News. Broadcasts. Headlines. They show us a world that seems barely livable. The flood of bad news risks pushing us into depression and sadness, until we can hardly see the good and beautiful things that do exist. So I've decided to pay closer attention to those positive moments I call "scraps of paradise"—small fragments, brief spaces or instants when, if your heart is ready, you catch a glimpse of what paradise will be.
Paradise is the place—or better, the state—of complete and lasting happiness, the happiness that comes from being with God, who is the source of all good. But God is never alone. In Him are all created things, and above all, people. Paradise is not solitary happiness but "communion": a place where you encounter God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and where you meet others—the angels, the saints, and first of all the Blessed Virgin Mary. To say "encounter" is not enough. In paradise, communion means "dwelling" in one another. I'm not being poetic here. I simply need to tune my antennae to pick up the waves of paradise already present on earth.
I know this world is wicked. As long as men and women are born with original sin, as long as the devil has permission to tempt us, evil will not vanish from the earth. Sometimes it seems to prevail. But that's not true. Paradise has already begun here. You only need clean eyes to see it.
So I took stock of the "scraps of paradise" I've lived through these past few weeks.
Scraps of paradise were the Masses celebrated in the community where I spent a few days.
Scraps of paradise were conversations with various people.
A scrap of paradise is sitting together in simplicity and brotherhood.
Scraps of paradise were gathering lavender together, playing bocce after dinner.
A scrap of paradise is kneeling in adoration in the chapel, in the half-light.
A scrap of paradise is when friends drive three hours just to take you to the airport.
A scrap of paradise is when a poor person humbly offers you his hand and then kisses it.
A scrap of paradise is when a girl you've never met calls out "Father!" as you wait for your train at the station.
A scrap of paradise is boarding the train and finding two friends there to greet you.
How I wish these "fragments" of paradise would keep growing, filling my entire day! I know that's not possible. There will be plenty of things to make me irritable, tense, impatient, annoyed, bored. But I know much depends on me—on how well I guard my heart against the world's malign spirit. I don't want to lose the happiness I've found.
===FINE===