Dear Friends,

Monsignor Albacete’s life is fulfilled today in front of the merciful Presence of the Mystery who makes all things, and it blossoms in the gladness that we always saw in him.

The encounter with Father Giussani struck his life so deeply that he asked to serve the Movement in the United States, becoming Father Giussani’s witness on the dramatic front where faith engages with a modernity in search of meaning. He sought this encounter with anyone, challenging the American intelligentsia with the sole weapon of his witness, as a man who had been seized and transformed by Christ in his reason and in his freedom.

Therefore, Pope Francis’ words from Evangelii Gaudium are befitting our dearest Lorenzo: “Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone, not as one who imposes a new obligation, but rather as one who shares a joy, points out a beautiful horizon, offers a desirable banquet.The Church does not grow by proselytism but ‘by attraction.’” He was undoubtedly so captivating that he immediately became friends with anyone he met, because he was showing the beauty and usefulness of faith for facing life’s needs.

With his tireless work, he witnessed to us how faith can become “intelligence of reality,” with his ability to recognize and embrace anyone without ambiguity, but for love of the truth that is present in every person. With his suffering, he has reminded us that there is no circumstance, not even the most difficult and toilsome, that can prevent the “I” from having a daily dialogue with the Mystery.

Let us ask Father Giussani, who now meets Monsignor again as an everlasting friend, to obtain for him that peace that is the sign of a life that rests in the eternal. Let us also pray to the Virgin Mary, to whom Monsignor Albacete attributed his encounter with Father Giussani, to carry him toward sharing in the smile of the Eternal.

Let us all pray together and personally that we may strive to live like he witnessed, so that we can inherit his legacy of how to follow the Movement within the Church.

Julián Carrón Milan, October 24, 2014