STORYTELLING is the last step to take, but not in importance, of the youth camp “Light up your life…in the footsteps of Don Tonino Bello”, promoted by the Canossian youth ministry, held from 31st July to 15th August, starting from Molfetta and reaching the “De finibus terrae”, S. Maria di Leuca; it was a real ‘construction site’ of opportunities for those who wanted to question themselves and look with curiosity at what was hidden behind this proposal. With this spirit and a backpack full of expectations I decided to take up this challenge at the last minute.
Following what were and still are the visible footprints of Don Tonino Bello, we spent five intense days accompanied by M. Filomena and M. Maria and where the key element was SHARING.
I knew D. Tonino through his writings but going to his land and meeting the witnesses who were at his side starting from the two Alcantarine Franciscans, Sr Vincenzina Summo and Sr Rosina D’ Alessandro, up to the unstoppable D. Luigi Ciardo (for all of us now D. Gigi) who flooded us like an overflowing river making us know through his disruptive words (and not only) Don Tonino, I perceived all the strong human, evangelical and prophetic drive that led this pastor, builder of peace, to be: “Person of the looks” who makes everyone feel unique, making himself close and dialoguing with each one; a Bishop who has overturned his episcopal ministry trying to embody the ideal of that “Church as service” he dreamed of; a poor church for the poor, that goes beyond the duty of almsgiving, that walks with the needy and shares their problems and hopes. “The poor,” says Don Tonino, “are the theological place where God manifests himself, the burning and inconsumable bush from which He speaks to us.” To carry out his service within this church he used the pedagogy of the “power of signs” and not the signs of power, and so he naturally opened the doors of the Bishop’s residence to Albanian refugees, welcomed the poor, drug addicts, supported workers’ struggles and refused any form of wealth. Therefore, for Don Tonino, good could be done, it was possible to “organize hope” and be re- born: the soup kitchen for the poor, the shelter for women and last but not least the C.A.S.A community for the treatment of addictions with and without substances, that welcomed us during the second stage of our pilgrimage to Ruvo di Puglia and with whom we shared “bread” sitting at the same table because it is a place where “The other is a face to be discovered, to be contemplated, to be caressed.”
As pilgrims, on our third stage, we set off towards the community of Bose di Ostuni where we experienced the greatness and mystery of the Word that was broken to us by one of the monks, letting it penetrate us so that we could free the tomb from the stones of our fears, insecurities and let ourselves be enveloped by the scent of the Risen One so that we too, like the disciples of Emmaus, can resume our journey “without delay”.
Having reached our last stops, Alessano and Santa Maria di Leuca, the relevance of the messages of Don Tonino emerged in a forceful way, exhorting the need to “SHOW LIGHT NOT SPARKS” and the invitation (listened to in an audio recording in a moment of prayer and meditation on his tomb) “..I hope you can LOVE to the point that your heart bleeds, do not sell yourselves and do not give in to the flattery of those who want to manipulate you, courage… things will change”.
These exhortations have allowed our eyes and heart to speak, with the awareness of being called to have courage to be credible believers, to build bridges with the gifts received, to make choices that are not convenient but to act in an authentic and subversive way.
And if Don Tonino said “Each of us is an angel with only one wing. We cannot fly unless we embrace the other”, I can say that I felt embraced on this journey by each of my traveling companions, young people and Canossian Sisters, learning to stay and pause in the midst of a crossing, in seeing the boundaries within which I was closed and that weighed down my steps. I will always carry this embrace with me because as a “Canossian” young-adult I can fly, infecting and making resonate all the beauty I have experienced… Lighting up the life of those who will become my neighbours!
Gelsomina
WHAT WE WILL KEEP IN OUR HEART…The echoes of the participants
Listening to stories, people, emotions and feelings and sharing: these are the things that remain of this journey. “Conviviality of differences”, to put it like Don Tonino. And what will life to come be if not a great banquet to celebrate the triumph of the Lamb Jesus?
Emanuele
Don Tonino’s life continues to speak to us. His figure whispers to us to be ourselves, to love the other without measure and above all to be alive burning with light.
Eulalia
Don Tonino is a gift. He revealed to me another way to live life, not the one made of performance anxiety or the one for which if you don’t do something great then you are nobody. No, he spoke to me of Mary as a “woman of our days”, he spoke to me of a sanctity that is not the fruit of individual efforts, on stage, but a “weekday” holiness, which is achieved in everyday life, in small things, in the “power of signs and not in the signs of power”. His life is a demonstration of all this, his energy, his frankness, his simplicity, his smile, his eyes, his poetry, his eloquence, his being one of the people, “perfumed by the people she led” … I would have so much more to say, but I will end by saying: thank you! What I feel is gratitude to God, for having given us Don Tonino, gratitude to Sister Maria and Sister Filomena, for having made us discover him and gratitude to Emanuele, Gelsomina, Eulalia and Michela, for having accompanied me on this journey.
Francesco