Once upon a time

By a rather fortuitous event, I found myself sharing a moment of prayer around a pylon, within a suggestive, albeit harsh, naturalistic context in the Langhe of the deep south of Piedmont, moreover on a sunny day from exceptional clarity. And there were quite a lot of them. The occasion was to recall the reconstruction of this pylon, which a father of a family from the nearby village had still undertaken in wartime, as soon as three of his sons had returned home, safe and sound, finished on several fronts and then also abandoned in the troubles after 8 September '43. He had promised that, if they all returned, he would put his hand on the pylon as a sign of gratitude and testimony.

But now, after more than seventy-five years, here are the side arguments from those who still have white and gray hair: «Of course, then we were well convinced, in entrusting ourselves to the Lord. Today we are all somewhat hidden away, in an unsettling and disorienting confusion. Even if we then have these occasions in which to find ourselves, clinging with an ever thinner thread to a religious faith that is constantly fraying».

And yes, the picture appears in chiaroscuro. After the pandemic, some leaps of participation have reappeared, within Christian celebrations, perhaps on rather special occasions, out of town. However, failing to realize whether the call comes from traces of a tradition that is still rooted but not very clear, or if there is behind it a faith that becomes robust and re-emerges with conviction. And here we end up inside the meshes of a season to be deciphered which sees the younger generations pose key questions on the ground of faith, which does not reach them any deeper, remaining on the margins of religious experience, no longer taking it into consideration as a path of life, instead managing the existence otherwise, regardless. In short, the impression seems to be that of a scenario dotted with questions, between what remains, what is missing, what is fluctuating, what is messed up, what is hoped for.

And it is sixty years since the opening of the Council, a zigzagging period of time also for the Church, questioned on several fronts and today, in the West, pressed by the indifference that is rampant. We need to ask ourselves how much and how the community of believers can speak and testify, in that emblematic image dear to Pope Francis of a "field hospital", in which to touch the hope that does not disappoint and that becomes load. "Why is the human beauty of 'being Christian' not attractive?". "What does it mean to be a Christian today?" “What does the Church ask me to be?” Card. Zuppi interviewed by L'Osservatore Romano. Already, it remains decisive to give substance to the "current profile of the Christian, that is, of the evangelical man, who is the same as always but who must speak to today's man". It is the challenge that should not be shunned.

Corrado Avagnina

NP Ottobre 2022