Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – At a moment when the world panorama gives the sense of great insecurity, comes a work that offers a coherent and purposeful path through the use of 366 quotes. This is the content of the book “Le Parole e i Giorni- Nuovo Breviario Laico” (meaning “Words and Days – A New Layman's Breviary,” published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore) by Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and presented along with the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculata and IDI. It is a book that, as Archbishop Ravasi himself declares, is meant for “the person who has questions, who is searching, who has a yearning for insight...” - the man who is attentive to the reality and truth of his time. The work rests on four main pillars, four main points. First, there is self-insight and personal testimony. “This book is the result of what I have been writing for 15 years as a supplement to 'Avvenire,' in which I wrote nearly 4,500 pieces,” Archbishop Ravasi said. He then explained the motivations that led him to use quotes as a means of expression: “I make others say what I am unable to say so well, at times due to my weak vocabulary and other times for my weak intelligence.” The unifying principle in the compilation of quotes finds its explanation at the beginning of the “Tractatus politicus” of Spinoza: “In my life, in my encounters with human acts, I am always careful not to scorn, not to sympathize, not to hate, but to understand.” The second point in the book is the word, the fundamental component that, as though by counteraction, evokes silence and listening. In explaining the importance of the word, the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture used a Chinese proverb: “The wise man adds a pinch of salt to all he says, and a pinch of sugar to all he hears.” Listening is a necessary and difficult act, and thus Archbishop Ravasi mentioned that “the book is also designed for this: to find a mini-oasis of listening and silence every day.” Irony and wisdom are the other two pillars of this work.
Irony is an element of the intelligence, on which many lessons can be established. In explaining this characteristic common to his work, Archbishop Ravasi used the words of Einstein: “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” And lastly, wisdom: “This book wishes to celebrate...wisdom, a word that comes from the Latin “sapere,” meaning, “to have taste,” Archbishop Ravasi said in concluding. What is true wisdom? Archbishop Ravasi used the words of Emily Dickinson: “This world is not conclusion/A sequel stands beyond,” and “Narcotics cannot still the tooth/ That Nibbles at the soul.”
Speakers at the event included Massimo D’Alema, Roberto Maroni, Internal Affairs Minister, and Marco Tronchetti Provera. Each speech was introduced with a passage from the book, read by actress Vittoria Puccini. (PC) (Agenzia Fides 6/2/2009)
