Dear brothers and sisters of Fede e Luce, I am Chiara, writing to you from my hospital room, looking out a window onto a world I will have to face, with courage, sooner or later.
I cannot describe the suffering I carry. The wounds the bullets left on my body are nothing compared to those they opened in my heart.
I have believed in God for just over a year now, though my journey with Fede e Luce began four years ago. The Lord's faith is what is saving me from the abyss of despair.
I won't repeat how special Giovanni was, or speak of the bond—unique, true, irreplaceable—that held us together and still does.
Since the worst thing that could happen in my life happened, I have rediscovered what matters most. I knew it before, I think, whenever I looked into the eyes of a young man with disabilities or someone who had suffered. But now I know it in a different way: Love.
See also "The Tragedy of Giovanni and Chiara"
I am living now with a clearer sense of what a Community means—one that holds you close in body, in prayer, in thought, in affection without measure. For this I thank everyone.
There is deep peace in my heart, and trust, and hope in Justice. I pray I can hold onto these and pass them on to everyone I meet in the years ahead.
Giovanni lived and died for Love, and that is the most beautiful memory we can have of him. He had the chance to know new friends through Fede e Luce. He used to tell me he wished he could do more for others, that he wanted to do better, to be closer to them.
Now he has no limits in watching over all of us, because with the Lord at our side, everything is possible.
This is the key to the strength each of us must keep close, ready to draw on it when the small and great difficulties of our Communities come.
— Chiara