“I like to think that the Easter celebration is the perfect time for a renewed inner blooming, a kind of spiritual spring that we can rediscover thanks to this Christian holiday that celebrates life winning out.
During our earthly existence, we dwell within time. We are immersed in it. We move (and flow) along this path, which only appears to be linear because in our hearts we know how illusory chronological time truly is. Yet, giving meaning to your time, to your passage through life, shaping it and seizing its rhythm and composing upon it the melody of action, with joy and responsibility, is what I believe to be the secret to a full and peaceful life. And it is the greatest wish that I extend – and that I myself embrace – from this day that reminds us (and bears witness) to the sweet promise of the Resurrection.
The image of a young woman from Haiti comes to mind, an assistant to the ABF aid missions that continue even today with great fervor in the war-torn country. She was perhaps half my age, yet through her pragmatic and tireless actions, she was unfailingly consistent with what she once told us: “Life is short and there is much to do. I do not want to, nor can I, squander the time that I still have to live, time that the Lord has given me. It is my responsibility to use it, serving His design and helping my brothers and sisters, and so His children.
The words of that young woman, her unwillingness to waste time, and her focus on spending her time (and at the same time earning it... What a wonderful paradox of love!) doing good, best sums up the driving force of the many projects that ABF comes up with and accomplishes every year.
Even during the seemingly suspended time of a hospital stay, it is invaluable that we optimize it and give it a profound meaning, especially when there are children in the forced condition of hospitalization. This is what the foundation that bears my name took into consideration when designing the cutting-edge socio-educational center that was inaugurated just a few days ago, the ABF “Maria Manetti Shrem” Educational Center for the “Meyer” Children’s Hospital in Florence.
It is never too late to rediscover the sense of our inner time: the time for doing good and living well, together. It is a blessed impulse and shall never be time wasted! To be reborn, as the Christian holiday reminds us each year, is the manifest miracle of our existence that is renewed every day.
Happy Easter to you all!"
Andrea Bocelli
