Father Dolindo Ruotolo - My Farewell to Earth Now, not knowing when the last day of my life will be, I anticipate with all my heart, united with your Divine Will, my farewell to earth, on which I walked with so much pain and where I was a poor nothing. I have been always fully aware of my nothingness. Poverty and humiliation have been my constant companions, even in my early youth. I worked for You among thousands of difficulties, trusting always in You and in the help of my most dear Mother Mary. Good-bye! Good-bye, O poor earth ravaged by thousands of miseries, good-bye; may the blessing of God descend upon you. May the Lord be praised in every corner of the earth, in every house may peace reign. Good-bye! I shall see you from afar, up above, like an atom floating in space, and still I shall bless you. Good-bye! Good-bye, O holy, Roman Catholic, Apostolic Church, mother of mine and mother of souls. When I was born, you generated me to grace, when I shall die, you shall conceive me into glory by the infinite mercy of God. Good-bye to all of you, who are still wayfarers on this earth, hail to you, holy souls triumphant in Heaven, to whom I hope to be joined at my death. Good-bye, O christening font, that made a Christian out of me, a son of God, brother of Jesus, temple of the Holy Spirit, son of Mary. Good-bye! Good-bye, O holy confessional, where over and over again grace was renewed in me and increased the embrace of Divine Mercy! Good-bye, Tabernacle of my Church, waiting for me every morning, and every morning opening for me. You are depository of my joys and sorrows, of my poor love and my filial trust, my sighs and my hopes... good-bye! Good-bye, O holy Church in which I was consecrated Priest... Good-bye house in which I was educated into the divine love and where I reached the dignity of the priesthood.... Good-bye, sweet memories of my humiliated life, the best life I could ever have on earth, consecrating myself totally to God. Good-bye, poor home of mine, poor little room of mine, where among the moans of pain, in my high and deepest humiliation, I worked for the glory of God. Good-bye little hermitage in which I meditated over my nothingness and my misery; where I made amends with Jesus and for Jesus for the sins of the souls and the sins of my own soul. Good-bye! Good-bye, streets on which I walked every day in my youth and later on, bent down in my old age, I offered myself to Jesus and brought Jesus to souls. Good-bye! I leave this earth with my soul full of love for Jesus and for souls. I never had a feeling of grudge or dislike toward who ever hurt me. I never had the need to forgive, because the only one who needed to be forgiven was myself. I loved all those who hampered my way in glorifying God, thinking that they were right to get in my way, who was such an unworthy being, of such ignorance and misery, thus they made me always well aware that I was the most miserable of all. I shall die!...At the sound of the sorrowful bell, there will not be anything of me but my poor mortal remains, the last song of my insignificance to the glory of God, who is everything!..Only God! I shall say with my death... I Trust in You, I shall say in my decay, in the hope of the final resurrection... Good-bye forever my life on earth... Goodbye!
