Don Luigi Merola is a young priest who in Naples tries to help young people in conditions of abandonment and serious hardship, like Giuseppe Musella, the boy who a few days ago, in the Conocal neighborhood of Ponticelli, killed his sister Ylenia after an argument. Don Alberto Ravagnani is another young priest who, in Milan, has become known for his use of social media as a tool for evangelization and has chosen to leave the priestly ministry. Both were victims of judgment from many who, despite not knowing the situations, felt they had the right to have their say. Addressing these two figures of shepherds, different from each other, Father Maurizio Patriciello reflects on the difficult, complex, but beautiful challenge of being priests today, “useless servants”, at the service of our brothers, of the least, of the Church.
A beautiful girl, Ylenia, was killed by her brother a few days ago. Giuseppe, this is the name of the murderer, is lynched by the media. Among the few people who do not join the choir is a priest, Don Luigi Merola. At the risk of being misunderstood in turn, my brother mourns the death of Ylenia and the ruin of Giuseppe. “I feel like a failure” he told the journalist who interviewed him.
Dear, dear Don Luigi, you don’t know how much this time of ours, this world of ours, this Church of ours needs your tears. Don Luigi has never met Ylenia, but it is as if he has always known her because Giuseppe spoke to him about her. Not only that, but more than a few times, the boy gave up being with his friends from the “A voci d’e creatures” association to run to her, left alone at home. No pity. We’re just trying to tell the facts. Perhaps not everyone is clear that the horrible murder took place in Naples: the Conocal neighborhood of Ponticelli, in fact, is Naples, the city that celebrates, with justified pride, its 2,500 years of age.
So, dear Don Luigi, we would like to join you in this painful examination of conscience. Because among everyone, the only one who doesn’t have to feel guilty is you. You, Giuseppe, have known him, accompanied him, helped him for years, you loved him, you scolded him and encouraged him a thousand times. You, a young priest who dedicated his life to freeing people from the streets and giving voice to many “creatures”. “ E creatur ”, this is what we call children in our native Neapolitan language. Creatures who came from God, in need, more than others, of cuddles, education, attention. Creatures, undeserved gifts that cheer up life, give breath to the future. Creatures with which our problematic neighborhoods at risk are overflowing. Creatures, very, very often, left alone to fight against powerful and persistent enemies: school dropout, degradation, drugs, unemployment, prison, bullying. If only for this reason, the popular neighborhoods at risk, whether old or recently built, whose names and locations everyone knows, should be kept under continuous observation.
You, Luigi, with your association, have saved many of these children. Our brother parish priests try to do it with you every day. Many times rejoicing for the results obtained, other times having to bend over their bodies tortured by gunshots or killed by the cursed drugs or going to visit them in prison. How I understand you, Don Luigi. We are all in the same boat, a boat that the world desperately needs and which is called hope.
In recent weeks there has been a lot of talk about one of our Lombard brothers who left the priesthood. A well-known name that caused a sensation. Everyone felt entitled to have their say. Not knowing him personally, I refrained from joining various choirs. Before the mission to which each of us is called, the priest comes; before the priest comes the baptized believer; before the Christian comes the man for whom we must always have the utmost respect. Life’s paths are unpredictable. Don Alberto is not the first, he will not be the last to take this painful step.
In the Lord’s farm there are fields to plow, furrows to make, land to fertilize, bunches to harvest, wheat to harvest. When we have done everything, absolutely everything, we must know how to rest on the heart of Jesus and, looking in the mirror, whisper: “I am just a useless servant”. Repeating it to ourselves, to those who continue to lean on our shoulders, to our superiors, to those who, at different levels, hold power, is not a right but a duty. In fact, I can also renounce rights, but never duties. For our part, however, we must ensure that the dialogue of love with the Lord with whom we fell in love does not fail. Dear Don Alberto, thank you for the service rendered to young people as a priest, and thank you for what you will continue to do for them as a lay person. If I may, I would just like to advise you to keep yourself humble.
Don Luigi, what can I tell you? You know I love you. Continue to stay with your creatures, but avoid getting completely “eaten”. Your mission and your health are at stake. We are just lamps that need to be continually recharged to continue to shed light. Don’t get too upset if others don’t always understand or support your precious mission. It happens to everyone. The Church is beautiful and young also for this reason. It often happens that the bearers of the various charisms, instead of seeing themselves as a piece of the mosaic which, together with the others, reflects the face of Christ, are tempted to believe they are irreplaceable. Let us never forget that “everything is grace”. I bless you, Luigi, your mission, your precious “creatures” to whom you never tire of giving voice.
