COMMUNION AND LIBERATION INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE 2018 4

VOL.TRACES 20 LITTERAE COMMUNIONIS

THE THINGS THAT WE SEE How does faith help us to live? A trip to Uganda and Kenya to discover that a new humanity can flourish in every circumstance. CONTENTS April 2018 Vol.20 - No. 4

Communion and Liberation International Magazine - Vol. 20 CLOSE UP / AFRICA Editorial Office: Via De Notaris, 50 - 20128 Milano Tel. ++39(02)92945400 Fax ++39(02)92945401 “I CAN SAY THAT E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.tracesonline.org I WAS BORN THAT DAY” Editor (direttore responsabile): Davide Perillo

Editorial Assistant: The stories told by the college students, the death of Anna Leonardi a young father and his wife’s witness, and the Muslim Graphic Design: G&C, Milano women who’ve encountered Christianity…

Photo: Fondazione W.Congdon 20-23

Publishers (editore): Editrice Nuovo Mondo srl Iscrizione nel Registro degli Operatori Editorial The Facts Before Our Eyes 3 di Comunicazione n. 26972

© Fraternità di Comunione e Liberazione for the texts Letters Edited by Paola Bergamini 4 by Luigi Giussani and Julián Carrón

AVAILABLE AT Close up Africa “I Was Born That Day” by Ignacio Carbajosa 6 www.tracesonline.org

PAGEONE Witness “Look There, Where Everything Is More Beautiful” by Samuele Otim Rizzo and Matteo Severgnini 10

A LEAP OF SELF-AWARENESS MagazineTraces and My Happiness Notes from Fr. Julián Carrón’s Synthesis at the Assembly for Leaders of Communion and Liberation in Italy Pacengo di Lazise (Verona), March 11, 2018. by Andrea Nembrini and Rose Busingye 12

No 4 2018 I CL life Latin American “You Cannot Fake the Hundredfold” by Davide Perillo 14 Notes from Fr. Julián Carrón’s Synthesis at the Assembly for Leaders of Communion Culture William Congdon Looking Out on “Campo G” by Luca Fiore 20 and Liberation in Italy.

JULIÁN CARRÓN Disarming Beauty ESSAYS ON FAITH, TRUTH, AND FREEDOM

Catholic Ideas for a Secular World book series http://undpress.nd.edu/books/P03345 246 pages • $25.00 usd cloth iBook available EDITORIAL

The facts Before Our Eyes

e have our ideas, sometimes even correct ones, perhaps forged over years of observation and in-depth study of things that, at a certain point, in one way or another, we think we “know.” And then we have the facts, those things that continually happen before our eyes and that stubbornly continue to get through to us in spite of ourselves. They could be small ones–an unexpected encounter, a thoughtful judgment from a person from whom you might not expect it–or big ones, like the sudden death of a friend. WOften, these facts lead to a fork in the road. And if you really think about it, this is almost always the case even if we don’t realize it. In the face of such events, we can decide to follow their initial impact on us, giving that instant of surprise we felt space to grow, allowing them to lead us to discover something that’s truly new. Alternatively, we can immediately put up our defenses, deadening the impact of facts by forcing everything to fit into the frameworks we already have in mind. We often go down this second road, but what happens when we instead decide to stay open to them? What happens when what prevails, even for only an instant, is that childlike wonder that the facts stubbornly continue to give us as a gift?

The articles you will find in this Traces include an example that responds to that question, Fr. Ignacio Carbajosa’s account of his recent trip to Uganda and Kenya. This “50-year-old European priest” and “man of reason,” as he self-deprecatingly describes himself, is about how he grapples with a witness that blows him away again and again. His is the story of that constant comparison of “what happens” with “ready-made reflections,” to use his words once again: it is a comparison of the surprising facts scattered throughout the days he spent with the CL communities in those countries with his ideas, with what he “already knew.” The article is a description of what happens in our hearts when what wins out are the facts; in other words, the method God has always used for the conversion of our hearts.

In the end, this is the name of the game we all play every day, in the heart of Africa or in Latin America, in the fields of Lombardy, or in the minutia of our lives, right where we are. It’s the tension between what we have in mind and the Mystery working before us, inviting us to follow Him. Which is better for us? T

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FROM MILAN TO the path of Fr. Giussani’s life in a NEW ZEALAND particular moment in history and to The Life of Luigi Giussani has see how his “yes” to Christ coincides 1truly accompanied me in these with the working of the Holy Spirit. I days. I waited for its translation for a feel such immense gratitude in seeing long time but it was worth the wait. I the events that happened in his life, find myself really savoring it, and in full of meaning for the future, and spite of the sheer size of the volume, I how he followed with the spirit of wish it would never end. I feel that I’m obedience, even though he didn’t yet going deeper into my understanding know the consequences. In reading of the Movement. Obviously, the about the events in Milan during Movement was already important the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s, I can’t to me, since it has touched my life help but see a promise of what one in its most personal aspects. But day would find me in New Zealand reading The Life of Luigi Giussani, I in the 1990’s. Keeping in mind the find myself digging deeper into the garden and enjoys its fruit, but who concept of the universal dimension “roots” from which the Movement doesn’t know the tree’s origin, who of the Movement as a gift to modern has sprung forth, like someone planted it and through bad weather man, I was moved this morning as I who has a beautiful fruit tree in his it has endured. It is moving to follow read about Giussani’s meeting with Pope John Paul II on September 29, 1984. In this audience, the Pope conferred upon Fr. Giussani and the AT THE HOSPITAL Movement the mandate to go into the whole the world. This morning THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE I read about Fr. Giussani’s answer in the days following the audience. n these last few months, I have been decisively changed by a relationship with a It was a huge task, accompanied by Ifriend of mine. We met because our oldest children go to the same school. From the awareness of his limitations and the very beginning, I felt a curiosity about and fondness toward him and wanted to those of the Movement, but full of see him again, to get to know him better, so we began to spend some evenings to- hope in obedience to the Church and gether. A few years have passed and we have become such good friends that last to the task itself. Here in Ashburton, year he came to the Spiritual Exercises. A few months later, I became ill, and was we are all well. Our days are full of so close to death that at the hospital they called me “Lazarus.” After two days, my the novelty that a new life brings. wife brought me the phone and among the many messages, there was one from Miriam is now three months old, at my great friend. “While you were in surgery, I promised the Lord that whatever home with her three older brothers. happened to you, I would continue to walk the path we are following together.” She’s like a delicate flower that He came to see me in the ICU, and with a smile on his face and with eyes that grows in the jungle. On page 656, in couldn’t contain their joy, he gave me a large envelope as a gift. I opened it up and reading Fr. Giussani’s words, “There it was a large-print version of the Exercises of the Fraternity. He said, “I brought is a nice group going to Ireland,” I felt you the most beautiful and cherished thing I have: enjoy it!” To see the miracle of a great affection for the names and my friend’s conversion has also converted me, and from a human perspective has faces and for the providential time I corresponded to me more than the miracle of my healing. spent there. Beppe, Italy Matthew, Ashburton (New Zealand)

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Email: [email protected] Write to Traces editorial office, Via De Notaris 50, 20128 Milan, Italy

