Pe. Luigi Pieretti, entre os primeiros fd de Lucca | Os primeiros dias no Brasil
Continue the account of the missionary life of Fr. Luigi Pieretti, fidei donum of the diocese of Lucca in Brazil
It was August 2, 1979. That date would mark the beginning of a new life for Fr. Luigi Pieretti.
“At the airport, Father João Stefani and Delia, an Italian girl who had been working in his community for seven years, were waiting for us. Around five o’clock in the morning, in a Fiat 127, we drove to the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe.”
There is one memory that accompanies the priest, on that first long day in Brazil: “after breakfast, we went back to the airport and stopped for a while on the sea beach. It was a wonderful place, semi-deserted: coconut trees on green plates near the beach. A sunny day with a calm sea. We stopped to contemplate!”
In mission, there is no stopping, so the afternoon was no less. “We visited a neighborhood: an impressive place, and a view that will be repeated many times in the region.”
The fidei donum no longer had his Tuscany before him. It was a completely different world that required to be looked at again and again, not with the eyes of one who judges but with the heart of one who wants to seek to know and is ready to love and serve.
“On the hills around the old city, there were many small mud houses (if you could call them that); there was no sewage system and water flowed through the clay lanes carved into the hills. Passing by, one could see the miserable interiors of the houses. Most of the people were black. Many children played in the streets and in the dirty water. We stopped at the small church in the neighborhood to celebrate Mass.”
And on that altar, a revelation: “the Gospel tells us that if we want to follow Jesus, we must carry the cross. It is a commitment we must never forget and it is the truest reminder of the meaning of mission.”
Fr. Pieretti’s diary is meticulous; every day, he manages to write something down: from waiting for lost luggage to new friendships, from community activities to meetings with local people, which always offer interesting food for thought.
he fidei donum no longer had his Tuscany before him. It was a completely different world that required to be looked at again and again, not with the eyes of one who judges but with the heart of one who wants to seek to know and is ready to love and serve.
“On the hills around the old city, there were many small mud houses (if you could call them that); there was no sewage system and water flowed through the clay lanes carved into the hills. Passing by, one could see the miserable interiors of the houses. Most of the people were black. Many children played in the streets and in the dirty water. We stopped at the small church in the neighborhood to celebrate Mass.”
And on that altar, a revelation: “the Gospel tells us that if we want to follow Jesus, we must carry the cross. It is a commitment we must never forget and it is the truest reminder of the meaning of mission.”
Fr. Pieretti’s diary is meticulous; every day, he manages to write something down: from waiting for lost luggage to new friendships, from community activities to meetings with local people, which always offer interesting food for thought.
On Aug. 5, for example, the theme of the Mass was the vocation of the priest. “It was an opportunity to rethink my being a priest in the service of Christ and the people of God.” On the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, on the other hand, “Fr. Arturo spoke of the need to assure the poor the bread of the Eucharist and the Word, but also the daily bread for living.”
It will be, this, a lesson he will always keep in mind in Brazil, and on the eve of his arrival in Rio Branco, a prayer arises spontaneously:
Lord, it is 9:50 p.m.
Tomorrow morning I will take the plane again and arrive in Rio Branco.
I will find Father Massimo waiting for me and perhaps many other people. It will be an important day in my life.
That land, those people, that parish,
will be the place and the community where you will meet me
and where I will have to love and serve you.
From tomorrow, Lord,
may I begin to open myself totally to you,
to your grace, to your Gospel and to my vocation.
May I love all these people
in your name and with your love.
May I know how to serve them as you want,
so that I never have to scandalize them.
You, Lord, have known
my limitations, my sins and my betrayals.
Help me to love you truly
To make reparation for the evil I have done
And to help your people, the people of the poor,
to know you more and more,
so that your Kingdom may spread over the earth.
Give me, Lord, the courage
To endure any suffering
and even death, if necessary.
Lady Aparecida, Lady of Guadalupe,
I entrust myself to your protection.
Amen.”
To be continued…
Source and image
- Luigi Pieretti
- spazio + spadoni