160th Anniversary of the Birth
of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
Greeting from His Excellency Rev. Mons. Leonardo D’Ascenzo, Archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie
I greet all those present with affection, a heartfelt greeting to you all, His Excellency Mons. Buzon Patricio Abella, the priests, consecrated people, families, all the lay people present here. I am very happy to share with you this moment of the conference.
It is a very significant and important congress. It is 160 years since the birth of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. And it is very nice to meet together to reflect on the theme of the Divine Will as the Fountain of Unity. For us as Christians and disciples of Jesus, there is no more beautiful theme than that of unity, of communion, of being one in professing our faith, in living our lives according to the values of the Gospel, in giving witness to it, in being able and willing to walk together.
In these past days, yesterday and this morning, you have already explored the topic in the ecclesial, theological and spiritual spheres. I would like to share some of my thoughts on the topic, in addition to what you have already heard previously. However, first I would like to recall at what point in our walk together we find ourselves, within what is the canonical procedure regarding the beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.
We all remember well that in 2019 the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints temporarily suspended this path. Why? Because the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith detected in Piccarreta's writings some ambiguities-this is how the Dicastery expressed itself-not doctrinal errors, but ambiguities, both in the theological sphere and in the Christological and anthropological spheres. It was about ambiguities also due to the context in which Piccarreta lived, related to the culture, to the language through which she expressed herself and communicated in her diary; some ambiguities related to an accentuation of the theme of justice, for example, of divine justice or of the atonement for sins, or of a certain negative view of reality, of the experience of the human being.
Ambiguities that needed to be deepened, better clarified, which the Postulation proceeded to do in response to the request of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Therefore, after some years, in June 2024, last summer, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith granted the nulla osta, so that the canonical process could resume. However, the Dicastery asked to proceed with the publication of the text, with the typical and critical edition of the diary. So an official text, a text that would also be accompanied by an introduction that, in some way, would help the reader to understand well and correctly those ambiguities that resulted, result or could result on a reading of these texts
A typical edition, that is, an official text that can be the only reference for everyone, so that there are no translations by anyone and perhaps translations that are not respectful of what is the text, and therefore also the content, of what is written by Piccarreta.
In short, these requests from the Dicastery are requests that somehow invite everyone to walk together, invite everyone to unity to avoid fragmentations, various paths, various readings, various interpretations, various texts. But all this should really help us to live unity, to live as a Church, because the Church is a communion, we are a communion, we are a family and a family walks together, with one heart. And the heart of this family can only be the heart of God. So, I think it is very important where we are in this journey, after experiencing some years of reflection, with some effort and commitment. Then again, when you live in the Divine Will, you live obedience to God in the Church and you live obedience to the Church, good can only come for everyone. And that is what we are living and experiencing right now.
If your patience will allow me, as I said before, I would like to add some of my thoughts on the very beautiful and important theme of unity, the Divine Will, Fountain of Unity.
The Church is the sacrament of communion with God and the whole of humanity, and we are called to live in it relationships of communion with the help of the sacraments and especially the Eucharist. Communion is precisely the first and necessary condition for us to welcome what the Lord has in his heart for us, that is, the Divine Will. We know well that without communion we cannot go anywhere, we cannot say we are Church. Let us feel called to put into practice the words spoken a few years ago by Pope Francis whom we want to remember, I know you have already done it these days, but we still do it today, we continue to do it, we remember him in our prayer. We remember him with affection and with so much gratitude to God for having given him to us as a Pastor, as a Guide of the Church, as a Guide for all of us. We will then do this in a special way in the Celebration of the Mass.
Pope Francis said, “Do not waste your time in gossip, mistrust and opposition”. That sometimes happens also in the Church, in our communities. “Please -Pope Francis said- do not waste time!” We cannot live our time well unless we build communion.
It is necessary to cultivate the spirituality of communion in our lives, in our groups, in our churches, and to have synodality as a method. Spirituality is a concrete concept, it indicates concrete life, everyday life, animated by the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is this, everyday life animated by the Holy Spirit.
This means that life can only be lived in communion, in following Jesus by walking together. Praying, reflecting, discerning, acting together. All together, bishops, presbyters, consecrated, laity, groups, associations. There are no solitary paths to walk. Communion is a necessary condition for experiencing the presence of Jesus and believing in Him. If there is no communion, we cannot experience the presence of Jesus among us, it is not possible to know Jesus, it is not possible to believe in Him. Communion is necessary! Jesus said: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Cf. Mt. 18:20)
To experience Jesus, to believe in Him, to witness Him, we do not need to grow in genius, intelligence, structures, strategies, things these are all good. As an indispensable condition we need above all, to grow in communion, if we really want to transform this time of trial we are living; a very beautiful time in some respects and at the same time in other respects a difficult time, marked by violence, wars fought with weapons, trade wars, economic wars. However, we feel the call and the desire to commit ourselves to give our contribution so that humanity, the world, the environments in which we live can build communion.
Let us ask the Lord to help us to feel a strong desire to walk together, placing each one of us at the service of all in a common project.
These reflections are particularly valid in this time when, as Pope Francis has told us, the path of synodality-the path we are called to live and walk together-is the path God expects of the Church of the third millennium. In fact, Synodality, is a constitutive dimension of the Church. What the Lord is asking of us is already in some sense present in the very word “synod”. (Cf. Francis, Address on the occasion of the Ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops, October 17, 2015).
I am going to conclude by referring to a text, to a verse in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 10, verse 35, where we are told about the experience of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, who were naturally good people; to follow Jesus they had left everything, they were generous and courageous people. They approached Jesus and asked him to do something according to their expectations.
They ask, they want Jesus to act, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” In this way they try to bend Jesus' action to their will. And sometimes that is what we do when we pray. We ask God to intervene and do according to our requests. We ask and God is supposed to answer. In reality, things are different.
Let us think about what happened in the life of Jesus. The Spirit pushed Him into the desert and He responded by going into the desert. The Spirit prompted Him to begin the public ministry and He responded by beginning the ministry of announcing the Kingdom. The Father asked Him for the sacrifice of death on the cross and He obeyed and accepted this will.
So, in our relationship with God, it is He who speaks to us and manifests His expectations, and we are the ones who must respond. For example, in the Celebration of the Mass, as we will experience in a moment, it is God Himself who speaks, who manifests His Will and His expectations in the readings, in the Word of God that is proclaimed. He asks us for something and we are the ones who must respond.
In conclusion, in the synodal journey - which is this journey together, a journey that Pope Francis wanted the Church and all of us to be able to live in a particular way in this time - the "conversation in the Spirit", which we all have learned to experience, helps us to listen to each other, to listen to what the Holy Spirit wants to communicate to us. It is clear that as a Church, without listening to each other and to the Spirit, we cannot build the path to follow. And it is equally clear that we cannot live prayer as asking God to help us achieve what we have already planned.
Let us not forget that in prayer, in the “conversation in the Spirit”, it is God who asks and manifests expectations, we are the ones who must respond.
Only from this way of relationship, from this assimilated and practiced style, through discernment we can arrive at shared choices that are our response to be lived and realized, to be lived in the Divine Will to continue to walk together.
I truly conclude by now addressing a special greeting to the first association, that is "The Little Children of the Divine Will (LCDW) Philippines-USA", that officially enters the Family of the Divine Will.