Testament of Divo Barsotti

Have faith

I have no fear of Death; I have already experienced a foretaste of communion with Him through those I have loved. Have faith. God will not fail you. Do not worry about your numbers; the important thing is to stay united. Remember that the religious life is a commitment of faith in God who is present and who is infinite Love. And that is exactly why He cannot give us the proof of this while we are still living here on earth. Any consolation in this life is only an aid for us so that we can live in faith according to His will. That is why I ask you to have faith, a simple faith, pure but great. God will not fail you. You have given yourselves to Him, and He has taken you; you are His forever. It is only a relative fact that the wall of the body prevents us from living together. Union with Him is not to be found in a sensory experience, but in Christ Who has united us to Himself and has wanted us to be One Body with Him. Love the Church, the visible sacrament of the Presence of God here on earth. Be sure and certain of your vocation and know how to defend it. To all of you – especially those of the common life – I want to give my last goodbye, my warmest and most sincere thanks, my assurance that I will never abandon you. I urge you to be united; do not doubt, do not disperse, do not be discouraged. God is asking you to have faith, and the truer this faith, the more powerful it will be. Remember the mustard seed. You must believe in God Who has called you. I will apparently leave you, but in reality, I will be with you more than before. But before my presence, your conviction must be in Christ Who has called you and joined you all together. Remember that one’s consecration to God, one’s union with Him, becomes real and certain only in fraternal unity with those God has united in the same vocation and spiritual journey. If you disperse, not only will you fail in unity, but you will also seriously compromise your response to the Lord.

The whole of Christian tradition teaches us this

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It is not to me that you have given yourselves, but to God, and God has accepted you. And now, particularly to all those of you who are in the world, in the first branches of the Community. From all of you, a greater conviction is required in your vocation and in the work of God that you have been called to create in this union among yourselves. I would urge especially those who have been consecrated for the longest time to be a living example, to be firm in faith, to be certain that the Community is the work of God, wanted by God, yet a work which you yourselves have to perform, with simplicity and perseverance, with humility but in the conviction that you are answering a precise calling of the Lord. I urge you to live in peace and harmony amongst yourselves and to be obedient to your superiors. As I leave this life, I feel indebted to numerous souls who have helped me by their example and their love. They have illuminated my path, supported me with their advice and have been patient with me. Together with Him Whom I have tried to love above all others, Blessed Jesus, I ask the Virgin to welcome me as Her son; She will come to meet me, having already obtained for me the pardon of all my sins and numerous infidelities. But with Jesus and the Virgin, I hope that numerous other souls will come to meet me, those to whom the Lord was pleased to bind me in bonds of paternity and often in a relationship of filial dependence. I will see again my blood brothers, my father and mother; but most certainly, the greatest and truest unity in love, in my union in Christ, will be with all my sons and daughters. I know that I have failed them many times, but I also know that I have been forgiven for everything. I have received nothing but love. Only God could reward each one of them for all they have given me. How many great souls there are in this Community to which God has called us! Simple, humble souls, but great souls. What I have been for them, only God can say. However, I do know that I should have been much more of a living image of Him Whom I was representing. What an immense communion of love will be ours in Heaven! But this will not take me away from communion with those I now leave here on earth. And this communion will be with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: within the bosom of the Most Holy Trinity, we will become a single hymn of praise, thanksgiving and love. “Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

“The Father