Friendship, communion, community

In recent days I have been to Rifugio di Maria, one of the houses in Sermig, but decidedly particular. For three years this house surrounded by greenery and dedicated to Maria, wife of Ernesto Olivero, has been the home of Serena and Andrea and their children, one of our families, who wanted to share part of the large house with young people or adults looking for a time of rest and brotherhood. A simple place to find the refreshment of friendship that we all need. Because friendship and communion are the roots of the community that announces the Gospel, the lifeblood of a good life for all.

Jesus was capable of concrete friendship towards his disciples, towards the women who followed him, towards the many he had helped. I like to think that the human bond he had established with his friends, made up of gestures and words, authentic sharing of life, made him recognizable when he presented himself to them as the Risen One. Human trust, the friendship achieved in life do not disappear with death, but become the key to recognizing Jesus in the mystery of the resurrection.

Like Mary Magdalene who recognizes him when he hears the Master's voice call him by name. The tomb is empty and He is alive! Even the disciples who encounter the resurrected Jesus along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus or on the shore of the lake, where he had lit a fire to roast the freshly caught fish, recognize him precisely from those gestures of his that had become so familiar in the meantime: break the bread, blesses the food prepared... Familiar words and gestures open the way to believing that Jesus is truly risen and alive.

Jesus knows the human dimension of friendship and values ​​it, making it the channel for communicating. Our greatest desire is to be in someone's heart and, at the same time, we realize that we were made to host someone. This alone fills our hearts. We are made for communion. True communion is a source of life, it will never be able to close relationships or, worse, close in on itself, in a purely intimate relationship.

Once resurrected, Jesus moves away and recommends himself to his followers: "Don't hold me back". The human bond is important but no human affection, no earthly bond, no friendship can be placed before God and his plan of love for him. Jesus knows this well and immediately makes it clear to his friends! The friendship of the Risen Jesus is a gift of the Spirit, it liberates and makes one free to dedicate oneself totally to the mission entrusted by the Father. Now even the disciples understand that friendship with Him does not close us in, rather it opens us. Mary immediately runs to announce to the disciples: "I have seen the Lord" and she tells them what she had told her. This is what the disciples will do and, after them, everyone will feel sent to relive their life with Jesus. Love is always inclusive: «What we have seen and heard, we also proclaim to you, to ¬that you too may be in communion with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3).

The human friendship that has Jesus as its model is communion, it is the life of God that flows from one person to another and creates community. This is the gift of the resurrection of Jesus and it is this communion that we transmit to each other. The announcement of the good news of the Gospel passes through this testimony of friendship, of communion, of this possibility of remaining in God and therefore of remaining in one another. This flowing life is what constitutes the life of a community.

Rosanna Tabasso
NP April 2024