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Jan 15,2006 - Jan 22,2006 |
3 - Fighting poverty in the name of God
Evangelical Elio Madonia helps the destitute and homeless with his tireless faith
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2002-12-22
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Elio Madonia
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In his speech at a recent meeting of industrialists, Cesare Romiti, chair of RCS and former number one of FIAT, said to Cardinal Martini, Archbishop of Milan: "If there were some entrepreneurs who did their job respecting market rules as well as principles of ethics, and who succeeded in making profits for their company, don't you think, Your Eminence, that they should be sainted?"
Reading what Elio Madonia wrote in his book Divine Passion: to Help Others, and hearing what he did, makes one think that the doors of Heaven are already open to him. He not only respected market rules and ethical principles, but he also destined his time and his savings to help those who suffer.
How does it affect you to think you've already booked a place in heaven?
"Look, I'm already blessed"
Blessed?
"Yes, I am. Not in the sense of a 'vice-saint,' though, but because I'm completely happy. And I am, because I gave others what I received from the Lord."
The chat with Elio Madonia, a Sicilian from Corleone who's lived in Canada for almost 50 years, is a balancing act between a daily practiced faith and a subtle irony. But obtaining a meeting with him wasn't easy, because he dislikes talking about himself; he only accepted on one condition: that we talked mostly about how he mitigated the sufferings of others, "not for vainglory," he said, "but for triggering emulation, since the more we'll be doing good, the less our neighbour will suffer. Doing some good isn't difficult, it's the easiest thing."
Elio Madonia didn't leave Italy because he was unemployed, but for the problems that the Evangelical faith, which he embraced when he was young, created for him in his family and in his town. More than one person invited him to "go back on the straight and narrow path"; there even was a family council with the participation of some influential people and the parish priest, all trying to "recover the lost lamb." Elio's mother had even been told that his adhesion to the Evangelical faith would imply his automatic excommunication, with unavoidable repercussions not only on his family but also on the small shop whence they earned their livelihood.
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