Friends again

In my younger years, in disagreement with my parish priest whom I considered too authoritarian and rigid, I gradually drifted away from religious practice. Then the witness of a group of Christians who were living out Jesus’ new commandment (Jn. 13:34 -35) made me rethink things and the change of lifestyle that followed led me first of all to seek reconciliation with those I had judged. I apologized to the priest and we cleared things up. Behind certain discouraging attitudes, I discovered a heart capable of understanding. A few years later, having made a radical choice of God, I went to share it with the parish priest who by then had become a friend. He wasn’t expecting it and knowing my artistic skills, he asked me to decorate a noticeboard on which he usually posted the announcements of the pilgrimages he organized for the parishioners. It was a modest gesture, but for him it was significant and sealed the new harmony established between us.

(F. Italy)

Michel and his boys

Michel was responsible for the human and spiritual formation of a group of teenagers. During the Easter holidays he took them for a sort of retreat in a boarding school that had been left empty by the students who had gone home. There were about 30 boys, all very lively. The first night, spent playing games went well. The hard part was bedtime, when one could expect some mischief. So, once they went to bed and turned off all the lights, Michel waited. Silence. After 10 pm, he heard some bedroom doors opening softly. He let them all slip out and then suddenly stepped out himself turning on the lights in the hallway. The boys froze, expecting a scolding. Instead Michel exclaimed: “And now… let’s all go into town to eat frites” (French fries made in Belgium with a special technique: a local specialty). The boys didn’t expect it. Happy, they went out and each one had a cone of frites. Then, satisfied, they returned to their accommodation quietly. Won over by Michel, the retreat was very successful.

(G.F. Belgium)

My at risk students

Before discovering the Gospel as a code for life, as a teenager I thought that following Jesus meant giving up many things: now I know that the only thing you have to give up is your own selfishness. Everything else is a gain. After that change of direction, I felt more and more strongly the need to deepen, through theological studies, my knowledge of the God who changed my life. For me now, teaching religion in classes where there is no shortage of students at risk is a mission that stems from the duty to share the gift I have received. It is not easy: in general, because of their social background, poverty and perhaps also the lack of role models, they are a blank slate when it comes to religion. They see the Church with its precepts as distant and outdated. The first step then, is to make friends with them, to get to know their interests. In everyone, there is always something positive to highlight and then, by building on that, it is easier for them to open up and welcome the Christian message.

(Gerardo, Italy)

compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta

(taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year X– no.1 September-October 2025)
Photo: © Pixabay