Beyond Peace

I OFTEN SAY THAT LIGHT ALWAYS ELIMINATES DARKNESS, but that darkness must be crossed.
Change and reconciliation are arduous journeys, and perhaps for this very reason they are rarely traveled.
"Do you realize what I've done? I killed my son... I'll never have peace again": every time I met him, Gino would weep softly. I would hug him and we remained silent.
Gino had killed his son, who suffered from serious psychiatric disorders, to defend his wife from an attack that would have ended badly. The court had asked us to place him under house arrest, for fear that he would take his own life in prison. For weeks, we did not leave him alone, day or night. After serving his sentence, he returned to the Arsenale as a volunteer: above all, he wanted to pray with us because "only here can I find a little peace."

EVEN WITHOUT HAVING TO SUFFER EXTREME SITUATIONS LIKE THIS, I believe that to achieve peace in our hearts, we all need to reconcile with ourselves, with our mistakes, with the more or less easy past, with those who have hurt us and those we have hurt. On this journey, our conscience guides us, examining what is holding us back: the pursuit of power, possessions... However, we must accept correction, sometimes even with painful criticism. And we must seek teachers who can train us in peace.

FEELING ALONE IN EVERYDAY LIFE MAKES THE BURDEN UNBEARABLE. We need to feel like we belong to a family, not necessarily our own, or at least not just our own. Having a point of reference, a shared home, is essential for everyone. No one can find meaning in life without feeling part of a shared adventure. Then life, while still challenging, makes it possible for us to breathe in peace. And for me and for all believers, the air is God himself. That God who makes me more human through the poor with whom I share my life, through the young people from whom I learned the importance of silence and listening. Through fragility, we learn to dialogue with it, to slow our pace, to seek help from those around us... We learn to look beyond. It is there that I find true peace for my heart, in that beyond that for me is God, and for everyone is that horizon always dreamed of and always to be reached.

Ernesto Olivero
Editorial
NP February 2026