The boys, coming from the Italian Guanellian realities, participate in the Jubilee of Adolescents
by Don Salvatore Alletto
SIt was about 10 in the morning on April 21, Easter Monday, when the news of Pope Francis' passing began to spread. We had hoped that he would be there; so had the many teenagers already busy packing their suitcases for their Jubilee. We had hoped to see him again in the square, even just to hear his voice, faint, but always full of enthusiasm.
Pope Francis, however, has always taught us not to let our hope be stolen and it is with this attitude that the 200 Guanellian teenagers set out for Rome together with hundreds of thousands of their peers, coming from all over the world. Pope Francis was there once again waiting for us. Certainly no longer with his physical presence, but with his word resounding in our ears and with his fighting and evangelical spirit he watched over all the young people present.
For the young Guanellians, the Jubilee coincided with the 24th national meeting of the Guanellian Youth Movement. The Parish of San Giuseppe al Trionfale and the Casa San Giuseppe in Via Aurelia Antica opened their doors to welcome the young people from various Guanellian communities in Italy. There was room for moments of brotherhood and even celebration, certainly in a more sober and respectful way of the delicate moment. On the first evening, that of April XNUMX, the young people found themselves sharing the most beautiful aspects of their cultural traditions through song and dance. After dinner, then, around the neighborhood, they challenged each other in a fun treasure hunt that ended in the chapel of the Oratory with a moment of prayer.
The day of April 25 was dedicated to Forgiveness. In the morning, in the Basilica of San Giuseppe, there was the opportunity to listen to the testimony of Dario Reda, a teacher of physical education and a digital evangelist on the web and social media. Dario, a former student of the Guanellian Sisters' nursery school in Padua, after meeting Jesus through sports chose to be baptized as an adult. With his catechesis he invited the children to never lose hope, aware that things are often not as they seem. The presence of Jesus in his life was a source of joy, so he wished the children to preserve the same joy of knowing that they are loved by God who is Father. After Dario's catechesis, the children had the opportunity to approach the sacrament of Reconciliation, preparing to receive the Indulgence. In the afternoon, there was time dedicated to a cultural and spiritual journey through the streets of the Eternal City. In the evening the boys gathered in the Oratory for a moment of prayer in suffrage and in memory of Pope Francis. During this prayer they also listened to a speech by the Pope addressed to adolescents during the Jubilee of 2016. So much emotion and emotion crossed the faces of all the boys.
The next day, Saturday 26 April, was the day of Pope Francis' funeral. The Guanellian teenagers set out on a pilgrimage to the Basilica of St. John Lateran to pass through the Holy Door. The route, marked by various stages and signs, was characterized by prayer for the Pope. "It was as if Pope Francis had accompanied us along the entire journey," said one of them. In fact, the road traveled by the kids crossed the itinerary followed by the Pope in his last earthly stretch, from St. Peter's to Santa Maria Maggiore. Before entering the Holy Door, they had the gift of being able to greet the Pope just as he was heading towards his final earthly home. With the entrance to the Holy Door of St. John and the final blessing, the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Rome concluded. In the afternoon, there was a beautiful opportunity for celebration and service with the "good children", namely the disabled people of Via Aurelia Antica and the young people of Casa DonGua and Borgo Guanella. The boys demonstrated that you can have fun without excess, while also remembering those who are sometimes left behind in life.
The last aspect of the Jubilee to be experienced was therefore the Eucharistic Celebration. Together with two hundred thousand other young people, on Sunday 27 April, our young people went to St. Peter's Square for the final celebration of the Jubilee, which coincided with the second day of the Novendiali in suffrage for Pope Francis. The mass was presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, who had words of encouragement for the young people, recalling the figure of the Pope who had just passed away. "The Easter joy, which sustains us in the hour of trial and sadness," the cardinal said, "is something that can almost be touched in this square today; it can be seen impressed above all on your faces, dear young people and adolescents who have come from all over the world to celebrate the Jubilee. I address a special greeting to you, with the desire to make you feel the embrace of the Church and the affection of Pope Francis, who would have liked to meet you, look you in the eye, pass among you to greet you."
So we return home, with our hearts full of emotions, even contrasting ones. On the one hand, the joy and enthusiasm of the meeting, on the other, the feeling of emptiness and pain for the loss of a great point of reference that Pope Francis was for all the young generations. But above all, the certainty of hope prevails, which makes us once again pilgrims with the certainty that God never abandons us and always makes us experience his providence and his mercy.