THE QUESTIONS AFTER THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES BOOKS At the CLU Spiritual Exercises 1I was struck by the questions that arose after we listened to the KNEELING witnesses. The dominant question was, “What is the meaning of my ve almost finished reading the book of the life?” I was greatly disturbed by this I’month, A Song for Nagasaki. At a certain point, question throughout the Exercises the protagonist says, “We should try to be grateful and I felt I had to answer it, so that Nagasaki was chosen as a sacrifice pleasing to that I can know who God is and God.” What is more realistic than a position such the role He plays in my life. But I as this? Last Sunday, at Mass I was struck by the realized that the answer could only position of the person kneeling in front of me. I be found through an experience, have always thought of kneeling as being just a which could only happen with time, sign of respect, or at most, a sign of submission. For the first time, and that all I could do was pray. seeing that man kneeling on the ground with his head bent, certain After the retreat, I was talking to a renderings from iconography came to mind and I understood that friend who is not in the Movement, this gesture is meant to say, “Here I am. I am ready to give my life for and I told him that I feared death You as, in this moment, You are doing for me.” Now, I won’t be able because of the uncertainties of to help thinking of this at the moment of the Consecration. the world beyond. He responded Livio, Italy by saying that he was scared of dying before accomplishing his purpose in life. From all that he to know the reason for this; how said, I realized that truly the life could I feel happy after being we are living has a purpose, and rained on? I later discovered that that our lives are given to us by it is because Christ fulfills me. He our Creator. The next day, the CLU is the answer to my questions and students had an assembly to discuss He reaches me through the faces of what we had witnessed during the other people. I realized that He is Exercises. Two of the key questions the one who gives meaning to my posed by our responsible were life. I pray that the lesson from the “Where do our needs in life come Spiritual Exercises, that we are seen from? Who satisfies these needs in our conversation and realized that by Christ, will enable us every day one way or another?” God is the I was not as happy as I had been in to see Him as Zaccheus did, despite answer to both, although I think our previous conversation where his limitations. Our task now is to we have to go on our own journey we had talked about Christ and keep knocking at His door like the to verify this. After the assembly, the events happening in our lives. Unnamed in Manzoni’s novel, with it was raining and I was talking I asked myself why this was so. the poverty of a child seeking its to Nicholas, a friend from the We had been rained on after the mother, so that the encounter that Movement. We spoke briefly about assembly and my clothes were still happened in our lives may happen the assembly, but mostly focused soaking wet when I returned to the in each instant. We should never on general things. As I went to my hostel. Surprisingly, though, I felt tire of doing this. hostel that night, I thought about content and happy and I wanted Yvonne, Nairobi (Kenya)

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OCCHIELLO AFRICA

“I WAS BORN THAT DAY”

6 No 4 2018

A moment during the CLU OCCHIELLOvacation in Uganda.

The stories told by the students, the death of a young father and his wife’s witness, and the Muslim women who’ve encountered Christianity… Perspectives from “I WAS BORN a Spanish priest after visiting Kampala and spending time with college students in Kenya. Tales of facts and encounters that break through our ideas.

THAT DAY” by Ignacio Carbajosa

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arrived in Kampala a few days be- fore the start of the Spiritual Ex- ercises I preached for college stu- dents from all over Africa, which took place February 9th-11th. There, II found a community reeling from the sudden death of Francesco Frige- rio, an Italian who was well-loved by everyone, in a car accident. Just a few months before, he had helped us out with the CLU vacation in Ugan- da. He left behind a wife and three young children. This opened up a lot of questions for the students there, as I saw in the messages I received leading up to the Exercises. They told me the story of a new human- ity that began to show itself in Sara, Francesco’s wife, who sustained the community with her certainty that “Francesco now sits at the heavenly banquet with our Lord.” I heard their witnesses of how they came together in vigil before his body was sent to Italy for burial. They told me about the carpenter who had worked with Francesco who, hearing the songs and seeing a serenity and strange joy during the wake, asked, “Don’t you said, “There is One who is making me an mentality at work: “Won’t they cry in Italy when someone dear to in every instant. He is the master of feel bad, since they’re still Muslim?...” you dies?” One of those present an- life, so you can have faith even in the By the end of the evening, their fac- swered him, “In Italy, we despair in face of death.” I took notes. If what es had broken through my thoughts: front of death. What you’re seeing we live in every instant has nothing they were so happy. is something exceptional. It’s called to do with death, we’ll live like every- As we said our good-byes, I looked faith.” one else and be left with explanations in on a striking scene: the two Mus- With these facts before my eyes, that don’t satisfy anyone. lim women were on their knees in and with a desire to address the front of Rose. The next day, I asked questions the young people posed On their knees. We had dinner at the her the meaning of the gesture. “It’s about death, I went to the Interna- Memores Domini house with three an expression of gratitude. As if to tional Meeting Point to meet “Rose’s Muslim women who participate say, ‘May we stay here always; don’t women.” After an hour of singing in the Meeting Point. They told us abandon us,’” Rose told me. And and dancing, I asked them, “You about how they “devour” Traces the then she went on to tell me about say that you are free. Meeting Rose second it arrives in Kampala and all the things that I, the wise “man freed you. You knew Francesco well; how they help the other women out of reason,” didn’t see. Those women he built the Luigi Giussani Primary in zealously selling the magazine [see were so happy to be able to come to and High School. For you, what is page 12]. One of them, who was pre- her house, sit at the same table with death? In other words, what does it paring to be baptized at the Easter white people, eat the same food on mean for you to live?” I was surprised vigil, told the story of her conver- the same plates, to be served and be by the response of Teddy, a woman sion. As she spoke, I started to feel a able to participate in the conversa- who started from her self-awareness little uneasy, looking at the two other tion, and even happier that we took rather than a theory about death. She Muslim women. It was my Europe- an interest in them. They had tru-

