Fr. Sante Gatto, s.x.

He has been Waiting for You for Centuries

Fr. Sante Gatto - from Xaverian Mission Newsletter

One day a young man searching for the deep meaning of his life approached Jesus. The teacher, seeing his honest goodness, gave his answer not with words, but “looked at him steadily and loved him.” (Mark 10:21)

 

In this global and intercultural world of ours, where it is possible to know anything in real time, I ask myself “Can we still discover the presence of the countenance of Jesus Christ in our frenzied days?” Some of my Spanish friends speak of being “seduced by Christ.” It is indeed a question of gradual seduction and attraction (Jeremiah 20:7). That’s how it’s been with me. That look that touches the depth of the heart reached me during a brief vacation in Africa.

 

For a week, I had been in a lost village of the Ivory Coast, and my head busy with other things, prayer was of lesser importance. That evening, however, when the setting sun was painting fire-red all around, I entered the little chapel and I thanked the Lord to be there.

 

Soon after, as I was leaving, I met a little Sister who had made of her life a gift to the Lord among the least – or should I say, the first? – of the earth, and said “You know, Sr. Janne, I went in to greet Jesus.” She answered, “He has been waiting for you for centuries…” and I felt embraced by His infinite tenderness.

 

From that moment on, nothing was the same.

 

I am kind of a rebel, and for a long time I had been avoiding the problem. “What are you waiting for, before you follow Me?” My career, my commitments and responsibilities in my parish and in my city, promised me a life of respect and fulfillment… But deep down, that silent look was slowly gaining space.

 

THE GIFT
“Then”, said a rich man, speak to us of Giving.”
And he answered:
“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you of yourself that you truly give.
What are your possessions for but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?” 
From the Prophet

There have been some concrete situations which have led me to take the leap – to say yes – even though I was no longer a young kid. Moments, persons, words, through which the Father revealed what he had in mind for me. How not to thank you, George, young African, feverish with malaria while working in the fields soaked by the torrential rain…

 

And you, Moslem farmer, sweating under the tropical sun to plant and care for the mission fields to make them more fruitful; and you, my pastor, who turned the parish hall into a warehouse for food destined to the warring peoples of the Balkans; and also you, young people, with that deeply felt desire to give meaning to your life… And above all, you poor, friends faithful and discommoding who incarnate the nearness of the Lord of history to the oppressed and the excluded of all times, who reveal the charm of the Father’s countenance and of Christ’s caring attentions. For all this, thank you, Lord!

 

Let me give you a few grains of wisdom by a martyr of our times: “On our noisy highways in the midst of the hubbub of automobiles and people there is also God, in the thousands of human faces, which look at us. We know that we need not go into a church to find you. We want to always hear your call on the road, in the drag strips, at the movies, in the joyful gathering of friends” (Louis Espinal, priest killed in Bolivia in 1980).

 

In closing, I am going to ask you a favor: I was ordained a priest in the Xaverian family with three other Xaverians, Rocco, Paul, and Emanuel. Come with us, through your prayers and friendship, in this journey of faithfulness to the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, even if, because of the Internet, it seems so small! And, by the way, hasn’t the Lord been waiting for you too a long time?

 

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