Cuneo
We gathered on Sunday, February 6 at the facilities of the Sant'Antonio Colony to celebrate, in communion with other Faith and Light groups around the world, the Festival of Light.
We wanted to prepare something special, but caught up in organizing the March 19-20 meeting, we didn't manage much. Instead, we remembered everyone in the faithful's prayer.
We started in a large hall where we played games and rehearsed the songs for Mass.
Until the previous time, we'd always celebrated Mass in the same room where we played and had our snacks. This time, we took the chance to use the chapel at the Institute hosting us, and held Mass there.
The whole gathering ended with great joy and an abundant snack.
Our next meeting is set for Wednesday the 23rd to finalize the details of the St. Joseph gathering.
Mimmo Iolanda Liliosa
Rome—Unity in Celebration
On February 6, like so many places in Italy and abroad, we had our Festival of Light, and there were truly enormous numbers of us!
"How will we all eat? Will we fit in the church and the theater?"
There were new faces too, a bit lost and amazed by the crowd; a lively group of children bursting with energy; mothers greeting each other after so long (in Rome, communicating between groups is harder than between distant cities!); so many fathers who came to celebrate with us and lend their solid help; young people rushing about to organize last-minute details; little groups singing or rehearsing skits for the afternoon...
Everywhere you looked, people were busy but joyful all the same. Maybe it was the weather—a cold but beautiful day—or the welcoming place, or simply that we'd left our worries and sadness at home. We were free and ready to make the most of this day, determined that the celebration would truly be "ours," all of ours—old friends and new, young and old alike.
The morning was organized so that different groups prepared what we'd experience that afternoon. One capable kitchen crew worked hard with potatoes, stew, and pasta for more than three hundred people: "Who's got the knife? I'm pouring the wine! Are you done with those potatoes?" And they served us a delicious meal right on schedule.
Another group decorated the dining room under Nicole's direction, who—dangling from a ladder—hung garlands and mimosa blossoms. A little imagination and love is all you need to "make beautiful everything you touch."
Others prepared the Mass: one group thought about the songs, supported by our "musicians"—guitars, an organ, a violin, a flute. On the church steps, a group worked on the "procession" of light. We had about twenty large candles with colored ribbons tied around them. The smallest among us held the candles, and the rest of us stood in a circle, each holding one of the ribbons. Michel lit the candle, a symbol of light kindling in our hearts. Then we entered the church singing. Everyone took part in that solemn entry into the Lord's house. We were all equal, all dressed for celebration with those multicolored ribbons.
Yet another group worked in the theater: the lights, the skits, the crepe paper costumes to finish, rehearsals on stage.
After the lunch break—which ended joyfully with many cakes offered by Carlo, who celebrated his birthday with us—we all moved to the theater as both spectators and performers. Every group had prepared some skits or songs or dances, and there was thunderous applause for each performance. The excitement was so high that by the end, the poor presenters had lost their voices!
A great bonfire brought us together at the end of the day. We sang more, danced, and held hands in a giant circle. Then we watched and applauded without end as fireworks and sparklers lit up the darkening sky.
Gradually the group dispersed. Some lingered, drawn by the fire's warmth. In small groups we headed home, tired, ears still full of songs and eyes still bright with wonder.
We all had faces like this...
Valeria, 1977
Cuneo
After the Christmas celebration, when we were numerous and united, we had an idea—one that had been suggested before—to bring together friends from Faith and Light communities across all of Italy here in Cuneo.
We rolled up our sleeves and divided the work. Between brilliant ideas, discussions, papers, glue, and colored paper, the meeting day arrived: March 13.
Rome and Milan arrived at the station right on time, while Parma, equally punctual, joined us by minibus.
From the first day, to feel more united, we tried to share all our main meals together.
Saturday afternoon, after initial introductions, both individual and by group, we tackled the discussion topics. We looked at some proposals and noted the difficulties each community faced. Though solutions are always hard to find, simply talking together encourages you to keep going and overcome conflicts.
After the tea break, the parents' group met separately to discuss their concerns, while the young people took up, on their own, some issues about their role and collaboration within a Faith and Light group.
The issues they raised were these:
- How should we approach them?
- What kind of relationships do we have among us young people?
- Do we find help in Faith, or is hope that helps us continue?
Meanwhile the parents examined their role and their children's future.
After dinner, we gathered for a vigil—part planned, part spontaneous. The silence and candlelight created an atmosphere that drew us deeper in. Then came songs, acclamations, and hand-clapping that increased everyone's joy and participation, especially the smallest among us.
The happiness that filled the evening carried over into our homes, where the guests spent the night as comfortably as they could manage.
Despite the rain, Sunday morning we gathered almost at dawn (well, nine o'clock!) to inaugurate our new meeting place together. Then we went to Stella Mattutina (rooms generously offered for the gathering) to continue the conversations from the day before.
The morning's defining experience was hearing the Gospel read aloud. It helped us rediscover it and stirred both the young people and parents.
By lunchtime, the long-awaited Biella and Vercelli groups arrived.
After a nice exchange of commemorative cards, the party began in the early afternoon.
Games and colorful decorations caught everyone's attention, especially the children. Too bad the sun didn't want to join us...
The communal Mass was the heart of our afternoon. Even the Bishop of Cuneo wanted to support us with his presence and his words.
The snack saw us gathered around platters of food.
When it was time to leave, we went outside to say goodbye and... surprise! Snow had blanketed our courtyard!
Amid the children's joy and exhilaration and the adults' regret, we said farewell and... see you soon!
Faith and Light Group - Cuneo
To the Rome groups
Mass resumes Saturday, May 7 and Saturday, June 4, always in the chapel of the Nazareth Institute, Via Orazio No. 2, at 6:30 p.m.
Rome
On Saturday, February 19 at Villa Patrizi, we said goodbye to Father Michel, who returned to France after three years in Rome to take up his work in a parish. In memory of the two years he lived with us at Faith and Light, we gave him a tent. Not only because he'd camped with us, but also as a wish that he would one day pitch his tent among us again.
Father Michel thanked us in turn for the friendship he'd found here, for what we'd helped him discover in Faith and Light. In France he'll be a curate in a parish in Pau, and he assured us that his door will always be open for us, for all families with young people in difficulty.
We publish here a testimony from one of the young friends he knew.
About four years ago, when I first learned about the "Faith and Light" movement through a very kind woman, I went to a meeting held in a private home with many other young people—some like me, some who had already had some experience, having attended several "Festivals."
That's where I first saw Michel.
At first he seemed like an ordinary person, but after attending several Masses he celebrated and talking with him, I really got to know so much about him: someone truly capable, very simple, with a real desire to live and to help all those people who needed it.
I confirmed all these judgments through other chances to be near him: parties at Villa Patrizi, outings, gatherings, and finally the camping trip last summer in Alfedena.
Now that he's gone, I think we're all a bit sad—starting with me and extending to all those who knew him. We talk about him often among ourselves and wish he'd come back soon.
Still, I believe we shouldn't live only on past memories. Instead, we must build our future together. We should start by thanking Father Luis and his friends Robert and Vito, and Father Bogaert, who has taken his place and carries on his wonderful work with the same enthusiasm. And we should thank all the other people, those before and now, who help us go forward in Faith and toward the Light of the Lord.
Francesca Mancini, 1977