d) FRIENDSHIP

"Everything mine is yours"

The air, the quiet, the view, the relaxed and carefree walks will do good to me and to you as well.  So, come on!  Don't let obstacles discourage you: "Everything mine is yours."  You know that I love you not only as a fellow bishop but also as a most loving brother.²²

I don't know how your beautiful and impassioned letter from Milan found its way into a bunch of papers I gave the Pope.  He read everything, including your letter, which, though quite strong, did not make an unpleasant impression on him.  In my second audience with him, he spoke of my papers and of your letter.  And since I was afraid that some expression might have hurt him, I spoke up and said: "Holy Father!  In Bishop Bonomelli you have a bishop who is not only truly learned and zealous, totally consecrated to the good of religion, but a most devoted and loving son as well, who talks frankly when he sees the truth, but always with the deepest respect and reverence for you..."

"Oh, yes," he interrupted, "I know the good Bishop Bonomelli well!"  And here he paused to praise your piety and learning, your zeal, etc., etc.  You can well imagine how happy all this made me.²³

I didn't want to write to you during these days out of respect for your filial sorrow, which I felt in my heart of hearts as if my own father had died.  Whatever concerns you affects me very dearly.  When I celebrate Holy Mass for the repose of your deceased father, whom I remember every day at the altar, I never forget to pray for you.  Please do the same for poor little me because I need God's help so much.²⁴

During these past two years we have written each other so many letters that we don't know what else to say.  Do you know how many of your letters I have?  Sixty-two, yes 62, one more beautiful than the other and coordinated like the pipes of a somewhat monotonous organ, to be honest with you, because we are always playing the same tune.²⁵

The fire of our friendship is so great that "rivers will not quench it."  The wood feeding the fire has been accumulated during these past

years in such quantity and is of such quality that, at least for a century, it will suffice to send forth the most beautiful flame in the world.  However, you do well to wake me up since, to be honest with you, I treat my friends very, very haphazardly.  Sometimes I feel a little remorse over this.  Once in a while my secretary will ask: did you write to Cremona?  Oh, yes, I should write.  I will write to him.  In the meantime, the days, the weeks and the months slip away....  So bear with me.  So, when I don't write, tell yourself, without fear of error: that poor soul in Piacenza is ravaged by the fever of activity.  So I may as well forgive him his seeming indifference to his dearest friend.²⁶

I'm writing you a note to wish you a most blessed Yuletide, full of the choicest blessings.  For a lot of people best wishes are a compliment, an act of propriety.  But my wishes to you are a need of my heart, an expression of great esteem, of deep and reverent friendship, of abiding unity.²⁷

Think of all that is beautiful, good, tender, sincere, etc., and see in all this an expression of my feelings for you.

May God be at your side, assist you, bless you, and fulfill your desires, which are also mine.²⁸

Be at peace.  The period that is beginning will be painful, yes, but full of light.  Let us allow divine Providence to act.  Personally, I don't have to tell you that for you I would do what I wouldn't do for myself.  Of course, your inner anxiety ‑- which is quite natural in such circumstances ‑- torments you.  But remember one thing: justice and truth, above all!²⁹

The first and the best wishes of my heart for a blessed Christmas season go to you who are dimidium animae meae (the other half of my soul).  Our hearts are united by mysterious bonds.  Even though far apart, our hearts speak to each other and always understand each other.

You must have already realized how grateful I am to you for the gift of your precious little book.  My health?  I feel very, very good.  I got well as if by magic and have gone back to my routine.  But I'll have to remember the recommendations of my friends, yours above all.

The Lord grant you robust health, a very long life, all the fondest desires of your heart, and diplomatic successes of the highest order

and in the greatest quantity.³⁰

Contributing, albeit meagerly, to the splendid celebration of your jubilee was for me one of the greatest satisfactions of my life.  But this time you wanted to act like a prince by giving me a truly magnificent gift.  It is doubly dear to me because it is your gift, as well as a remembrance of one of the most beautiful days in your life and in mine as well.  I thank you for your gift from the bottom of my heart.³¹

If last year at this time, as you gently remind me, I was all for you, you can rest assured that I am all for you now and will be so in the future, even when I don't appreciate certain everyday lapses of yours.³²

"Hearts do not know distances"

Very well: "Let us give and receive forgiveness from one another."  But not even this is fair because I, not you, need an excuse for not having thanked you yet ‑- as I am doing now from the bottom of my heart ‑- for your gift and best wishes on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of my episcopal consecration.

I say "an excuse" because, among people who are united in the love of Jesus Christ as we are, many things must be understood and taken for granted.  I do this very easily.  You too should do the same.  Hearts do not know spatial distances and do not need letters all that much because, even without them, they speak to each other, understand each other, and help each other.³³