That Surge of Life

Father Giussani’s message for the Mass in the Cathedral of St. Petronius, Bologna, on the first anniversary of the death of our dear friend Enzo, a great surgeon and one of the leaders of the Movement

di luigi giussani

When my dear mother, looking at the last morning star in the sky, told me, as a child, “How beautiful the world is and how great God is,” she was on the threshold of the final fulfillment, at that last door, the one at which everything becomes as clear as the full dawn. Just one year ago, Enzo crossed that threshold for good, mysteriously. Unexpectedly, but not unprepared. For every instant of his life, pure and entrusted to Christ as it was–after the encounter that had transformed even some traits of his temperament, while it had exalted others–had been spent in the anticipation of the final fulfillment, as a walk in the fog through trials and weaknesses, to the point where the fog turns golden in the light of the emerging sun. Friends, we cannot say or do anything unless we accustom ourselves, personally and all together, to understanding this last step, which is a factor of the present experience. We should thank our friend Enzo for this, too.
His human stature, filled with the humanity of Jesus, had spread out, communicating itself to whomever he met, with that surge of life that characterized him and that we could not have done without. Indeed, when he was not there something was missing from our meeting together–just as for whoever met him even for only a moment (whether a colleague or a patient) there was an immediate perception of a human presence that was exceptional, and that gave hope and so aroused the question as to how he could be like that. Cardinal Biffi was moved to tears as he remembered him during the funeral, “friend of the restful and peaceful days and of the richly productive and busy days, which were animated and consoled by the same ideal of operative witness to Christ,” exalting Enzo’s “wealth of extraordinary humanity, of spiritual witness, of unreserved self gift, of plans and lofty endeavors.”
Let’s ask Enzo to help us to walk from light to light, as also the great T.S. Eliot said, accepting everything for the glory of Jesus, so that we may be as he was, companions in destiny for each other. Because this was the secret of his fatherhood, which is so clearly witnessed by his family.
This great friend of ours reminds us that nothing of what exists is made for destruction because Jesus is present, He, the ultimate substance of all things. For in Him all things exist, St. Paul says.
Let us entreat Our Lady of the Rosary for the miracle of identifying ourselves with the impetuous and tender humanity of him who is our friend for ever, so that the Church may live in our fragile bodies, by virtue of Him who is our joy.
May 26, 2000