Exodus of pilgrims from Olgiate Comasco to Monza renewing the tradition of April 25th, as a sign of devotion and gratitude to San Gerardo.
More than a thousand pilgrims devoted to San Gerardo
Sun and cold air welcomed the mobilization of Olgiate faithful. The first to arrive yesterday, shortly after 6am, were the 50 runners, including a dozen young people from the oratory. Then five buses organized by the parish, cyclists, Vespa riders and hundreds of people in cars. As many as 800 pilgrim’s kits (bread and wine) purchased by the people of Olgiate. The parish estimated the participation of 1,200 faithful. The choir directed by Roberto Colombo animated the mass.
Mass with Monsignor Delpini
At 10 am the long-awaited celebration presided over by the Archbishop of Milan Mario Delpini. In the homily you underlined the profound difference between looking and seeing, to always recognize in the other a lovable person. “Looking and not seeing. I look at you, I look at the person next to me, I look at the people who come into the office with me every day, every single day: I look and I don’t see. I look and I see a label. It says: nice , beautiful, bad-tempered, shy, complex. I look and see labels, rather than people. I also look at the closest people, I look at old friends and I don’t see anything of what once made them friends even his wife, his husband and ask himself: how could I fall in love with this man, with this woman? I look and I don’t see labels. I see shapes, without depth in a category. I look and do not see. Therefore I get used to indifference: on the other hand, how would it be possible to take into consideration a label? Even the good done can be blind. When have we ever seen you hungry and fed you?”
The example of Saint Gerard
Monsignor Delpini then referred to the example of Saint Gerard. “In 1207, through the intercession of Saint Gerard, your ancestors obtained the grace of healing from syncoposis, perhaps a kind of nervous disease. To give thanks this pilgrimage has been carried out for centuries. Today, renewing the act of devotion and continuing to be faithful to the vote, we can invoke the healing of the gaze. We ask the Lord, through the intercession of Saint Gerard, for us and for everyone. We can see because the healed gaze is there the word of Jesus, the glory of the risen Jesus, the Holy Spirit. How is the gaze that opens when listening to the word of Jesus? Now I know imperfectly, then I will know perfectly, as I also am known (1Cor 13,12 ) The healed gaze is the one that receives the surprising revelation: this person who is always close to me, this person who I meet only occasionally, this person who I meet for the first time is lovable beyond labels, beyond appearances that have hurt me or the coldness that has disappointed me, this person is lovable. Charity excuses everything, believes everything, hopes everything, tolerates everything. The healing of the gaze makes it possible to look at people and recognize in them those traits that make them lovable. The healed gaze is the one that receives the surprising revelation: every person is an image of God, their deepest truth is not the label that has been attached to them, but their relationship with God. Therefore we cannot judge anyone, because we do not know nothing about the relationship that everyone has with God.
The applause of the faithful
At the end of the mass, concelebrated by the Olgiate parish priest, Don Flavio Crostaby the vicar don Francesco Orsi and by the collaborator Don Alberto Dolcinitogether with don Gianluigi Vercellinidon Gerardo Bernasconidon Ivano Signorellidon Maximus Gaius (provost of the church of San Gerardo al Corpo) and fra Roberto, a warm applause from the crowded assembly of faithful. And Don Flavio Crosta emphasized the ancient vow of the people of Olgiate, which dates back to 1207: “We parted with a simple “goodbye”, dear San Gerardo, when last Sunday 22 October we said goodbye to you, after your presence in the our city. Today we are here to renew the ancient vow that the Community of Olgiate Comasco has faithfully renewed for 817 years, since that distant 1207 when our fathers, on the advice of Blessed Manfredo Settala,
they collected your remains and gave you a worthy burial. We are here to entrust to you our families, our children and young people, the sick and the elderly, consecrated people and our seminarians.
We are here to thank Archbishop Delpini who, with a father’s love, allowed your stay in Olgiate Comasco. We are here to thank the community of San Gerardo al Corpo together with its parish priest Don Massimo who has always shared with us the encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, which you too have always been nourished by. We are here to ask once again for your protection and intercession from the God of infinite mercy. You know, Saint Gerard, that the good we love for you is not folklore dictated by empty and sterile custom. It is faith that brings us to you, because we know that you bring us to God. Thank you Saint Gerard and see you again.”
