That breath that gives hope

I felt with Saint John Paul II in two "close" encounters which, intact, I keep in my heart. Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote that our memory is like the wings of a butterfly. Cut, erase, fix a few images like those of "that breath that gives hope".

We see it, every time, in the Eucharist, for me who believe I believe. But we feel it, whether we want it or not, every day and every moment even in the absolute nothingness of nothingness. Whether life has given us a perfect path, bruised, sick, divisive, united, passionate, cultural, full or empty. We all feel it! Believers or atheists, agnostics and among those who, disillusioned, believe they no longer believe in anything. It is the breath of something imperceptible, elusive, but present. It can be seen in the events that magmatically invade everyone's lives via social media, newspapers and TV.
It is perceived in too many bloody wars: Ukraine, the Holy Land, Africa, Latin America, Asia. It can be glimpsed in the useless diatribes that poison Europe, in the historic disagreements of the various political parties in Italy and around the world.

It shines through in the controversies that have always peppered the days on the eve of elections in even the smallest countries.
Above all, it is "felt" in the fatigue of the days between the rushes to take the children to school, the exhausting waits in the clinics and emergency rooms, the disappointments at work, the dismissals, the scams, the family economic disasters. Yes, in the "fears of today", almost imperceptibly there are much more than the fifty shades of the future. It is there that the whys of life come to light. In the sweat (even cold) that accompanies the hours we face everything, in reality for that breath: we hope for peace, we work to build a better world, we move, even unconsciously and perhaps as non-believers to build "the city of God”, fairer justice, clean politics, coexistence without acrimony, life without rancor.

Life is like that. However, I believe, if there wasn't that "veil of dawn" and light everything would be more difficult. Discomfort is natural, and also right. But then let's notice the world's outburst of solidarity: the gestures of kindness, the donations, the money made available for projects, the fights for "non-negotiable" values. And even when we look into the eyes of our children, sons, grandchildren, cousins, hope is renewed.
However, when I see: Pope Francis asking for hospitality, the bishop of Turin Repole physically touching (and I don't think by chance!) the Mirafiori-fiat-Turin march for life, thousands of volunteers "for others", the effort of those asks for respect for life always, for attempts at peace throughout the world, for a sincere embrace of the "conquered of the earth", for the cry of those who live to defeat injustices, "I feel" the presence of something that goes beyond the will, the coincidences, the moments. Is the story!! Maybe it's faith. Of course mine!
It is there that "that breath that gives hope" emerges in all its power but also discretion. It is what, every day, illuminates the path of everyone, even those "discarded" in life.


Gian Mario Ricciardi
NP May 2024