Don Dario died on March 10th.
He was 31 years old.
He suffered greatly.
We loved him dearly. He gave us so much.
We remember him by publishing on the following page an essay he wrote in January 1981—what we consider the theology of Faith and Light.
Faith and Light: Treasure in Earthen Vessels
What has been given to you is a mystery of pain, of loneliness, of exclusion, often of absolute incomprehensibility and difficult communication—darkness and obscurity.
This mystery reveals the mystery at the heart of the world in which you live. It reveals it in its logic of power, in its laws ruled by the dominion of having much and being worth much.
Where superficiality dominates, where men lack the capacity to communicate deeply, where there is too much restraint in sharing in the joy and sorrow of others, where there is inattention and indifference.
Where the idea prevails that love is feeling and moment—not faithfulness, effort, self-giving.
Where people avoid going to the heart of things, of life, of problems; where responsibilities are shirked or passed to others.
"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Jn 16:33
In Faith and Light you are given the chance to touch with your own hands the mystery at the heart of the world.
But also the mystery of your own heart is unveiled! It shows whether you are closed off or open and sensitive; it reveals whether this sensitivity is fragile or solid, whether you cannot endure, be realistic, or be loyal, or whether you know how to live in tension with life.
You are given the mystery of certain people: they brought us together not asking for our words, not asking for our masks, not asking for what makes us valuable in the eyes of others—they simply wanted "everything" and ask for it continuously.
They do not speak our language; they ask us to learn theirs, a language that seeks to overcome all barriers and that is both a liberation and a path to communion.
It has been given to us—to me, who do not know how to be simple! To you, who do not recognize your limits! To you, who do not know how to make the effort to learn to love! To you, who will not believe! To you, who do not know how to be faithful...
A great reality has been given to us, the poor: humility.
All this suffering, this poverty, this incomprehensibility is not the final word; the mystery is not an abyss... if you believe, if you listen and welcome that announcement: "Blessed are you poor..."
You will overcome... if you believe. Otherwise you simply share despair, or resignation, or pity, or anger, or friendship (and already this is immensely great and important)—but there is in you (not in others) no "word" worth speaking and living out. We have no salvation to carry... only God can!
If you believe: it does not mean falsifying reality, but welcoming into yourself the life of God, His way of loving and being, if you carry this form of life within you.
If you believe: it means saying that God is always the greatest; that this God, the Most High, the Almighty, the Holy One, prefers "them." He asks you to make space and time for Him in you, so that in you today His love becomes transparent, His preference becomes clear, so that this hope can be seen in you and others can touch it with their own hands.
If you believe: it means the Cross.
The Cross is bearing the weight of others, and weight for others.
But truly their weight: this happens not necessarily because you engage all the activity of your life, but because you put at stake the whole orientation of your life—otherwise you have not taken them seriously.
The Cross means struggling with God, because God is like a raging torrent in human life.
The Cross means accepting that it was not you who conquered, but Him...
If Faith and Light is essentially bound to faith, it cannot be separated from the Church.
The Church is searching for an image of itself that will make transparent to contemporary humanity the life of God it carries within, the Gospel it is called to proclaim. In this journey toward transparency, Faith and Light has a role—a specific, limited, prophetic role: in turning toward the Beatitudes and in placing the poor at the center of the Christian community, a truly great step is taken toward communion.
Yet all of this must be lived in reality—that is, in the effort of concrete situations and people you encounter, in the attempt to create the conditions that allow progressive growth together.
"What we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us." 1 Jn 1:1-3
If Faith and Light is essentially bound to faith, it cannot be separated from the Church. The Church is searching for an image of itself that will make transparent to contemporary humanity the life of God it carries, the Gospel it is called to proclaim. In this journey toward transparency, Faith and Light has a prophetic role—a specific and limited prophetic role: in turning toward the Beatitudes and in placing the poor at the center of the Christian community, a truly great step is taken toward communion.
Yet all of this must be lived in reality—that is, in the struggle of concrete situations and people in which you find yourself, in the attempt to create the conditions that allow progressive growth together.
"Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." 1 Pt 3:15
If Faith and Light is centered in faith, what does its openness to non-believers mean? What does their participation mean? And how should it be lived? The value of this reality is undeniable: not only is this the normal situation today, but at the level of a deep human and faith experience, how rich in possibility is the presence together of Christian men and non-believers!
Every encounter and every dialogue seems to me always to demand the courage to be oneself and the courage to confront the "reality" of the other, truly welcoming them for who they are. But in Faith and Light the position of the believer and the non-believer is precisely the same: it is the believers who make the "proposal," so to speak. Faith and Light is and presents itself as a Christian movement. Everyone is invited to respond to this message.
So what do we do with non-believers? We must live a deep spirit of welcome, in constant tension to walk the path with them, in accepting that we learn from them the profound humanity of the heart and the great love for humanity; in being open to deepening our own faith through this dialogue. But this is not enough. This dialogue must always be conducted in love and respect, because only God works on the human heart. It must be nourished by the duty to bring—through life and word—God's saving crisis into the human heart, through the invitation and the tension to live to the fullest the reality of Faith and Light, which, as I have said, is ultimately an evangelical reality.
Before one who does not believe because his life is directly marked by this mystery, I am silent, because between him and God no one has the right to speak.
The dialogue and encounter between believers and non-believers is decided only there, when one chooses regarding the ultimate meaning of the mysterious reality we have been given to encounter and live together. If a Christian does not also take this final step, he is one who does not love his brother who does not believe. This does not mean going on crusades, but living in this situation with suffering and refusing to imagine that we can be together *regardless* of this: it would be the self-destruction of our faith!A serious, convinced, and radical non-believer (that is, one who has truly closed every discussion on the matter... are there such among us?) I do not see how or why he would choose to have this experience.
But one who does not believe in "this" God and "this" Church, one who seeks in himself and in life an ultimate meaning—such a person has a space here, provided he truly confronts "all" the reality of Faith and Light down to its ultimate and decisive root: God.
One who is indifferent has not yet understood anything of what is meant to be lived and realized here: he may well have found here a place of growth, of peace, of emotional balance...
Before one who does not believe because his life is directly marked by this mystery, I am silent, because between him and God no one has the right to speak. But I, who witness and share his existence, cannot fail to understand; I cannot pretend not to see that in the confrontation between this brother and the Lord lies everything that is "decisive"; I cannot help but go to God to wrestle. When the non-believer in Faith and Light changes his position—that is, when he wants to set the course himself—it is right to make clear to him the need to choose another place, and from there, perhaps, to remain open to Christians as well.
- D. Dario Madaschi
A Young Man's Letter to Don Dario