If the center of the Christian experience is the risen Christ, the Eucharist, the heart of the eternal presence but already here and now for believers, social and political commitment, the reform or renewal of the Church itself became secondary. The renewal of the Christian community is the consequence of a new heart
by Gianni Gennari
Don Divo Barsotti, priest, teacher, mystic, solitary, hidden, shy and at the same time a leader. He spoke little, but wrote a lot, almost always living in a hermitage: loved by many, followed by the simple and esteemed by the wise, always free with everyone, in the Church, but only for God, the God of Jesus Christ, the only center of life of him. Divo: perhaps never has a name been denied like this by his life, 92 years long, but spent almost entirely hidden: many years and apparently few facts, many silences, many prayers, many writings: more than 160 books, translated into many languages.
He was born in Palaia, Tuscany in 1914 and spent almost all of his time between Florence and Settignano, in the hermitage of San Sergio created for himself and his family where he had founded the Community of the Children of God, and where he died on 15 February 2006. Don Divo reflected, prayed, meditated, remained silent and wrote, and his books were like a source from which countless crowds of students, disciples, followers drank, even without frequenting him, even without seeing him and without making a public connotation of him. He lived in the Catholic Church, openly, but one could say not primarily for it in its visible and earthly dimension: everything turned towards God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Don Divo. His Mass was a strong experience for those present, and lasted hours... Master: his calm, simple, spare word deepened the passages of Scripture, always opening new paths. Theologian: capable of translating the objects of faith into human words and judgments that are understandable to all, without indulging in fashion, and above all careful to never sell out divine truth to chase widespread opinions. He wasn't interested in success or fame: very few interviews, for decades none. Almost never seen on TV, except for public and solemn circumstances, and with others. Mystical, in the sense of someone who allows himself to be so deeply invaded by the Spirit of the Father and the Son that for those who approach him he becomes like an encounter with the very reality of the Presence, of the Word, of universal Love... Apparently perhaps grumpy, because he shied away from the noise and publicity, but an open book for those who approached him to read something that came from above, from God in Christ and in the Spirit. He meditated and wrote above all on the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter, with reflections that were and are flashes of light that push us to read more, to pray, to listen and to live. he has been in continuous relationships with the greatest theologians, reciprocated and esteemed, and also with men at the top of the Church institution, up to the Popes, and his path of thought and doctrine is among those that have truly anticipated by decades some of the great innovations of the Vatican Council II, and at the same time the one that indicated with frank and tenacious clarity the possible itineraries which, instead of translating the faith of all time, betrayed it with outcomes that could have been disastrous...A profound connoisseur of Eastern spirituality, he also lived the ecumenism of spirits when that of writings and meetings was difficult, distant and looked at with suspicion. He has long studied the holiness experienced over the centuries by great figures who have embellished the life of Christian communities. When the theology of abstract manuals made of logic and authoritative quotations still dominated, and for decades, he strongly indicated the need to return to the sources, the Bible first and foremost, the great Fathers of the Church, the Saints, the liturgical texts that guided from 2000 years of the concrete life of the Church of Christ. Also for this reason some of his works, such as "Comment on the Exodus", had difficulties in Italy with the Holy See in 1960, were published only in France and had the pass of the Holy See. Office only after the Council, in 1975 - as if for a revenge of reality, certainly not wanted by him - Paul VI asked him to preach the exercises to the Pope, and to the Roman Curia. In many respects he was also a lonely man: alone in search of and in the presence of God, One and Triune, mystery and word, silence and fire, peace and renewal. Man of faith, man of God, man of the Church, man of writings, man of adoration and prayer, man of silence also capable of speaking to crowds with the same disenchanted and wise simplicity...Rich in everything and master of nothing. His community of the Children of God, made up of men and women, married and celibate, who work and live in silence, continues his mission. And he?