A River of Peace – North
In April we will hold our provincial assembly. By the time this issue reaches you, I will no longer be the coordinator of A River of Peace. I wanted to use this space to say thank you to everyone for these eight years. From Cattolica, as we launched the three Italian provinces, it has been a crescendo of meetings, emotions, tears, and smiles with people I didn't know then and who now are part of my large Faith and Light family. People far away whom I feel very close to. Young people and parents who taught me so much. I want to share two things I will carry in my heart forever. During a formation session on the Gospel passage about the yoke, my friend Daniela summed up so many words in one simple phrase: "Each of us carries a backpack. Some heavier, some lighter. Faith and Light means Angela helps me carry mine and I help her carry hers." I think that says everything about our friendship and the bonds that form in our communities. Another memory is tied to Jamil, whom I met in Shefaram, in Galilee. Jamil is a young man with Down syndrome. At every gathering he shows up in a jacket and tie: "This is an important moment," he says. "It calls for festive clothes!" He was the one who wanted to begin our discernment with a prayer. He was the one who blessed us and the food at the table before it arrived. This is it: Jamil knows the way. The young people know the joy of being with Jesus, and they reveal it to us. This is what Faith and Light has taught me. For this I give thanks, with all my heart.
Kimata – Center
A community from the French province of Finistère wrote to us because they were making a pilgrimage to Rome from March 13 to 17 and wanted to meet with us. We decided at once to have dinner together. Since they were visiting Rome, we hosted them at the Basilica of Saint Agnes Outside the Walls, where the Sunflower community gathers regularly. The site also houses the Mausoleum of Saint Constance, a striking building with some of Rome's oldest Christian mosaics.
Thanks especially to the commitment of the Sunflower community and Villa Patrizi (the latter being the first Italian Faith and Light community), we spent a lovely evening in true Faith and Light spirit: peace, joy, singing, a moment of prayer, and plenty of food! Our young people were of course the guests of honor—Roberta, Marco, Giovanni, Massimiliano, and Flavia—with their warm welcome and their presence.
Our French friends gave us a small statue of Our Lady of Folgoet, which their two spiritual assistants blessed in memory of our meeting.
Then everyone left to return home to Finistère (the End of the World—what a suggestive name!) in Brittany. And who knows? Perhaps one day we will return their visit, out there at the End of the World!
Sea and Volcanoes – South
On February 19, the Emmanuel community in Acerra (Naples) elected a new coordinator. It hardly needs saying that the most joyful and peaceful presences were those of the young people—a testimony to their bond with a Father who never abandons them, and to a confidence rooted not in ignorance of the moment, but in something deeper. Their eyes, watching those around them, brought to mind the words Jesus spoke to his disciples in the passage about the stilled storm: "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:40).
Those eyes were also vital in helping the community look inward and stand bare before the Lord to recognize its own needs. Because showing ourselves vulnerable, fragile, in need of something we lack—that frightens us and makes us want to hide.
The election could only unfold "in a breath"—the breath of the Holy Spirit, capable of guiding both personal and communal discernment so that we could be certain of the choice. It was a beautiful and profound experience. I thank the Lord for choosing Luisa Russo (a longtime friend of Faith and Light) and Giovanna Di Nardo (mother of the dear Mattia) as our new community coordinators, and I thank them for saying yes to the call. I thank him for our outgoing coordinator Antonio Piscitelli and for all those over the years who have served to build the story of this wonderful community. Best wishes to our new coordinators!