LIMBIATE
Touching homily by the Archbishop of Milan
for Luca Attanasio, Italian ambassador, victim of an ambush in Congo
Originally from Limbiate in Lombardy, where he was trained in the parish and in the oratory, 43-year-old Luca Attanasio was one of the youngest Italian ambassadors in the world. Together with his wife Zakia Seddiki – with whom he had three daughters – he had founded the NGO Mama Sofia: the association cares for children and mothers in difficult situations, with medical clinics, mobile clinics and projects for imprisoned mothers. Luca Attanasio was killed in the ambush along with Carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and Mustapha Milambo, the driver of the convoy of the UN mission for stabilisation in the country on which they were travelling.
"Then comes the moment when each one stands alone in the presence of the Lord.
The clamour ends, words fall silent, the gathered people disperse and each one stands alone in the presence of the Lord.
The deeds are forgotten, the honours, the titles, the awards are insignificant, and each one stands alone in the presence of the Lord.
Chronicles, good words and bitter words, rhetoric and celebrations lose interest, and everyone stands alone in the presence of the Lord.
The page of the Gospel (Matthew 25:31-46) describes what the Lord will be able to say to me, what I will be able to say to the Lord, when, like everyone else, I will be alone in the presence of the Lord”.