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five people). Everyone in the slum and she smiled at me. She bid me, watched our strange entourage. ‘Good afternoon.’ I was so in shock “Where are they going?” Her look and felt so small that I didn’t man- answered them: “To my house!” As age to respond. But that gaze left we would be reminded during the me speechless. In my whole life, no Exercises, that young woman felt one has ever smiled at me that way. like Zacchaeus: today, salvation had It was such a piercing gaze that it entered her house. “He was seen broke down the walls of my past and therefore saw,” was the title of and opened wide the present in the retreat. front of me. It was a gaze that told After an 11-hour journey, we me that I, too, can be loved exact- arrived the next day in Eldoret, ly as I am. As if it said to me, ‘You Kenya, for the Exercises. The re- are important.’ I heard Someone flections I gave were enriched by calling me to follow Him through the questions and witnesses from that gaze. From that moment on, I the students, as well as by what I decided to follow. I felt like I had had seen in my time in Kampala. It found the place I belong. I can say was easy to illustrate “being seen”: that God’s grace reached me when I many of them seem to still be in the was 14 years old. I can say that I was sycamore tree, being seen by “Aun- ‘born’ when I was 14, because that tie” Rose. One girl was the moment in spoke about her life which I understood before climbing that the true meaning of tree. Everything was “Rose told me my life. I started to The Ugandan community’s vacation against her; she hated about all the understand who God at the end of January. everything, even the things that I, the is for me, and the day she’d been born. great chasm between As well as God. No wise ‘man of me and my origin was ly discovered the value of their lives one loved her as she reason,’ bridged. The Move- there. Before, they looked at them- was. She had tried didn’t see.” ment gave me back selves as others had: in their regular to commit suicide myself, which I had environment, black Muslim women three times. She saw lost. I want to start are considered second-class. Those her brother, however, over and stop mea- simple things, which were possible facing the same circumstances at suring my life. Like Fr. Giussani, I at Rose’s house, were unthinkable for home (an alcoholic father, among don’t want my life to be useless.” them before. We were used to it, but other things) in a different way. for them, they were signs of a new, So she agreed to go with him to Getting lost. We have everything in different humanity. One that brings School of Community. This is how that first encounter, Fr. Giussani re- us to our knees in awe. she described it: “It was the second minds us, but we understand what week of the second semester of my that “everything” is through our “Good afternoon.” The next day, first year in high school [described circumstances. I’ve known some we had lunch at the home of a girl with the precision of the encounter of these young people for five years from the CLU who lived in a slum. John and Andrew had with Christ: now; I’ve accompanied them from She wanted us to celebrate with it was four in the afternoon]. I went high school into the university. It’s her her passing to the next level in to the foyer where they hold School beautiful to see them passing “from school. Our visit was a real event of Community, and I was early. the evidence of the first encounter for her: “Auntie” Rose, Father Na- ‘Auntie’ Rose came in and saw me to conviction.” This is a step that cho, and their friends came to see there. She fixed me with her gaze– Zacchaeus had to face the next day her! We came to her humble home she normally does this with new when, after getting angry with his (“humble” falls short of describ- people–and I felt my heart beat- wife, he found himself pained by it ing that small room which houses ing fast. Then, her gaze softened when he thought of Jesus. »

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AFRICA TESTIMONIES

» One of the students told us “LOOK THERE, WHERE how upset he was when two friends of the community distanced them- EVERYTHING IS MORE BEAUTIFUL” selves after having followed for awhile. “Do you also want to leave?” The passing of Francesco Frigerio, and the witness given by the comes to mind. “It’s the time of the Ugandan community, attesting to an “impossible correspondence.” person,” Fr. Giussani told us. We have all the tools we need to judge; by Samuele Otim Rizzo and Matteo Severgnini we shouldn’t be afraid. The student started to tell us about how he de- hen I teach them to swim he said, “but the task of installing a “Wduring practice, I am also bathroom takes on the same value. I cided to take a “break” from School caught between these two feelings. don’t take it for granted. I had begun of Community and the choir... but If I hold them up all the time and too to pressure myself, basing my self-im- it didn’t last long. “I saw how I got much, they will never learn to swim. age on what I could do. Through the lost in my ideology,” he explained. But then, if I do not hold them up at companionship of the Movement, I “I couldn’t manage without the gaze just the right moment, they might rediscovered that my true value lies in swallow water. Such is the mystery being Francesco as God intended me of ‘Auntie’ Rose, Alberto, and Seve.” of man’s freedom, says God… this is to be.” The heart at work. Which is the how Péguy explained the responsibil- starting place for a true verification ity of being a parent, but Francesco al- On January 10th, Francesco and one within university life. ways cast away all doubts, he always of his coworkers were killed in a car maintained his freedom, using it for accident on the highway between the best.” These were the words of Gi- Kampala and Gulu. “In those first In class. During a lecture, an eco- anni Frigerio at the funeral of his son, few hours I found myself in a state of nomics professor explained the pyr- in the midst of the silence and tears shock, feeling anger and uncertainty,” amid of human needs. The base of of more than a thousand people who our friend Andrea remembered. “No the pyramid was our basic needs. filled the Basilica of Treviglio (near thought could calm me down. I asked Once they are satisfied, you find Bergamo), Francesco’s hometown, on myself, more honestly than I ever had the need for security and then you January 19. before: what does being a Shortly before he grad- Christian add to life? Tru- go on up to the top of the pyramid, uated with a degree in ly: what does it change?” where one’s needs are completely civil engineering, his de- There was also the reac- fulfilled. One young man raised his sire to communicate to “I asked tion of a student in the hand. “Professor, in our experience, the world that which had myself: what CLU: “When I heard the it’s not true that our needs are com- shaped his life–Jesus and does being a news, I couldn’t believe pletely satisfied.” The class broke out his encounter with the it. A series of questions Movement–carried him Christian add emerged: What is the into a lively discussion. The student to Kenya, where, while to life? Truly: meaning of life? What felt compelled to tell the class about working for AVSI, he built makes it worth living? his experience. All of it. Afterwards, the Little Prince Prima- what does Through what relation- the professor, who had become cu- ry School, in the slum of it change?” ship is one able to face rious, asked him, “But wait, what is Kibera. There in Kenya death?” he met Sara, who would It was impossible for the source of your worldview?” The become his wife: togeth- any of us to dismiss those student told him about Giussani er they moved to Kitgum, where questions, but the more we reflected and gave him his copy of Why the they worked for AVSI until Francesco on them, the more we realized that a Church? opened a construction company. They miracle was happening in our midst. This 50-year-old European priest moved to Gulu, and then to Kampala. Through this moment of pain, we be- was convinced, once again, that to During all this, Luigi, Lucia, and Gi- came more united, and the final task useppe were born. of our lives became clearer. Christ prepare for the Exercises it’s better During those same years, Frances- was visible in the faces of friends, to let oneself be struck by what hap- co also built the Shrine of the Martyrs as Manolita put it: “As we lived this, pens, rather than arriving with ready- Jildo and Daudi in Paymol (on a hill in Christ, little by little, became incarnate made reflections. The Unnamed, Wi-Polo, in northern Uganda) and the in Sara and in all of us. Precisely in standing stubbornly at the door of Luigi Giussani High School, a crown- this companionship of friends, He be- ing jewel of Kampala. He always came present.” The death of Francesco Cardinal Federigo, is more effective worked with a desire for beauty and turned into an experience of unex- than the “I already know everything” attention to detail: “As a builder, build- pected certainty for everyone. A new of our Kantian mentality... T ing a sanctuary is as good as it gets,” sense of unity was born among us,

