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From Xaverian NewsJune 2010
Not that I have understood the sublimity of this gift of God from the very
beginning when I first felt the inclination of becoming a priest. Oh no! At
first, in my younger years, as a boy in High School, I was attracted by a child
piety, and even by vain and frivolous yearnings such as being important, seeking
adventures, exotic traveling, etc. But as I progressed, in age and wisdom,
through the prep-seminary, the minor and major seminaries years, first in native
Italy, and then in the States, God’s Grace took over the velleities of younger
years, and transformed them, into a powerful stimulus toward Jesus’ Call: to
follow Him and become an “Alter Christus” and a “fisher of men” in a consecrated
life.
My failures in responding to this Gift in these 50 years
I have to admit that in the 50 years of my Priestly Vocation my commitment to
the Lord has been oftentimes contaminated by many faults: of commission and
omission. This is not the place for a public confession, but I must have the
courage to “call a spade a spade” and beg God’s forgiveness for my failures. May
he give me courage to double up my struggle to live more faithfully the rest of
my life. Still, through the grace of God, who knows how to accomplish good even
by using a defective tool like me, in these 50 years, besides the baptisms and
other sacraments I was able to dispense, so many wonderful things happened
fulfilling my human and spiritual goals.
Some highlights in my Missionary Vocation
I will never forget the day when the Imam of a Mosque in Makeni, Sierra Leone,
invited me, a Catholic Missionary Priest, to inaugurate an Islamic Youth Center
by giving the keynote address to the assembled students. I spoke of God’s Mercy
in giving us both, Muslim and Christians, the great leadership of Ibrahim
(Abraham), our Father in the Faith.
For 5 years I have been giving a 10 minutes exhortation in the early morning, 5
times a week, to groups 1000 students strong, gathered in the customary General
Assembly of 5 different Secondary Schools (High Schools) before the beginning of
the school day. Most of the students were non-Christian, yet there I was, called
to share with them the Good News of Jesus. What a tremendous, exhilarating
experience!
As a 5-month captive hostage of the RUF, rebels of Sierra Leone, I was able to
speak to them in several occasions, both as a group and individually, against
the terrible things their Movement was perpetrating against innocent and
helpless villagers, like cutting off their hands or feet. Some of their leaders
cautioned me that I was playing with fire. But that did not stop me, and they
had to hear God’s warning.
