For you and for everyone

Since the Covid pandemic broke out, nothing has been the same. Even in Brazil, the Arsenale della Speranza had to readjust many of its services to respond to the new needs that arose. And, as often happens, opportunities arise from difficulties. One of the good news that arose from the pandemic was that the Fraternity began to pray every day together with the guests. Every morning at eight o'clock they pray together the Liturgy of the Hours, Lauds and on Wednesday morning they celebrate the Eucharist.

A tent was erected in front of the chapel, as if it were an extension of it. This tent is practically at the center of the pavilion dedicated to services where there are the surgery, the library, the television room and the games room. In short, a great center of passage.
Precisely in that place – every morning – they find themselves praying.

A few weeks ago I was in Brazil: I arrived on Tuesday and left on Thursday. So on Wednesday morning I was able to concelebrate the Eucharist with Simon.
Usually at these masses and moments of prayer, the participation varies from ten to thirty people. In an armory that hosts over 1,200 people every night, that may seem like an insignificant number. But in the eyes of God, little things do not exist. Everything is invaluable. Someone says - rightly so - that when you save a person or help God to save a person you have saved the world. And then, thinking about it, even if we speak of large numbers, such as our guests, we are always referring to unique and unrepeatable people. Every large number is always the sum of one plus one, plus one…

In that mass, during the consecration, I paused in a particular way on the words "for you and for all". I thought that, from a purely human point of view, what are 10, 15, 20, 30 people who come to pray out of 1,200? Numerically little or nothing.
But it is not God's logic. In that moment - in front of those few guests present - I felt the word of Jesus resound strongly within me: it is "For you and for everyone". I really strongly felt that that mass was for them who were there and through them for all the other guests, who weren't there physically but through them they were, they really were, and cascading it was for all humanity. It was a small thing, but it did me a lot of good.

That moment has remained in my heart and helps me to live the Eucharistic celebration with a new spirit ... "for you and for all". Mass is always for us and for everyone, that blood is shed for us and for everyone. A "for all" which certainly reaches the whole Church, holds all of humanity within ... but which is above all the "for all" which brings together and brings together the entire community to which we belong, all those who could have been there even physically but for there aren't a thousand reasons. The Lord involves us so that in our being there the "for you and for all" that has been fulfilled in him is realized in every mass.

Too often we stop to judge our activities according to the numerical principle, as if it was the quantity that determined its success.
But God matters differently. Let's think of the twelve apostles: they were perhaps the least suited people to evangelize the world, yet they managed to set it on fire. After all, all it takes is a small spark to start a fire. Thanks then to the fraternity of St. Paul that keeps the fire burning!

Andrea Bisacchi
NP March 2023