The first image that came to mind, after reading the Gospel of the Visitation, was a beautiful encounter between Mariangela and Chicca in paradise. I am certain that Chicca—whom I never had the chance to know—ran toward her mother singing, and then walked with her toward the Lord. I think of all they must be saying to each other now, knowing that it is because of this "alliance" between them, this "complicity in goodness," that so many of you are here today and that all of this was born.
With this image we wish to stand close to Paolo, to Nanni and Emanuele, and to your large and loving family, who have always witnessed to us the strength of faith and charity. We stand with the beautiful family of Fede e Luce here present and around the world.
I do not think it is chance that the Lord called Mariangela to himself at the end of May, on a day when we celebrate the feast of Mary, who hurries to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Caught up in the many urgent demands of daily life, Mary reminds us that the only haste a Christian should know is the haste to love, the haste to do good. This was Mariangela's way. She received her daughter's illness—not without struggle—but at a certain point, after what Paolo remembers as the small great miracle of Lourdes, she could no longer stay still. She set out toward others. Something of what her name contains: Maria—Angela, that is, messenger, bearer of a beautiful message.
This is why for us to be here today is an event of celebration, of deep joy, even as we do not hide the pain of human loss. I think especially of Paolo, remembering with emotion when we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of your marriage here. You were truly close to one another always—in joy and in sorrow, in health and in illness—giving all of us a beautiful testimony of faithfulness.
We are in the season of Easter. Jesus has risen! This is what Mariangela wrote four years ago in an editorial for Ombre e Luci:
"That death which can frighten us, sadden us, make us melancholy… no longer has the final word. What would our struggling journey behind Jesus be without the certainty of resurrection? This is why the peach blossoms invite us to lift our heads, to awaken, accompanied by nature's own awakening, to find that hope which so often abandons us.
"Winter has passed." "I am making all things new." And the flight of swallows in the clear sky calls us to that deep joy, so rarely seen on our faces, bent as they are toward the earth with all its superfluous demands.
Yes, the Lord has risen, truly risen! Let us find together, with courage, with faith, with hope, the desire to continue our journey which, though hard and difficult, uncertain and doubtful, if it remains intimately united to the passion and resurrection of Jesus, will bring us even now the true joy…"
In this way Mariangela highlighted the Easter images of resurrection—the peach tree, the swallows—while regretting, later in that article, that new generations had lost the poetry of the Easter season.
There is a sense of joy, of certainty. God does not disappoint us. We are here because Jesus died and rose again. We never celebrate death, but rather the certainty of Resurrection and the Joy of eternal life. Mariangela experienced this True Joy and gave others the chance to experience it: in her family, in trial—a trial that was transformed into service; Love that became Tenderness, because there is Strength in Tenderness. This is what happened to her, from the moment when, by divine providence, her path crossed that of Jean Vanier and, we can say, Foi et Lumière became Fede e Luce. From that moment on, so many—especially those considered last—became first: the little ones found a family, well represented here today.
Add to all this the gift God gave Mariangela of energy, I would say a certain inventiveness: the "imagination of charity." I have witnessed it in the works connected also to our parish of Saint Sylvia. And so Fede e Luce became "Carro," "Alveare," "Mosaico," and who knows how many other names… Finally, I think also of the ministry of communion to the sick, which she shared with Paolo in our community.
Thank you, Lord, for giving us this sister.
Jean Vanier reminds us that everything has meaning in relation to Jesus. Even the greatest works are lived in this humility of encounter with him:
"When I discover that I am poor, in confusion, but I understand that you call me by name, that you love me, then, behold, it is the moment of transformation: the human being transformed in Jesus, alive in Jesus, born of the Spirit, which is what every Christian should be.
This will happen when the miracle is accomplished, when I discover that I am loved just as I am, in my poverty, and that Jesus uses me in spite of my stupidity, my smallness, my weakness.
Then I am transformed, I can do everything because it is no longer I who do it. I know that you will be present, I know that you will be at work in me, Jesus.
I can sing your Word, I can give your peace, I can bring Jesus to birth in others. I can communicate the Spirit, I can strive for holiness and union with Jesus.
Not because I am worth something, but precisely because I am nothing; precisely because I know that you live in me, that you will work through me."
(J. Vanier, Disciples of the Lord, EDB, p. 79)
Don Paolo Ricciardi, Pastor of Saint Sylvia, 2014