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makes me think that perhaps this is all true. You make me want to come back to the Church.” The next day, there was a Mass in the Luigi Giussani High School, a place Francesco felt was “his,” and on Monday, another with the Archbish- The friends of Francesco at the Kampala airport when the family was taking his body back op of Gulu, John Baptist Odama, in to Italy. Below, the image chosen by his wife for the memorial card. the slum of Kireka, the site of Meet- ing Point International, another place which started from Sara’s desire that that Francesco loved. At the end of we stay together, each time ending that Mass, Francesco’s father, Gianni, up talking and singing. Andrea added: stood up and offered his thanks: “To- “The more I looked at Sara, the more day, you are the face of Christ for me.” the flame of an impossible–more im- With our hearts overflowing, we sang possible than ever!–correspondence until the late afternoon.The only words burned in my heart.” that could describe that evening were “an impossible correspondence”! The same thing happened to many of us. Our pettiness was overpowered Dad has arrived at the destination that Toward the end of January, we had by Sara’s certainty. We could not help all of us wish to reach. With the cer- the Summer Vacation of the commu- looking at her to see where her gaze tainty of Christ in your eyes, you can nity in Uganda; it was our first vaca- was fixed; her every action was an look at this separation full of the hope tion, something that Francesco had affirmation of the Resurrection. What that we all need right now.” After- wanted for many years. There, Rose she had was not a life jacket to rescue wards, Sara expressed her gratitude said: “What is salvation? Salvation is her from desperation, but rather the and explained the phrase and the pic- that every reality is Christ calling us. certainty of a presence, which illumi- ture on the funeral card. “When some- It is not the beautiful people or the nated her face whenever she talked one has a good heart, he is not afraid beautiful moments that attract me; it about her husband. of anything anymore, everything fills is always Christ, and this makes every Two days after the accident, the him with gladness, his only desire is moment intense and eternal.” Apostolic Nuncio, Michael August to love”: this described the heart of Sara has attested to this experience Blume, celebrated the funeral Mass Francesco perfectly. He lived this truth of eternity, as she did on Valentine’s in Kampala. The church was packed. and he had an infinite love for his vo- Day: “I asked Franci to give me a sign: The casket was brought in to the cation, his family, his friends, and the I wished for him to give me, even if song “Quando uno ha il cuore buo- people he worked with. He always only for a few seconds, a glimmer of no” (“When Someone Has a Good used to say that no one should ever what he is experiencing, so that I may Heart”), a song chosen by Francesco’s go to bed angry; instead, one can rest enjoy a taste of his happiness.” It was wife that we were used to singing at only when his heart is at peace with an ordinary day, and she went out to least three times a day. Attention was everyone.” In the picture on the card, eat a modest meal with some friends. given to every detail. Sara requested he is looking straight into the camera. The next morning, though, she woke the first reading from the day of the His wife had captured that moment in up a little embittered, for it seemed accident: “Samuel, Samuel [...] Speak time: “We were on our honeymoon, at that her husband had not granted her Lord, for your servant is listening.” Iguazú Falls, heaven on Earth, heaven wish. Then, the gift came... she intuit- The calling of Samuel found an echo itself; Francesco beheld it and then ed something. The restaurant where in the call of Francesco and the call of turned around to look at me, as if to she had gone was called Paradiso everyone. Then, there was the Letter say: ‘This heaven before my eyes is (Heaven): “Franci is in heaven and of Saint Paul to the Romans: “If God the destiny of all of us. Don’t look at heaven is communion with the saints is for us, who is against us? Who will me, look there where everything is and our loved ones; heaven for me on separate us from the love of Christ? clearer and more beautiful: I am wait- this Earth is to live this communion Will hardship, or distress, or persecu- ing for you.’” with the people Christ has given me tion or peril, or sword?” The Gospel The Mass had an unexpected mis- to journey with.” was the same as the one read on their sionary effect. People were amazed, How grateful one must feel to live wedding day: the wedding at Cana. even speechless. A friend from Eritrea following the signs of the Mystery. Ev- Sara selected it because it was about asked if in Italian culture it was not the erything speaks of Him, and because a wedding: the promise of a banquet custom to cry in the face of death. An of this nothing is futile, everything has with God, forever. Italian friend who is an atheist kept meaning, and death does not have At the end of the Mass, Fr. Carrón’s asking: “Are you sure that that is his the last word, because Christ has al- message to Sara and her children was wife? How is it possible that she has ready conquered it. This is the great read: “I want to be especially close to that outlook?” Yet another friend said, promise that has been made visible you in this time of pain, in which your “I would be hopeless. Seeing you to everyone.

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friendship I received here, and I love doing it. This friendship pushed me to sell Traces, and also to love Cathol- TRACES AND icism. Sometimes I think I believe in this religion even if I’m walking on the path of Islam. I remain Muslim, MY HAPPINESS but I love Catholicism. Aisha. I joined MPI because I want- One interview, three voices: AISHA, HANIFA, and SARA. ed to be happy like these women. They are the three Muslim women involved One day there was a woman next in Meeting Point who sell Traces magazine. “It makes to me with an issue of Traces, but the woman was leaving, and I didn’t me love Catholicism.” This is why. know how I could find the maga- zine again, so I asked her if I could by Andrea Nembrini and Rose Busingye take a look. I looked at the pages of the magazine, and I could read one eeting Point Interna- Why do you sell Traces? Why do word: “happiness.” I saw a lot of pic- tional (MPI) in Kampala you like doing it? tures, and in all of them people were has always been, from its Sara. I’m a true Muslim from birth. happy. So I asked her how much it very origin, internation- I joined Meeting Point International cost, and I bought my first Traces al. The women always in 2011. I didn’t know what Traces for three UGX (approximately one Msay that “the heart is international,” was, but I started buying it, reading USD). I was surprised because ev- and for this reason they have al- it, and loving it. There are a lot of erything in it was about happiness, ways welcomed anyone who wants beautiful things in this magazine the possibility of being happy even to come as a friend, regardless of that you can learn from. In partic- if you are in trouble. When you read tribe, religion, or language. This ular, there are other people’s experi- about the experiences of happy peo- is the first miracle of this place, ences, and when you read an expe- ple, you also become happy. There bearing in mind the strict sense of rience that is different from yours, wasn’t one story in the magazine that tribal belonging that still dictates you discover more about yourself, wasn’t able to make you happy. Even relationships in Africa to this day. about what you really desire for now it’s like this: every time I buy When they gather, all of the women your life. As a consequence, I’m now it–and I always buy it–it makes me wear the yellow shirt of MPI, and studying catechism and I’m going to happy. Traces made me understand when they shout, “One heart!” it is the School of Community, because I that religions are different, but often impossible to tell them apart. want to learn more about what’s in what separates us is just the way we For about a year now, new colors the magazine. dress; what’s important is that we are have mixed in with the yellow: they together because God is one. This is are the veils worn by Sara, Aisha, Hanifa. I joined MPI even though what I’ve learned from Traces. and Hanifa. Sara is a nurse who I’m Muslim. I joined because even works with Rose, and she invited though there were always other peo- Could you explain your love for her two neighbors, who are also ple around me, I have never been this Catholic experience, for Trac- Muslim, to MPI. Their enthusiasm welcomed like I was at MPI. I was so es, despite the fact you are women as a result of this encounter has surprised by the way they welcomed of Muslim faith? How can these made them a significant presence me and treated me. I used to be sor- two go together? at MPI, and–as we have recent- rowful and my heart was heavy; but Sara. Rose told me about my value, ly discovered–they are among the from the day I entered this place which I didn’t know before. I un- most energetic protagonists in sell- my life has changed. I’m now hap- derstood that the Catholic religion ing Traces magazine, to which they py, and my family is too. So, about does not discriminate; it welcomes dedicate themselves each month. Traces: actually I don’t know English all religions. I learned this because We wanted to ask them about the very well, and I even can’t read this Rose taught me that you have to origin of their passion. magazine, but I sell it because of the discover yourself. This means that

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word, they don’t understand. But if you tell them about your own ex- perience, they respond with: “Ok, I trust you, I’ll buy it.”

