CL

Together for an Experience of Freedom

Lebanon: the presence of AVSI, waiting for the Retreat, and the way of living the CL vacation together are the concrete signs in Lebanon of a reality that surprises anew. Notes and testimonials from an ongoing history

by Ambrogio Pisoni
With our friend Giuseppe Parma, we are in Lebanon for the Fraternity Retreat. Awaiting our arrival were Emilio, AVSI Responsible for the Middle East, in Beirut for three years now with his family, and Matteo and Maria, newlyweds and AVSI employees, in Beirut since March 8th.
We threaded our way through the traffic, then stopped briefly at the recently opened AVSI offices. Three Italians and three Lebanese work there on a series of projects that are bringing significant improvements into the daily life of this country.
We were finally home by dinnertime. We were the guests of Matteo and Maria, and Emilio and Paola were there too with their two children. A little later, Fr Alberto arrived. He is a Spaniard and is the Nuncio’s secretary. In Beirut since August of a year ago, he is a providential presence for our friends. We discussed our surprise at what is happening and checked on the preparation for the Retreat. On Friday morning, Msgr Luigi Gatti, Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, was waiting for us. Our visit gave us the chance to express our mutual esteem. In the afternoon, we reached the house of the Sisters of Notre Dame des Apôtres, the traditional site of the Retreat. Sister Donatilla, the Superior, confirmed their fraternal hospitality.
Our Lebanese friends arrived, and after dinner, it was time to start. A great sense of expectation was alive in everyone. The music, the images, and Fr Alberto’s words led us immediately into the heart of the event. “Event of Freedom”–these are words that cannot leave you unmoved. Saturday evening, too, delivered us into the presence of the Mystery. We listened to Chopin’s Prelude no 15, Opus 28, and Beethoven’s Opus 61 for violin and orchestra, introduced by Fr Giussani’s commentary. The Sunday morning assembly witnessed to the fecundity of this gesture that is already sending forth shoots. The final Mass was presided over by Msgr Paul Dadah, Bishop of the Latin rite community in Lebanon. His homily offered words that fell easily into the furrow of the Exercises, speaking of a friendship that is born and finds nourishment in this very event of freedom.

by Emilio Maiandi
For this year’s vacation, we chose a beautiful spot in the mountains, at an altitude of 5,500 feet, above the city of Byblos, in a village set into the mountains of Laqlouq.
But to tell the story of what happened, our starting point is Sunday morning, when we met for the final assembly of the vacation. Thérèse recounted that she was struck by how other guests in the hotel asked who we were, their curiosity aroused by our companionship as we played, read, and celebrated Mass. As Fr Alberto said, it is as though a discreet Presence had pervaded all these moments, making them concretely One, to the point that anyone looking at us could perceive it. And everything took place as though each of us was personally involved. This meant an ever greater responsibility to each other, as an ever more stringent provocation to our freedom with each other, in being companions to each other, in supporting each other with humility and charity, as Matteo said; with a need for explicit attention to each other, as Ryad and Berthe requested. As Cessine said, the desire to go more deeply into the ultimate reason for our friendship passes also through the time we spend together, so that spending an evening together watching and listening to the video of the Moldava becomes an acknowledgment that through this friendship, we enjoy beautiful things even more. But if it were not together with others, we would not even realize it, caught up in everyday cares, and I assure you that for many of our Lebanese friends, daily life is not easy. If I think about how some of our friends have truly savored these days, not forgetting the harsh reality of their work and family situations, but putting it into play, I am really amazed; first of all, because the judgment passed through the simple gestures proposed, and then because this ultimately raises a level of question that cannot be avoided. And this level is the only really interesting one, that touches the meaning of our friendship and has touched, through that discreet presence, these beautiful four days in the mountains of Lebanon.