It is not the habit to say our belonging to God, but goodness, loving each other, esteem ourselves among ourselves.
by Rosanna Tabasso
On one of his trips to Jordan in 2004, a priest gave Ernesto some small copper crosses from the 4th century AD. made by Christians sentenced to forced labor in an ancient copper mine in the desert near Aqaba. Struck by these findings Ernesto asks to be able to visit that place of pain and faith.
In the diary of the Arsenal of the meeting on April 30, it is noted: «We leave at dawn for southern Jordan towards Finas, a village in the middle of the desert where during the persecutions of Diocletian thousands of Christians died in the copper quarries . With the scraps of copper, they made small crosses to remain attached to God. By digging even today, it is possible to find the crosses made by these poor people! In this place you can breathe a particular air, you listen to the silence of a desert that tells the faith of this holy land ".
When we heard that it was time to have a cross for the Fraternity, we had no doubts in giving it the shape of the small crosses of Finas. A form that reminds us of the pains of the world, the persecuted for their ideas, the martyrs of yesterday and today. Putting this cross around your neck is like taking the baton of brothers who died for their faith, centuries ago as today, and reviving that symbol in our lives. We have engraved the imprint of the dead and risen Jesus and at his feet Mary, his and our Mother. Behind, the synthesis of the testimony we want to bring with our life: "Beloved, we love". We wear it around our neck to say our being of Christ and our belonging to the Fraternity. It is a sign of an identity that is personal and at the same time community, but above all the commitment to bear witness to what the cross represents, it is like saying to ourselves "remember who you do it for".
Those who wear it repeat, like so many persecuted Christians of every age, the words of Paul: "For me, living is Christ and dying is a gain" (Phil 1:21) and is aware of bringing it from one's own baptism to the baptism of the greatest love. The symbol is to help us remember who we are, for whom we live, to whom we entrust our life: for Christ, with Christ, in Christ. It is to help us direct our whole person towards him. The Rule of Yes reminds us: «To carry this cross is to say that we belong to the Lord and to his Church; it reminds us of our total yes and the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us: to transmit hope to those who suffer, to those hungry for affection, for bread and for justice, to train and "repair" young people for good, to bring them back to God ».
The cross that we carry around our neck is not accompanied by a particular dress that distinguishes us: «It is not the habit that says our belonging to God but the goodness, loving each other, esteem ourselves among ourselves, recognizing the other better» . With all our fragility and imperfection, what sets us apart is not the outward appearance but knowing how to be among people with a welcoming heart, available to the other, not aggressive or full of judgment; we are distinguished by the gestures of attention to the needs of the other, the fraternal spirit, the ability to listen: "If we are inhabited by God we will have his perfume" (from the Yes Rule) and we will communicate it to the people.
However, there is a dress appropriate to the mission to which we are called. It is simple and dignified, appropriate to the time and place in which we live. It does not distinguish us neither for elegance nor for slovenliness, it is the dress of people who work, which is spent on others, a dress that does not offend the poorest people we live with, it is neither flashy nor refined because everyone feels comfortable . It simply reflects the sober style that the whole life of a Christian must take in the use of material goods, in the consumption of resources, in not accumulating, in not wasting to respect creation.
Jesus gives us the key when he says to us: «Do not worry about your life, about what you will eat or drink, or about your body, about what you will wear; Is life not worth more than food and the body more than clothing? (…) So don't worry saying: “What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? ". The pagans are looking for all these things. In fact, your heavenly Father knows that you need it. Instead, seek first of all the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you "(Mt 6,25-26.31-33).