A pilgrimage is a concrete act, a way to show that we want to move forward together on a path of faith, hope, and love.
To invite someone on a pilgrimage might seem bold. The word itself evokes something old-fashioned, out of step with our world. Yet pilgrimage matters profoundly.
To go on pilgrimage, you must leave your country, your city, your home, your small daily habits. You answer a call that pushes you out of yourself to meet the Other. If that answer is genuine, it demands a change of heart. Pilgrimage is a journey that engages us personally. That's why, when we depart, we feel both enthusiasm and unease.
At Fede e Luce, we discover something else about pilgrimage: we receive a special light from the fact that our brothers and sisters handicapped in intellect hold the first place among us. In a world where words often fail, pilgrimage is a gesture that speaks.
Handicapped in body and mind, handicapped in reason, or handicapped morally and spiritually by sin and selfishness — we are all brothers and sisters. Together we set out on the road.
In the mountains, when the path grows hard, you follow a guide and trust in their experience. The guide walks the way simply, without talking, without explaining. The others follow, sighing, complaining, stopping to catch their breath.
So at the head of our journey, we will place the smallest among us — those who, in the spirit of Fede e Luce, are chosen to "show us the way." We travel with them, not for them.
Those whom the world judges harshly, despises, or writes off as useless or tragic — they will be our guides. The Gospel tells us the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
Through their silence, their stillness, their strange way of speaking, their unthinking gestures, their simple reasoning, their tender gaze, their smile full of trust, and the simplicity of their hearts — they will open for us the way of the Gospel lived and the Beatitudes.
— Mariangela Bertolini, 1990
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