The Good News

The encounter during a vacation, the beginning of an unimaginable, but real story, including her relationship with her Muslim mother. “There is a concrete, carnal road, the only one for being happy”

Ciao, dearest Fr Giussani: My name is Bota, I am 21 years old, and I live in Karaganda in Kazakhstan. A few months ago, I finished my university studies and began working as a journalist on a Karagandan newspaper. I was born in the most dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhood in our city. The young people who live around me think that the strongest person is the one most worthy of respect. I too used to think this way. Among our young people, human dignity had no value. There was a literary club at my school, and a teacher, Liubov Sergheevna, invited me to join it. The Pilgrims Club, as it was called, was a place where we had meetings with cultural figures. Here, a more familiar relationship grew up with my teacher Liubov. I was struck by her humanity in her dealings with us students, a humanity that I had never seen before. For this reason, the club became the best place in the school, and my teacher the dearest person. Once, five years ago, we invited Fr Edoardo to the club. Now I understand even more that Jesus came into my life through a normal day five years ago, when I did not expect it. The dialogue with Edoardo resembled a war, because I was full of prejudice about the Catholic Church. I thought that religion was a tool for manipulating the heads of young people. But Edoardo was very open and gave unexpected answers to all my questions. At the end of the meeting, he invited all the kids to the summer vacation. And so, 14 young people, with Liubov, participated in this gesture for the first time. During the vacation we met Fr Adelio, Fr Eugenio, Fr Massimo and other friends. I was struck by one thing there. My very dear friend Asiet, with whom I studied for three years at school, sharing the same desk, told about his life and his search for truth. I was sure I knew Asiet very well, but what I heard made me realize that I did not really know him. For me, this was a great discovery: the profundity of the person who was next to me. And Asiet’s profundity began to manifest itself only within this companionship. After this fact, I started to follow this friendship. I say “this” because it had not yet become “mine.” For four years, I did not understand anything of what my friends were saying at School of Community. I was not faithful, and I sought other things. Now I cannot tell about what I did at the university without feeling shame and pain. The only link between me and the companionship was my teacher Liubov. Last year, I decided not to go on the vacation, because I had not seen anything new or any value for my life. But then Liubov phoned me and talked to me for half an hour very sternly about the meaning of what we had encountered through the companionship. I went, and only last year did I really encounter the Movement and your charism, dear Giussani. Looking at my experience, I understand what it means that time and space are needed in order for freedom to open up and develop. It took five years for my freedom to accept the Presence, which is inside the friendship with Liubov, Maxim, Asiet, Anna, Ramzia, Dima, Claudio, and the older friends. There is a concrete, carnal road, the only road for being happy. Now I am happy because I know where my happiness is. After the Pope’s visit, the vacations for workers, the Meeting in Rimini, the La Thuile gathering, and above all, after taking my daily life here in Karaganda more seriously, on September 4th I asked Fr Adelio to be baptized. For me, this means my personal “Yes” to the Mystery, who exists and changes the world now, changes the life of my friends. This, my “Yes,” is the response of a weak and frail person to One who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” When Adelio asked me if I wanted to receive Baptism secretly, I said, “No.” But first I wanted to talk with my mother, because I wanted to tell her everything. My tradition is Muslim, but my parents never went to the mosque. One evening, after dinner, my mother and I were the only ones left in the kitchen. She started washing the dishes. After a moment of silence, I told her about this step I wanted to take, saying, “This companionship of friends has given me hope. Mother. I don’t know what it means to be Muslim, but I have encountered a true friendship and I don’t want to leave it ever again. Now I am sure that this companionship has become mine, that is, for every aspect of my life. I don’t know what would become of me if I had not encountered these friends. I want to go more deeply into it, and this is why I want to ask Fr Adelio for the gift of Baptism.” This is what I said to my mother. I was expecting a storm, a dreadful scandal, but as always He is organized in everything. Very simply, my mother said to me, “You know, Bota, that you are responsible for your life. I am Muslim, and I will never change my religion. But you do what you think is best for you, because whatever is your true good is good for me too.” The joy with which I now live in my family gives me the courage and the chance for a new beginning in my relationship with my parents, and this relationship is becoming more familiar. I want to thank you for everything, because your great history has become mine.
With a great hug,
Botagoz