Oct. 29 is the Feast of Blessed Chiara Badano, who died at the age of 18 in the same northern Italian village where she was born in 1971. Her parents, Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano, waited and prayed for 11 years to have a child before being blessed with Chiara, and she lived up to her name, which means “bright” or “luminous,” because she brought such light into their lives.
A child greeted with that kind of love and hope is bound to have an innate sense of God’s love, and that’s how it was for Chiara. On a website started by her parents, her mother tells of a time when Chiara was just four years old and decided to give away some of her toys to poor children.
“Intrigued, I peek into her room,” writes Maria Teresa. “Chiara was dividing her toys in two very distinct piles and then asked me for a shopping bag. I brought it to her, and she began to fill it. ‘Chiara, but those are new!’ I tell her. She said: ‘I can’t give old toys to poor children!’”
Chiara grew to love sports and the outdoors, and she had many friends who would confide in her. Though she had a fervent faith, she once told her mother that she didn’t always talk to her friends about Jesus, instead saying, “I give them Jesus.”
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“And how do you do that?” her mother asked.
“First of all, by listening,” she said, “then with the way I dress, but especially with my way of loving.”
This exchange demonstrates Chiara’s profound insight about spiritual matters because she understood that the best way to share Christ is to allow Him to radiate from within. In this way, others can simply see that Christ animates all we do, and they might come to understand that He is at work in their lives as well.
At age 16, Chiara was diagnosed with a bone cancer called osteogenic sarcoma. Both the condition and the treatment it requires are very painful. But when Chiara was offered morphine, she refused, saying, “It reduces my lucidity and there’s only one thing I can do now: to offer my suffering to Jesus because I want to share as much as possible in His sufferings on the cross.”
When the Archbishop of nearby Turin, Italy, heard about Chiara’s condition and her fervent faith in the face of profound suffering, he paid her a visit. Upon seeing her, he said, “The light in your eyes is splendid. Where does it come from?” Chiara responded, “I try to love Jesus as much as I can.”
After she died, Chiara’s mother recounted some of the last words she spoke, including words that resonate to this day. “Oh, Mama,” Chiara declared, “young people…they are the future. You see, I can’t run anymore, but how I would like to pass on to them the torch, like in the Olympics! Young people have only one life, and it’s worthwhile to spend it well.”
What a beautiful message she left for us all to contemplate the immense value of life and the need to make the most of the gifts bestowed upon us by God. Let us pray that the courage she showed in facing death inspires young people searching for role models to live the best lives they possibly can. And may Blessed Chiara Badano intercede for us to have the courage to turn to Christ with all our love.
Father Ed Dougherty, M.M., is on the board of directors of The Christophers. For free copies of the Christopher News Note “Encouragement Makes a Difference,” write: The Christophers, 264 West 40th Street, Room 603, New York, N.Y. 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org
