"The memories, in these fifteen years, have been our silent and discreet companions, who have guided us in the choices towards the rebirth of our city, they have been our internal compass".
The mayor of L'Aquila, Pierluigi Biondi, said this during the Holy Mass in the church of the Anime Sante which was celebrated on the night of the 15th anniversary of the earthquake. "Fifteen years ago - the mayor said - we felt the breath of God in the very moment in which we understood that not everything was lost. Today we can say that our rebirth is like a novel that was able to translate the scratches of the soul into works of art, the collective feeling in a beautiful urban rhythm, the city in a place of permanent culture, nihilism or assignment".
The parallel with current events is significant. "The history of the third millennium - he recalled - is in full and dramatic acceleration, with new global balances in the process of being defined. The traces left by war events in the urban fabric are loaded with strong symbolic values and the reconstruction phase becomes a moment of rewriting the memory of the city. Even for these aspects there is an evident connection between the outcomes of wars and the outcomes of seismic events". Hence the message of hope that we address today to the peoples suffering wars is that the love for one's homeland, the determination and support of other nations in the realization of a possible peace make the process of rebirth a closer objective than what the current situation leads to imagination".
Therefore, the invitation to the community: "Let us remember the darkest night - concluded Biondi - to enjoy the physical and community rebirth that we wanted and pursued; let us remember the wounds to immerse ourselves in the beauty of life; let us remember the victims to realize the dreams of our young people; we remember in order to be tenacious in the growth and development of our land; we remember in prayer so that peace can become the protagonist of the time to come".
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