Great celebration last September 29th in the chapel of Saint Bernadette for the parishes of the Cavaillon-Les Vignères and Cheval-Blanc Sector, entrusted to the Doctrinaries. It was the anniversary of the foundation of the Congregation, but also the 25th anniversary of the priesthood of the Superior General, Father Sergio La Pegna, and the 50th anniversary of the ordination of the parish priest, Father Gian Mario Redaelli, as well as his 75th birthday. The Pastoral Council also wanted to combine the opening of the catechism year and the beginning of the school year with the blessing of the children’s schoolbags.
The concelebration, presided over by the Archbishop of Avignon, Monsignor François Fonlupt, was attended, in addition to the two celebrants, by Father Sergio and Father Gian Mario, Father Andrea Marchini, delegate for Italy and France and parish priest in Turin, the two parish vicars, Father Emanuele and Father Jean-Marie, the deacons Franck Thieret and Gianfranco Girola. There were many parishioners, children, teenagers, young people and adults. Also present were the family of Father Gian Mario and the Turin delegation of the Fraternity of the Word with the deacon Gianfranco Girola, who began his journey towards diaconal ordination with Father Gian Mario, in the parish of Jesus Nazarene in Turin.
During the homily, Father Gian Mario recalled his priestly journey, proposing the biblical image in which God addresses the people, who had behind them a long experience in the desert, saying: “I have carried you on my shoulders as a man carries his son, along the entire road that you have traveled” (Dt 1:31b). Then, addressing the many children, he said: «How many times do fathers and mothers carry you on their shoulders, behold, the Lord does the same thing with us!». He then continued by saying: «For this today we give thanks with this solemn mass: thanks to the Lord, for the gift of life, because it is a gift; thanks to the Church, of which our assembly is a sign of its vitality; thanks to my natural family, some members of which are here among us, and to my religious family whose cradle is here in Cavaillon; thanks to everyone for your affectionate presence».
Father Gian Mario then continued: «When I celebrate Mass, I am always moved by the gesture of offering the bread and wine, destined to become the Body and Blood of Jesus. It is the gesture that, in a little while, the bishop will perform and we with him. Together with the bread and wine he places on the altar the tears of joy and pain of each one together with the fatigue of all, the successes and failures, and he also places the tears of all those who suffer. With his hands raised to the sky, the celebrant entrusts everything to Jesus who presents to the Father the weight of all humanity and unites it to his life for the salvation of all».
The parishioners of the Cavaillon-Les Vignères and Cheval Blanc sectors, at the offertory, deposited, together with the gifts, the proceeds of a collection, part of which will be destined for the doctrinal missions in India and Burundi and another for the purchase of liturgical vestments for the Cathedral of Cavaillon, which will soon be reopened after the restoration of recent years.
After the mass, the warm autumn day allowed the celebrations to be completed with an aperitif-lunch in the garden in front of the chapel, where photographs retracing the life of Father Gian Mario were also displayed.
In the afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., at the hermitage of Saint Jacques, so dear to Saint Caesar de Bus, on the hill overlooking the city, Father Bruno Gerthoux, chancellor of the diocese of Avignon, proposed a meditation on the Eucharist in the life of Saint Caesar. This was followed by a moment of Eucharistic adoration led by Fathers Emanuele and Jean-Marie, parish vicars, which closed the day of celebration.
