A spring of contagious holiness (5)
by Franca Vendramin
Caterina was born in Fraciscio di Campodolcino (Sondrio) on 25 March 1841. The following day she was baptized: Maria Caterina Anna. she is the eighth of the large family (13 children) of Lorenzo Guanella and Maria Bianchi; in the following year Luigi, the future Saint Luigi Guanella, was born.
Since childhood Caterina has been linked to her brother by deep affection: she shares dreams, projects and ideals of good with him. The game that the two children love to play together, "soup for the poor", will become reality in their future mission.
Caterina remained in Fraciscio until the age of 27, then followed Don Luigi to the Parish of Savogno (Sondrio) from 1868 to 1875. She supported him in his tireless ministry: she taught in primary school, took care of catechesis, and assisted the elderly and the infirm. . Catherine, considered by parishioners to be an "angel of good example", enjoys a "high reputation for virtue"; she supports Don Luigi even in difficulties and misunderstandings, with prayer and sacrifice.
by Enrico Ghezzi
The occasion of the canonization of Don Luigi Guanella pleasantly pushes us to ask ourselves: what is 'holiness'? A simple and immediate answer, which we can also explain to our children, can be: 'holy' are those who 'follow' Jesus, because they have 'listened' to his word. In fact, the communities of the first Christians, according to the usage of St. Paul, were called saints: «To all who are in Rome, loved by God and saints by calling» (Rom 1,7; Acts 9,13-15; 1Cor 1,2; Eph 1,1). Here, in the NT as already in the Old Testament with the call of Abraham in whom all nations are 'blessed', holiness is preceded by the 'call' to follow Jesus: the first Christians were thus indicated because, through 'baptism' , which is the call to faith, Christians had been 'enlightened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit'.
by Cesare Perego
The theme of work, in particular agricultural work, was always present in the heart and mind of Don Luigi Guanella. Originally from a mountain village in Valtellina (Fraciscio, 1350 meters above sea level), he knew from an early age the value of work within the family and its importance for social growth. He experienced the hardships and risks of manual labor; he was able to see the anguish of those without a job who were forced to leave the country to emigrate to distant lands.
His first biographer, d. Leonardo Mazzucchi, thus describes Don Guanella's relationship with work: "the feverish and tireless activity was the main character of Don Guanella's penitent and mortified life, in conformity with his education, his physical and moral qualities, the needs of the times ; and we have already illustrated how he made it a life program for his spiritual Sons and Daughters: work, work, work until they go to rest in the evening tired and beaten, victims of holy industriousness on the altar of Christian charity every time that Don Luigi remembered his life as an adolescent, when he spent his holidays working with his parents and did not allow himself any leisure that was not suggested by some virtuous aim of doing the good of others, he added with simplicity: «It was Providence that gave me parents of virtues, which would instill in me a spirit of work and sacrifice".... All those who knew Don Guanella saw how he never rested for an instant, neither as a cleric, nor as a young priest, nor as a tired old man: continuous, uninterrupted work , exhausting, intellectual, moral, corporal, of mind, of heart, of pen, of motion".
by Angelo Sceppacerca
On the eve of the Jubilee of 2000, in the Message for Vocations Day, John Paul II wrote: «In our time, secularized and yet fascinated by the search for the sacred, there is a particular need for saints who, intensely living the primacy of God in their existence, make their loving and provident presence perceptible. Holiness, a gift to be implored incessantly, constitutes the most precious and effective response to the contemporary world's hunger for hope and life. Humanity needs holy priests and consecrated souls who daily live the total gift of themselves to God and others; of fathers and mothers capable of bearing witness to the grace of the sacrament of marriage within the home, reawakening in those who approach them the desire to realize the Creator's plan for the family; of young people who have personally discovered Christ and been fascinated by him so as to inspire their peers to the cause of the Gospel".
"Do not be afraid!". It is one of the expressions that characterized the pontificate of John Paul II.
In the Bible this invitation not to let fear grip you is repeated 365 times: a daily dose for the courage to live. The angel Gabriel began in Nazareth when he said to Mary: "Do not be afraid". The angel repeats it again in the dream to Joseph: «Do not be afraid to take Mary as your bride». Jesus said this to his disciples on a boat in the throes of a storm in the night. Don Guanella also heard it many times when faced with the difficulty of doing good: "Don't be afraid, charity always pushes you further, towards the beach of the poor."