![«In Medjugorje I understood that my path was to become a priest» «In Medjugorje I understood that my path was to become a priest»](https://media.famigliacristiana.it/2024/6/9b8750d6-0bee-473e-8abd-0af3086fa3e5_3427479.jpg)
The book San Paolo
An adult vocation, a radical change of life from the world of communication to the seminary: it is the story that Don Gianluca Brusatore, 46 years old, became a priest in June 2022 and currently assistant parish priest in Gozzano, in the Diocese of Novara, he wanted to tell in the book Priest by miracle. God’s Love in My Life (And Some Spiritual Advice)which comes out tomorrow by Edizioni San Paolo.
What was his previous life like?
«Before starting the seminar I lived and worked in Milan. After graduating in Public Relations I worked for a year in a communication agency and eight years at the European Institute of Design, mainly dealing with student orientation in choosing courses. I was a very normal young man, I had an important affair with a girlfriend and then several other relationships; I have not been the typical model of Christian life. Everything seemed normal to me.”
Did he still consider himself a Christian?
«I have never lacked faith, but it was a faith “in my way”: for several years I distanced myself from the Church. Until the summer of 2014, if they had told me that I would become a priest, I think I would have laughed.”
Then what happened?
«I have always loved travelling, I have taken many trips alone. I liked the sense of freedom I felt in visiting distant places and meeting people I wouldn’t have met if I hadn’t gone alone. But going to Medjugorje was a particular decision: I remember my mother talking to me about it, I knew almost nothing about that place where apparently there is nothing particularly beautiful to see. And instead during that journey I met the Lord.”
![Don Gianluca Brusatore, 46 years old Don Gianluca Brusatore, 46 years old](https://media.famigliacristiana.it/2024/6/prima-messa-002_3427473.jpg)
Don Gianluca Brusatore, 46 years old
How did it manifest itself?
«It was an experience of love like I had never experienced before and I understood with clear certainty that that was the love of God, that that love was God. And I recognized it as present in a particular way in the sacraments. I had not lost my faith, I had lost the Church and only in that moment did I see clearly how the Lord is alive and present and works in a special way precisely through the sacraments of the Church. From that moment the adventure began: signs, mysterious episodes and a clear presence in my heart that asked me to trust and change my life.”
Did it all happen suddenly or was it a slow choice?
«When I returned to work I was no longer the person I was before, I felt in my heart the Lord’s invitation to trust him and change my life. Many people, starting with my mother, told me that I could very well continue with my work and my life, with a new outlook, without the need for such a radical upheaval. Of course I could have and it would have been nice, maybe even easier, but it wasn’t what I felt in my heart. Instead, I clearly felt that the Lord, with infinite respect for my freedom, was asking me something else. After a few months I resigned and began a process of discernment to entrust to the Church what I felt was a vocation to the priesthood. At the end of this journey, at the age of 37, I started the seminary, in Novara where I was born.”
Was being in seminary as an adult difficult?
«It wasn’t easy to go back to studying after so many years, yet a mysterious but real force accompanied me, guided me on my path and helped me overcome hardships that I would never have been able to face on my own».
What inspired you to write the book about your experience?
«I decided to write a book because I think my story can help other people. It’s not easy for me to expose myself like this, but I do it with all my heart because I feel like someone who has found a precious treasure and wants to share it with as many people as possible. The idea of starting to write was born precisely from the awareness that the experience I lived should be shared, to tell the importance of the Church, the beauty of the priesthood and the wonders that God works in your life if you really trust him” .
The book, in addition to talking about her, also presents itself as a spiritual guide…
«In the second part of the book, which I called ABC of the spiritual journey, I try to explain in simple words some important issues relating to eternal life, sin, the beauty and difficulties of prayer, forgiveness and the difficulties encountered in forgiving and forgiving oneself. I also talk about the devil and the action he unfortunately has on people. The third and final part is The fifth mystery of light, which I called this referring to the fifth mystery of the light of the rosary: Jesus who gives himself to us in the Eucharist. I enter the heart of spiritual life and tell some personal episodes, for example the adventures I experienced with the kids from the oratory last summer at World Youth Day in Lisbon.”
And it is precisely among the children that he chose to exercise his ministry.
«I was around boys even in my previous life. And in my priestly ministry I mainly deal with youth ministry and in this period of the year in which the oratories are inhabited by hundreds of children and entertainers with summer camps, my thoughts turn to them. And I like to quote the words of Ernesto Olivero, the founder of Sermig who wrote in the preface to the book, his prayer of entrusting young people to Mary: “Maria, it is from young people that the future begins. Young people can take the good of the past and make it present. Holiness, resourcefulness and courage are sown in young people. Mary, Mother of young people, cover them with your mantle, defend them, protect them from evil, entrust them to your Son Jesus and then send them to give hope to the world”.
Do you really believe there was a miracle in your life as the title of the book says?
“The title Priest by miracle I believe it is the right summary to describe the unexpected and marvelous irruption of God which overturned the plans I had for my life.”