Our community of Missionary Sisters is located in Zone 2 of Milan, a suburb with the highest percentage of migrants in the city. The largest foreign communities are those from the Philippines and Egypt, followed by Sri Lanka, Latin Americans, etc.
Even in Milan there are those who are enthusiastic and see diversity as an opportunity, and there are those who are afraid and experience the presence of foreigners as a threat.
For us, in recent years, the encounter with immigrants has become that daily context in which everyone marks, in his own way, the colours of life, and we all benefit from it.
Dialogue is the main tool for relationships and the Listening Center is the privileged place for a familiar communication, often full of difficulties but also of trust and hope. The doors of our home have opened several times to welcome mothers and children in a time of difficulty. All of them, without it being our choice, were Egyptian and Muslim. The coexistence spanned along various months and, above all, it was very engaging, since we live in a flat and therefore everything and every space of daily life was shared. I believe that the words of Pope Francis in the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, express the spirit that has characterized us.
FT 139. There is always the factor of “gratuitousness”: the ability to do some things simply because they are good in themselves, without concern for personal gain or recompense. Gratuitousness makes it possible for us to welcome the stranger, even though this brings us no immediate tangible benefit.
FT 140. God, on the other hand, gives freely, to the point of helping even those who are unfaithful; he “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt 5:45).
There is a reason why Jesus told us: “When you give alms, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret” (Mt 6:3-4).
We received life freely; we paid nothing for it. Consequently, all of us are able to give without expecting anything in return, to do good to others without demanding that they treat us well in return. As Jesus told his disciples: “Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give” (Mt 10:8). This is our kind of gratuity: with openness to the unexpected need of the other as a gift/opportunity from God; with the acceptance of the diversity of both cultures, faith and vocation. But also, the gratuity received from a friendship, a sharing that is part of the most genuine human values.
Our table welcomed the aromas and flavours of the Arab world and shared different ways of being together, of planning the future, of praying, of experiencing joys and hardships.
The fruit of these experiences was undoubtedly the delicate flavour of friendship, respect and mutual gratitude: a fruitful exchange. We shared spaces, time, words, thoughts and this was an eloquent witness for those who live around us, inside and outside the Christian community.
The efforts of adaptation have not been lacking on both sides, but the network of solidarity has also grown, new opportunities have opened up, and we have reaffirmed the need for that flexibility to which missionary life trains us.
Sr. Luisella Musazzi during one of her gathering a Milan, Italy
Welcoming unstructured our rhythms, patterns, thoughts, languages, but opened us to new discoveries of life in which God exercises his creativity. In addition to welcoming experiences, we have organized several moments of prayer and interreligious sharing, in order to offer all people who, attend the School of Italian language and the Listening Center, the opportunity to express their gifts and the richness of their faith and culture.
In that is way we found ourselves praying together with Islamic, Christian and Buddhist texts and sharing the typical food that each one brought. Each moment was characterized by a specific theme: food and words; the welcoming; the creation. The participation in these meetings highlighted not only a significant presence of migrants but, little by little, many more Italian people joined us with esteem, participation, and appreciation.
“Gratuity: a three-lane path”. This title is perhaps best understood at the end of this testimony. The gratuitousness of God, who has called us to share in a relationship with him, is the first lane through which to live gratitude. The second is characterized by our commitment to free sharing, to be bridges between the gift received and the one offered. The third is the amazement at what we receive through the hands and lives of people very different from us in origin, culture, and faith but very similar to us in humanity. It is on these three lanes that we are invited to make our life flow relentlessly, crossing the lives of those whom the Lord puts on our path.
(Sr. Luisella Musazzi, Provincia – IT)
* From In Dialogue n. 9, August 2021
