For around six months now, our house has been almost doubled in size. In September, the Memores Domini [lay persons who, while still working in the world like many, choose to live together, in celibacy and to practice the evangelical councils, editor’s note] began significant works of remodeling in their home in Mexico City. They asked if we could host them and, in October, they moved in. There are six of us and three of them: Cesar, Daniele and René. At the beginning, we were a bit worried that it would be overcrowded. It was a fear that, in reality, rapidly dissolved. Their presence, in fact, provoked only a humorous confusion in the parish community. A few older ladies thought they were new priests. Between a “Buenos dias, Fr. Daniele” and a “Buena tarde, Fr. Cesar,” the Memores sought to explain their state in life to the ladies. Did they understand or did they smile and nod while returning home even more perplexed? Only God knows.
Two things strike me about this time that we shared. The first is a profound unity that exists between our two vocations, even if they are distinct. We gather almost every day for Morning and Evening Prayer in the small chapel in our home. After Compline, we maintain a climate of silence until the following morning. Often we are able to have lunch or dinner together and, when dinner finished, we would sit on the couch in the living room to speak about how the day had gone, about the situation in the country, about responsibilities and work for the Movement or about the events that happen in the world and in the Church. We are all sons of Fr. Giussani and, despite the differences, this common root emerges continually.
We are all sons of Fr. Giussani and, despite the differences, this common root emerges continually.
The second thing that grabs my attention, on the other hand, is the richness that comes from the differences that characterize us. Some time ago, Leonardo, a young man who belongs to GS, called me in a huff: “Tommaso, I need to enroll in the university but I don’t know what to do!.” “Do you have any ideas?” “The only thing I’ve thought of so far is Accounting, but I’m not really sure what it is.” “And I’m even less sure! Let’s do this: come to our house. Cesar is an accountant; you can speak about it with him.” Cesar proposes to him to get together a few days later. They spend a few hours together in which Cesar responds to all of his questions and Leonardo gets clarity for all his doubts. The week after, he calls me and tells me happily that he enrolled in Accounting.
Personally, I am extremely grateful for the presence of Daniele Semprini. He was born in 1951, knew Giussani personally and was in the group of the first Memores Domini. I encountered the Movement in 2005, a few months after the death of Fr. Giussani. It is for me an enormous richness to listen to Daniele’s stories: the protests of ‘68, the judgments of Giussani, the various steps of the Movement in the years to follow. Every so often, when speaking about his personal encounters with Giussani, he would be moved to tears.
In the book At the Origin of the Christian Claim, Giussani states that only those who shared life with Jesus Christ could have come to understand who He was. I think that this time of prolonged shared life between the priests of St. Charles and the Memores Domini, in which we ate, prayed and spent time together, is helping us to grow in our awareness of the great story in which God has involved us and that He calls us to build together.
