St. Teresa of the child Jesus, became a saint and a missionary in her extraordinary way of doing ordinary things and even though she wasn’t a great scholar and a theologian, in 1997 celebrating 100 years of her death, Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the church; thus becoming the third female saint to be declared so after St. Catherine of Siena and St Teresa of Avilla. Also together with St. Francis Xavier are venerated as the patrons of the missions.
Fr. Rocco celebrated his 25 years of religious profession last month in the presence of his by then novice master Fr. Pietro Trabucco and the theological seminary community in Marrivale. Asking him about his missionary life he says jokingly; first of all he considers himself a true and concentrated missionary because almost all his life is concentrated in the month of October dedicated to the missions. He was born on 19/Oct/1962, 8 days after Pope John XXIII had called for the Vatican II; thus, he is a man of the council and its resolutions. He was also ordained a priest on 1st of the same month. He says being Italian or rather Italian speaker, studying his theology in Spanish (Colombia) and working as a missionary in South Africa where he had to learn English, Zulu and the African culture different from the European and Latin American was not easy for him; but with time he learned to dance according to the tune and never thought of working among the south Africans for 16 years as he has done. It needed great faith to see the will of God working in it all. He says missionary life is always a great surprise because most of the times we encounter what we never expected and may never meet what we expected.
Fr. Rocco says he is what he is today because of his conviction of the love of God for humanity, which he as God’s instrument is out to proclaim. If love is extinguished one would not proclaim the God’s kingdom, and no more martyrs would shed their blood defending the voiceless and the marginalized. As the founder our Founder used to say missionary life belongs to those who love the Lord very much and wish to make him known and are ready for any sacrifice. The lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.
