Forgiveness and reconciliation

Men of prayer and reconciliation who have risked their own lives, men of prayer in lands marked by violence and hostility, men who have believed in fraternity even during the horrors of the concentration camps: these are the faces of Christians who with their courage have built the history of Europe. Those faces are given new relevance by bishops of the European community to the benefit of men and women of our continent, facing a period of crisis that is stripping the dreams and expectations of European populations of their sense and their meaning. The Week of Hope ended on June 27. The initiative was promoted in Brussels by the Commission of the bishops’ conferences of the European Community, which thus celebrated, in the Year of European citizenship, the tenth anniversary of the apostolic exhortation of John Paul II "Ecclesia in Europa". Four days of meetings, debates, moments of prayer took place in the background of the great figures of saints and martyrs that place the cornerstones of the European continent. Sicilian priest Father Pino Puglisi killed by the mafia, the monks of Tibhirine murdered by groups of Islamic terrorists and French bishop monsignor Gabriel Piguet who ordained as a priest the young German deacon Karl Leisner in Dachau concentration camp. It is real and true pilgrimage in the heart of Europe, in the quest for signs of hope sown by the Christians’ presence in the continent. The danger of oblivion. Monsignor Hippolyte Simon, archbishop of Clermont, believes that "it is necessary to raise awareness on the figures and the lives of those who managed to interweave deep bonds between European populations also in times of conflict, even when hatred darkened the souls and divided the nations". It should be emphasized that even today, mankind wishes to be what is truly is, i.e.: "one big family". What worries today is oblivion, i.e., to forget that Europe was erected on the grounds of a "covenant of forgiveness and reconciliation" that has led to a long period of prosperity and peace. To welcome otherness. In a Europe which is experiencing radicalisms and ideas that are conveyed with exasperated tones to speak of forgiveness, listening and dialogue may seem a pipe dream. Less than a month ago a British soldier was killed with a machete by two Nigerian youths crying "Allah Akbar". It happened in Woolwich, South-East London. "The example of the monks of Tibhirine – remarked Christian Salenson, from the Catholic Institute of the Mediterranean in Marseilles – is interesting because they have not been men of dialogue in easy contexts. They were in Algeria, aware of the risks that they were running and nonetheless they had the force of the love for this land. Dialogue does not occur in ideal circumstances, marked by mutual understanding. Dialogue is developed in life just as it is, in situations marked by problems or by conflicts alike". Compared to the risk of forgetting the past, loosing faith in others in a true danger. "Loosing faith in others – pointed out the scholar from Marseilles – means loosing oneself. Only by opening up to others can we recover our own true self. Closure against others amounts to self-closure". But violence in Europe isn’t only urban violence, that commits murders. It’s also the violence that is consumed amidst human relations. "Our behaviours – said Sister Philippa Rath, Benedictine nun – are often marked by violence, brutality, but deep down in their hearts men yearn for a different form of humanity". COMECE has asked Sister Philippa to speak in Brussels on the figure of theologian Saint Hildegard of Bingen, characterised by mercy. "Mercy changes the world. It’s the preliminary condition to bring about true humaneness, to forgive other people’s mistakes, to sympathize. Mercy is the basic force that generates new life".Having faith in others. To believe that all European populations have something to give and to believe in others are Europe’s cornerstones leading to renewed hope in the future. And while violence continues to attract the youths, the economic crisis is not the cause but the context. The causes ought to be sought at a deeper level. Monsignor Christoph Hegge, auxiliary bishop of Münster, illuminates the way, inviting "to recover the foundations of human existence, which for us is the existence of a life that we have received as a gift from God. In this light each one of us is a gift to our fellow other, as he/she is immensely loved by God. Our fellow other is a gift also in the diversity of nations and cultures he/she belongs to. When welcomed with open arms, others represent an enrichment also for us".