HE NOW LIVES IN GOD

19 September 1986

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”

– Matthew 11,25

HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER CHIARA SPEAKS

Friday 19 September 1986 was a slightly dull day at the end of summer. It was just a few days away from the beginning of school, and at 14 years of age, I was in complete adolescent crisis. I was not even keen on this new beginning of living in a community and I was missing the small flat we had just left. Towards evening something happened that I couldn't understand: someone rushed Mum to the hospital; it seemed that Dad was feeling unwell... I decided to go too and, as soon as I arrived in the Emergency Room, I saw a doctor bringing Mum an envelope with Dad’s watch, his gold chain and his wedding ring. On the stretcher there was someone completely covered by a green sheet... The doctor on duty was unable to find the words to say something to Mum...
The pain was so sudden and strong that it left us stunned...

HE IS IN HEAVEN

It was there at the hospital, in front of people I didn’t know, that I couldn’t stop the words that I spoke from my heart with such force: “Mum, be brave, don’t cry! Dad isn’t dead; he has gone to heaven. He has gone to prepare room for us; aren’t we born for this reason? You taught us, don’t you remember? Now he can intercede for us before the Lord”. These words shocked me most of all, I knew full well that they were not my own, also because now I was convinced that our father had taken us to the community and there we had to stay because it was God’s will. The day of the funeral, Mum made us dress in white, 28 priests concelebrated and the church was completely full. Everyone who was present at the service said: “It doesn’t seem like a funeral, more like a wedding!”.

CLOSER THAN BEFORE

Naturally, together with these moments of light, there was grief, and so atrocious in the following months as to fear for my mother’s life.

But never did it come as the certainty of that first moment: Dad is alive with God and he is closer to us than before.

After having tried in vain to say suffrage prayers for his soul, we understood that it was not he who needed our prayers, but we who needed his, and so we asked him for help in everyday things.

What they say about him…

Renato Ferron

“I took part in Alessandro’s funeral. There were around thirty priests and lots of people. I had the impression that his funeral was an accompanying of a person to his destination, to heaven. In fact, Luisa and his daughters didn’t appear to be in mourning, but rather it was as if they knew for sure that Alessandro was with the Lord”.

– Renato Ferron

dottor Tiziano Chioetto

“We, Alessandro’s work colleagues, thought that more than being a funeral, it was more like a wedding. I saw no-one cry. From this we realized that there was something that we didn’t understand”.

– Dr. Tiziano Chioetto