The Beginning Day of the new social year for the Irish Community took place in Prosperous, County Kildare, on 29 September 2024, led by Claudia Soldini, responsible of CL Ireland, accompanied by the testimonies of Ettore Pezzuto and Maria Martin. About fifty people were present (with teenagers and children in tow), after the meeting they participated in a moment of conviviality with games and songs. 



Claudia, following the outline of the Beginning Day in Milan, explored the theme of mission, underlining its importance in the life of every Christian. The invitation to mission starts from the call of each one of us, a precise and non-random call, which occurred in a particular moment. Just like call received by the Samaritan woman, Matthew and the other Apostles: Jesus wanted to meet them and call them by name in a specific moment of their life. 

“The story of the Samaritan woman is also our story, that of each of us. We were called to an encounter in which an impossible yet desirable gaze on our life was experienced." We have been given an immense gift, the gift of a different, changed, redeemed humanity, a gift of the Spirit within all our limits."

This different humanity is a gift for the world, we must respond to this call, with our own freedom and creativity, it is only through the recognition of an Unconditional Love that we involve ourselves with the place where this is offered to us: the company of believers. And it is this unconditional Love, poured out on us despite all our differences and limitations, that establishes our unity. Claudia then continued by clarifying that mission then is not doing one activity or another but is the life lived in the Presence of Christ. A man who lives identified with Him cannot help but have a different conscience in the way he perceives things, in his family or at work. Therefore, living everything with the awareness of being sent by the Father, the mission is not a duty, but the fruitfulness of a love relationship. This is our task: building the Church in the place where we are. 

Maria then spoke about her encounter with the Movement which took place in Dublin during her university days, when she was struck by a way of living Christianity that was different from the one she was used to. She was already a believer but looking for a deep faith linked to life; in her relationship with Mauro and other friends she discovers Don Giussani's charism and decides to take part in CL's international holiday in Italy. She is struck by the way of life of these young Catholics and rediscovers the beauty of the prayers she learned as a child such as the Angelus and the Memorare, within a horizon of new life.  From the various vicissitudes of her life she learns that God always has a bigger and better plan for us and His faithfulness never disappoints. She discovers her vocation in the Fraternity of Saint Joseph, consecrating her life to God while continuing to live in the world serving others. Through the education received in the movement, she learns to live reality as a response to the Mystery that calls, at work as in difficult family relationships. Caring for two older brothers with mental health issues, the commitment as a manager at work are an opportunity to serve God and deepen her path of conversion.

Mission therefore coincides with the life of the Christian, wherever he is, as Ettore documented in his testimony, recounting how life and vocation are inextricably linked. Ever since he met the Movement in Turin, he was clear that God's call in his life passes through encounters and concrete faces: Don Giussani, first of all, and then the friends who over time accompanied him in life's choices, bringing him to London and Madrid. The attraction for Christ led him to choose virginity following Don Giussani's invitation to "show that one can live in the world like everyone else, giving one's whole life for Him". The land of mission is therefore the environment in which you live, first of all the work, responding to Another within the challenges that arise from time to time.

An example, in this regard, was the relationship of sincere friendship that Ettore built with his first employer, in which he was able to see Christ at work until the latter's death. Or when he found himself facing a major work difficulty that forced him to ask himself whether the consistency of his life lay in personal success or in His Presence. In conclusion, he reiterated that in his history he has always followed the signs that the Lord wanted to give him through the people who guided him: Don Giussani, Carras, Carron, Davide, always indicating to him the One Master to follow. 

The lesson was followed by lunch and a convivial moment in which adults and children shared the beauty of the songs and had fun playing games together. A simple moment in which what held everyone together emerged, from the 8-month-old baby to the teenagers, to the adults who were already grandparents: the faithfulness of gaze of Love that never abandons us and to which we are asked to abandon ourselves.



 Just as Saint Therese of Lisieux did, quoted in the homily by Fr Andrew at the end of the day: by loving Christ in the small cell of her convent she loved the whole world and built the Church!