The evangelizers of “Light in the Night” return to the streets, in the heart of Venetian nightlife. The appointment is for Saturday 31 October, when the group will meet in the Rialto area to invite the young people to enter the church of San Giovanni Elemosinario and stop for a moment of prayer and Eucharistic adoration.
Approximately 25 evangelizers will be involved, mostly from parishes in the diocese of Venice, but also from other local communities, including Padua, San Donà, and Conegliano. A diverse group in terms of age, origins, and ecclesial paths, united by the desire to proclaim the Gospel even outside the usual spaces of parish life.
The meeting for evangelizers will begin at 5 pm in the patronage of San Cassiano for a moment of prayer and formation. Then at 8:30 pm in the church of San Giovanni Elemosinario, Holy Mass will be celebrated, presided over by Patriarch Francis, who will give the mandate to the evangelizers.
«We are all called to evangelize: it is the gift of Baptism», emphasizes Fabio Rossi, head of the Venetian evangelizers. «Our charisma is to be heralds of the Gospel. A Christian is either an announcer of the Gospel or he is not a Christian. Being able to do this in the squares and streets, meeting people and accompanying them to meet Jesus in the Eucharist, is something we care deeply about».
The initiative follows an experience begun over ten years ago by the late Don Antonio Biancotto, whose legacy continues to be carried forward by the Venetian group. The formula is the one that has been established: after the Eucharistic celebration, evangelizers will go out into the streets around Rialto, where they will meet mainly young people and people celebrating in masks on All Saints' Eve, under the pretext of Halloween derived from Anglo-Saxon tradition. The invitation will be to cross the threshold of the church, leaving the noise of the night for a few minutes to experience a time of silence, recollection and prayer.
«The beautiful thing, which we have noticed in recent years, is that there are people, among the Venetians, who wait for this appointment and participate by coming to church to pray», underlines Fabio Rossi. They are people who are not part of the group of evangelizers, but could somehow become one: this is the new proposal for this edition of “Light in the Night”: «We would like to invite anyone who wishes to have this experience: first by allowing themselves to be evangelized and then, perhaps, by becoming evangelizers themselves», explains Rossi. «It's a way to meet people where they are, without waiting for them to come to church. And we feel that this is an important moment to do so, also in light of the journey we are experiencing as the Church of Venice preparing to celebrate the Marcian Year». With a close connection to current events too: «We would like to contribute to bringing Christ back to the center of life. We believe that the Gospel can also be a response to the anxieties of this world marked by struggles, not only wars but also tensions and social unrest. The Gospel - adds Rossi - can save us».
For this reason, the group is increasingly promoting the experience to local parishes and communities, believing that street evangelization can become a concrete possibility even outside of the events organized in Rialto.
Participation, however, requires a path. «We welcome those interested, but to go out on the streets it is important to get to know each other, understand each other's history and journey of faith, and prepare. When we meet people we also expose ourselves as a Church: it is not something that can be improvised», Rossi specifies. For this reason, anyone wishing to get closer to the group is invited to contact the managers by writing to: evvenezia@gmail.com.
The meetings throughout the year are structured as follows: every Wednesday in the chapel of San Silvestro, from 7:45 pm to 8:15 pm, a moment of Eucharistic adoration takes place, animated by spontaneous songs and prayers. Subsequently, in the patronage of San Cassiano, the group meets for training.
«We would like - concludes the coordinator - for more and more people to discover this possibility and for parish communities to be able to experience it within them too».
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