A man simply

A friend from the Balearic Islands writes to me:

“Another great witness of light has left us: Mgr. Arturo Lona, the bishop of the poor. I still remember him wearing his jeans, his white T-shirt and his wooden crucifix hanging from his neck with a little rope tied to it. I met him in a meeting of base ecclesial communities and his testimony marked me so much that it is still present.

He was a witness of light for the Oaxacan natives. I remember that they used to tell us that he would go up to see the most elderly and he used to sit for hours talking with them, and that when he was about to leave they used to tell him: it’s a pity you are in a hurry, hopefully you come back another day with more calm… Maybe they had been there for three hours between talks and silences that did not bother anyone.

He is the bishop who no one ever saw like that. He was another one without any other distinction than his own commitment. Now he is no longer a witness of light, but the LIGHT that surrounds us and we do not even notice”.

(Matilde and Lino)