I came home yesterday after a weekend retreat with all the communities in my country. What a remarkable experience it was! I still feel the warmth of that encounter, and a smile lingers on my face. In this state, I feel I could change the world.
Was it truly so exceptional? No, not really. Not for us, anyway—not in Faith and Light. The gathering you will experience will likely be the same for us. How do we explain it? Yes, the program was good, but that wasn't what made it special. The weather was beautiful, full of sunshine, but the sunshine wasn't the reason either. There was an abundance of smiles all around—and yes, it was the smiles that made it extraordinary. Smiles created more smiles. Smiles produced the miracle of beauty in everything.
Where did these smiles come from? You and I want to know the real secret of such smiles so we can have them again, on other occasions too. The secret was hidden in the heart—in the eyes of the heart. The eyes of the heart saw beauty in every person around us. Most of these people had disabilities, and yet the eyes of the heart discovered such great beauty in them. The eyes of the heart were the secret of those smiles that said to each person: "You are beautiful." And in each one they awakened joy and new life. The eyes of the heart saw the beauty of people with disabilities. And it was their beauty that put smiles on our faces. Those smiles created an atmosphere of joy, peace, trust, kindness, patience, goodness, charity, understanding, and love. These are the words of Saint Paul describing the effects of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. (Gal 5:22). Jesus saw the hidden beauty in a person. One day he met a rich young man, and the Gospel tells us that he loved him and invited him to come with him (Mk. 10:21).
When we gather in Faith and Light, we always experience this kind of miracle. What a blessing it would be if this miracle could happen always and everywhere in the world! In my country, many people no longer go to church, and many churches are closing.
And yet in my country, the Faith and Light communities are growing in numbers. Many people are sad and pessimistic, but in Faith and Light we are full of hope, and this hope becomes contagious. If the Church could offer what Faith and Light is offering! Faith and Light is the Church of the future. It is a Church where everyone is accepted as they are and where others recognize their beauty. It is the
A memory from Cattolica
Church of Jesus, where the last are first and those who are "masters" must become "servants." This is the Church as it should be.
We in Faith and Light are the vanguard of the new Church that must be born, the Kingdom of which Jesus spoke to us. I wish for you all the richness I brought home from our retreat last weekend.
Father Joseph Larsen, 2009
