Automatic translation from Italian, under review.
A journey marked by thirteen meditations that almost attempt to open glimpses onto a divine dimension of everyday life. The Way of Love is a text of contemporary spirituality, published by San Paolo in December 2014.
A silence described as loving, as a “space” in which the Holy Spirit can be welcomed and heard, is the opening proposal. The reader is thus led, almost naturally, to turn his or her gaze to the experience of Mary, in which each person, in his or her own particular reality, is called to take part. The relationship of intimate communion with Mary, understood as sharing in her experience, is a key element of the book, probably a reflection of the author’s own experience.
Leafing through the first pages, the dimension of beauty of the agapic God emerges prominently, disposing hearts to bring quality to interpersonal relationships. Love of neighbor, understood in a Christian sense, overflows into the need to live the new commandment of mutual love, almost echoing the beauty just contemplated. In the central chapters in particular, the threads of the human and the divine weave the fabric of a new horizon, in which the harsh reality of failure, division and evil is in no way sublimated or concealed.
Communion, mercy and trust appear firmly united in fraternal relationships, no less than in the relationship with God, for human and spiritual growth, and, to explain this, Sr. Nunziella does not disdain to draw examples from everyday life: “As long as two spouses quarrel, there is no danger for the marriage, but the day one of them does not believe that the other loves him or her, the relationship is seriously damaged” (p. 81). A book that does not burden the reader with the weight of a journey toward impossible goals, but opens to the hope that is born of the Cross.
The last chapters? The Word of God, the Eucharist, Mary: three brief meditations, in which, however, an ecclesial vision stands out that perhaps may be discussed in another book…