What has been your most beautiful experience while selling Traces? Aisha. The most beautiful thing for me is that when we are selling it a lot of people come to us to ask why Muslims are selling a Catholic magazine. We answer them: “Be- cause we love it; because we are receiving beautiful things from it, From left, Aisha, Hanifa, and Sara. and because we want you to have them, too.” nobody should say to you, “Come now he likes it; I told him to ask me Sara. One day when I was selling here and be a Catholic!” You need if there is anything in it he doesn’t Traces, an educated old Catholic to learn this yourself, but only after understand. Often Traces is so beau- man came to me asking a lot of you have discovered yourself. When tiful that I buy more than one copy, questions to embarrass me. He said: you know who you are, you decide because I know that anyone who re- “You people, what are you doing? Is what you want to be. And for me, af- ceives it will surely also be happy. this thing from Uganda? Where is it ter discovering myself, I decided to from? Is the Pope aware of it?” I was stay with these Catholics. able to answer all his questions very When you are selling Traces, what well–I told him about Communion Hanifa. When I was suffering so do you tell the people you meet? and Liberation, about Italy, and I much, no one was touched by my Aisha. First I read it very well, and I told him that even the priest had situation, nobody helped me. But pay attention to the beautiful things given an announcement during here I discovered I was helped... in it that make me happy, the things Mass about our selling Traces. In Someone has loved me, someone that help me. I sell it because I want the end he said: “You Muslim wom- gave me her friendship. I even don’t other people to be happy like me; an, you have challenged me,” and know how to explain it: one day I was people understand if what you are he began looking for money in his crying all day long, and my children selling is important to you. What I pocket to buy one.When I’m selling as well; they were going to a very bad tell the people I meet is simply what it, I feel like I’m selling gold, a very school, they even didn’t receive their I read about in Traces; I even show expensive thing! grade reports… Now I’m happy, my them the pages I like. And people home has changed completely, my ask us a lot of questions. Hanifa. Sometimes other people children go to school, they study in who are selling other magazines in peace, they are happy. So how could Hanifa. I can’t read Traces because I the same place tell us that our mag- I not love this place that has brought don’t know English, but my children azine is very expensive because it is to me all this happiness? How could read it for me at home. They show a muzungu thing [a thing for white I not love this magazine that tells me the page where an article I like people], but they also ask, “How are stories about this place? is, so that when I’m selling I can tell you able to stay with these white people: “Look, it’s right here!” people, hugging them like friends? Aisha. Usually I buy all the leftover I wish I could also be embraced in copies (because I don’t want to Sara. Before you sell it, you first have this way.” We answer them: “Yes, this waste them) so that I can give them to go through it, so that you know magazine is expensive because it to my friends and family members. why you are outside the church comes from far away, but we are also At first my father, who is a Muslim, shouting: “Traces, Traces!” And you ‘expensive’ and valuable because of asked me where I got it from, but have to explain; otherwise it’s just a the friendship we are living.” T

No 4 2018 13

CL LIFE

“YOU CANNOT FAKE THE HUNDREDFOLD”

The “veteran” who was surprised again nstead, for John and An- drew...” The revolution starts after many years. The 70-year-old woman here, in the middle of the as- who had recently met CL. Violence in Mexico sembly. It was Alejandro, an and starvation in Venezuela. A report Argentine from Santa Fe, who “Iwas speaking to Fr. Julián Carrón and on the annual summit of Latin American CL 300 others present in the room. He leaders with Julián Carrón. is one of the first members of CL in Latin America–he was among those who met Fr. Francesco Ricci. He re- by Davide Perillo traced a journey over many years in

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do not know Him anymore. Carron said, “For months, we have walked on a path. Now we can ask ourselves: Do we know Christ a little better? How can we prove it? Otherwise, our path is useless. We have things to do, we have projects, but the essential is missing.” And to help verify this, he offered a simple criterion: “The way we face what life brings. Those who do not have this familiarity start from their impression of reality, not from an event. If Christ has entered into the heart of life, it can be seen when life challenges us, not when we which the Gospel, church traditions the Leaders of CL in Latin America just talk about it.” and even “what had struck me most (ARAL) at Centro Santa Fé in São The challenges are many on this about Giussani, the invitation to live Paulo, Brazil. They came from 22 continent that is as beautiful and reality with intensity,” had become, countries to work on the theme “Re- as tormented as the sea sung about almost without his realizing it, all talk. storing or Beginning.” in the song heard often during the They were words–true words–but re- ARAL, Debaixo d’agua: “Under- peated without making an impact on A simple criterion. Carrón explained water”–where “everything is more his life, on his relationship with his the theme during the introduction beautiful, blue and colorful [...] But I wife, his kids, or his work as an attor- on Friday night. He reintroduced need to breathe every day.” There is a ney. In short: an “ideology.” Instead, the Beginning Day and the provo- need to live within the struggles every he said that a true experience of the cation offered by Fr. Giussani: in the day brings: the hunger that besieges Movement “reawakens human sensi- beginning the Movement “was built Venezuela, the violence that afflicts bility; it makes life fuller. It is a shift on Christ, and you may say it was Mexico... and the sense of dissatis- in mentality; it changes the way you naive, but the heart of the matter, the faction that touches everyone. This look at things. It is a revolution.” Car- persuasive motivator was the fact of is the same challenge offered by the rón interjected: “How did you learn Christ.” Then the tension shifted, by Pope in two trips in the span of a few this? What change took place inside and by, toward “cultural translation.” months through Colombia, Chile, you that made you discover this?” The consequence was dramatic: we and Peru. That evening, the vis- » Here, Alejandro mentioned “the first two who met Jesus,” those described by Fr. Giussani: “Instead, for John and Andrew, it was in following that exceptional person that they learned to know differently and to change themselves and reality. That is what happened to me. Being in the Move- ment, by a kind of osmosis, I realized that this was true.” That by follow- ing, one can see more and that rela- tionships are born–or reborn. “You become more attuned to everything around you. It is a revolution.” This has always been God’s meth- od. It was reaffirmed several times On these pages, moments from the annual and in many examples raised during Assembly of CL Leaders of Latin America, the three days of the Assembly of held on March 16th–18th, in São Paulo, Brazil.

