Frate'

Frate' the boys call each other, or bro, from the English brother. Even mafiosi do the same, and the more polite "brother" is used in certain secret Masonic-type associations to show solidarity in dealings that are better kept hidden. 

The idea of ​​Brotherhood seems to be an obsession of humanity, precisely because it is so difficult to achieve. Not randomly the Bible opens with the murder of a brother and insists on the competition-hatred between brothers: Cain-Abel, Esau-Jacob, Ishmael-Isaac, Joseph and his brothers. Primary violence, says Rab Jonathan Sacks, comes from sibling rivalry, from the desire to have what the other has. But Genesis tells us that, while sibling rivalry may be natural, it is not inevitable. And it indicates a path. Cain is a murderer. But Isaac and Ishmael find themselves together at their father's tomb. Esau and Jacob embrace each other and go their separate ways. Joseph and his brothers then undertake a real journey of forgiveness and reconciliation: Judah, placed by Joseph in the same situation in which he had once sacrificed him, is now willing to renounce his freedom as long as his brother Benjamin is not made a slave.
Change is possible.

It is possible and it is the meaning of life, says Jesus: recognizing oneself as children of one Father and all brothers, beyond blood and family affiliation. After his resurrection, Christians tried to understand how to live as brothers as he wanted. Cenobitic monasticism was born like this, in its various nuances. Basil of Caesarea was among the first to seek the way to create brotherhood. In his communities of Cappadocia there is no abbot. The head is Christ alone. The proestós, the prior, only has the function of discerning whether the Gospel is embodied in the life of the community. He can do this because he meditates on the Scriptures day and night, loves his brothers with maternal affection, and is careful to provide for everyone's needs as a doctor and as a servant of all.
«It is not possible to establish an identical rule for everyone», writes Basilio. "the only goal common to all is the satisfaction of needs": that is, the first justice that builds fraternity is the sharing of goods, as in the first community of Jerusalem. Once that is ensured, everyone must consider themselves last and servants of all, and remember that obedience to brothers is submission to the word of God. The indispensable premise is the fight against one's own will, "scar and leprosy that disfigures the commandment". In fact "temperance is not abstention from material foods, but complete abstention from one's own will, which makes us strangers to the Christian life". Those who claim their will in the community reveal "sick faith, wavering hope, a proud and haughty character" and we don't see why they should remain there. Let him go and live alone: ​​then, however, "how will he be able to realize in solitary life the beauty and joy of living together among brothers, a joy that the Holy Spirit compares to the perfume that emanates from the head of the high priest?". Common life requires continuous mutual mercy: its cancer is adiaphoria, the lack of sensitivity towards brothers and therefore towards God. But forgiveness and reconciliation between brothers are always possible, as it was for Joseph and Judas: the Bible it is the story of God's faith in men, created free to live as brothers. At peace.




Flaminia Morandi
NP august/september 2024