Carlo Torriani

SWARGA DWAR

The conversion of a catholic missionary

presented by

Card. Simon Pimenta

PIME Publications, PIME Regional House, Eluru - 534 0-07, A.P., India

SENT TO THE POOR 

Letter No. 30, August 1987

 Dear Friends,

    Just back from Italy I feel a duty to write immediately to you. Every time I come to Italy I receive such a worm and generous reception, not only by friends but also by new people that I feel overburdened by the responsibility. I am responsible in front of God and in front of the poor for this stream of sympathy and generosity that the missionary wakes up. I pray the good Lord that he may keep me faithful to his vocation and sensitive to the need of the poor.

    Going to Italy I had in mind not to solicit donations, not to speak about poverty and needs, but to speak about the rich cultural and spiritual tradition of India.

    One of the first people I met was a parish priest, friend of mine, he asked me whether I came back to Italy to collect funds. I felt disappointed and diminished. I told that I came to see him for friendship. But then also when it happened to meet people never seen before, when I was explaining that I am a missionary in India, their spontaneous response was to give a donation. Finally I had to accept my role: any missionary is a man sent by God to the poor, and people, following their faith, wants to contribute to his mission.

    Particularly in two occasions I experienced what I have just said.

    The first occasion was when I went to thank the Benedictine sisters of a convent in Piacenza.

Their chaplain was sick in bed. He was watching television when one of my confrere was speaking about the project of Swarga Dwar. He spoke about it to the sisters who decided to donate to Swarga Dwar all the money they got selling a flat they have inherited.

    Speaking with the Abbess she was worried for the decline in vocations in Italy. When she joint the religious life the convent was full. Now they were a dozen and quite old. But for me it has been a sign from heaven that an unknown convent in Italy had given a substantial donation for the starting of an ashram in India. I admired their faith in accepting their decline in western world, in favour of new Christian communities at the margins of the Kingdom of God. “If the grain of wheat does not die, it will not bear fruit”. This is the law of life.

    The second occasion was when I went to pay a visit to a priest, friend of mine since the time of the seminary. He had dedicated all his life to the pastoral care of the gypsies. With his own caravan he was camping at Vialba, at the outskirts of Milan. I felt so small in front of him and of his companion. They are really missionary in Italy, without the halo of the missionaries abroad.

Still more humble I felt when he took me in another caravan where four young gypsies girls gave ma a donation of 120,000 Italian lira, made up of many small notes. These girls were following the catechism classes and they were collecting this money for me since long.

    May be you too are thinking, as I thought, that this sum was put together by way of small thefts. This is part of our prejudices about the gypsies. But rich people too, sometimes, they give what they have collected from disproportionate profits. It is not to us to judge. In front of them I felt so humble and small and now I feel full of responsibility.

    For this reason, I said, I feel the duty to write to all of you, to thank you. Unfortunately in Italy I could not meet all of you. I ask pardon to those I did not meet.  

    I came back to India just at the beginning of the rainy season. So we started the cultivation of rice. Our three main activities, work, service and prayer, are going on. Let us remain united in prayer.