Undoubtedly, it is not easy to find around us witnesses of the Hope for which we have spent the last year, or rather, which the Jubilee has indicated to us as the trigger for a new era of Peace and Justice. Those who live with their eyes open to the poverty that surrounds us (in Italy, the number and forms of hardship are growing) receive the gift of awareness that changes their life choices, and find at their side ‘brothers and sisters at their side who, in different ways, have listened to the pain of others and freed themselves inwardly from the deception of violence.’
Peace is a practice rather than an orientation of thought: among missionaries, we see it firsthand. Even if we do not hear them making denunciations and appeals, we perceive that their daily actions are a real contrast to violence and armed conflict. Many of them live in the midst of wars and are themselves victims when bombs and armed groups strike villages and neighbourhoods. If they can, they create resistance and opposition by persisting in their work of welcoming refugees, countering destruction with education, and reaching out to feed villages affected by disasters caused in various ways by the greed of invaders and speculators. They persevere with prayer and liturgy, convinced and confident: they know that God listens to the poor and the innocent and that their presence is itself an expression of that listening. Under the rain that muddies the floors of the huts, that drips through the branches of the roof onto the bread and wine offered on the altar, they celebrate the Incarnation and renew the promise received through Isaiah.
Together with the victims of fratricidal warfare and global competition for their resources, the missionaries repeat for us too (who are on the dominant side) that ‘nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.’
The Pope is right in saying that ‘humanity can discover itself as loved only by caring for it’, because this is what we see when we go to Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania to visit the works built for children who have been hurt by marginalisation, exploitation, and personal violence; for communities without drinking water or energy to power the machines that lift them out of precariousness; for young mothers abandoned by the fathers of their children, for young people left to a life without a future. Missionaries do not have many material things to give, yet they are a point of reference for those seeking shelter, the possibility of dreaming, and concrete possibilities for redemption. They are among the builders of peace because they are truly inspired, as Leo XIV writes, ‘by openness and evangelical humility’, unarmed and therefore capable of breaking down barriers.
As a priest and bishop who has lived the mission, he reminds us that peace is built through progressive mutual contamination. He aptly recalls St Augustine: ‘If you wish to draw others to peace, first have it yourselves; be steadfast in peace yourselves. To inflame others, you must have the flame burning within.’ We can rejoice that there are women and men, consecrated and lay, who do so. What we try to do, despite the geographical distance, is to bring them a little oil to fuel the lights and share the testimonies that come to us from them.
Missioni Don Bosco ONLUS
