It was precisely the groan of the poverty of the dying that pushed Don Guanella to found the Pious Union of the Transit of San Giuseppe next to the parish of the same name in the Trionfale district. In his life as an apostle of charity Don Guanella said: "Give bread and Lord in abundance". Bread to quench the pangs of hunger and the Lord to nourish the lifeblood of hope in God, who is Father and infinite tenderness. His wish was that the members of the Pious Union of Transit would constitute a womb of prayers to help the dying of the world to overcome the discomfort of the ordeal of dying.

The journalist Gianni Gennari, collaborator of our magazine, wrote that «dying should become a journey in which one never stops learning: there are new horizons to discover, balances to recover, eternal values ​​to cultivate, forgiveness to ask for and offer. Dying always remains a mystery to be lived internally, opening up, risking, loving. Death is a mystery illuminated by the presence of God the Father and creator."

During the Meeting, organized by the Pia Unione a few years ago, a psychiatrist, prof. Vittorino Andreoli, speaking of his experience, a credible echo of the world of suffering, stated: «It is difficult to talk about others if you don't talk about yourself. My patients help me understand how I am made... I feel death... not just mine, but that of all those I have seen die. Life is relationship... without relationship with others, the person is dead even while alive."

From a point of view of faith we see that Jesus fully perceives the strength of the negative inherent in death which breaks relationships consolidated over a lifetime. He is aware of his imminent death and grasps the profound connection between his death and the salvation that he came to bring. However, Jesus experiences the contradiction between his death and the tearing of his relationships with his friends.

We must ask ourselves: in that circumstance, where does Jesus get the strength to overcome this abyss of human loneliness? He finds it in the face of the Father who is reflected in the turbulent waters of his anguish and clings to the Father's lifeboat saying from the depths of his soul: "Into your hands I entrust my spirit", I entrust to you the spiritual heritage that has made my journey existence in the streets of good.

Death, in fact, causes us to lose control of earthly life, after all we know that our life is in the hands of those who called us to live in relationship and this relationship of love is not left to rot in the tomb.

In a season like ours, in which dying is becoming an exclusively clinical fact and society, in addition to having obscured the event of dying, is depriving this solemn moment of human existence from relationships with oneself, with relatives, with friends, it seems very important to us to accompany this event with faith and love.

Accompanying does not only mean following and caring for the sick or elderly, but also means "training" those who are called with them to walk this path. In fact, while we consider it a priority to take care of their physical needs, promoting the level of well-being that is still possible, we note that the family often finds itself lost in the task of helping a loved one in a serious and terminal illness, and is therefore also in need of human support and pastoral. Likewise, health and social workers, volunteers and pastoral workers must be supported in dealing with the heavy physical and emotional burden that care work entails; adequate human and relational training, in addition to technical-professional skills, is what they themselves ask for.

Only the united commitment of many can hope to provide suitable responses to the complexity of the tasks and challenges that accompanying death entails. Accompanying is a precious service of charity, a pastoral service of enormous importance, because often, too often, in the final moment of life one finds oneself alone, and those surrounding the dying person struggle to find suitable words and ways to accept this painful event and support those who are about to support this passage towards eternity. In this passage no one can be left alone.

Alongside prayer for our dearly departed, in this month we should get used to living the evangelical parable of the Good Samaritan to the full, visiting the sick and supporting with our presence both the discomfort of illness and the arrival at the final goal on the threshold of death. 'eternity.