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» its that had moved everyone be- came the starting point. “But we risk losing their overarching meaning, if we do not reconsider the challenge,” commented Fr. Julián de la Morena, the leader of CL in Latin America. He described a dialogue between Fr. Gi- ussani and John Paul II in which the latter said: “The problem is truth,” and Fr. Giussani replied: “Your Holi- ness, if I may say so, the problem is Peter,” because if it is not bound to its historical origins, the truth disin- tegrates. And Peter in the person of Pope Francis has come to the coun- tries that Catalina, Luis, and Silvia are from. The three took the stage to tell their stories. The first, Catalina, is Colombian. She was a teacher, but she lost her job just before the Pope came: “I asked myself how this could be an oppor- tunity. In the presence of Francis, I loved. You would see them come and us defenseless “just as the disciples came as a beggar.” She was surround- ask yourself: What are they looking were after the crucifixion.” In re- ed by millions of people. “Why were for? What do they need?” She re- sponse to this discomfort, the Pope they there? We often ask ourselves counted the amazing conversations cited Jesus and his question to Peter, what it means to be a presence. Well, she had with her colleagues. Then “Do you love me?” which allowed he was the incarnation of it. They she asked another question, a big Peter to experience all of the mercy sought after him as Zaccheus sought one: “What does it mean to follow and joy of being a son, “We are not Jesus. It was striking the Pope? Because you called to replace Christ through our to see the way that he can only build upon actions. Everything depends on the looked at people.” At “Everything something that is hap- memory granted to us at the mo- a certain point during pening.” ment we were touched by His gaze.” the Pope’s visit, she depends on the Our task: to be witnesses. “Jesus found herself stand- memory granted To breathe. Alberto calls us through others,” through a ing next to the woman to us at the Savorana, who had companionship, as the Pope said in who had fired her: “We moment we traveled there from Puerto Maldonado: “So that we can were there, united, as Italy, was tasked with gather [...] around the person of Je- two women, facing a were touched making a synthesis sus.” presence that captivat- by His gaze.” of the path forged by The next morning, at the assem- ed both of us.” the Pontiff. He began bly, Carolina from Argentina opened Luis, who is Chilean, with the words recent- by referring to Debaixo d’agua and said that Francis “generated a very ly expressed by Cleuza Zerbini, the her “need to breathe, always.” She open space for dialogue, within the Leader of the Association Sem Ter- described how, to her surprise, she Church and between the Church and ra: “For me, following the Pope is was moved by a poor family that others” because “we all need an em- not a problem: I follow Carrón, he made her think about how Christ brace.” Silvia, an oncologist living in follows the Pope; therefore, I follow was moved and about her need to Lima, Peru, was moved by those who the Pope....” Simple. Savorana drew “recognize the measure the Mystery asked that they be healed and seen. one main point from the previous uses,” because this, as the prayer to Fr. “Those people wanted to touch the discussions: the context, “a chang- Giussani expresses, “makes fruitful hem of his garment in order to feel ing society” that sometimes leaves the soil in our heart.” Then there was

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all that we are. It is the only one. The communication of Christ is handed down through the change that hap- pens inside you, with all of your lim- its.”

The revolution. Next was Giovanna, from Brazil. “When I read Giussani’s writings, I underline many lines and make notes about my adventures, at- tractions, and self-discovery... but the adventure for me is the revolution of reason: a new way to live, to work. It a victory for my I.” She used an unusu- al but effective image: “It is as if I were a skeleton and every day that I spend here, a piece of flesh is added on, and then I am able to make a movement that once was not possible for me.” She spoke about a conversation she had with a female coworker who had a partner and who had undergone Daniela from Peru, who described as they are, God reveals Himself.”) artificial insemination: “One day she being surprised by herself as she Or the surprise of Carlos from Ven- came to me in tears asking: ‘Giovan- waited for the Pope (“I asked myself ezuela, who was taken aback by his na, can you help me understand why I was waiting for him that way, reaction to the need of a friend who what it means to be a mother? How but then I understood: it is because lost the only pair of shoes he owned: do your friends live?’ She asked me, a of his relationship with Christ; that is “It is not a given that I could look at Memor Domini...” “And how did this what interests me.”) A moment lat- this friend with a different gaze, but help you know Christ more?” asked er, she felt she had been “dishonest” it is thanks to the one Carrón: “What did toward parents who came for meet- who looked at me in a you realize?” She re- ings at her school: “I feel as if I leave different way.” “We think that plied, “For me, it feels something out, as if I cannot bring The first turning like I am born again myself to say His name.” “But would point came through suffocation is every day. My reason anything you say be enough?” asked Alexandre, from Ec- born from the is widened. I see that if Carrón: “How can you introduce uador. “There are limitedness of things were as I imag- these people to reality? If we think we many things that things, not from ine them in my mind, can quell the existential insecurity of scandalize me: the I wouldn’t be happy at the other by saying the right words, defects of the com- the fact that our all: my measure is too we are not following the way that munity, of the lead- desire is infinite.” small.” God works. What has the Mystery ers... But life turns “That’s it, the mea- done to answer this question?” into a disaster when sure!” Carrón pointed The answer came one step at a time. I look at it that way. It is an illusion out: “We think that suffocation is It was filled with surprises, like the to think that the little I know about born from the limitedness of things, one described by Max after an unex- Christ means I can walk on my own: not from the fact that our desire is in- pected conversation with his boss. (“I after taking the first steps, I get lost. I finite. Imagine being able make your requested vacation time, and he asked need a place that welcomes me and house bigger and that you could put me where I was going: in a shift in all of my humanity, and this place ex- into it all the things that you desire. the conversation I had not imagined, ists.” This is the characteristic typical After awhile, you would want to leave I found myself talking about my life of the Christian community, Carrón it. The reason for this is our need for here. When someone looks at things emphasized: “This place welcomes totality. It would be better if we »

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» realized this, because when we see that everything is limited, we stop getting angry at things and at others. It’s not their fault if they can’t fulfill us. But if one understands that the true adventure is that of reason, one can breathe in all situations, even when they are limited. The ques- tion is whether or not I live with the awareness of the Infinite present in the limited. What a grace it is to have found a place that introduces me to this totality. How fortunate we are that Christ exists and that He intro- duced into our lives a new gaze on ev- erything. This is why your coworker asked you how to live...” Milena, from Salvador de Bahia, suggested that going back to the be- ginning means “paying attention to where the presence happens again: this is how we learn to love reality, and this presence can be good for everyone.” “This is our contribution: that people can see that there is such a ment began. Alejandro had recent- Christ does: it generates a new crea- thing as a life that is full,” emphasized ly discovered the “instead, for John ture. And we realize that we are fol- Carrón. This can only happen “by liv- and Andrew....” “It took me 23 years lowing because this happens to us. ing immersed in this story that took to get it,” he joked, but only a little. Do we want to find out if we are fol- hold of us.” It is the same story that “It does not matter how long it took, lowing Christ? We will find out if we took hold of Mariela what matters is that are living the hundredfold. This is the from Honduras, who it was the loyalty to test.” Just moments later, de la More- was recently baptized “We have your experience that na called this “the victory of Christ: and who admitted brought you there, that during my travels across many that from time to time certainty not that revealed it to you,” countries over these months, I am her faith wavers. “You because we are answered Carrón, seeing it in the most surprising and know, the gesture that faithful, but who continued: “It is unexpected ways: in people who live Christ made through because of enough that one walks peacefully, who breathe even when Baptism lasts forever,” this path for it to be- they are underwater.” replied the leader of what He does come visible to every- Cristina, a 70-year-old Uruguay- CL. “Through it, He with us.” one. What it will take an woman, spoke about her recent has told you: you are for all of us to do that, encounter with the Movement and mine, whatever hap- we’ll see, but nothing how something she heard Paula, pens to you. We have certainty not can overshadow what we have felt.” a young woman from Brazil, say because we are faithful, but because And further: “We have been given the during a conversation with Carrón of what He does with us.” words of Fr. Giussani, but we cannot prior to the beginning of the ARAL, just parrot the words, for that would had struck a chord in her. She de- Visible to everyone. The lunch break become an ideology. You must live scribed “the treasure that I discov- was overflowing with conversations reality. You must belong to a place ered that changed the way I see ev- and brightened by the joy of the vol- that continually restores in you a new erything.” And so, after years of hard unteers in the teal T-shirts, a marvel awareness of reality, a new attitude. work and left-leaning mayoral cam- within a marvel. Then the next seg- This is what the contemporaneity of paign battles, she found herself in the

