The vocation and witness of Giovanni, who was born in Reggio Emilia (Italy) on July 29, 1992, show how God acts in the concrete, sowing signs, awakening questions and opening paths.
This young man is completing his bachelor's degree in theology in Rome thanks to a support from the CARF FoundationThe missionary priests of the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo, a community of missionary priests born in the heart of the Communion and Liberation movement.
A few days after his ordination as a deacon, which took place on June 21, he shares with us his life journey.
"My name is Giovanni Ferrari, I was born on July 29, 1992 in Reggio Emilia, a small town between Milan and Bologna. It is a land of peasants, simple and hard-working people, but also welcoming and rich in values.
I was born into a Catholic family, where the faith was transmitted to me by osmosis, through the many friends who always passed through our home. In addition to an older sister, we received the gift of an adoptive sister from Nigeria, who enriched and broadened the horizons of our family.
As a child I loved playing soccer, but I soon had to accept that I would never become a professional soccer player. On the other hand, I did well in school, and during my high school years the desire to become a judge one day was born in me. I was attracted to the idea of giving my life for an ideal of justice, an ideal that I often saw frustrated by reality. The many situations of injustice touched me deeply, and the profession of judge seemed to me a concrete way to respond to it.
During high school we made our first important friendships, first in the parish and then in an organization that raised funds for missions in Latin America, where in our free time we did manual labor.
Gradually I realized that the friendships worth cultivating were those with whom I shared an ideal worth giving myself to. In those years, I decided to give up soccer to devote myself more to volunteering."
The father's example Daniele BadialiBadiali, an Italian missionary priest murdered in Peru in 1997 after offering himself as a hostage in place of a missionary. Father Badiali served with simplicity and dedication among the poor in the diocese of Huari. He is considered a martyr for his witness of faith and radical love..
"As a teenager, I got to know her story. The more I read her letters, the more I wanted to live an intense and totally devoted life like hers. Rather than a life cut short, it seemed to me like a life fulfilled.
Life took its course and I decided to enroll in law school to achieve my dream of becoming a judge. In the first years of university I learned the story of another priest who moved me deeply: Fr. Anton Lulian Albanian Jesuit who spent much of his life in prison and forced labor under the communist regime.
He ended his testimony by saying that the most valuable thing in his life had been his fidelity to Christ. I, who had everything, could not be as free and happy as this man who had lost everything for the love of one person".
"It was then that I decided to spend four months in Brazil, in a diocesan mission, to see if this possibility of giving myself in this way was for me or not. During those months, on a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine, I felt a strong intuition to leave everything and join the Jesuits, but that conviction lasted only three days. When I returned from Brazil, I went back to university as if nothing had happened.
Soon after, I met some new priests who had just arrived in my city. They were young, they lived together, they were friendly and intelligent, and they were a pleasure to be with. They belonged to the St. Charles Fraternitya community of missionary priests linked to the charism of Communion and Liberation, the movement founded by don Luigi Giussani.
Thanks to the invitation of a friend to an aperitif with these priests, a friendship was born that little by little became all-encompassing. I would go to their house to have dinner, study, play, watch movies... my life, like that of many friends, revolved around that house of priests.
I felt that the Lord, through that encounter, was responding to all the desires to give myself to Him that I had experienced years before. "Why do I feel so at home with them?" was the question I had inside me, but I still did not dare to ask it."
"The turning point came when a dear friend of mine died at the age of 24, after a year and a half of illness. His name was Cristian and he lived his illness with sanctity.
One of these priests, shortly before he died, said in a homily that, through Christian's life, God was asking each one of us: "Do you want to give me your life? Do you want to give it to me for the whole world? Each one, in his heart, must prepare his answer". I already knew what my answer was, but I still needed time".
"After graduating, I worked for a couple of years in a law firm in Milan and did the school of specialization for the legal professions, which qualified me for the magistracy competition.
But when everything was ready to present myself, I understood that the time had come to take an important step: to enter the seminary. I understood the desire to give up the dream of a career and starting a family for the hope of a full life in the virtues of chastity, priesthood, common life and mission.
As Von Balthasar wrote, the intuition was too strong that ".leaving everything, he would eventually win it all"".
"That's how I decided to enter the seminary of the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo in 2018. Last June 21, I was ordained a deacon and will soon leave on mission.
Today I can only say that God has given me much more than I could have ever imagined, above all a fullness of meaning for my life.
I wish to thank the CARF Foundation and all the benefactors who collaborate with it for the valuable help received during these years of study and for the prayers.
These years in the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross have been very formative. I have been able to appreciate the universality of the Church by meeting young people from all over the world, and to receive an excellent theological formation.
For all this, I am deeply grateful for the help and for the beautiful service you provide for the whole Church".
Gerardo FerraraDegree in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East. Head of the student body at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
