In the ancient cloistered monasteries, one of the most important figures was that of “rotara”: nun in charge of relations with the eternal. His voice, sweet, serene, barely whispered, made a strong impression on the visitor who knocked on that door. The nuns were very careful to put the right person on the “wheel”.
Millions of people around the world have not yet been able to access the fresh waters of the Gospel. However, they have almost certainly had to deal with those who are risking their lives on the Gospel. Following a sort of natural instinct, everyone, young and old, rich and poor, expects “something more” from them. Nobody knows what goes on in the hearts of those they meet on the tram, in the delicatessen, in the hospital, in the bank, in the cemetery. The Christian, heir and strong of twice a thousand years of experience, without fear of making mistakes, can easily understand this. Pope Leo, after giving us the gift of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on the riches and dangers of artificial intelligence, in meeting our bishops left us another small treasure in the words he addressed to them. He asked them for “the courage of the essential”.
Free, therefore, from every superstructure and from every fear. Free from the idols that poison this world of ours: the lust for having, for power, for pleasure. A humble courage, strong in its weakness, like that of the already canonized saints that the Church venerates. Saint Paul: “It is when I am weak that I am strong.” A courageous faith that does not fear the adversary, because it has no adversaries and never will have any. We are all poor beggars, from the richest on the planet to those who have nowhere to lay their heads. The courage of those who know that the truth, even if momentarily neglected and humiliated, has already won the battle. This is the time of the Church, our time. An extraordinary time, unique, unrepeatable, magnificent like our humanity itself. A time we have never experienced before and of which we will not be able to recall a single moment back. And I, priest, bishop, lay person, consecrated person, nun, missionary, am called to make visible the unfathomable Mystery of a God who, out of love for man, became man. What a responsibility. What a mission. What a calling.
Whoever has met a saint in his life never forgets him. That person with his words, his gestures, his advice, his prayer, marked him forever. Unfortunately, even Christians who are not very evangelical, not very human, not very supportive, not very charitable, not very fond of life and truth, have weighed on the announcement of the Gospel. Welcoming pastors and communities, asked the Pope. Hearts and places where no one feels like an unwanted guest. Where current logic is turned on its head. First place is not reserved for the richest, the most powerful and overbearing, the vainglorious, but for the little ones, the old, the sick, those who the machinery of life has left behind. It’s not always like this, it’s true. For this reason, Leo felt the need to reiterate it to our bishops and to us. The temptation to close ourselves into groups with elective affinities is strong but must be overcome at all costs. What a consolation when, hospitalized in the throes of an illness that threatens us, a doctor arrives at our bedside who smiles at us, explains what he is about to do, encourages us and goes away shaking our hands tightly. What a joy when, in the throes of guilt, we find the courage to kneel at the feet of a priest who, while we stammer, reminds us that God loves us, that we are precious in his eyes, that the world needs us. And, at the end, he asks us to pray for him. This is the Church that we all, believers and non-believers, want. And we can create this Church. The Pope told us how. It’s up to us to put his precious advice into practice. Away with all pessimism: “The Lord does not ask us to measure the fruitfulness of the Church with the criteria of number, visibility and influence.” How peaceful.
The tyranny of numbers and successes has been banished. Leo, at the school of Jesus and Augustine, knows it well: the Holy Spirit acts in the secret of the soul. The most decisive battles of a believer are fought in the middle of the night, when sleep does not come and you, with a clarity that scares you, begin to contemplate your life, the life of the Church and of the world with the very eyes of God.
And focus on the essentials. And you feel that you want to love and serve this magnificent humanity. Of course, structures and bodies are needed: oratories, pastoral councils, for economic affairs and many other things. Remembering, however, that they are just never-ending tools. Only those who have tasted and seen how good the Lord is truly evangelize. In turn allowing himself to be evangelized by the poor. Place, Lord, an angel on my path. A priest, a lay person, a friar, a bishop, a book, a community that will give me a glimpse of your true face. Because, feeling loved, I can truly love. Maurizio Patriciello.