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ple and moments with people that are astonishing, that make you un- derstand that the one who makes ev- erything is Another.” Olavo, from São Paulo, talked about his five children, about losing his job, and about a real- ity that “seems contradictory, but the more I embrace the circumstances, the more I become a protagonist.” Marco Montrasi, whom everyone calls Bracco, the leader of CL in Bra- zil, offered these closing remarks: “Sometimes we live in situations that are like graves. But we can see if the words of the Easter poster are true: if after the Resurrection of Christ, ev- erything can be transformed.”

With a greater intensity. The syn- thesis wove together many things that had been shared as proof that the challenge had been accepted; that in several instances “we started from present faced by a question: “How do dad, it will come when our friends an event and not from our impres- I communicate what I live to my sis- bring the groceries.” He meant the sions.” Carrón reiterated Giussani’s ters? Why do I want them to also have bolsa solidaria (Groceries for Com- ever-present concern, which he had this...?” Carrón then asked her: “And passion) program organized by the repeated many times over the years, what did Christ do with you, Cristi- community. “At the age of 7, he re- for the “I,” the person. “We have seen na? How did He become present? We alized that his dad the method; it is the have to follow His method.” couldn’t solve this event of Christ hap- This is a method, a path, that was problem, but that “Our task, the pening now; it is hap- enriched by the simple and powerful our friends could. pening now in partic- witnesses on Saturday night. Guill- In that moment, I reason why we ular places and stories. ermo talked about the hardships of thanked God, be- are on this Earth, Only by following this daily life in Venezuela, where ev- cause everything that coincides with can we be regenerat- erything has been taken away, ex- we are going through that fullness that ed.” Otherwise, one is cept violence, and how many are is worth it if it will at the mercy of one’s fleeing. A husband and father of educate my son to is inherited own analyses. “The two small children, he lost his job think this way: not by following.” true test of whether we and was crushed by his responsi- to think that one can are following Christ is bility and by not being able to put do everything alone, the hundredfold. We food on the table. Then he opened but that one is dependent on others cannot fake this.” If someone lives up and asked for help. This showed for everything.” Now Guillermo is with greater intensity, intelligence, him that “not all forms of help are self-employed and the situation has and fullness, that person can see it, the same: some destroy you, because improved. “But I place my hope only and others will see it too. Our task, they try to replace you, while others in Christ, because he is the source of the reason why we are on this Earth make you grow because they respect the good for all. Even of those things and why we can give back to this your freedom.” He spoke about his that we do not understand.” world, coincides with that fullness son Samuel: “There was no sugar Giampiero told a story about Cuba, that is inherited by following. “In- in the house. He told me: it’s OK where he saw people growing: “Peo- stead, for John and Andrew...” T

No 4 2018 19

OCCHIELLO CULTURE

LOOKING OUT ON “CAMPO G”

Twenty years after the death of WILLIAM CONGDON, three brothers at the Benedictine monastery known as the Cascinazza speak about life with the great American painter, and how he helped the monks live their vocation. Even those who never met him.

by Luca Fiore

illiam Congdon called Today, overcoming their typically for my paintings.’” the field outside the reserved nature, Giorgio and two of The two had met in 1968 in the window of his studio his brothers, Claudio Del Ponte and office of the newly-founded Jaca at the Cascinazza, the Fr. Giuseppe La Rocca, have bro- Book publishing house on Via Ba- Benedictine monastery, ken their long silence and accepted gutta in Milan. Congdon had an ac- W“Campo [Field] G.” This name re- our invitation to speak about their tive role in its establishment. “I met ferred to the first letter of the name “companion on the road.” him there for the first time, but we of Giorgio Marognoli, one of the really got to know each other later monks in the community that host- New York and Assisi. “He asked me in Subiaco, where I had entered the ed the great American painter from to come to his studio pretty regular- monastery of St. Scholastica at the 1979 until his death 20 years ago on ly. I looked at his paintings and of- age of 21.” The American painter, a April 15, 1998. fered a few thoughts,” Giorgio said. successful member of the “New York His choice of name for that little “The firstCampo G originated at a School” (as successful as another plot of land, one of the favorite sub- time when he was unable to paint; member, Jackson Pollock), had con- jects of his work from the beginning he was stuck. It was shortly after he verted to Catholicism in 1959 in As- of the 1980s on, gives one a sense moved here. I said something to him sisi, and had been given use of the of the impact this community of that got the artistic juices flowing Beato Lorenzo hermitage above the monks had on both his artistic sense again. He said to me, ‘Thank you, Benedictine Abbey of Subiaco for a and his humanity. because you’ve given me the blood number of years. “I went to see him

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there,. During times of recreation, I flow from his experience, he threw it ed the risotto and exclaimed, ‘Who walked up there. He showed me his out. He would say, ‘It came from the made this?!’ [Here, Fr. Claudio imi- paintings, but at the time I wasn’t on old man.’” Congdon’s diary is full of tated an American accent]. It was an the same ‘wavelength’ of his work.” notes from conversations the two ordinary risotto, but for him it was had: “November 10, 1979. Giorgio: the best he had ever tasted. He knew The old man. Congdon, who was ‘How do you remember the colors how to live in wonder and be grate- born in 1921 in Providence, Rhode you’ve seen to paint them?’ Me: ‘The ful. The other example of this was Island, was 56 at the time. He had gift reminds me, and I remember his careful preparation, especially met Fr. Giussani some time before, the colors.’ Giorgio: ‘Exactly–art is a in his last days, for when I came to thanks to Paolo Mangini, his bap- gift.’ Me: ‘Every gesture, when done bring him Holy Communion. He tismal sponsor, who was 20 years in the Spirit, is a gift, is art.’” placed two lit candles on the table. his junior. Mangini was a mem- Giorgio went on to say, “He con- It was his encounter with Jesus, who ber of the first Memores Domini sidered this place an extension of came to visit him at home.” house, in Gudo Gambaredo. On the house in Gudo. And we wel- June 29, 1971, the Cascinazza was comed him aware of this fact. We “More of a monk than i am.” Over founded just a few hundred meters helped each other live our respective the last 20 years, memories of the away from the house, and Cong- vocations. Every so often, he’d say to painter have often come back to don wrote: “I entrust my art to this me, ‘I don’t see you, I see you as part Fr. Claudio. “I would almost say monastery which, in turn, offers it- of a body, the Cascinazza.’” that Bill was more of a monk than self for this art; that is, it lays down While Giorgio was talking about I am, and God gave him to us as a its life of communion as the source how he was a sounding board for priceless companion, especially be- of this art.” He did not know at the Congdon on spiritual and artistic cause he was older than all of us; LOOKING OUT ON “CAMPO G” time that, a few years later, he would matters, Fr. Claudio decided to set we were a pretty young communi- establish his studio and home inside the record straight: “As my confreres ty. He frequently came to Mass and the Cascinazza. know, I was a little delayed in grasp- prayed the Hours with us. He was a “Art had become the expression of ing the depth of his perceptivity and reminder of the profound nature of his being a Memor Domini. This was his artwork. Still, I was struck by the our vocation. I often found myself what made him so great,” Giorgio intensity of his gaze and his dramat- wanting to live with the same in- says. “For him, painting was obedi- ic life. And, at the same time, by his tensity he did. For him, nothing was ence to a gift. When he realized that childlike heart.” He told two stories: trivial. He had a sense of humor; he a painting he had finished didn’t “One time he came to lunch, tast- was quite witty. For him, everything was a sign of the Mystery.” When asked if he ever confessed his struggle to understand the art to the painter, Fr. Claudio answered with a smile. “St. Benedict says that each person has his gift, but with time I started to enter a little bit into his point of view.” Giorgio chimed in, “If he asked you what you thought about a painting and you didn’t answer, he’d say, ‘Your silence is very eloquent.’ If you told him it was ‘pretty,’ he would say, ‘You’re not looking at it right.’ If you told him you weren’t feeling the painting, maybe because of a color or an »

