Divo Barsotti
Divo Barsotti (1914-2006) was born in San Miniato (Pisa) but lived most of his life in Florence, where he died on 15th February 2006. Considered the last great mystic of the twentieth century, in 1946 he founded “The Community of the Sons and Daughters of God”, a movement of consecrated laypeople, which since 1955 has had its headquarters at Settignano in the Florentine hills. In 1972 he gave spiritual exercises to Pope Paul VI. His numerous publications (over one hundred and fifty, counting books, articles, letters and poetry) have been translated into many languages.
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
The well as a metaphor for life; the encounter with another person as a challenge, but also as an opportunity for growth: these are some of the stimulating reflections that Barsotti, with his engaging language, draws from the episode of the Samaritan woman narrated in St John’s Gospel. Constantly comparing the pages of the Gospel to everyday life, the author throws a new and original light not only on themes which concern the encounter of man with God, such as faith, conversion and eternal life, but also on existential aspects: the discovery of another person, the roles of man and woman, the sense of life as a moment of transition, summarized in an exemplary way in the title of one of the chapters: “We reap what we have not sown, we sow what we shall not reap”.
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Divo Barsotti Jesus and the Samaritan Woman Spiritual Exegesis on Chapter 4 of the Gospel according to John
Divo Barsotti
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman Spiritual Exegesis on Chapter 4 of the Gospel according to John Laveno Mombello 26-28 March 1965 Translated by Vincent Santomartino
SocietĂ
Editrice Fiorentina
Š 2016 Società Editrice Fiorentina via Aretina, 298 - 50136 Firenze info@sefeditrice.it www.sefeditrice.it facebook account www.facebook.com/sefeditrice twitter account @sefeditrice isbn 978-88-6032-372-9 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any process without the formal consent of the publisher
First published in Italy in 2006
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Preface
13 22 38 53 65 91 102 110
God begs for our love The Gift of God is God Himself God is everything to me The Testimony of joy Our Responsibility Holiness is believing in love To abandon oneself to the beloved We are God’s table companions!
Preface
Father Divo Barsotti (1914-2006) was one of the most prolific spiritual authors of the twentieth century, if not the most prolific. More than one hundred and sixty of his books have been published (many translated into the principal foreign languages) and hundreds of articles, essays, studies, in magazines and all types of newspapers. But if we consider his literary output (which also gained him prizes from lay institutions) enormous, no less so was his preaching. He continuously preached and was a spiritual guide in Italy and throughout the world. He held conferences and spoke at meetings; he ran spiritual exercise courses for lay people, priests, religious, bishops, even for the Pope (Pope Paul VI, 1972: this course of spiritual exercises will later be published in a book entitled: “Preaching to the Pope”). His style of preaching was unique: direct, deep, warm, and vivacious. His immense culture came always to the fore with quotes in Latin from unknown Fathers of the Church, with which he alternated improvised words, anecdotes or direct appeals to his audience who, taken unaware, were never sure whether or not to respond to his reasoning. To follow him during his preaching was akin to flying; it was as if one was torn from the grey and banal world of the daily grind – in which, unfortunately, even God is relegated as a thing among others – to find oneself at the end again firmly on the ground, often on one’s knees. Yes, because his word has moved many hearts. Naturally it is God’s word that cuts and hammers, but in Father Divo we can argue that he was putting his own word (with a small “w”) to the service of the Word (with a capital “W”). 7
Giuseppe De Luca wrote: “What is it that makes a sermon so profoundly sweet or so inimitably powerful? Emotions. (…) On opening Augustine or Bousset one’s heart trembles violently, it literally trembles. One could be as old as the hills, yet feel newborn. Old fool that I am, the sound of real music lifts me from the ground, and suddenly I feel like an aeroplane and I fly. I am not saying that by preaching we can obtain similar results. That is, we could, but first we have to become saints. A saint is like someone who has access, in a practical sense, to the Omnipotence of God, the Light of God, the Voice of God, the Presence of God; and of course, the Word of God. The Curé d’Ars made Lamartine and Lacordaire appear like two poor instruments. We priests have neither mother nor father, relations nor friends, so that we can become a mother, father, wife, son, relation or friend to others. Everyone’s joys and sorrows are ours. The person who is dying, who is being born, who is sick, who is getting married, is always our close relative. How can we not be moved by such emotions? Indeed, how can we protect ourselves from these emotions? Shall we read the humorous novel ‘Bertoldo’ like Saint Phillip Neri? Should I not rather warn you about these emotions? Such emotions are not sentimentalism; nor are they sentiments. These emotions are like sorrow when it is genuine. Like love, like death. They are not something one jokes about, and I say in all seriousness, they are not things which are easily dealt with”. Please excuse my long quotation, but I think it is useful to give a picture of the lively preaching of Father Divo Barsotti, who often became emotional and was so persuasive when talking about Jesus, of eternal life, of death, of joy, of the light, of the desire of God. But – alas – the sermon is ephemeral… one must seize the moment, in that place, hearing and seeing it live. The written word has a different nature. Father Divo has both spoken and written, but he has also “written whilst speaking”, i.e., some of his texts have been 8
extracted from recordings of his preaching, and later transcribed. This work, “Jesus and the Samaritan Woman”, is that kind of book. In 1965, Father Divo preached a course of spiritual exercises at a Benedictine convent on Lake Maggiore. The diligent nuns faithfully transcribed all his words; they made him check what they had written, and later wrote the corrected version in a large exercise book which they kept for their personal use, making only one photocopy for Father Divo. This photocopy remained buried among Father Divo’s papers until 2006 when the Società Editrice Fiorentina (publishers), looking to add to the published works of Fr Barsotti, unearthed this text which had practically been forgotten. Accidental? Maybe not. Father Divo made commentaries on 27 sacred books of the Bible from the New and Old Testaments. However, he has never provided a commentary on the Gospels. To those who asked the reason why, he would reply that to comment on the Gospels would be too arduous for him, not to mention the Gospel of John, his favourite. He loved John the Evangelist so much that he chose him as his spiritual godfather when he took his vows1, yet he always avoided commenting on the Gospels. Only twice did he venture to comment, in the form of spiritual exercises, once on Chapter 4 and a second time on Chapter 6. What follows is Chapter 4, the episode of the Samaritan woman. Therefore it is not completely true that Father Barsotti has never commented on John: he did comment on John but in a hidden way. And not all of it, but just peeking at parts 1 In an interview given on his ninetieth birthday, Don Divo was asked: “As godfather for vows in the Community, you chose the apostle John. Why?” His answer: “Because I like the thought of him. John is not a man of government, but a man who really lived what he preached - fraternal love;the primacy of charity and faith in Jesus Christ. If one does not live this way, one moves towards the abstract”.
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of it. However, the reader will realise that this “peek” is of infinite value. Barsotti, with his spiritual exegesis, makes us understand the heart of Christ through the Samaritan Woman, His mission, His presence, His love. And not only that: we also get to know the meaning of the Church, and the value of Redemption. What follows is a small Barsottian jewel, which came to light shortly after his death. We like to see in this discovery a gift from Father Divo to his friend and spiritual godfather Saint John the Apostle, the Eagle, at the moment when, no longer visible to this earth, he was able – God willing – to talk to him face to face. But it is a gift which he also gives to all of us. Father Serafino Tognetti Community of the Sons and Daughters of God
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