"What has changed in my life because of Fede e Luce?
I can answer simply: Faith, Hope, and Charity. Let me explain. As a child, I believed that being a Christian meant being baptized, receiving communion, getting confirmed, attending Sunday Mass, memorizing the catechism, and saying the rosary and morning and evening prayers.
When I grew up and married—in a church, naturally—I wanted to have children. As a Christian, I felt secure. But our merciful God, in His wisdom, chose to teach me something deeper through Carla. I say "in His wisdom" because the serenity, love, and understanding that a family needs when one of its members is handicapped—I found that only in FL.
Read also: A Journey Together
Why did my life change from that first wonderful encounter? Because by taking part in the community's meetings, I learned to feel more truly Christian. Living alongside the poor teaches you to put the Gospel's teachings into practice. I learned to pray with spontaneous prayer, and as St. Augustine said, "Whoever learns to pray learns to live."
From that moment on, Carla—she was twenty-two then—has known she is welcomed by friends who love her. She is more at peace, more content. And her friends have become my friends too. If friends give us so much of their precious time, I believe it is only right that we parents pitch in—as much as we can, and with genuine goodwill—to help the community thrive. And a community thrives because it is made up of three parts working together.
With this spirit, I threw myself into Fede e Luce from the beginning. I attended all the meetings—group meetings, animation events, national gatherings, leadership meetings—always representing the parents, both in Rome and beyond, offering whatever help I could give. Certainly I owe thanks to the Lord for His support, but also to my husband's understanding. By staying home alone, he has helped me tremendously. He knows why I do this, and he makes it possible for me to be present and available to the community's needs. And that commitment has been rewarded: friends are constantly in our home, invited from our first meetings, creating a real atmosphere of friendship.
"I came that they may have life, and have it to the full" (Jn. 10:10)
"I came that they may have life, and have it to the full"(Jn. 10:10)
Among Fede e Luce's friends, we have known priests who gave me much teaching and courage during hard times. They taught me lessons about living and dying. Don Dario, as a priest, and Francesco, as a father and friend to all of us, taught me how to face death itself. When I speak of active participation, it is not only about being physically present in the group. From my own experience, you can live Fede e Luce even at home—or even at work, as many do. Each of us can put our own gifts to use; we should not leave everything to others. Friendship is an exchange: of news, of welcome, of joy and of worries. I do my best to stay in touch, especially by phone. I have been blessed to attend three camps—they used to joke and call me the great-great-grandmother—and I lived through wonderful days. When you live days together with friends and with our young people, you learn to be more giving toward others, to forgive, to be simple, to know how to say thank you. And then... you have to be there. These are not feelings you can put into words.
What saddens me is that my health no longer allows me to do all that my heart desires. Age, too, reminds me that I am among the aging parents who can only hope. For us parents, Fede e Luce is hope. Hope that the friendship binding us now will remain constant in the future. I truly believe that these years lived in the spirit of Fede e Luce have built a solid foundation so that this hope rests on something real.
For those who come to Fede e Luce, faith either awakens, or returns, or grows stronger. And the light surely dispels the darkness for both parents and our young people. But precisely because we have been given this faith and this light with so much love, hope rises in us: when our children no longer have their parents' love, may they find it in a community, among friends and people whose hearts hold Fede e Luce.
I came that they may have life, and have it to the full
Jn. 10:10
- Fausta Guglielmi, 1988