Congdon (April 15, 1912–April 15, 1998) with the monks in 1994. Giorgio Marognoli is crouching in Williamfront, Congdonin the middle. (15 aprile 1912 - 15 aprile 1998).

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» aspect of its composition you Campo G, 12 (brina [frost]) (January 29, 1981), oil on wood panel. didn’t like, he would thank you. And maybe redo the whole thing.” previously invited Giovanni Testori. met when he was living in Venice,” The monks were traveling com- When they first met in 1982, Con- Giuseppe said. “When I first arrived, panions for Congdon’s vocation and gdon welcomed the college student I had the job of cleaning the monas- a help for his artistic work. Like the with a typed letter. The first line tery, and when he heard me on the time when Congdon asked another said, “What could I possibly have to stairs to his studio, he would come monk, Bruno, to help him render the say to a young architect?” The last out to say hello and to thank me.” “woven” look of tilled fields. Within line read, “An artist prays by loving a few days, the brother found him a things, because he loves them with Attaining simplicity. From his bind- “comb” created from an old metal suffering.” It was the beginning of a er of “keepsakes,” Giuseppe pulled file. It was the inspiration for one of friendship that would accompany out a clipping of the obituary Fr. Gi- Congdon’s most beautiful series of Giuseppe along his entire path to ussani wrote on the painter’s death. landscapes. becoming a monk. He still has the “In my mind, it’s the most beautiful Brother Giuseppe met Congdon cards the artist wrote on the occa- ‘portrait’ ever done of Congdon.” It before he came to the Cascinazza. sions of his entrance into the mon- says, “The long years of his life in- While he was an architecture stu- astery, his investiture, and his sol- grained in him an awareness that dent in Milan (though he is from emn profession. “He took a liking to every work of art that flowed from Messina), he invited the painter to my dad because he said he remind- the depths of his creativity was a wit- speak at his university, as he had ed him of Igor Stravinsky, whom he ness to himself and to the world of

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Christ’s presence. We are grateful gave me the same day, ask- life came about in Assisi to him for his friendship through ing me if I had noticed it. in 1959, and from there which, in the simplicity he at- He wrote, ‘I don’t think I’ve God led me, agonizingly, tained, he continually reminded us ever seen, from India to Af- step by step, to be planted that beauty–tied to the memory of rica, such a spectacle, such a in the desert-like plains Christ’s death and Resurrection–is heavenly vision as this eve- of Bassa, outside Milan. It an expression of and introduction ning’s sunset.’ It was beauty, was only through my des- to the Truth of reality.” Giuseppe the gift of beauty that won perate ‘yes’ that God could commented, “I saw how he attained him over.” PROFILE stick me in the middle of that simplicity with my own eyes. Giuseppe tried to go a An artist who hell.” Giuseppe said, “Bill He occasionally demonstrated the step further in his tribute. enjoyed great was the person who, along self-love and egocentrism common “What has stuck with me success in New with Fr. Giussani, most York in the 1950s, in artists, but each time he asked for the most from him is a Bill Congdon helped me to see this place forgiveness and started over. That lesson about the unity be- converted to as the one God chose for ‘attained simplicity’ refers most of tween our vocation in this Catholicism in a task saturated with his- all, though, to his profound way place and the historical task 1959. From 1979 tory. Now, when I think of seeing everything. One time, I each of us has.” He pulled until his death, back on him, I’m filled he lived at the saw him so amazed at the light of a out another photocopy: Cascinazza with a sense of contrition sunset that he went down into the the text of a talk Congdon Monastery, just that makes me ask myself, courtyard in his underwear.” Gior- gave at Abbiategrasso in outside Milan. ‘Am I living with the same gio added, “Right, I have the card he 1982. “The death of my old seriousness he had?’”

Remaining small.The three monks admit that, even now, it’s hard to look out the windows of the monas- tery without thinking of Congdon’s paintings. “I’m struck by the fact that the field looks different from the first floor than it does from the second floor, and this perspective is exactly what you see in his paintings,” Gi- useppe explained. “Still today, I’m amazed.” “It’s like the field is coming right up to you,” echoed Giorgio, lift- ing his open palm toward his face. Fr. Claudio related how the pri- or, Fr. Sergio, told Francesco, one of the latest arrivals at the monastery, about how important Congdon was for him. He remembered something the painter said over 30 years ago: “Look at what’s looking back at you! That rock... It’s Mount Tabor.” The rock that was the place of Christ’s Transfiguration. Francesco writes, “Though I only started to get to know him when I entered the mon- astery (18 years after his death), he is a witness to me that the method for reaching true knowledge is in re- Primavera [Spring], 3 (March 18, 1981), oil on wood panel. maining ‘small.’” T

No 4 2018 23

THE LIFE OF LUIGI GIUSSANI by Alberto Savorana. Translated by Chris Bacich and Mariangela Sullivan

A detailed account of the life and legacy of the founder of the Communion and Liberation movement.

1,416 Pages, December 2017

Monsignor Luigi Giussani (1922-2005) was the founder of the Catho- lic lay movement Communion and Liberation in Italy, which has hun- dreds of thousands of adherents around the globe. In The Life of Luigi Giussani, Alberto Savorana, who spent an important part of his life working and studying with Giussani, draws on many unpublished do- cuments to recount who the priest was and how he lived. Giussani’s life story is particularly significant because it shares many of the same challenges, risks, and paths toward enlightenment that are described in his numerous and influential publications.

In addition to providing the first chronological reconstruction of the life of the founder of Communion and Liberation, The Life of Luigi Giussani provides a detailed account of his legacy and what his life’s work meant to individual people and the Church.

MCGILL-QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY PRESS