Being Witnesses of Mercy – MEET

The column “Witnesses of Mercy” featuring the (browsable) book by Nino Savarino. This Monday, the verb “to encounter” and the work “visiting prisoners”.

One chapter at a time from the book by Nino Savarino, Governor of the Misericordia di Rosolini, friend of spazio + spadoni, and collaborator on various projects and the blog.

From Psalm 133 (132)

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together! There the Lord bestows the blessing and life forevermore.

Encountering brothers is life and blessing

Pope Francis says: “Isolation and closing in on oneself or on one’s own interests are never the way to restore hope and bring about renewal, but closeness is, the culture of encounter is. Isolation, no; closeness, yes. Culture of clash, no; culture of encounter, yes”.

“A human being is made in such a way that he does not fulfill himself, does not develop, and cannot find his fullness «unless through a sincere gift of oneself». And likewise, he does not come to fully recognize his own truth except in encounter with others: «I do not effectively communicate with myself except to the extent that I communicate with the other».

This explains why no one can experience the value of life without concrete faces to love. Here lies a secret of authentic human existence, because «life exists where there is a bond, communion, brotherhood; and it is a life stronger than death when it is built on true relationships and bonds of fidelity»”.

Encounter: a wonderful word that overcomes all solitude.

Encounter is the key that opens wide heart and mind, making us say: here I am.

There are so many brothers waiting to be met.

Let us not allow our time to pass without encountering others: “there is no life where there is the pretension of belonging only to oneself and living as islands: in these attitudes, death prevails”.

Ours will be a joyful, light, and beautiful journey if we share it with the brothers we meet along our path.

What can we do in concrete terms?

Visiting prisoners

Here is the first path we are called to walk: my visiting prisoners will make sense when, in everyday life, I ensure that I no longer have to visit prisoners, when I am a good citizen and a Christian who does not look the other way.

The other path is the one to walk alongside those paying their penalty. Woe to thinking that prison is the solution.

Prison is certainly essential and important for guaranteeing social safety and guiding the offender onto a path of reintegration. However, on its own it is not enough. On the contrary, it can even become a criminogenic place. It is necessary that, alongside legal avenues, social avenues exist as well.

The Work of Mercy of visiting prisoners will find true realization if I, we, the civic community create a welcoming social environment.

(Nino Savarino: Yet they are our children, 2025)

Food for thought

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body (Hebrews 13:3)

Source and image: Nino Savarino, Witnesses of Mercy

Browse the book by Nino Savarino