Archbishop Delpini: “A politician is always a partisan. When a man is a character, then he is always on stage”
“When a man is a businessman, then he tries to do business. He therefore has customers and competitors. He has moments of success and moments of failure. He ventures into reckless ventures. He looks at the numbers and perhaps forgets the criteria. He must do business He can’t trust others too much and he knows that others don’t trust him too much. He’s a businessman and he has to do business.” Msgr. Mario Delpini, archbishop of Milan, in one of the passages of thefuneral homily for Silvio Berlusconi. “When a man is a politician, then he tries to win. He has supporters and opponents. There are those who praise it and those who cannot bear it. A politician is always a partisan. When a man is a character, then he’s always on stage. He has admirers and detractors. He has those who applaud him and those who hate him. Silvio Berlusconi – Delpini underlines – he was certainly a politician, he was certainly a businessman, he was certainly a figure in the limelight of notoriety ”. “But in this moment of farewell and prayer, what can we say about Silvio Berlusconi? He was a man: a desire for life, a desire for love, a desire for joy. And now we celebrate the mystery of fulfillment. Here’s what I can say about Silvio Berlusconi. He is a man and now he meets God.”
In his homily, starting from the desires common to every man, Delpini outlines the joys, weaknesses, businesses and fears, characteristics proper to every man, including Berlusconi: a man “who was also a politician and a man of affairs, a character in the limelight of notoriety”, says Delpini therefore with “admirers and detractors”. “Live. Live and love life. Live and desire a full life. Live and wish that life is good, beautiful for yourself and for your loved ones. Living and understanding life as an opportunity to put the talents received to good use. Living and accepting the challenges of life. Living and going through difficult moments in life. – says Delpini in the homily for the last farewell to the Knight -. Live and resist and don’t let defeats bring you down and believe that there is always a hope of victory, of redemption, of life. Living and longing for a life that never ends and having courage and trusting and believing that there is always a way out of even the darkest valley. Live and not shirk challenges, contrasts, insults, criticisms, and continue to smile, to challenge, to oppose, to laugh at the insults. To live and feel one’s strength running out, to live and suffer the decline and to continue to smile, to try, to try a way to live again”. Msgr. Delpini adds: “Here is what can be said of a man: a desire for life, which finds its judgment and its fulfillment in God.
The archbishop of Milan reflects on the desire to love and to be loved that belongs to every man: “Loving and seeking love, like a promise of life, like a complicated story, like a compromised fidelity. Wishing to be loved and fearing that love could only be a concession, a condescension, a stormy and precarious passion. To love and to want to be loved forever and to experience the disappointments of love and to hope that there might be a way to a higher, stronger, greater love. Loving and walking the paths of dedication. To love and to hope. Loving and trusting. Love and surrender. This is what can be said of man: a desire for love, which finds its judgment and fulfillment in God”.
Delpini then talks about the desire for joy: “To be happy and to love the holidays. Enjoy the beauty of life. Being happy without too many thoughts and without too many anxieties. To be happy with lifelong friends. Be happy with companies that give satisfaction. Being happy and wanting others to be happy too. Being happy with yourself and being surprised that others are not happy. Being happy with the good things, the beautiful moments, the applause of the people, the praise of the supporters. Enjoy the company. Being happy with the minimal things that make you smile, with the nice gesture, with the gratifying result. Being happy and experiencing that joy is precarious. Being happy and feeling the insinuation of a dark threat that covers the things that make you happy with greyness. To be content and to feel lost in the face of the irremediable exhaustion of joy. This is what can be said of man: a desire for joy, which finds its judgment and its fulfillment in God”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com