FOR A PASTORAL PROGRAM OF COMMUNION
Aldo
Giordano
Listen to and support humanity’s search
People today are searching for the truth. We search for a truth that gives meaning to our life. Is there anyone capable of responding to my desire for happiness, affection and eternity? Are the great sufferings of individuals, peoples and death the final word for us? Why is there innocent suffering?
We search for beauty. We are attracted
by the fascination of a face, a landscape, a work of art, by light. At the same
time, however, we also experience the corruption of each thing.
Humanity searches for love, for what
is good. When the space of the world was vast, the different cultures and
nations existed but they were distant. Now the space is becoming smaller and
smaller and the diversities live in the same house. Is there a good that is capable
of making these diversities live together?
The secret of God crucified and forsaken
The spirituality of unity indicates Easter as the source of a pastoral program capable of creating a communion that is the place of truth, beauty and love.
The first step is to have the courage to follow Jesus there, outside of the walls, all the way to the point of his cry of abandonment, where even heaven and earth seem to be separated. We cannot just look on as spectators and arbiters at the sufferings and wounds. We need to enter into the divisions, the failures, in order to “comprehend them” completely.
The wound creates a new space that
didn’t exist before. The crucified Lord becomes an immense, open space capable of
gathering everyone, especially those who carry the cross in life and also those
distant from God. Each person, inasmuch as he or she is touched by suffering
and evil, always belongs to the crucified Lord. In following Christ, pastors
and communities are called to become this welcoming dwelling-place without
borders.
If the grain of wheat does not die it does not bear fruit. From John Paul II we learned the great lesson of a “sermon” given through the mystery of suffering. Suffering transformed into love is perhaps the most “intimate” secret of every pastoral endeavor.
The risen Lord and trinitarian life
Reciprocal love brings the presence of the risen Lord and also furthers the ecumenical journey. The Churches and ecclesial communities do not yet share enough faith to celebrate the Eucharist together, but nothing prevents us from living together the Gospel, charity, collaboration, solidarity. This will create a space for the presence of the risen Lord among us and he will lead us to full communion.
The risen Lord among us is also able to put the various religions in contact with one another. If people of various religions deepen their knowledge and esteem for one another and collaborate, the risen Lord can act, he can do everything.
The risen Lord present in mutual love can make us experience that eternity exists and consequently that life should be considered in the light of heaven and not only in the years we spend on this earth. This is the great news.
The pastoral method of Jesus of Nazareth
First of all, more than preaching the
Gospel, Jesus himself was the living Gospel, both in the thirty years of his hidden
life in
Jesus devoted most of his time during his public life to building up the small community of the twelve, through their life together, systematic catechesis, prayer…. It is of fundamental importance to give life to a group capable of living with Christ and then of radiating this way of life.
When Jesus found himself in front of the crowds, he evangelized the crowds as well.
Jesus did not oppose the forms or methods of evangelization in a sterile way, nor did he count too much on theories and programs; he evangelized by loving whoever he had in front of him.
There is an Arabic proverb that I
especially like: “If you want to cut a straight path, attach your plow to a star.”
Also for evangelization we urgently need to find a new star, a new light. Jesus
forsaken and risen is the star that allows us to cut
straight paths in our pastoral work and to give a contribution to the history
of the world.