Hello again, my dear readers. Do you remember that a while back, in my last piece, I told you I'd have an update on the Little March? Well, I did it again this year, but it was a bit different—partly because, before we left, I made a stop at the Jubilee for Young People.
Anyway, the next day we set out for the Little March. It felt strange this year because our dear Pietro wasn't there. You know, the kitchen helper? But it was different in other ways too—we didn't walk the same distance, and the other marches weren't there when we entered the church of San Francesco. Still, it was a deeply felt Little March. This is my third year in a row doing it, even though they told me you can only do the Little March once. But walking the Little March is like walking alongside San Francesco, isn't it? And a walk like that needs to happen many times over.
I don't believe in coincidence, and the fact that this year there's a Jubilee, then Pope Francis passed away, and then both the Jubilee and the Little March had hope as their theme... Well, it got me thinking about small questions that maybe you could help me answer too. I'm putting it out there so we can all work through it together. What if San Francesco is trying to tell me something I can't quite understand? Maybe I don't believe in coincidence because I'm the type who needs to see it to believe it. What if San Francesco is saying something to me that I'm just not interpreting right? I don't know. But anyway, as I've said many times before—the first year I did it, the second time too—I keep coming back to this. For anyone who hasn't done the Little March, or for anyone going through a time when they can't figure out what they really feel inside and feel a bit lost: maybe doing this walk, the Little March (which comes from the Great March of Assisi, adapted for people with disabilities thanks to Fra Paolo and Flavia), I think living through the experience of the Great March and the Little March, and then carrying it out into the world—that's something you have to live, because it changes your life.
This year, I was basically always on the move. Before the Little March, I went to Tarquinia with Rita and Paola. From there I went to Assisi, and after Assisi my friend Margherita called me to come to Viterbo—but I'm not telling you everything here, because there are some little surprises coming about Viterbo too.
Do you think there's something I'm missing, something I can't quite interpret about San Francesco? Tell me what you think by leaving a comment below or sending an email to ombreeluci@fedeeluce.it. A big hug!