.

“The circumstances
through which God has us pass
are an essential and not a secondary factor
of the mission to which he calls us.” 
L.G.

 

I began this 22nd day of February fifteen years ago in Ashburton celebrating an early morning Mass to mark the anniversary of the 2005 death of one of my great mentors.

I know that while I don’t often quote him in these FFF posts, much of what I write as with much of how I live is guided by the sound and refreshing way in which Luigi Giussani presented Jesus Christ as central for healthy and happy human existence, God encountered in the often unwelcome reality of earthly experience.

More on Giussani in a moment.

After breakfast on that morning fifteen years ago I drove back to Christchurch arriving before everything changed during lunch when the devastating earthquake struck the city taking 185 lives and shaking every aspect of life in the city and beyond.

In so many ways Giussani’s perspective enables us to survive in and even to thrive through earthly traumas.

It is now an annual tradition that those who appreciate Luigi Giussani’s inspiration gather for Mass each year on February 22. These Masses are celebrated in every part of the world.

Today (Sunday) I will remember him when I celebrate the 9.00am Mass in Kaiapoi.

A week after the death of Monsignor Giussani, Cardinal Ratzinger (who a few weeks later would emerge from conclave as Benedict XVI) preached the funeral homily in the Cathedral of Milan.

You can find the full text of the homily at this link, but for now I share key section:

“This love affair with Christ, this love story which is the whole of his life was however far from every superficial enthusiasm, from every vague romanticism.

Really seeing Christ, he knew that to encounter Christ means to follow Christ.

This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that passes also—as we heard in the psalm—through the “valley of darkness.”

In the Gospel, we heard of the last darkness of Christ’s suffering, of the apparent absence of God, when the world’s Sun was eclipsed.

He knew that to follow is to pass through a “valley of darkness,” to take the way of the cross, and to live all the same in true joy.”

Because Giussani’s anniversary of death falls on a Sunday this year, many places have marked this anniversary in recent days. The homilies given at these Masses are always a powerful testimony to the centrality of Christ in every up and down of human existence.

On Thursday of last week the Archbishop of Milan Mario Delpini celebrated the annual Giussani Mass in the same Duomo of Milan offering a surprisingly brief and wonderfully to-the-point homily. Here it is in full.

Men and women look out, they look out onto the edge of the abyss.

They look out, foolish and wise, they look out onto the edge of the abyss, where life and death meet.

Men and women are forced, at some point in their lives, to go beyond banality, beyond arrogance, beyond things learned from books, beyond the tired formulas created to simplify life. And then they, men and women, stand on the brink of the abyss.

Perhaps on the brink of the abyss, men and women are gripped by the panic of the unknown, the suspicion of a threat, the fear of an indecipherable enigma. They stand at the edge of the abyss: no matter how hard they search, they will discover nothing.

Perhaps on the brink of the abyss, men and women are convinced to return to banality, to extinguish questions and fear; better to be desperate without knowing it than to lean into the abyss.

But the people of God look out over the edge of the abyss and, there, perhaps in darkness and fear, they are amazed by the voice that calls, they are enveloped by the tenderness that consoles, they welcome the confidence of the name of the abyss: I am who I am, they listen to a voice as delicate as a light breeze, as moving as an embrace, as intense as life: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev 1:8); I am the beginning and the end.

Men and women of God receive the revelation that the abyss is not a frightening enigma, but a consoling mystery, the unspeakable truth that invites us, through words and silence, to the heart of life, to inexhaustible joy. Men and women of God venture into the abyss and dwell in the mystery and rejoice in wonder. They live the life they have received, they realise they are even capable of loving, of loving with a free and pure love, a crucified love, loved in such a way as to be capable of loving.

What can be said about Fr. Giussani? Perhaps simply this: he was a man of God.

 

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Upcoming Cafe Gatherings:

Send a name, date, place and time and I’ll share your invitation. Just initiate a gathering, send me the info, and turn up to meet with anyone else who wants to take an hour to chat about their experience of God.

Wednesday 25 February 2026 10.00am
Stumble Inn, 200 Mangorei Road, Merrilands, New Plymouth
Joan

Wednesday 25 February 2026 10:30am
Zenders Cafe and Venue 44 Hopkins Rd Newstead, Hamilton
Christina

Thursday 5 March 2026 10.30am
The Cafe at Harrison’s Pekapeka Rd Waikanae
Catherine