From Valtellina to the Andes

What it means to love with deeds and not just with words, Giulio Rocca, born in 1962, testified to it with his life. Climbing - literally - higher and higher towards the peaks of the inner search and those of the Cordillera Blanca, in Peru.
A free spirit, a declared atheist, at the age of 16 Giulio participates in a meeting of the OMG - Operation Mato Grosso, a missionary group that organizes work camps in South America several times a year.
Giulio goes with them first to Brazil, then to Peru. In "getting his hands dirty" for the poor he finally finds meaning and peace.
And the relationship with God expands, up to the decision to become a priest.

Not in time: the guerrillas of Sendero Luminoso, who fear that the non-violent liberation struggle carried out by the missionaries will convince the people, kill him. He is only 30 years old.
But the mission continues, because "there is a real need for a lot of enthusiasm to destroy this world that is going badly and to build something great and beautiful on it.
The same enthusiasm that leads us to say with force and clarity the OMG message: "Give away!" ". Yes Giulio, "giving away, to the point of giving everything" is the sure way to build peace.

Annamaria Gobbato
NP November 2020