Father Pino
(Fr. Pino Isorardi is a priest of the Contemplative Missionary Movement ÒP. de FoucaldÓ of Cuneo)
I have been a priest now for twenty five years, and it is always such a joy to celebrate the Eucharist. When I was ordained a priest, I asked for two graces. I will tell you just one of them: Lord, even if I am able to celebrate Mass for a hundred years, never let it become a habit such that I take the Eucharist for granted! This is my fear, but I must say that the Lord has never left me disappointed in all of these years. Even in a tiny mission house with only three people, I always begin every Eucharist with a profound joy and a little fear, realizing to a small degree the great mystery that is being celebrated.
We are here for the celebration, many youth and many families, and I hope that there will be joy in every moment of these days for you. Let us not forget, however, not even for one instant, that our joy is Jesus. Joy is not a thing; it is a Person, a Face. Among us there are those who are more open to Jesus and love Jesus more, and they are more joyful--and also more humble, because he who truly loves Jesus, becomes humble like Jesus is.
I am sorry that Fr. Gasparino could not be present here today with us. He holds you in his heart. He had a minor heart operation eight days ago and is recuperating, but he needs a lot of rest. Eight days ago I was in the hospital near Fr. Gasparino, and, at a certain point, I was asked to leave the room so they could clean it. I took a walk through the hallways, full of huge photographs taken of magnificent and beautiful mountains. The title written on one of these posters caught my attention because of the bold writing. The title was "Constitution for those born tired." It was obviously written in an ironic sense, but finally I wasn't able to smile, because I said to myself, "In the end there are those that still believe in this, excuse the word, "idiotic" mentality." Now I will read you some of the rules of this Constitution which are totally the opposite of our Festival: "We are born tired, and we live to sleep." "Love sleep as you love yourself." "Work is tiring. Avoid it." "Don't do today what you can put off until tomorrow." "If you see somebody sleeping, help him." "No one has ever died from too much sleep." And the very last one said, "If you get the urge to start working, stop and wait for the urge to pass." At the moment, it makes you laugh, and I hope they were placed there to encourage people to do the opposite, but I told myself, if these rules were actually to be taken seriously, we would need to entitle the poster, "Constitution for dying of boredom and meaninglessness." This is a way to die standing!
The Community teaches you the exact opposite. "You live to love." Love is the meaning life, and when we truly love, it is then that we find true rest. The heart finds rest in Love. We don't find rest staying in bed twenty four hours a day. That is to die of boredom, to throw your life down the drain.
I really like a book published a few years ago by Abbot Pierre, who at 80 years old wrote a book called "Testament." In one chapter he gives us his definition of life: "Life is a little time that God gives us so that we can learn to love." In reality, that's just what we are all doing. This Festival is a time of joy, of being together and praying together, of getting rid of our sins to learn to love. This is the greatest task we have in life. If we don't learn to love, we have failed. Our first and foremost vocation is to love.
Another word for love is "holiness." We are called to become holy, and since God desires this even more than we do, we can have trust and confidence in this, even though we are weak. Hosea, a prophet who lived seven hundred and fifty years before Jesus, is the first prophet who speaks of the relationship with God in terms of love and tenderness. From him comes a current of the Biblical revelation on this theme. Through Hosea, God reminds his people of the time of their birth, their childhood, about five hundred years prior, when Israel was still young. "When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son." Tenderness is expressed in different ways. "It was I who taught them to walk, who took them in my arms. I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks. I stooped down to feed my child." He truly cared for Israel like the apple of His eye.
Later we read of the sadness of God: "Yet...they did not know that I was their healer." This is the great danger in life. Every day we are immersed in the love of God, but we can be distracted. The biggest tragedy would be to find ourselves at the gates of heaven and realize that we have totally wasted our life with worthless things, because we didn't realize that we were being guided by Love. This will be the ultimate sadness before entering heaven, to realize that during life we were immersed in Love, yet we were so preoccupied by a million other things that we didn't even realize that we were loved. We, who want to place Love at the center of our lives, have an absolute need to discover, to experience, that we are loved. No one can say he is not loved. We are all loved. Some of us may start out less fortunate, but not even the love of the holiest parents is enough, because within us are the profound roots of fear, the fear of not being loved, of being isolated, abandoned. No human love that can destroy this fear. We need a love greater than death, and this Love is named Jesus. "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me, even if he die, he shall live." Love even conquers death!
