hrough
the poem “Free to Serve” Giosy Cento lends her voice to other young
people who search for a meaning in their lives or a focus to capture their
hearts.
Free to Serve
Text by Giosy Cento
Oh! Free of everything to serve.
Oh! Free of everything to serve.
It is wonderful to have a lot to do and not feel useless
If dizziness overtakes you, overwhelms you,
And to ride every instant, to plunge into love,
Crazy, but as immense as you like.
It is wonderful not have a head full of nonsense
A young heart that is free.
And near a man you feel more a man.
Serve life, what are you looking for?
I want to be free to serve everyone.
I want to be free to give all to those having nothing.
Let us play this freedom, let us play with enthusiasm.
Let us play for humanity, let us play this freedom.
A poor person without name, he too is called Jesus,
A face no one sees yet is ever present,
Never ceasing to suffer, never ceasing to cry,
Awaiting you, only you.
I want to be free to serve everyone.
I want to be free to give all to those having nothing.
Let us play this freedom, let us play with enthusiasm.
Let us play for humanity, let us play this freedom.
Oh! Free of everything to serve.
Oh! Free of everything to serve.
From Christ’s point of view, everything acquires meaning only if life becomes love and humble service offered to every person. If you read into your innermost being, to what law of life do you feel called?
In August, at the Xaverian Assembly, held in Franklin, WI, we celebrated the life, and death, of some young Xaverians who made the news in our Province at about the same time.
Fr. Vittorio
Falsina, 38, died from injuries received in a car accident near Syracuse,
NY, on August 24, 2001. A doctor in
social ethics and international relations, Vittorio had been a researcher for
the McArthur Foundation and for the Rockfeller Foundation and at the United
Nations. For the last two years he
was also Visiting Professor at the School of Divinity in Cambridge, MA.
Of him, Rev. Bryan Hehir, chairman of the Executive Committee at Harvard
Divinity School, wrote: “Vittorio had a strong commitment to the teaching of
all religious traditions about economic justice…
He had lived out this commitment in practically every aspect of his life,
by living among the poor in base communities in Brazil, Peru, and on Native
American reservations in the USA.” His
focus was always on the hope of finding new ways for mission, particularly in
the area of international economy, in view of a just, humane and integral
development of poor countries. A
colleague added, “Vittorio was a special spirit and his passing is something
we shall all feel deeply.”
Horacio Perez Padilla returned from a 2-year overseas training experience in the Amazon. This in-the-field formation period is part of the preparation for all Xaverians before ordination. Horacio very much appreciates the chance he has had to know a different people and culture, to be a missionary in a local church that is growing and is full of vitality. His enthusiasm for the missionary life renewed, he now enters the last stage of his initial formation and looks forward to his ordination to the priesthood.
We bid farewell to Alberto Bertozzi. Alberto left for his mission in-the-field formation period in Japan. He wishes to serve as a brother, and his desire was to go to mainland China. Well, we know that God writes straight through crooked lines, and that “everything concurs to the good of those who love God.” So, God willing, sooner or later, Alberto will be able to god to China, but for the time being he is given an appetizer of mission life. We wish him all the best.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)