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Rating: A week has passed since he came to the Libreria Rinascita in Brescia, it's been a week and for me it was a Special Friday. Going to Viboldone to pick him up, exchanging a few words in the car as we drove towards Brescia was exciting. Three times they brought him to the bookstore and I was there. Before leaving for Viboldone, the booksellers at Rinascita showed me an interview that Augias did with him in his program, watching it, I noticed two things that struck me a lot: 1) Augias has never read a line of Don Luisito's work in his life 2) while Augias was shouting and being very emphatic, Don Luisito remained unmoved. He stayed there, calm and composed. In fact, the more Augias raised his voice, the more Don Luisito lowered his. That means a lot, in my opinion. Especially in an era like the current one, where ideas don't exist and what matters is the overcoming of the other. Whoever shouts the loudest is right, just watch any episode of Ballarò or Annozero to confirm my thesis.
In Rinascita, while he was speaking, I noticed something: he didn't hold the microphone in front of his mouth. What he was saying was barely audible, all of us were there in silence, ready to receive and wait for what he would tell us. His pulling away from the microphone is very beautiful, it's almost critical of resonance. His message can be conveyed calmly, in a low voice, in silence and listening. Talking to Don Luisito is enlightening, you understand you are dealing with an extraordinary man, capable of great writing and fidelity to principles. "Dorean" is a Greek word that means free, and gratuity is the dominant principle of Don Luisito's priesthood. He studied and addressed it in various essays and carried it forward in different moments of his life (he was a partisan, a nurse, and even a worker at the "Montecatini" in Spinetta Marengo near Alessandria). This latest book contains many of his reflections, the same ones his readers have come to know. He particularly dwells on the moment when the transition from the congruent to the 8X1000 occurs, within Don Luisito, a dramatic image of priests receiving paychecks as any ordinary employees, in line at the counter, forms. It was already in his mind, but at that moment it becomes very strong with the transition from "patrimonium pauperum" to "patrimonium cleri." He refuses that money, finding it disrespectful and unjust towards that "unparalleled adventure that is gratuity," they invite him to take the sum and give it to the poor. He refuses anyway, receiving this response: "How can one persist in refusal? Nothing is asked for, you give away what you receive; you say mass for free, where is the gear that isn't turning?" Indeed, where is it? I would have explained it to him if they had asked me "come and talk to us about gratuity in the ministry and what it is about." They never asked me anything, they already knew everything about me."
The discomfort of Don Luisito is enormous, he cannot believe how it is possible. In the Word, he finds messages that the structure of the Church no longer follows, Don Luisito comes to ask himself "But am I getting everything wrong? Tell me." That question struck me a lot, so I wanted to ask him this: "Allow me, I'm convinced that you are not wrong. You talk about gratuity, you followed it considering your conscience and what you believe in. Jesus Christ rejected the Temple and preached in the souls of people, going beyond ecclesiastical officialdom. Where is the mistake? I don't see it and it doesn't seem right that they impose it on you." Don Luisito looks at me, smiles, and replies: "In my mistake, I have found purity and peace in the Word of Christ." At that moment, I felt rejuvenated and touched in the soul. Seeing Don Luisito's tranquility and his trust in the Gospel message makes him a great Man. A Righteous one, in the most biblical sense possible. I too would like to have a message, whatever it may be, in which to firmly believe and allow myself to be guided with coherence throughout the days of my life. To be able to live with the tranquility of acting according to what I believe and desire from myself and the world. I cannot express myself in a calm, composed manner, managing to communicate like Don Luisito. It is a skill I completely lack, and this makes me uncomfortable because I have many thoughts in my head, some even shareable.
After I got home, I watched Augias's interview again and it saddened me to see a "television man" make a Person uncomfortable, focus everything on the "media show," in his small way, even trying to ridicule Don Luisito, who demonstrates possessing a quality now rare in men: dignity. Reading Don Luisito means confronting oneself with values, with the grace and personality of a different man. Capable of enriching oneself with life experience and the Word to which he has devoted his life. Who among us would be able to offer oneself in the name of an ideal? In Don Luisito Bianchi, that ideal is called gratuity, Augias prevented him from talking about it. By reading his words, you will find every line and every word infused with it.
Allow me a final dedication. Thank you, without your reflections I would be a different person. I would be a worse person than I am today. I owe you a lot.
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