It has now been five years since we gathered here in memory of Marcos’s life. Certainly, the reason, the gesture we are celebrating, is the Eucharist, which, as you well know, means thanksgiving. The Church always gathers in this gesture of thanksgiving to God for having given us Christ and the Redemption, but today we are here in a special way, giving thanks for Marcos. Thank you for his life, thank you for his existence, for having known him; but above all, in one way or another, I believe most of you give thanks because he was a privileged witness to the presence of Christ among us.
To realise how Christ worked in him, and how he responded with simplicity from the beginning, when Christ entered his life so powerfully, is a constant cause for wonder, for recognising the good, and therefore for thanksgiving.
If we were now to comment on the trait, the characteristic that struck each of us most about Marcos’s life, it is probable that each of us would point to some of his qualities, the qualities God gave him or the gifts he received throughout his life.
Today I want to highlight just two that have been fundamental for me: he was pierced by Christ. If I had to say one clear thing about him, what determined his life was this presence of Christ, and it did not happen overnight. He, too, was a child of his time, as all of us are, for he too came from a world we might call individualistic, narcissistic, also seeking self-affirmation. But it is true that over time what dominated in him was not the positive or negative circumstances that so often weigh us down or complicate our lives, nor the great dreams that he soon set aside, nor his incapacities or capacities, but the presence of Christ, as someone real, as someone truly present in the flesh in his life.
When Christ entered his existence, there was no more decisive presence; there was no other presence more fascinating for him than that of Christ.
So many times in his diaries, which he wrote in a continuous dialogue with the Lord, or in his emails, or the WhatsApp messages he sent to his friends, what dominated was clearly this.
Once again, when you are handed this year’s memorial card on your way out, there is this email sent to a friend, so expressive, showing that what dominated in him was this presence of Christ, not even his consistency, his ability, or his being up to the mark, but truly loving Christ. That is why I will read it again.
«You are everything and I am nothing; I love you with all my heart. Tomorrow I will fall and sin, but, even if only in this instant, I give you my life, King of kings, Beauty and Love; you who were with John and Andrew and today live close to me; you who were on the cross for me. To you I say that I love you, that you can dispose of me, and that I desire nothing more than to be in your presence, affirming you as the highest good. I am not able to express in words what my heart desires in this instant, in this instant—at last!—well used. I love you, thank you».
This is what dominated Marcos’s life. For him it was this continually loving, fascinating presence. There was no other way. In many of his actions, in his diary, in his manner of being, in his way of speaking, there was nothing in him that was not faithful, in one way or another, to recognising this Christ, a real and present person in the flesh.
But there is one trait in the life of those who live from Christ that is very significant, and that is unity. Indeed, in the Creed, when we want to define the Church, that is, the followers of Christ, the community that adheres to Christ and makes Christ present, we say that it is one. The first characteristic we name is unity.
His life was gradually unified around this single centre, which was Christ Jesus. What mattered to him was to love and follow Jesus; everything revolved around Him, and precisely for that reason a unity was born in his life, but also an enormous passion for the unity of the community, of friends, of family, of a union in life.
When he perceived some difficulty or problem, he certainly suffered, and immediately set about, so to speak, repairing it in some way, with prayer or with a phone call, trying to accompany the person. This passion for unity is a clear sign of the presence of Christ, a sign of a life changed by Christ: unity within himself and the unity he generated around him. Those of you who shared the history and the times when he was responsible for university students have seen Marcos always moved by this desire to build up and express this unity, conscious that unity is the most powerful miracle, and therefore what speaks most of the presence of Christ in the world.
A unity that was always expressed in a beautiful way: in songs, in order, in taste, in the way people treated one another, in a unique conversation when they ate together or had a beer with someone else, a continuous gesture of unity.
I am speaking of a memory from the past, but I am aware that he lives, he has not left us; it is essential to realise that he is a companion on the way, and an intercessor for us today as well.
We give thanks for what the Lord has done in him, and we ask Marcos, through his intercession, to continue sustaining our journey of faith, to continue helping us to be passionate about Christ, as he was a passionate man, and to continue truly being a friend and also caring for our unity.
Without doubt, the fact that we also ask him insistently will make ever more evident to us and to the whole world the good that Marcos’s life means for the Church.
For this reason, today we give thanks, moved, to Christ for what He has wished to do in Marcos, and we give thanks to Marcos for the simplicity, promptness and openness he had, as the Gospel says: «You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little ones…». He received with a splendid simplicity, so much so that he was at once consoled and became a consolation for many throughout the years he lived. May he therefore continue helping and sustaining us on our way.
Machine translation. If you spot a mistake, do write to us.