FR. GIUSSANI
THE ANNIVERSARY

“He Was in Awe
in Front of What
the Lord Does”
From Milan to the U.S. military base in Baghdad; from Chicago to Hiroshima: the fourth anniversary of the death of the founder of Communion and Liberation was acknowledged all over the world in more than three hundred Masses, celebrated with a common gratitude.

by Lucio Brunelli

Since the beginning of February, Masses have been celebrated all over the world on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of Father Giussani’s death. Big and small communities alike (some of which are brand new) thanked God for the gift of this person. It is moving to think that many had never met, known, or even saw him up close, yet they all recognize his fatherhood, accompanying them throughout their lives. A Mass was celebrated even in Baghdad, at the American military base in Camp Liberty. Different languages, cultures, and continents... Somebody prayed for Father Giussani even in Arabic. Two Masses were celebrated in Amman, Jordan: one by Father Imad Twal in the Church of the Virgin; the other in the Chapel of the Latin Patriarchate by Bishop. Salim el Sayegh, one of the bishops involved in the preparation of the pilgrimage of Benedict XVI to the Holy Land. Certainly there, more than everywhere else, the intention chosen this year for all the celebrations was read with dramatic awareness: “We relentlessly ask God for the gift of a true and enduring peace in the Middle East, being aware that the first change in the world–as Father Giussani always pointed out–is the one of our own heart.”

Church and Charism. It would be impossible to mention all the locations of the celebrations. From Moscow to Hiroshima; from Lima to Chicago; from London to Campeche to Johannesburg… The list is quite long. At least eight Cardinals joined the prayers of Father Giussani’s disciples and friends:  Jean-Claude Turcotte in Montreal, Canada;  Estanislao Esteban Karlic in Santa Fe, Argentina; John Njue in Nairobi, Kenya;  Christoph Schönborn in Vienna, Austria;  Antonio María Rouco Varela in Madrid and Luis Martínez Sistach in Barcelona, Spain. And in Italy the Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the CEI (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, the Italian Episcopal Conference), in the Church of Santa Marta in Genoa, and by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi in the Duomo of Milan. The most attended celebration was obviously the Ambrosian Rite Mass, under the gaze of the Madonnina on the pinnacle of the Duomo. Cardinal Tettamanzi, the Archbishop who kneeled in front of Father Giussani and who celebrated his funeral in the Duomo together with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, spoke like a father. He said, “I was happily struck in reading what Father Carrón wrote after his participation in the Bishops’ Synod, regarding the three phases of your history, particularly when he indicated the new stage of your journey: the charism for the Church and for the world.” The Cardinal paternally warned all Christians of the risk that “truth, religion, and even life’s values can become idols, when they claim to manipulate God’s and man’s mystery to make them yield to their will.”

The attractiveness of Jesus. The list of the Italian celebrations is very long, involving dozens of bishops, some of whom have always been close to the Movement, as well as some belonging to other ecclesial experiences. In Palestrina, east of Rome, Mass was celebrated by Bishop Domenico Sigalini, ecclesial assistant to Catholic Action, and in Narni and Frosinone the celebrants were two bishops linked to the Sant’ Egidio movement, respectively Bishop Vincenzo Paglia and Bishop Ambrogio Spreafico. Each according to their own personal knowledge and sensibility, they all paid homage to Father Giussani’s faith, to his gift in communicating “the attractiveness of Jesus,” and his capacity to convey not concepts but wonder. During the Mass he celebrated in Catania, Archbishop Salvatore Gristina wonderfully summarized Father Giussani’s life and vocation: “He was in awe in front of what the Lord does. He spread his awe, and educated people to it.”