Skip to main content

Fr. Eugene Pulcini, SX

Dec 19, 2016
904

During these days of expectation and Advent, our Xaverian Family is called to pass through a trial of faith and hope. The Lord has visited us.

The death of our Superior General, Fr. Luigi Menegazzo, places us once again before the greatness and the seriousness of life. Certain moments, certain sad and difficult experiences – such as death – force us to think and understand reality with greater clarity, moving beyond the ordinary superficiality of appearances, beyond a mere “narrative” of life, to a profound grasp of its reality and meaning. Today we remember that our life is a gift, especially the life of a missionary who is convinced that there is so much for which it is worthwhile to die, because there is so much for which it is worthwhile to live: Christ and the proclamation of his Gospel. 

The certainty of this truth and belonging to Christ, to which Fr. Luigi bore witness until the very end, tell us that man is greater than death, the greatest power of this world. Today is the time for reasserting this fundamental truth: the Christian life is born and becomes real beginning from the certainty that nothing, and no one, can ever separate us from the love with which God has loved us in  Christ. Ours is a sovereign dignity! In certain moments, Fr. Luigi experienced his illness as a profound struggle with something that was bent on snatching this certainty from him. One month ago, before he was readmitted to hospital, he wrote to a confrere: Undoubtedly the Lord wants to tell me something, and that is why my current commitment is to ensure that I do not miss the essence of what I am experiencing, which, if I may say so, makes me experience a weakness I never knew before”. In these last few evenings, when he was already very weak, during our brief conversations he expressed the fear that he would not get better, his fear of “being an unworthy successor of Conforti”… Above all he expressed a fear of resisting God’s will “which in that moment reveals itself as something totally contrary to my own will”.

Today the entire Xaverian Family is poorer. All of us knew and appreciated the many qualities that made Fr. Luigi a great Xaverian missionary. He leaves us a rich spiritual, cultural heritage and – above all – a great love for the Xaverian Family.

Recently he wrote: “I feel a special gratitude towards all the confreres throughout the world and the messages I receive move me to tears. I apply the words of our Founder to these gifts: The Lord could not have been more generous to me!”

When he encouraged us to make daily use of the Calendario Saveriano 2017, he said: “The journey we are undertaking, especially the journey of our life, – the mission – will be easier because we will feel united to each other”. Bon voyage, Luigi. Together with Conforti, continue to accompany us on our journey.

During these days of expectation and Advent, our Xaverian Family is called to pass through a trial of faith and hope. The Lord has visited us.

The death of our Superior General, Fr. Luigi Menegazzo, places us once again before the greatness and the seriousness of life. Certain moments, certain sad and difficult experiences – such as death – force us to think and understand reality with greater clarity, moving beyond the ordinary superficiality of appearances, beyond a mere “narrative” of life, to a profound grasp of its reality and meaning. Today we remember that our life is a gift, especially the life of a missionary who is convinced that there is so much for which it is worthwhile to die, because there is so much for which it is worthwhile to live: Christ and the proclamation of his Gospel. 

The certainty of this truth and belonging to Christ, to which Fr. Luigi bore witness until the very end, tell us that man is greater than death, the greatest power of this world. Today is the time for reasserting this fundamental truth: the Christian life is born and becomes real beginning from the certainty that nothing, and no one, can ever separate us from the love with which God has loved us in  Christ. Ours is a sovereign dignity! In certain moments, Fr. Luigi experienced his illness as a profound struggle with something that was bent on snatching this certainty from him. One month ago, before he was readmitted to hospital, he wrote to a confrere: Undoubtedly the Lord wants to tell me something, and that is why my current commitment is to ensure that I do not miss the essence of what I am experiencing, which, if I may say so, makes me experience a weakness I never knew before”. In these last few evenings, when he was already very weak, during our brief conversations he expressed the fear that he would not get better, his fear of “being an unworthy successor of Conforti”… Above all he expressed a fear of resisting God’s will “which in that moment reveals itself as something totally contrary to my own will”.

Today the entire Xaverian Family is poorer. All of us knew and appreciated the many qualities that made Fr. Luigi a great Xaverian missionary. He leaves us a rich spiritual, cultural heritage and – above all – a great love for the Xaverian Family.

Recently he wrote: “I feel a special gratitude towards all the confreres throughout the world and the messages I receive move me to tears. I apply the words of our Founder to these gifts: The Lord could not have been more generous to me!”

When he encouraged us to make daily use of the Calendario Saveriano 2017, he said: “The journey we are undertaking, especially the journey of our life, – the mission – will be easier because we will feel united to each other”. Bon voyage, Luigi. Together with Conforti, continue to accompany us on our journey.

You like what you see?

Share it!