2 FEBRUARY
834 years separate us from February 2, 1188. On that day the church of San Donato was consecrated by the bishop of Ravenna. Since then, at least forty generations have had the joy of experiencing celebrations, of singing songs, of raising supplications and desires towards the Lord: the stones and the frescoes are silent witnesses of this! “If the stones spoke” they could tell the joys of families for baptisms, for first communions, for the great gift of the Holy Spirit, for marriages; the sufferings for the dead who have been entrusted to the hands of the Lord, for times of wars, invasions and great natural and health disasters which in past centuries have left deep wounds. It is said that "time is medicine" and over time our selective memory also tries to eliminate what past history has taught us. "History teaches, but there are no students" ... or there are so few!
And so this invisible, elusive, devious virus has come to remind us that we are not the rulers of the world and of history. The impertinent covid-19 even tries to change itself and escape our most sophisticated and avant-garde laboratories.
Who knows what Don Franco Bencini will say when he sees his San Donato with limited numbers on the patronal feast and, this year, even without flags on the bell tower!
What are we presenting to the Lord this year? So many additional difficulties that families are called to face, fears that snake in our hearts, hopes that peep out despite everything, like the snowdrops that color the white mantle of snow when it begins to melt. The Word of the Lord comes to give us certainties in the history we are living: “My eyes have seen your salvation: light to reveal you to the people and glory of your people.”. In fact, the Lord does not take care of the angels, but takes care of the lineage of Abraham. The lineage of those who know how to entrust themselves and precisely because they entrust themselves to God, who is Love, are able to take care of themselves and transmit Love. Yes, the Lord has taken our flesh, he has entered the tortuous history of our humanity and is able to come to the aid of us who are in trial.
The patronal feast of San Donato reminds us that we too are the light that shines among the people, a light whose source of energy comes from being united to the source, to the Lord of Life.