Formation is fundamental for a priest: Nicola Commisso
I am Father Nicola Commisso, from the Congregation of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri. I was born 34 years ago and I have been a priest for almost a year. My hometown is located on the outskirts of Rome and I lived there until 2013, when I began my vocational path.
Was it your vocation that brought you to the heart of the city?
Yes, it was my vocation, and more precisely Jesus Christ: He is my vocation. It was He who seduced me, attracted me, called me while I was looking for the love that would give meaning to my whole life; It was He who freely saved me when I was a boy who walked dangerous paths; and it was He who, once I returned to the Church, wanted me among his closest friends while I was thinking of getting married and working as a journalist.
After leaving God and the Church
What happened then?
After my degree in Political Science, I was beginning a career as a journalist, until God, in His mercy, chose me for Him, calling me to the priesthood in the oratorian tradition of Father Felipe Neri. To anyone who asked myself “why” I made this decision, I only give one answer: because Jesus Christ has asked me to.
I returned to my parish at twenty, after leaving God and the Church and I never imagined the life I have now: I was in love with a beautiful girl and dreamed of having a family with her, but Jesus grew in my heart and called me with his Love, a love with which no human creature can compete. That is why I would say, with the words of Saint Teresa of Lisieux, that "my vocation is love" and the love of a living and real person: Jesus.
Empty search
Through another special friend ...
¡Of course! In this relationship of mine with Jesus the figure of Saint Philip Neri has been fundamental, and continues to be so, who attracted me with his fire and his passion for Jesus Christ. He was always saying: “Whoever wants something other than Christ, doesn't know what they want; whoever asks for something other than Christ does not know what he is asking; whoever does not work for Christ does not know what he is doing”.
And it seemed to me that these words came to explain my years of searching in emptiness, in the dark, blindly for a love that gave meaning to my whole existence. Saint Philip Neri has taught me to have a personal, carnal, true and loyal relationship with Christ; ¡He has taught me to pray with his words - “My Jesus, if you love me, remove every obstacle!"; What will I do if you don't help me, my Jesus? - getting rid of the weight of “having to be something” with my strength and teaching me the fire of God, the Holy Spirit, teaching me to ask for it without ceasing like a poor person, like a beggar.
This Fire is the charism of our Congregation: to set afire today, as in the times of Philip, the hearts of men of the love of God and to do it in this city, holy by divine choice but so much in need of Christ. It is true that, as Saint Philip himself used to say, "whoever does good to Rome, does good to everyone and for everyone!"
"This Fire is the charism of our Congregation: to set afire today, as in the times of Saint Philip Neri, the hearts of men of the love of God."
Formation, fundamental for a priest
Is your experience also related to training?
Undoubtedly. I believe that formation is fundamental for a priest, and especially today, in a society that is very critical of the Christian faith and culture. We are called, yesterday as today, to “give a reason for our hope”, and that supposes a study made with intelligence and love: with intelligence, capable of grasping the heart of the beauty of the Gospel and explaining it simply; with love, that is to say towards the Truth that is God, first of all, but also towards each man who is thirsty for this Truth and at the service of which our study is directed.
Gospel of Saint John
And have you found all this training at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross?
Yes, I am very grateful to God for the training received at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Last year I finished my Bachelor of Theology, but I have not left our university: I continue to study Latin. Therefore, I have decided to share a part of what I have learned with my teachers of the Holy Cross especially in studies of the Bible, and in particular of the Gospel of Saint John.
I am giving a seminar on this same Gospel to the consecrated persons of my parish and the truth is that we are having a great time. I feel a great responsibility to give what I myself have received during these years, that is, a great love for the truth - a love that I have always perceived, in teachers as well as in classes - that is typical only of those who, in the field of knowledge, they humbly acknowledge that they are "dwarfs on the shoulders of giants", as Bernardo de Chartres said. And I think that is also why in the Holy Cross I have always found free theological research, fidelity and love for the Magisterium.
"I feel a great responsibility to give what I myself have received"
Challenges of the Church
What are the challenges of the Church in Europe, and in particular, in Italy?
Today's challenges are - the very word says it - the lack of faith of our age. Why don't men believe in Jesus Christ? It may be because, sometimes, even we who announce it do not believe in Him; or also because, instead of announcing Jesus, we propose values, lifestyles, works of solidarity ... In my opinion, the crises of the Church are always crises of saints: I see boys turn on fire when they are spoken to about holiness, about the beauty of a full life used for love, for the love of Who is everything and who gives everything.
Our Western world, in particular, is already saturated and empty: as Cardinal Biffi wrote when speaking of his city, Bologna, it is a "satiated and desperate" world. And that? What can be done? One can announce the One who is the meaning of each breath, of each heartbeat, of each work. Let us ask God to make us holy, burned with his Love, to illuminate and ignite the darkness within us and around us.
Nicola's eyes water as she talks about the fire that ignited in her life. His gaze turns to the ceiling and dome of the Church of Santa María in Vallicella, his home and the home of San Felipe Neri.
I really want to thank all the benefactors for what they are doing for me, for all of us. Their help is a concrete sign of the spiritual communion that unites us, and that is why I ask for each one of them a hundredfold and the reward of eternal life, in the certainty of Christ's promise: one of these little ones a glass of cold water only, because he is a disciple, truly I say to you that he will not lose his reward”. (Mt 10:42).
With the collaboration of: Gerardo Ferrara. CARF representative in Rome, writer and history expert in the Middle East.
