Elisa and Gabriele: Their day without end following the earthquake

Elisa with the entire family – a twin brother, an elder brother, daddy, and the grandmothers – just a few weeks earlier, had been to the Mariapolis – the Focolare’s summer gathering – with about a hundred other people. It had been an occasion to know each other, share life experiences, and take a step ahead together. Everyone remembers Elisa who before leaving, with her gay and contagious ways had shot a video of the impressions of her group with the help of her twin brother. “The Mariapolis is an experience that leaves its mark in one’s heart forever. I hope to go to the Mariapolis always,” she had texted her mother upon returning home.

Instead, Gabriele, her little 8-year-old cousin, in mid-June had participated for the second consecutive year in the little “Gen4 congress.” It was an enchanting three-day event with the little kids who understand “the things of God” better than anyone else. A photo shows him in the role of an angel playing a trumpet upon the passage through the Door of Mercy, together with all the other boys.

In the morning of 24 August the news of the earthquake arrived, and also the anguish: Elisa, Gabriele and their grandmothers were under the ruins and all feared the outcome for those who were missing. A chain of prayers immediately started like a tam-tam, but in the evening it was confirmed: they didn’t make it.

Their families immediately gave an unwavering testimony: “Their faith in God’s love was such that even in this immense suffering, they enlightened us with renewed determination to live for that which does not pass”, wrote Maria Voce, President of the Focolare, to the stricken communities and families, the day after the earthquake. Meanwhile the Focolare communities throughout the world and Italy had launched the rescue system.

The pain was also incomprehensible for many of their peers, schoolmates, and the Children for Unity, who had met Elisa in the summer camps and shared unforgettable experiences with her. But the testimonials they tried to give together, is that of a love that is stronger than death itself. One of them wrote: “Ciao Elisa, I dreamt of you last night. We were at the Stop ’n’ Go summer camp, where we had met and became friends. I wanted to greet you for the last time. You were still wearing the bracelet I had made for you. I told you that you were so lovely, and since it seemed I underestimated your beauty, I had to remind you of it once again. After this dream, I awoke and felt more serene, I know you are in Heaven.”

“I regret all the naughty tricks I played on you,” her twin brother wrote, “Remember when in grandfather’s house, you took the blame in my stead? Now the ruins of this earthquake have sent me further from you. Please, my little angel, protect me from above.”

“But I can’t imagine that you are no longer here! Elisa had picked out my name during the Guardian Angel game at the summer Mariapolis of 2014» wrote Fr Marco Schrott, who knew the family of Elisa and Gabriele for years and always had a special relationship with them. “Being my Guardian Angel, I saw her hovering around me and she beat me in doing all sorts of good deeds for me. At home, on WhatsApp, in Church, in the Stop ‘n’ Go playground and in every circumstance, there was always a remark which reminded us we were mutually guardians of one another. You know how it ended? Of course, now someone else will have to take her place in playing with the smaller ones, and console them in her stead. Elisa could only multiply, and not disappear.”

As to Gabriele, Fr Marco again writes: “Those eight nominal years of his existence were totally full of joy. That child knew how to play and with everyone. He would invite us, propose, organize and carry out each game in a perfectly correct way, as if it was his only task. Like everyone else on holiday, he had a notebook with the homework from school and to finish it, he had to fill up five pages each day. But because he played so much he hadn’t done so. After his dad urged him on the phone to finish the pages that were still missing, he immediately delved into it. He had always been a disciplined boy: he loved to play but his attitude in not cheating in games was the same towards prayer and all the other tasks at home and away from home.  As to the seriousness with which he took part in the processions, I now see that it was the fruit of a mature faith. So it is no wonder that I saw a long line of people queuing for confession after his funeral.  I saw the faces of friends transformed, overcome with pain, struck by an evangelical electric shock and who wished to change their lifestyles, opening themselves to faith.”

Though Elisa and Gabriele had wanted to stay with the two grandmothers for just another night,  they had prepared their suitcases before falling asleep, in order to be ready for the trip home the day after. That was an eternal day for them.