Claretta Dal Rì and the adventure of unity

“December 1948. This evening, the whole crème of Catholic society in Rovereto was gathered in my father’s study: the presidents of the Catholic Youth, the Saint Vincent Society, the Daughters of Mary, the Franciscan Third Order and naturally the pastor. Plus, eighteen year-old me was there as the president of Student Youth.

The speaker was Valeria Ronchetti. There was something in her that took me by surprise. She talked about God, but in a way that I’ve never heard any other person talk – until then. It wasn’t anything external as with a scholar; Valeria possessed God! She expressed something that urged her from the heart and that overflowed with force . . . I was in a state of shock.

It was a war story . . . They were experiences of what she, with her friends, had found in the Gospel, how they had discovered God who is Love. It was a torrent of living water that completely engulfed me. In the candlelight – since the electricity had gone out – a quite serious-looking, elderly gentleman asked her in a rather ironic tone: ‘But aren’t you afraid, Miss, to excite the youth in this way? And if it’s just a flash in the pan?’

Valeria was a really enthusiastic type of person, all fire in her words and in her answers. She jumped to her feet and responded with energy: ‘What? Aren’t you afraid of exciting the youth over sport, music, paintings, mountains – all those beautiful things that pass away? And you’re afraid of exciting them over God who is the only thing that remains?’

Total silence: I was completely taken. The mountains, music, paintings . . . Hadn’t I myself tried all of that? I had tried every beautiful and wholesome thing you could ask for, it had completely occupied me for years even, but none of it had ever really filled me up. I had always been left unsatisfied in my search. Well, then, here was the point . . . this is what I sought: it was God who was the answer to that recent period of dissatisfaction, of loneliness, of the confusion among my friends, of activism, of boredom . . .
Everyone left my father’s study smiling, exchanging cheerful goodbyes with Valeria. But I didn’t really think we had actually understood what she was telling us. I asked myself: if she could have what she had just talked about – and it was clear that she did – why can’t I have it too? And at this point I recall a saying attributed to Saint Augustine: ‘If this one and that one, then why not me?’ I extended my hand to Valeria and told her: ‘I want to do what you have done, help me!’ We said goodbye and agreed to meet the next day.
And the adventure began!”

Source: Città Nuova online