A few weeks ago, we were in Milan to learn more in depth about the beginnings of the Movement of Communion and Liberation and the life of Fr. Giussani, meeting people and visiting significant places. Along with the seminarians of the first three years, there were a few of the Missionary Sisters who are in formation.
The first appointment was at the Catholic University of Milan, where we attended a lesson with Eugenia Scabini, one of the first students in GS and a former student of Fr. Giussani at the Berchet High School. Eugenia told us the story of the birth of the Movement around that young priest who provoked them during their weekly hour of Religion. Almost immediately, she explained, the core dimensions of culture, charity and catholicity took shape, along with a spontaneous opening toward the world and the desire for mission. A few of the young people, in fact, welcomed the possibility of going to Brazil: “With them, to go on mission, was at the heart of all of them,” she remembers today. Even the hearts of those who stayed behind, contributing with a tithe, the financial contributions that everyone chose to give, freely and faithfully giving from what they had every month. The day continued with a visit to the Ambrosian Library with Fr. Francesco Braschi, then to the Duomo, where St. Charles Borromeo is buried, and to the “Cimetero Monumentale”: here we prayed at the tomb of Fr. Giussani.
The next day we paid a visit to the house of the Memores, at Gudo Gambaredo, just outside of Milan. The road there is narrow, running through fields; the horizon was covered with fog, with a few herons who were taking off in flight. At the house, Vincezno Moretti and Adriano Rusconi were waiting for us. They told us about the beginnings of the association that is now widely known as “Gruppo Adulto” (Adult Group), and of the relationship with Giussani. They then explained some of the paintings of William Congdon, who lived with them for a long time, and we continued the conversation at lunch. In the afternoon, we met with Fr. Sergio, prior of the monastery of Cascinazza.
I realized that I was leaving behind a place that was already saved, inhabited by faces that are full of gratitude.
Returning to Milan, the fog had lifted. The sun illuminated the fields and the channels of water; the horizon seemed larger and the ponds reflected, like mirrors, the color of the sky. The words we heard resounded in us strongly and every gaze was full of expectation. Once we got back on the main road, with its normal traffic and noise, I realized that I was leaving behind a place that was already saved, inhabited by faces that are full of gratitude.
That evening we had dinner with Giorgio Taglietti and a few of his friends, to hear the story of the beginnings of the Movement in Uganda and of his work as a medical missionary.
On Friday, we continued lessons with Eugenia at the seminary of Venegono, where we were staying. As a farewell to us, she showed us a video of her friend, Fr. Pigi Bernareggi, “a pure and contemplative friend,” among the first to go on mission to Belo Horizonte, next to the favelas. Pigi was sending her well wishes for her eightieth birthday: full of joy, he remembered the many seeds planted together along the course of their life. The same joy and the same desire for mission resided in my heart during the return trip, together with gratitude for the fact of belonging to this history that gives direction to our own path.
