A good news to be lived
His love of the Gospel permeates all the life,
vocation and mission of blessed James Alberione. He is the first to
feel himself a recipient of the “good news” that fills his
existence, indicates to him a great ideal, prods him to feel himself
a messenger of grace for the contemporary world, where he wants to
sow the leaven of the Gospel in the laws, customs, schools, places
of work and in every area of society through the fastest and most
efficacious means that progress offers. In his very numerous
exhortations on the importance of reading, assimilating and
announcing the Gospel, he simply communicates an experience that is
profound and life-giving, deriving from that “light” that
accompanies all the key points of his history.
Power and wisdom of God
Like Paul, who said of himself that “the love of
Christ urges me” (2Cor 5,14), also Blessed James Alberione, at the
dawn of the XX century, feels himself moved interiorly by an appeal
of love from Jesus-Eucharist who thirsts to draw to himself all men
and pushes him to start a new apostolate and a new religious family.
The young priest from Piedmont starts an incredible adventure that
in the space of some ten-year periods leads him to give life to
numberless achievements: he starts in 1914 with a small group of
boys and as editor of the diocesan newspaper of Alba, to become
successively the Founder of religious congregations and secular
institutes, the origin of Catholic editorial enterprises throughout
the world and of a network of bookstores that he aimed as sources
of light and warmth for all those who visited them. From his
original interest in the world of the press, he passes to the
awareness that the Church of today must be present in the movie
world, in television, in the world of music and in every area of
progress in human communication.
While participating in Vatican Council II, he saw in
the documents of the Council recognition of so many intuitions that
had caused him long-lasting travails before their realization.
Faithful to the Pauline motto “I strain forward” and to the
commitment to progress a little everyday, he has continued until the
end of his life to invent new things and to desire ever more
numerous and effective initiatives of evangelization in the modern
world. Among these initiatives, meriting their own particular
prominence are the countless “Gospel Days” and the “Biblical Weeks”
that have brought the sacred texts everywhere – to the houses , the
factories, the schools and many other places of daily life.
His great question: “How many times do you pose
the great problem: but…where is it going, how is it going, towards
what goal is it going, this humanity that at least every century,
even more, always renews itself on the face of the earth? And
humanity is like a great river that goes to throw itself into
eternity: will they be saved? Will they be lost forever?” even
today feeds our identity as apostles of the Gospel intent on
scrutinizing the signs of the times, to enter in syntony with the
joys, the anxieties, the anguish and the hopes of our
contemporaries.
His talent for intuition and updating spurs us to a
verification of our commitment in apostolic creativity and in
adaptation to the conditions of our recipients. The world is
rapidly evolving, our Founder reminded us, the populated
centers, culture, commerce, all are changing. Peaceful and rapid
revolutions are taking place by means of the press, the radio,
cinema, television, political, social and industrial movements…
religion must always be present. The one who stops or slows down is
passed by... Let us bring the greatest
good to all peoples.
A message to be communicated to all
According to Fr. Alberione, universality and
pastorality are distinctive traits of the Pauline apostolate that
originate from an act of love towards all categories of persons. The
recipients of the Gospel message are at the center of the concerns
of the apostle, with their concrete needs, their mentality, the
social context wherein they are situated. To enter into contact with
them, it is not anymore enough to limit oneself to the traditional
forms of pastoral, but it is necessary to widen the horizons and to
renew the methods. As there is a classic preaching using the word
pronounced verbally, so there is a modern mode of preaching that
uses the “edited word” and therefore are the languages of the press,
the cinema, radio, television. It embraces the transmission not
only of the doctrine of the Church, but also of science, the arts,
actuality, political and economic issues seen through the
perspective of Christian faith and way of life.
“Jesus Christ taught to not only wait for men, but to
look for them. Like the Master, the
apostle must propagate the divine Word in the cities, in the towns,
in the houses, even the most remote ones. He must cross the
mountains, traverse the oceans, go to all men...He must take
interest in individual souls, individual families, individual
parishes. Organize bookstores, form companions, enter all
associations, convince heads of offices, principals, persons in
authority... It’s all capillary work...” (UPS, IV, 89).
Pauline evangelization is not born first of all of
“activity”, but of universal and deep “feeling”, or, better,
“feeling with”. It comes from a mutual sharing of ideals, sentiments
and aspirations that trigger a fruitful dynamism of works and
services. Because of this Fr. Alberione believes that it can be done
only by apostles with a big heart, open minds and with capability to
adapt to all human situations.
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