In Rimini, with families traveling from Fano, Pesaro and Forlì towards Emmaus
Testimony by Silvia Zucchini
Families on their way from Fano, Pesaro, Forlì towards Rimini: a few tens of kilometers to meet other parents who are on the journey, moved by the same desire: to tell their family history and promote in their dioceses paths of recognition of the full dignity of the lives of our LGBTQ+ sons and daughters.
This was the meeting of the three groups of families on the move (Pesaro-Fano, Rimini, Forlì), born as a budding from Families on the move from Bologna, the day in which the liturgy proposed the gospel Of the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24,13-35).
How not to read the journey of the two disciples towards Emmaus as a figure of our journeys in our respective dioceses?
Conversing and discussing together about what happened in our lives, starting from the coming out of our sons and daughters, wasn't it fundamental to learn from the stories of others, to listen to resonances of the same confusion, to discover similarities of concerns, to feel the same void of speech... and then the insidious chatter of prejudice?
For each and every one of us the change came at that turning point in the road when a stranger came alongside us who asked uncomfortable questions, overturned false certainties and explained how our lives were already written, thought about, loved in the Scriptures.
«Stay with us, because it is evening and the day is now at its end». He came in to stay with them.
The journey involves stopping, not for lack of strength, but for the fullness of life to be savored in the evening.
The walk requires you to stop your steps, to shift your attention from the movement of your feet to fixing your gaze on the other man's face: then their eyes opened and they recognized him. The recognition is a long process and not always easy: it requires a two-way direction.
Deep within ourselves: knowing how to read ourselves, listen to ourselves, welcome ourselves. And horizontally, from others towards us and back: recognition is complete when it is also received from others, when our life is looked at with an open gaze, without discounts or censorship.
When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, recited the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
Recognition opens up to the responsibility of care of relationships and glances, it is liberated love, it is breaking one's life with the fragrant scent of blessing. In this we were guided by the affectionate presence of Don Germano Pagliarani, who celebrated the Eucharist with us.
The recognition makes hearts burn and promotes the momentum of the announcement: they left without delay and Returned. recognition asks to be told and celebrated: they narrated what had happened along the way.