If you leave this Festival with the sense that you are individually loved, then you will have truly lived this festival. This is my desire for each of you. At the moments in life that we are most distracted from the reality of God's love, what can help us to raise our eyes so we can see the love from God? We need people who are in love with Love. Thus, the reason for a Sister Elvira, for men and women consecrated to God. This is the reason for the Community which is not perfect. We have this treasure in vessels of clay, and those who are holy are the first to clearly realize that they aren't saints, but that they are in love with Love. They are prophets who have the task of waking us up and telling us, "Lift up your eyes! You are loved. Don't look like somebody who has been nailed to the ground." In fact, the prophet Hosea says, "You are called to look on high and convert, but no one knows how to look up." We stir up God's sadness when we don't know how to look up.
At this point, I want to dwell on a verse of the Gospel, which for the last thirty years is one among many that has captured my heart. Jesus sends forth His disciples, with a directive for a way of life that can be summarized like this, "Freely you have received; freely you shall give." This is God's way of life. God the Father freely, gratuitously, gives his Son, today, in this moment in the Eucharist. The Son of God cannot be bought, nor can he be won. He is received. Jesus gave Himself freely throughout His life, all the way to death on the Cross. To give freely, without asking anything in return, is God's way of life.
At Pentecost we received the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the gift of Love, freely given, that comes into our hearts. The Father and the Son freely give the Love which comes to live in us. We are used to freely given love. Because of this, we can respond to this Love of God by giving freely ourselves. We carry this gratuitous love inside. When you see a brother in need and give your all, you experience joy. This joy is the confirmation of the Holy Spirit of God who tells us, "Keep going because this is Life." We are truly alive when we love. This is a profound truth which we can experience every single day. When we are sad and closed and we take a small step to love, peace comes to us.
How do we get love? Those of you who have entered Community are fortunate, because you have older brothers and sisters that help you get on your knees--because love is received when we're on our knees. There are two means to receive love. One is the Sacrament of Forgiveness, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The other is to get on your knees in silence before the Eucharist and listen to Jesus who speaks to our hearts, "This is my Body given up for you. This is my Blood poured out for you." I love you. Don't be fear to love. I love with you and in you. The Eucharist is to move from our sadness to the love that Jesus gives us. Don't complain that you don't know how to love. Jesus within you is Love with His Spirit. Unite yourself to Him, and you will receive Love. This is how the fear is overcome. The word of God says that Love crushes fear.
I will conclude with a brief experience. I was twenty two years old when Jesus entered my life in a more radical way. I began to know the Community, and I heard the call to become a missionary, a priest, with a great need to pray. The pastor suggested I go live in the rectory where, for the first time, I had my own room, and I hung up a poster that had scripture verses that I painted on it. I remember a verse I wrote in bright red, "God loves you now. Now you can love." And in front of my bed the first thing I saw in the morning and last thing I saw before I went to bed at night was the verse, "Freely you have received. Freely you shall give." For me this was a song, and it meant, "Receive everything: life, joy, a zeal for life."
My Father who was a farmer transmitted this zeal for life and for work to me. I loved that work very much, and it was very hard to leave it. I really enjoyed work well done. Everything I have received--joy, prayer, faith, friendship, the meaning of life--I have received freely from God. So I said to myself, "I can freely give." This word was central in my decision to become a priest. Jesus has not disappointed me. I am still learning.
I will conclude by reading you a brief message from Fr Gasparino: "Dear young people, Every year at this time, Sister Elvira invites me to begin your celebration, and I have always come very voluntarily to experience our oneness with you. This year I can not come because I had heart surgery, so I sent Fr. Pino to represent our Community. Please permit me to make a proposal to make our unity grow. We have realized and know that we are immersed in the gifts of God from morning until night, and in truth we don't thank God enough for this. For this reason, we decided to set aside one day each month that is dedicated completely to thanksgiving. We have chosen the last Saturday of every month, during which we celebrate the Eucharist in thanksgiving and make the entire day a Magnificat in reparation for our ingratitude. Could you all join us in our thanksgiving? Sr. Elvira will decide if she chooses the first or last Saturday of the month. In so doing, we shall grow together in knowledge and love of the Lord."