CL Life
Brazil

Like on the First Day
“Is there anyone who wouldn’t want to be loved this way?”, Fr. Julián Carrón asked the crowd of 50,000 Sem Terra members in a square in the heart of São Paulo. Those at this gathering heard the stories of Natalia, Camilo, and Ivone, of lives changed by a friendship that “has no explanation but God.”

by Isabella Alberto

“We have to help these young people make an educative journey.” Last February, when Fr. Julián Carrón participated in a public encounter in the sports center of Ibirapueira, in São Paulo, Brazil, where some young people from the Association of Trabalhadores Sem Terra were speaking of their experience, he turned to Cleuza and Marcos Zerbini with this challenge. They immediately took it up, and together with some friends, re-thought the way they had organized the meetings of the Association to date, deciding to begin all future gatherings with an assembly for questions, testimonies, the presentation of the new text of School of Community, and the proposal of a personal work. Now, they prepare a monthly booklet with Fr. Carrón’s guidance. It’s a new change in the journey, and most of the Association members follow it. In each gathering, there emerges the work of those who have begun to compare everything with the needs of the heart, to ask themselves questions about work, studies, and relationships. Some have also begun to desire to receive the sacraments: on July 9th, Cardinal Odilo Scherer of São Paulo celebrated the Baptism of nine young people and the First Communion and Confirmation of thirty-two members of the Association. “The first of many to come,” said Cleuza, looking at them.
Because of all the facts and relationships that were born of the challenge of that day in February, Fr. Carrón was invited to return to participate in one of these meetings, on September 13th. Three thousand young people gathered to speak about “correspondence,” and many spoke of their experiences in trying to respond to the question, “What experience of correspondence have you had this month?” A young man told how he felt loved by his father who, notwithstanding sickness, continues to battle and sacrifice for his family. An education student spoke of her relationship with an autistic child, who calms down listening to certain pieces of music and smiles at her. An unemployed young man recounted his desire to live his condition positively, to be active and useful. Many hands were raised, but there wasn’t time to listen to everyone. Then Natalia spoke. A Methodist evangelical finishing her university studies, she expressed her gratitude for having met the Association, because when she declared her religious affiliation, nobody considered her different. “I was welcomed, loved, and respected as I’ve never been anywhere else. I can never reciprocate all that’s been done for me, not only the help in the faculty, but all that I’ve learned here about God.” Carrón responded, “Natalia has had an experience. She came, put herself in relationship with some people of the Association, and saw that the way they treated her was coherent. She said, ‘I’ve never felt so welcomed and respected,’ so much so that she could say, ‘I understand that God is here.’ But what does God have to do with the people she’s met? Going to the Association, being welcomed and respected can only come from one origin, only from God. Just as the disciples encountered a Man, she encountered some people, and seeing how He looked at and treated people, the disciples said, ‘We’ve never seen anything of the kind.’ This is the Christian experience: you can’t explain it without turning to God. This is the correspondence, because the desire we have in our hearts is infinite and nothing is enough, nothing satisfies us. Christ came into the world so that we could encounter a man who made us say, ‘This, this corresponds to what I desire.’ This can be acknowledged only by those who use the heart.”

The soccer lottery. In the afternoon, at another public meeting, 50,000 people filled the enormous Vale do Anhangabaú Square in the center of São Paulo, under the beating sun. All eyes looked to a small stage that had been set up many other times in that same spot for party rallies or ideological discourses on social struggles. But what was happening now was the real revolution, the testimonies of lives changed through a real encounter. The gathering began with a huge choir singing Povera Voce. There were the Association members who had accepted Marcos and Cleuza’s invitation to see and hear this “dear friend who helps us to live life with seriousness.” Ivone, a coordinator of the Sem Terra, spoke first. After twenty years of struggle, she discovered the true meaning of her actions and understood a bit more God’s action in her life: “In 1979, I won the soccer lottery. I loaned the money and never was paid back. Now, after the encounter with Communion and Liberation, I understand that if that money had been returned, I would have bought a house of my own and this story would never have happened. It was because of my need that I followed the Association. So, in 1992, I succeeded in buying a house and now I’m here. Today, you see before you a person who is enthusiastic about belonging to this Movement. I feel welcomed every day and here I am very happy.”
 Camilo, from Aracaju, came to São Paulo expressly for this gathering. He told everyone about the explosion of life he experienced after the encounter with Fr. Giussani through reading Is It Possible to Live This Way?. He was already Catholic, but something so real happened to him that he immediately started looking for the CL community of Salvador and for people with whom he could share life. Next, Carrón greeted everyone in Portuguese: “I’m happy to meet with you on this beautiful day. A true friendship means sharing the journey toward the same destiny. I’m here as a travel companion.” In front of that people, Fr. Carrón affirmed anew the beauty of being Christian. “Christianity is easy, like it was on the first day. Just find someone who loves us this way, who respects us this way. This Christianity is for everyone. Do you know anyone who wouldn’t want to be loved this way? Who wouldn’t want to be respected this way? It’s for this that we’re Christians. We’re not stupid; we’re not dense. We’re people who use reason, and we distinguish very well between a person who treats us well and someone who’s playing with us. And we follow him, because we don’t want to lose him. We’re friends because we want to participate in this life. Twenty years ago, when I was a teacher, I used to tell my students, ‘It’s to your advantage to encounter Christ, that the beautiful things that happen to you–falling in love, for example–may not end, but may be filled with life; that the friends you encounter may be true, that life may always be more interesting.’ This is why Christ came, that we may have life, and have it abundantly.”

“I thought of my wife.” Many of those in the crowd who heard these words didn’t know about the Movement. They had come with friends or family, curious to see the Spanish priest of whom Marcos and Cleuza spoke so much. At the end of the encounter, a woman went up to Miram, one of the coordinators, to thank her. “It was very moving to meet Fr. Carrón. What he said was like nourishment for me.” Shortly before, Camilo had spoken: “I want to thank Fr. Giussani for making me love Christ in the concrete, as He manifests Himself in the faces of my friends, and Carrón, who helps me be a son of Giussani. When I hugged Carrón, I immediately thought of my wife, how I wished she were with me to hug him. He brought into my life a goodness that I wish my wife could experience too, because I love her so much.” This is living Christianity, which continues to attract the heart today just as it did two thousand years ago.