40 years. The value of numbers, as well as their meaning in the history of salvation, in the Old and New Testaments, contains contrasts.
On the one hand, Psalm 90 says: A thousand years are like a day to God, and a day is like a thousand years; on the other hand, attempts have been made to find a precise word from God in certain numbers. Without going to the extremes of Kabbalah, which transfers words into numbers and numbers into teachings, we have known since the seven days of creation how important they are in terms of revelation. Exegetes write that, for example, in the book of Revelation, there are two numbers for every three verses.
One day is like a thousand years. Think of those who die as soon as they are born, those who die young: this verse from the Psalm introduces us to God’s perspective, which is profoundly different from ours. Ours is often a quantitative perspective that judges a long life to be fortunate. God’s gaze, on the other hand, is qualitative: He sees the infinite weight of the moment and the completeness of lives that are short or judged by the world to be unfortunate or inhuman.
So it is with these forty years: we could recount many external events that are certainly important even in the eyes of God (the number of priests, the opening of new houses…). God, however, cherishes an infinite number of small moments in which the holiness of many people was revealed to his heart. Let us then try to enter into the mystery of the number 40. It has explicit references in both the Old and New Testaments. We think of the forty years of the Jewish people wandering in the desert; we think of the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai; we think of Elijah’s forty days from the desert to his encounter with God on Mount Horeb; but we also think of Jesus’ forty days of fasting and the forty days He spent with His apostles and disciples between His resurrection and ascension. The number 40 really has enormous significance in the history of salvation.
What lesson can we learn from this? I will limit myself to two stories: that of Elijah and that of the risen Jesus.
In the cave on Mount Sinai, Elijah is waiting for God’s revelation, for His voice, for His friendly and comforting words. On that occasion, he experiences a true conversion. At first, he witnesses and participates in dramatic experiences (the whirlwind, the fire, and the earthquake) that bring to mind ancient hierophanies, the true but archaic conception of God’s manifestation and presence. Something terrible, shocking, unimaginable. Without denying these experiences, Elijah is led to a new relationship with God.
The life of a fraternity is first and foremost the experience of Christ’s companionship in our daily lives.
He is rather the One who manifests himself in silence, in peace, in calm. Cardinal Ravasi translated this verse from the Book of Kings as “a voice of subtle silence.” I want to look at these forty years from the perspective that God taught Elijah: beyond and within the struggles and earthquakes that demand personal conversion and the education of a community, there is the experience of God’s companionship, of his penetrating teaching, of his silence full of words, of his forgiveness, of the path forward that life offers us even through our mistakes.
I want to now look at the forty days Jesus spent on earth between his resurrection and ascension. A life of a fraternity such as that of St. Charles is first and foremost the experience of Christ’s companionship in our daily lives, the experience of the closeness of the Risen One and, at the same time, of the pilgrimage we are called to make between Jerusalem and Galilee, between Baptism, ordained priesthood, and the final encounter with Christ beyond time.
The time of a fraternity is the time of the manifestations of Jesus. He reveals himself little by little. Together he constitutes the foundation, strength, and direction of community life, continually gathering His own from their dispersal, showing them the way, giving them the strength of unity and the comfort of joy.
We must always read the years of our history in the light of the Old and New Covenants: we are a fragment of that history, we relive its deeds, weaknesses, and strength, and we have in the life of Jesus the key to understanding what He has given us to live together with our brothers and sisters.
