Around a year ago, our bishop, Msgr. Gianrico Ruzza, asked me to become the pastor of the parish where I had already been serving as assistant pastor. The parish is named after St. Mark and Pius X and is located in Pantan Monastero, on the outskirts of Rome, around two kilometers from the House of Formation of our Fraternity. The parish was founded in the previous century mostly by immigrants from Veneto who came to reclaim the area. This trait is visible in the construction of the church, above all in the bell tower which is separated from the actual church building. This is something that I have been familiar with since childhood, since my mother came from the same part of Veneto, the province of Treviso. I have seen this kind of belltower many times.
I have gotten to know the community of Pantan Monastero well, having been the assistant pastor since August 2020, and I had already appreciated its many virtues, thanks to the valuable work of the priests who had preceded me and the tireless service of the long-standing parish priest. Don Gustavo Cece truly left his mark on this community, leaving behind a magnificent mosaic of Christ Pantocrator, which he paid for himself and which now dominates the apse. Don Gustavo died on the very day the mosaic was completed, a symbol of his eternal legacy to this community.
The Lord marked my beginning in the parish with some very painful losses, which immediately confronted me with one of the most important things in today’s world: the need to breathe new life into the words of faith concerning eternal life. These words are often forgotten, as if merely uttering them would break a taboo. Little is said about eternal life, and so earthly life loses the perspective that alone does justice to the deep desire of our hearts. But the Lord knocks at everyone’s door sooner or later, and it is only through the light of faith that the mystery of death takes on meaning.
A quote from St. Bernard is guiding me in these early stages: “See everything, endure much, change one thing at a time.” The most significant change I have introduced is the “SabatOratorio,” in which I invite all 100 boys and girls who are participating in our catechism to spend an afternoon in the parish with me and their catechists. The program is centered on three pillars: prayer, singing, and playing together. At the beginning of the catechetical year, we went on a pilgrimage to Assisi to venerate Blessed (soon to be Saint) Carlo Acutis.
It is only in the light of faith that the mystery of death takes on meaning
The SabatOratorio is becoming a very meaningful moment for the children and young people in catechism. One of them said to me: “Don Andrea, I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long!”
Dialogue with them is always a source of amazement. One Saturday, while talking about the conversion of St. Paul from persecutor of Christianity to great evangelizer, a child said in front of everyone: “If it weren’t for Jesus, we wouldn’t know anything about God.” Thanks to this little one in whom the Spirit spoke, I was able to preach more effectively at Sunday Mass that week.
Another area of great commitment and generosity in the parish is the food bank, which serves many families and individuals in serious economic difficulty. Together with the distribution of food, given the cold temperatures, it was recently decided that we would offer to share with them a cup of something warm, so that we can listen to their stories. We always learn about difficult situations that, beyond material help, need to be shared with another human being.
When I find myself in the church to pray and I look, in the mosaic in the apse, at Jesus who is holding in His hand the book with the script, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” I always repeat to myself that the goal of the parish is to live for love of that face, so that He may be better known and loved. I asked that He become the thing we hold most dear because it is the face of He who saves for all of eternity all of the persons we love.
