Milan (Italy). From 29 September to 2 October 2022, the 2nd edition of the Mission Festival (FdM) took place on the theme ‘Living through gift’, which was attended by various Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, some of them Provincial Referents for the Missions, missionaries, Salesians of Don Bosco, Salesian Cooperators, members of the Salesian Family, pupils of the FMA Schools, Past Pupils, and young people who lived summer missionary experiences with the FMA and brought their testimony to the ‘Missionary Aperitifs’.
Sr. Antonia Franzini, FMA of Holy Family Province (ILO), Collaboration in the Missionary Office of the Milan Diocese and Province Referent for the missions, recounts her experience:
“Gratitude, mercy, reconciliation, and vocation. These are the words quoted by the Archbishop of Milan, Msgr. Mario Delpini, during the Celebration in the Duomo, at the end of the four days of the Mission Festival held in the Lombard capital.
Words that summarize well the meaning, the climate, and the horizon of these intense days. A succession of exhibitions, documentaries, conferences, workshops, visits to churches, book presentations, moments of prayer, which involved the numerous participants – about 30,000 – who in these days from various parts of Italy reached Milan to participate in the 2nd edition – the first in Brescia in 2017 – of the Mission Festival promoted by CIMI (Conference of Italian Missionary Institutes), by Fondazione Missio (pastoral body of the CEI) and by the Archdiocese of Milan, through the diocesan office for Missionary Pastoral care.
Gratitude. Because thanks resounded in every meeting, in every witness offered, for the generous availability of the volunteers, for every missionary who became available to meet people and dialogue with them on the great value of life spent for others.
Mercy. Because the many stories told with the presence of witnesses, or through connections, recitals, exhibitions, books, documentaries, have shown how experiencing God’s mercy changes life and places oneself in the perspective of getting involved for the good of all.
Reconciliation. Because the theme of the Festival, ‘living through gift’, reminds us that life is truly lived if it is given, and the more we experience it the more we discover, with the help of God, the Author of life, that the gift becomes the ability to reconcile with one’s own history and with the history of others. A life given is a life reconciled: through-gift.
Vocation. These four days brought our gaze back to the vocation of every Christian. The well-known phrase of Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, “We are a mission on this earth” is a strong exhortation to recover our baptismal call: our vocation!
To be a mission at the ends of the earth or to be close to home, what matters is to be one! The speakers who took turns in the many meetings proposed, reiterated in many voices how fundamental listening and proximity are to build bridges where war, poverty, imprisonment, and violence have alienated people.
The streets of Milan in autumn were filled with joy, celebration and, even in the first rainy days of the Festival, there was no lack of enthusiasm. They were days not only for ‘insiders’, but for everyone, for people of all ages, from southern and northern Italy. Many young people were especially dedicated to the Saturday evening with the Vigil in preparation for the World Youth Day to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in August 2023.
Events and activities were organized for young people and children, such as the exhibition of comics and missionary magazines, workshops on globalization, and the presentation of books for children, accompanied by play activities.
On Thursday 29 September, the Ecumenical Prayer, which began at the Basilica of Sant’Eustorgio and ended at the Columns of San Lorenzo, officially inaugurated the Festival. In the following days, the Basilica, which traditionally houses the sarcophagus with the remains of the Magi, was the beating heart of all events, the place where we gathered for the Eucharistic Celebrations, the Liturgy of the Hours, Adoration, Confessions; a place to give back to Him the richness of these days, to discover in them their meaning in our life.
Justice, communication, economy, ecology, geopolitics are the areas where the three words of the festival resounded, living through gift. They seem worlds so far away from the theme of mission, but they are very close. Pope Francis reminds us that “everything is connected”.
The many conferences and round tables, which followed one another at a fast pace at the splendid location of the Columns of San Lorenzo, had important protagonists: Fr. Luigi Ciotti, an Italian priest involved in social issues; Marta Cartabia, Minister of Justice; the Senator Mario Monti; Msgr. Christian Carlassarre, Comboni Bishop in South Sudan; Fr. Alex Zanotelli, Comboni missionary; Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, FMA, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Patrick Zaki, Egyptian activist and researcher; Card. Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference; Zakia Seddiki, wife of the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Luca Attansio, and many others – not to fill a large container of words, but to give and share life experiences.
When in communication, in politics, in the economy, in justice, in ecology, one goes to the center and has a human heart, whoever carries out activities or covers a role related to these areas fulfills a mission and as executor of a task obtained becomes a gift for the good of all. The ‘outgoing Church’ has journeyed with these witnesses, and with the young people who have lived missionary experiences and who have told their own experience in the streets of Milan, meeting faces, smiles, stories, experiences that surely everyone took home.
What to do with all this richness and depth? Surely it is necessary to take up and rework the experience and contents of the Festival within the groups, parishes, associations, congregations to which we belong and look for concrete ways of implementing some of the paths suggested by the Festival. Equally important is to narrate and share with those who were not present at the Festival the suggestions and ideas that can be taken up and implemented to also renew one’s way of thinking about mission.
This and more can happen if we have brought home the deep desire to continue or start LIVING THROUGH GIFT“.
