25 volunteers to help remove rubble and finish off demolishing wrecked houses. He celebrated Mass in the quarter where we are working and I stopped a moment, watching the Mass, and asked myself what we were doing. The Mass could appear to a passerby to be the gesture most out of proportion with a place like that. Instead, as I went to receive the Eucharist, I sensed the greatness of that gesture, because God reaches us everywhere, but above all we have to be disposed to receive Him; we have to leave our doors open to Christ. This does not rebuild houses nor make bread rain down from heaven, but is much more: it is realizing that the whole of reality is filled with the greatness of Christ. In order to sense this, we need someone to reawaken us from distraction. For this reason, never as in this moment have I felt it fundamental to judge my work with the friends of the School of Community.
Simone, Lima

Friendship
with Jesus
In 2001, for the first time, I heard my friend Dima speaking of CL, and it interested me. He invited me to School of Community, but I never decided to take part. I don’t know why, but I was afraid. In 2003, I began to attend the School of Community, and that same year I received Baptism. For me, all this was a great adventure, an encounter that has gone on up to now. I was struck to the heart, at the center of my “I.” Now, I understand that I will never leave this friendship that is called Jesus. When they proposed that I join the Fraternity, I didn’t understand why I should need to. After all, I was already in the community. I began to talk about it with my friends, and the more we spoke of the Fraternity, the more I began to understand that this is my only big family. I grew up in an orphanage and I have always been afraid to let people get too close to me. From my childhood, I felt that I was of no use to anyone, not even to God. My parents died when I was two years old. Five times, people tried to adopt me, but every time they drew back. Getting used to people who then abandon you is very painful, so the last time some prospective parents wanted to adopt me, I was the one who refused. I grew up looking for authority, respect, and so on, in myself, and yet I believed myself to be of no use and not loved. But this friendship of ours has overthrown all my analyses of the life I had lived. Life with Jesus has now become reality for me, and I am slowly coming to trust in people.
Galia, Kazakhstan

Like the Apostles
Julián: Thank you for not easing off, for not taking even one step back, and carrying straight on, forcing all of us to deal with what you’re looking at! This is really another world! It’s not the same measure as before, but a bit bigger. It’s really another thing! In this period, I often think of the Apostles and the experience they had. It may seem presumptuous to say so, but we’re going through the same experience. Surely they, too, were fragile; they were poor fellows like us, but always clung to Him, were glued to Him. For them, He was objectively truer than everything they thought. He was another measure compared to what they had in mind, infinitely correspondent to their heart. Their way of clinging to Him, with these eyes wide open, is
what over time brought them to experience Him fully. This is what is
incredibly beginning to happen to many of us. The same experience as theirs. We have to thank you above all because you’re showing us the road, because you’re giving us the method for journeying on the road. I
understand now what you often tell us about Fr. Giussani: “I always thanked him because he gave me the method for traveling the road.”
Ugo

THE CHRISTMAS POSTER
Adhering to what
has happened
by Giuseppe Frangi
The work chosen this year for the CL Christmas Poster is one of the most celebrated works of Gregorio Fernández, a Spanish sculptor of Galician origin, who lived at the turn of the 17th century. The Nativity is part of a large altar, sculpted for the Church of San Miguel Arcángel in Vitoria, in Basque country. Fernandez realized the work in the peak of his maturity, between 1624 and 1632 (he died in 1636). Fernández is part of the great school that developed in Spain in the wake of the experience of Alonso Berreguete, a sculptor who, after some time in Italy where he came into contact with Michelangelo, exported a new style to Spain, marked by a realism that was able to absorb the exuberance of the Baroque. Fernández’s sculpture parallels the great Italian epics of the “Sacred Mountains” (which were being constructed at the same time). It is a style born in strict relationship with the Catholic Church’s effort to respond to Protestant propaganda, so it answered both devotional and catechetical needs. It recounts the Gospel story faithfully , but at the same time suggests an identification with the one observing. The emotive impact of the Baroque is accompanied by a touching desire to adhere as closely as possible to the events that happened. At times, Fernández resorts to other materials in order to reinforce this dimension of verisimilitude; for example, in other sculptures he uses ivory for the teeth and stones for the eyes. With a similar intuition, the sculptors of the Sacred Mountains clothed their statues with real cloth, and used horse hair for their heads. The result is this humble tenderness that strikes everyone. The Spanish sculptor wants to abolish the distance between the Fact that happened and day-to-day life with  a simple, heartfelt lyricism to which no one can feel foreign, and which emerges often in the genuineness of the secondary figures, like the beautiful shepherd leaning over the manger showing the gift of the lamb he has brought.