Anniversary of the Death of the Servant of God, Monsignor Luigi Giussani
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Bethesda, MD
February 23, 2023
Gratitude for the Movement
First let me say what a joy it is to be with you as we remember the life of the Servant of God, Monsignor Luigi Giussani on this the anniversary of his passing into eternal life. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to God for the charism of Fr. Giussani, and to express to all of you who share in that charism what a gift you are to the Church throughout the world, and here in this area. The small but growing presence of the Movement is a great sign of hope in my local church, the Archdiocese of Baltimore. To the Memores Domini, the Priests of the Fraternity of San Carlo, those belonging to the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, and indeed, all who follow the movement, I would like to express my warmest thanks and esteem.
Lorenzo
I would be remiss in this moment, if I did not also invoke the memory of the late Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete. In tonight’s Gospel, Jesus responds to the question of John’s disciples about his own disciples’ seeming lack of ascetical rigor. He asks: “Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom was with them?” For those of you who knew Monsignor Albacete, it will come as little surprise that this was one of his favorite passages in Scripture. While known and beloved for many things, I don’t think his bodily asceticism was at the top of the list.
Monsignor was known and loved by so many of you. I first met Lorenzo as a seminarian and would later work with him as a priest. Like many others, I was drawn to his zany sense of humor, his appreciation of the absurd … but more than that, to the beautiful way that could see past the reductive categories so often used in the Church and in society. He was fascinated by the Mystery, and thus fascinated, he responded in the only reasonable way he could . . . he followed. Having known Lorenzo for many years, I can say that he finally found a home in Communion and Liberation. As we remember Don Giussani today, we also give thanks for the way in which Msgr. Albacete shared in his charism, and helped to spread that charism here in this country.
Meeting Monsignor Giussani
Years ago, when I was an Auxiliary Bishop here in the Archdiocese of Washington, I was fortunate enough to meet Father Giussani on one of his visits to the United States. Prior to the luncheon that Cardinal Hickey hosted for Father Giussani, I had begun to read the Per Corso trilogy. I quickly realized that I was in the deep end of the pool. I had little idea, if any, of what it was I was reading. While I hoped that our conversation would help to bring some much-desired clarity, I must admit that that the mystical fog was not lifted. As I have often told Father Tyler, “I like Giussani, I just don’t know what he’s saying!”
Passion for Christ
What I did know and what I could understand was the way this man was. As he departed after lunch, Cardinal Hickey remarked to me that Don Giussani reminded him of “an older Lorenzo”. I had to agree. I understood the reason why these men were so deeply “sympatico”. In the heart of both these wonderful priests, there was a similar passion for life, of people, of beauty – but also, a deep hunger for meaning, for truth, for the infinite. In their life and work we see a beautiful desire for something or someone that can account for everything, a way of approaching life that brackets out nothing.
In our reading from the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord chastises his people, not for their lack of external gesture, but for the lack of coherence, for way in which their external gestures did not match their internal disposition. And what follows is a divided life and a divided heart. Consequently, their sacrifices are not pleasing to God. The Lord is calling his people to true integrity, to go beyond the mere outward observance of the law, but to see in the gesture the deeper meaning. Lent is a sacred time to strip away the pretense and the noise. To go deeper and to live with greater attention.
Charism, A Gift to the Church
And is this not what we need more than anything else? Does not the Church need mature Christians who live the whole of their lives aware of the fact of Jesus Christ. Does not the world need persons who have been transformed by an encounter with the one who fully reveals to them who they are and what it is their hearts are made for? This is the great gift that Father Giussani left the Church. This man, this priest, who lived his life with such attention, such expectation, such passion – he shared with others what he first experienced. Out of that arose a community, a companionship that continues to generate life here and now, not because of external actions or human projects but because it flows from something you have experienced, someone you have encountered.
Today we give thanks and praise to God for the way he acted through his servant and priest, Monsignor Luigi Giussani. We pray that the gift that we have been given in him, this gift which he shared, will continue to bear fruit for the building up of the Church and the salvation of the world.