Community life

Bose, December 2013
from the Letter to our friends n° 57
On 25 June one of the first brothers, Edoardo, passed away peacefully — the first death of a brother in the community

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Bose, December 2013
from the Letter to our friends n° 57

 

On 25 June one of the first brothers, Edoardo, passed away peacefully — the first death of a brother in the community. Br Enzo, visibly moved, in his sermon thanked God for the gift of br Edoardo’s life and of his monastic vocation, faithfully lived. “Edoardo came from a noble and wealthy, a prestigious family and divested himself, coming to know poverty, hard work, living with the diffidence of the Church and without support or backing. He knew the cold of Bose, the lack of so many essential, not superfluous things and never complained. In his discreet manner he also suffered, without ever showing his difficulties, but always obeying, even when it cost… Edoardo was a faithful monk, persevering in his monastic vocation to the end, here in Bose, then in Israel, then again in Bose until his death. He was faithful, and for the Gospel this alone is decisive. God pardons and forgets sins; what he asks is simply fidelity, perseverance, being in the midst of one’s brothers without fail. To his fidelity Jesus has responded with fidelity, calling him to where he is. Besides relatives and friends, present at his funeral were several sisters of Cumiana, br Adalberto and br Andrea of Dumenza, sr Anne-Emmanuelle of Grandchamp, and don Angelo Casati of Milan.

In an atmosphere of thanksgiving for the Lord’s gifts that fill our life, this year again we joyfully lived the feast of the Transfiguration, in which the community welcomed a new professed brother, Fabio Baggio, who at the end of his novitiate and period of discernment celebrated his definitive alliance with the Lord and our community, presenting his life as a Christian monk in the service of Christ in the Church and among men. In the vigil liturgy participated monks and nuns of other communities: the sisters of Cumiana, br Emanuele and br Bernardo from the Cistercian monastery of Pra’d Mill, br Luca and br Pino from the Benedictine monastery of Dumenza, m. Maria Pia from the Benedictine monastery of Civitella San Paolo, the Coptic monk fr Danyal, the Maronite religious br Rabiah, as well as numerous friends and guests.

In May-June br Francesco spent a month in Besancon to study French, then in July he was in St-Amand-en-Puisaye (Burgundy) for a course of turning. In the same period br Matteo was again in China for forty days, visiting Christian communities and giving talks in seminaries in three different regions of China.

The presence among us in October of the Jesuit theologian fr Christoph Theobald was a great gift. He gave a talk for the guests on “ Vatican II — vision of the future and new questions” and had three meetings with the community on “Christianity as style”. Of German origin, but for many years living in France, where he teaches at the Faculty of theology of the Sèvres Center in Paris, fr Theobald is one of the most esteemed and acute contemporary Catholic theologians, who “unites the rigor proper to German theological reflection with the genius of French thought”, as br Enzo put it. Fr Theobald traced the main lines of the stylistic approach elaborated by him to Christian faith and tradition, an original contribution to contemporary theology, which tries to respond to the challenges inherited from the Council.