In copertina: Niccolò dell’Arca, Compianto sul Cristo morto, gruppo di statue in terracotta, Bologna, Santa Maria della Vita, inizio anni Sessanta del XV secolo.

E. Mounier, Lettere sul dolore. Uno sguardo sul mistero della sofferenza, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Milano, 2001

Explanations do not diminish the great scandal of suffering. Its greatness lies in its acceptance…This is a troubling secret of Providence. One should not attempt to understand the reasons that move Providence. That secret will reverberate, provoking astonishment, in Eternity. There are those whom God leads on the paths of riches and there are others that he leads on the paths of perennial failure. It remains to us only to love, to love God for what He does, and to love intensely those that He breaks for love. I feel so small in front of them….

Dear friend, I really do not want to say anything to you because the pain is so great that to describe it with words becomes unbearable. Pain does not have a face, it does not have a certain name, and, nonetheless, you will see that pain is the most tangible of faces, it is the most steadfast of friends, and it is the most fruitful of our works.

My little wounded brothers, you know that I believe that Oliver is alive, more alive than ever before. It matters little whether you believe this or not, or rather it matters little whether you say this or do not say this to yourselves, with clear words, whether you believe this. Leave open to him not only the words of remembering but also the words of presence and hope. Keep in your hearts a refuge, a warm place, for Oliver; and thus you will find him again with words that he would never have spoken, whose meaning neither I nor you will ever completely know.

Dear friends, cry without holding back if you will, we are near to you