"The milestones of Vera Grita's life I distinguish in three moments," Maria Rita Scrimieri explained to her interviewer, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General of the Causes of the Saints of the Salesian Family: "the first, human formation with the family; the second from the age of 21 until the teaching began; and then the last period of her life, her mystical experience in which the Lord communicated to her the work of the Living Tabernacles."
A short life, that of Vera Grita, who died at the age of only 46, crossed, however, by significant episodes that marked her and also conditioned her course: "In the first part of her life, she grew up in a family of faith, which, however, experienced the economic crisis of '29, which caused the family to move from Rome to Savona, and Vera with her sister went as guests to the home of two paternal aunts in Sicily, to help the family. Here they will both attend the FMA in Modica," Scrimieri recounted further. When the family is reunited in Savona, the grief of losing her father calls her life into question; she has to leave her studies and work to help the family.
"At the age of 21, Vera meets the cross: during the 1944 bombing of Savona, she is swept away by the fleeing crowd, she will remain on the ground for hours, and the consequences of this crushing she will carry on her body forever, with frequent fevers and pneumonia and other illnesses that will survive in the following years," continued the Coordinator of the "OTV" Study Center.
Thus began a phase of physical suffering that nevertheless forged trust, faith, hope and charity in Vera Grita, even as she attended hospitals. It was a mystical experience, Vera's, that led her to write thirteen notebooks of thoughts and notes, which are preserved in Savona and have also been published in a volume, "Take me with you."
"'Take me with you,'" Scrimieri concluded, "expresses in a simple way the invitation Jesus made to Vera. Where, take me with you? Where you live: Vera is being educated and prepared by Jesus to live in union with Him and she with Him. Jesus wants to enter Vera's life, her family, the school where she teaches. An invitation addressed to all Christians. Jesus wants to come out of the Church of stone and wants to live in our hearts with the Eucharist, with the grace of Eucharistic permanence in the soul. He wants to go with us where we go, to live our family life, and He wants to reach out by living in us the people who live far from Him."
The full interview is available online in Italian, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
