The decisive step

Many stories tell that it is possible to make sense of pain and fragility

In these days at the Arsenale we met people who shared pages of their lives. Difficult stories that marked them and their families. Tragic stories that have turned for the better and have become a source of hope for those who now share them. I think of Vito Alfieri Fontana, a builder of anti-personnel mines who heard his son say: "Dad, are you a murderer?" and he has the courage to go against everyone and change his life, becoming a deminer. I think of the courage of his wife who supported him and also became a witness to a reconversion. I think of Daniele Mencarelli, today a poet and writer, who after a past of substance addiction, was able to transform pain into an opportunity for growth for himself and for many young people he meets every day.

I think of stories of women, men, young people that I have met and who carry the burdens of their past and daily hardships without stopping fighting. They know what pain is and they try hard to make sense of it. Sometimes they made mistakes, other times they suffered the mistakes of others, but they face the day after day without giving in to the harm done or suffered.

I feel like comparing these stories of today with other stories collected in the pages of the Bible, starting from the Old Testament. Pages that highlight the dark side of life: the falls of many, bellicose choices, fratricidal wars, betrayals. Without prejudice to the language and culture which are influenced by centuries of past history, it seems like we are reading newspapers with recent history and our personal stories.

I think, for example, of the biblical story of David (2 Sam 12). Chosen by God and anointed king of Israel by the prophet Nathan, he walks with God until a crisis arises: he falls in love with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, his attendant. By abusing his power, he orders his subordinate to be killed in battle, thus legitimizing his passion. The king's gaze turns inward, the horizon of the mission that God entrusted to him becomes blurred. The illness of the son he had with Bathsheba makes him sink into an abyss of pain, a crisis that exposes his fragility, forces him to stop, to look his sin in the face which has distanced him from the path of the Lord. In recognizing his failure, she begs God for her son's recovery, fasts, mortifies herself, hits the bottom of desperation and rereads his story. Yet, in the pain of his sin and his son's illness, he reopens his heart and returns to God. When his son dies, despite his incessant prayer, David does not remain blocked, he does not sink into depression, but returns to God with an act of full trust in him: my Lord, start again with me. You start again. And God starts again with David: the sign is the birth of a new son.

In the Bible the decisive steps of men and women and of the entire people take place starting from moments of crisis like that of David. Situations that seem to mark the end of hope instead rekindle a greater one. And this is how the history of salvation proceeds: from fall to fall, every moment seems to be the end, but it is actually a new beginning, like the death of Lazarus which makes Jesus say: «This illness will not lead to death, but it is for the glory of God" (Jn 11:4). We sink under the weight of our humanity but God comes to fish us out of the lowest point of our existence and brings us back to the surface. Almost as if to reassure us that, when we welcome him into our history, even the darkest traits marked by sin are led back towards a light that is life and gives life. None of us are strangers to him, to the point that he chooses to be flesh of our flesh to purify us and transform us with his mercy.

This Christmas comes at a tragic moment in history when the darkness seems thicker, but it can become one of the most significant in our lives. It can truly be a new beginning: Lord Jesus, start again. You start again with me, with us.

Rosanna Tabasso

NP Dicembre 2023