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“WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG”
Fr. Domenico B. Spoletini, ssp |
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27 Aprile
2003: La beatificazione in Piazza S. Pietro
Il Santo padre pronuncia solennemente la FORMULA DI
BEATIFICAZIONE
Dal DVD: A. Monge, "Giacomo fa' luce!"
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Don Giacomo Alberione,
Preghiere, 2007
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PATTO O SEGRETO DI RIUSCITA
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PER CHI SENTE SETE DI ANIME COME GESÙ
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SUPPLICA ONNIPOTENTE
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ABUNDANTES DIVITIAE GRATIAE SUAE, n. 112
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BRA
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“WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG”
Fr. Domenico B. Spoletini, ssp
“The gospel and
Christian life, as well as salvation depend much more on our
suffering than on our action...When we are reduced to inaction
because of pains or sickness, we can work more extensively and
deeply than with action: “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Cor
12,10)”.
We read this in a
writing by blessed James Alberione on Vita Pastorale
(January-February 1950). Its title is revealing: “Passio catholica”
(Catholic passion): there he sketches the likeness of the priest who
takes seriously his life and offers himself with Christ for the
salvation of the world. A hundred years from the priestly
ordination of Fr. Alberione, we ask ourselves: did he ever imagine
that about fifteen years later, those very Pauline lines would have
appeared in him in a devastating form (!), accompanying him until
the tomb (1971)? We do not know, but one thing is certain: God had
prepared Alberione for that moment in which, from a life of frantic
activity, all geared to the mission of evangelizing the men of today
with the means of today, he would have passed to a life of inaction
marked by suffering. A true icon of the Crucified. This was not only
part of his spiritual ideal, but a reflection of life. Indeed, “when
I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor 12,10).
By this expression
the apostle Paul wants us (like him!) to be on guard against facile
vainglory because of accomplished works. Fr. Alberione knew it:
through him, the Lord had given to the Church a new and very modern
charism; a new and large Family that aspired to be
saint Paul living today; a spirituality attuned to the times;
and he has seen his work expand itself in a short time to the five
continents… There was in him the real risk of “going up in pride”.
And the Lord works with him as with the great “elect” of the Bible:
the power of God will reveal itself in the humility of the
instrument (cf 1Cor 1,31).
Three particular
aspects of weakness and suffering strongly marked his Pauline
priesthood. First of all, his precarious health. (cf AD 47).
Alberione was always sickly, but he knew how to accept this as a
“sign of Providence” so that his charismatic works would mature
better. He countered sickness with an exceptional force of will. God
did the rest.
Secondly – and
these, in his weakness, reveal his unlimited trust in God – there
are his big initiatives: the foundations, the numerous
communities, the printing and diffusion of the Bible, the new
technologies: all of them or almost accomplished during “difficult
times” (cf AD 44-45) with ill-prepared persons and insufficient
means, with delays in seeing the “novelty” of his charism recognized
(cf AD 110). Sometimes it seemed like tempting the Divine
Providence! The secret? He reveals it to his missionaries in
Australia. “Note well, he said to them, that without sacrifice you
accomplish nothing…The Cross must not stay alone at the top of the
belfries, but must be planted in your hearts…Everything that is good
costs. The crowns of the Blessed are made up of crosses”.
There is a third
point, perhaps the most revealing: Fr. Alberione was exceedingly
tested interiorly because of infidelities, abandonments,
failures of initiatives cherished for a long time (cf AD 112-113).
In his last years, to one who visited him, he asked for prayers
“because – he said – I shall have from God a very severe judgment”.
He even came to the point of doubting his salvation.
Alberione answered
with total generosity, as revealed by his favorite prayers: the
“Pact or secret of success” and “For those who thirst for souls as
Jesus”.
We could continue.
We are before a secret still entirely to be discovered, because Fr.
Alberione accepted his daily crosses with reserve as part of his
priesthood, and every day he offered them in the Mass which he
celebrated until the day prior to his death, worthy zeal of a
priesthood loaded with years, charisms, self-giving and sanctity.
We believe that in few persons as in him is revealed the Pauline
saying: In the weakness of the instrument the power of God shows
itself.
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