As early as Friday the 22nd Fra Elia spoke to us about Peace. He was heartfelt, almost desperate and certainly did not mind the burning of his already open sores and the pains in his bones. He does nothing but spur us to pray for peace, not only for Israel and Ukraine but for the 50.000 children killed in the Congo and no one talks about it. As everyone knows Fra Elia has been fasting since Ash time, but he continues to work like everyone else. He masks very well, but of course his brothers understand when he struggles to stand up, when his voice changes between a sigh and a slight moan. I could hear him on the phone, too, and I couldn’t help but understand that he was in pain.
Palms eve
Holy Mass, prayers then everyone to his work place, Fra Elia got up with a bump on his forehead and a bruised cheek. He goes to the computer room to get some documents. There he finds Fra Franciesco working and Fra Sergio. He feels faint and calls for help…the friars flock but he slumps unconscious on a small chair.
“Don Marco, Don Marco Fra Elia is sick…” cried Fra Sergio and in a moment the Don came in and realized it was an ecstasy. For 20 minutes Fra Elia communicated with the infinite.
Palm Sunday
Beautiful festive atmosphere with procession, Holy Mass and blessing of the Olives Trees.
But we will always remember the words of Fra Elia that caused us to meditate and recognize ourselves in their meaning.
“Try to think if we met the Lord today, if we saw Him before us…what would we say to Him? What if He said, I’m coming to your house to eat. Are you hosting me? No one would say come. Where would the Lord go? Now we should be at the table…in this house there are husband and wife with their cell phones in their hands and no one is interested in the other. Today we are celebrating peace…where is the peace, where is the grace of God? I don’t feel it and I don’t see it. We say we want peace. These are just words in the wind…we don’t even build peace in our families…if we want peace we should have it first in our hearts…we should be transmitters of peace.
Today is Palm Sunday with the blessing of olive trees as symbols of peace.
Why do we give weapons? Those who ask for them want to win by sacrificing thousands and thousands of creatures. What does he want to win? Freedom? Lay down your pride, dialogue, everyone will find his peace. I want peace…I have been praying for peace for months…and the wars continue. This has become the palm of martyrdom. The Mass is there, the procession is there, the Grace of God is there. What are we missing? Prayer. Lord come to my help soon. He loves us, He wants to be with us, in our home. We don’t talk about things that kill people. The Lord knows…He went to the cross for us, to give us peace. To find peace we have to forgive, say I love you, smile and, when we can, do good. Peace is not ours…we have to break it and distribute our peace to everyone…we don’t have to win anything, only Jesus’ love. Let us look at the cross, Lord welcome those who are coming to you, continue to be among us, help us to keep the peace and do what you told us: love your neighbor…everything you do to others is as if you did it to me.”
