COOPERATOR FOR THE EUCHARIST

Another laywoman being considered for canonization, also related to the Salesians (see Blog April 19), is  SERVANT of GOD VERA GRITA,  an elementary school teacher, born in Rome in 1923. After being trampled on by a crowd fleeing a bombing in Savona on the 4^th of July 1944, her injuries marked her irreparably. She was 21 years old. Despite her condition, she accepted to teach in schools in the Ligurian hinterland. In Savona, in the Salesian parish of Mary Help of Christians, she participated in parish life. From 1963 the Salesian Fr Giovanni Bocchi was her confessor.  When she became a Salesian Cooperator in 1967), she entrusted herself to the guidance of Fr Gabriello Zucconi.  These are Catholics who are living the Gospel message in the spirit of Saint John Bosco while choosing to live in the world.

On September 19, 1967, a mystical experience began inviting her to live the joy and dignity of a daughter of God in full, in communion with the Trinity and in Eucharistic intimacy with Jesus.  . "We are the wine and water: you and Me, Me and you. We are one thing: I dig in you,  dig, dig to build myself a temple: let Me work, do not set me obstacles. ..The will of My Father is this: that I remain in you, and you in Me. Together we will bear great fruit."

It was the first of the messages that make up the "Work of the Living Tabernacles" that Vera, struggling with the fear of being the victim of deception, wrote in obedience to Fr Zucconi.

The messages explicitly refer to Don Bosco and his "da mihi animas cetera tolle" that tend to renew in the Salesians the sense of union with God and trust in Mary Help of Christians, to give God through a tireless apostolate that cooperates in the salvation of humanity. The Work, by the will of the Lord, is entrusted in the first instance to the sons of Don Bosco for its fulfillment and diffusion in the parishes, in the religious institutes and in the Church: "I chose the Salesians because they live with the young, but their life of the apostolate must be more intense, more active, more heartfelt."

The cause for the beatification of the Servant of God Vera Grita was launched on 22 December 2019, the 50th anniversary of her death, in Savona.

Antonio Boccia, the World Coordinator of Salesian Cooperators, then spoke, expressing his joy and emotion at this new Cause of a Salesian Cooperator.

 “Vera's heart and life was the Eucharist that she lived daily. The Eucharist was everything to her. Just as Jesus had given His life out of love, she gave her life for those she met in her work with a smile, gentleness, and kindness, so much so that she aroused awe and admiration in her colleagues at the school. She had a special concern for the less gifted students or those who suffered from their family situations... The Holy Spirit continued to make the Salesian charism breathe through her life.”