Believe in order to be there
Publish date 08-01-2025
Today, being peacemakers means believing in peace before even seeing it and living it concretely in the small daily choices of our lives, overcoming the resistance that wants to convince us that commitment is useless. It means overcoming the disbelief that makes us passive; doing it without the presumption that our life alone can change the fate of Ukraine, or that it will bring agreement to the Middle East where the fighting is increasingly bloody. We are not presumptuous, but we also do not have that sense of mistrust that makes us say: "I am of no use". It means having the conviction that history also passes through each of us and that each of us can make a difference: every day a boy searches for his path and you can be there; every day you can make a gesture, every day – if you want – something of you is lent to peace. We will not see peace until it is fully realized, until that moment we will not understand what our life was for, but we believe that every gesture of ours is worthwhile. You and your friends, following your heart, can begin to walk the path of peace with simple and small daily gestures. Today the beatitude of peacemakers is to be lived like this.
The outbreak of war in Ukraine was traumatic. I said to myself: «You were not convinced that peace is possible and you did not truly believe it». I even doubted that the Arsenal and its life could still be a sign. Since then, when I read the Bible, I write down all the words on peace, and it was precisely the word of God that gave me back my strength, especially starting from the prophets of the Old Testament, who saw nothing, walked in the midst of extermination, did not see peace, but proclaimed it, just like us. The prophet Jeremiah (28:17) gave me the key to believing without seeing: "The prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as a prophet sent by the Lord only when his word comes true." We too walk among the misfortune of peoples, we touch with our hands the desperation of the people and yet we must say "peace" and believe in it.
In the days of the beginning of the war in Ukraine, while we were truly disheartened, we did not have time to close ourselves in our dismay, because the people sought us out, asked us what we would do for the Ukrainian people, pushed us to believe in our being on the side of peace. We decided that we would send a truck with aid and, with an almost inexplicable word of mouth, the next day at the entrance to the Arsenal there was a line of people bringing aid. That same evening we gathered and said to each other: "This influx of people is not normal. Something is happening." And we understood: people as shocked as we were were looking for someone to lean on to share, but also to find answers of hope. Thus began one of the most incredible experiences we had at the Arsenale: thousands of people came with packages, parcels, cars, trucks and we no longer had time to breathe.
From the end of February until mid-July, when we then started the summer camps, people arrived, cried, left us packages, then saw others working and said: "Can we help you?". So much participation told us of the need for peace that was in everyone's heart. Preparing the packages for Ukraine was healing the wounds of hearts, giving back a little hope to people, young and old. We thought we were sending a truck, we sent 127 from the Arsenale! The entire Arsenale was a warehouse of packages, pallets... We had contact with over 2,000 volunteers and, in the following months, we were able to contact them all. They came to visit the Arsenale, to learn who we were, and – of these – more than six hundred remained as volunteers once the emergency was over. It was an experience that made us understand what a peace worker is for, who stays in his place and resists even in moments when he struggles to see the perspective. Suddenly, history passes through your home, and you can make a difference. It is essential to be there and believe in it.
Rosanna Tabasso
NP October 2024