From November 1st to 4th, Fede e Luce held a national training gathering titled "Fede & Luce and the Alchemy of Our Lives." The meeting took place in Santa Severa, on the Lazio coast, with friends, parents, and young people from many communities throughout Italy. One participant shares what these days were like.
Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful blue sea, the sun shining, water glinting—even though the calendar says November. Keep your eyes closed and imagine pairs of feet, right there at the shore, getting wet, pants rolled up to the ankles. One pair of feet, amazed to be wading in the sea in November, belong to someone from Cuneo. Another pair come from Cesano Boscone. Those beside them are from Cardito, and further down the beach, feet from Mazara del Vallo splash with feet from Abano Terme. Behind them, on the wet sand, relaxed feet from Treviglio and Monopoli play with grains of sand. A ball rolls fast. Running feet from Rome pass by, then one from Monza, then one from Naples. Two small feet from San Domenico Selvazzano soak up the sun.
This is one of the breaks during the training gathering.
Close your eyes again, if you like, and now imagine many hands working wet clay. Some sink into it, others squeeze it, others pull at it, still others caress it. Some hands shape forms. There's one hand passing back and forth over the clay, uncertain what it wants to make. Nearby, two restless hands have changed their minds three times. Another hand touches the clay a bit bored.
Two facilitators ask someone to represent themselves in clay.
Represent yourself? In clay?
And imagine what takes shape from that gray pulp: a book, a rose, a half-open box, a face, a labyrinth.
Others are asked to build, also in clay, an ideal village. So other hands make bridges, little roads, squares, houses, huts, fountains, and arches.
Now the hands are invited to compose all these creations together. The village must make room for the book, the rose, the box, the labyrinth. The hands busy themselves, move things around, think, discuss who should make space for whom, who welcomes and who is welcomed. Imagine now the hands, caked with clay under the fingernails, resting on the edges of the table, pausing, observing their new shared creation. Looking at the clay forms and then at the people who made them. A creative way to know each other.
Did you try imagining? This is one of the practical art workshops offered during the gathering—activities that let us be together in a new way, without needing to speak, revealing ourselves and interacting with others.
Now imagine the witnesses...
Witnesses to what? It's hard to sum up. They speak of performances, meetings, warmth found, change, loneliness interrupted, understanding received, faithfulness over time, mental handicap, joy of living, pain, Fede e Luce. Imagine a married couple, a father, a mother, a young man. They speak of the alchemies in their lives and of deep meaning. The alchemies they have seen form between visible elements—people, meetings, laughter, handshakes—and invisible elements like welcome, suffering, the unexpected, the breath of the Holy Spirit. Imagine these witnesses taking their turn, a bit embarrassed, before so many watchful, curious, incredulous eyes, so many silent ears listening. So many hearts surprised—some consoled, others touched, others overwhelmed.
Lello
"This is the miracle of Fede e Luce: people whom society considers a burden, a problem, a nuisance—F&L sees them as a source of life and light that leads us toward Jesus. People with mental handicaps are welcomed, valued, and loved, and because of this they transform and gain strength, dignity, and the capacity to return the love given to them so generously and freely. Without this love, which is part of our journey of faith, these young people feel like they don't belong. They stiffen, close themselves off to protect themselves, unable to face what comes. They live a kind of inner death. What makes F&L increasingly a prophecy is that the young people in our community, including my son, have become different people in a short time, with increasingly positive attitudes."
Daniele
"Yes, I'm happy I met you because since my father died, the pain I carry inside is always strong, and with you I found something like a second family. I feel really good."
Imagine Nanni and Cristina:
Cristina
"...feeling safe, trust, the ability to depend on others with confidence, being accepted for who I am, the awareness that if I weren't there it would be different for the others in that small house, the chance to show love, gratitude, thanks. Finding myself in a place of people where, yes, everyone has their unique value, and with that value they truly matter to the other, where there is a strong sense of reciprocity from having shared and sharing the same experience. [...] There was a community, a Christian community illuminated by the person with handicap."
Nanni
"Chicca and her friends taught me, perhaps too early, to tell what matters from what doesn't; what's worth the effort and time from what doesn't deserve attention. I remember the hours I spent holding Daniele in my arms, doing nothing but looking him in the eye, and summer afternoons when I played guitar sitting on the ground next to Davide, waiting for dinner time. When sometimes, even now, doubt creeps in that I could maybe use my time 'better,' I think back to those long moments and realize that this is how Davide and Daniele and their friends showed me the value of time and of the human person. And there's another thing I learned: the mystery of suffering. Everyone in F&L has moments of joy and celebration. But we risk missing what's essential if we forget that F&L has its roots in suffering. Maybe that's why our celebrations are so beautiful, so different from other parties we have with friends. Our society tries to set suffering aside, as if happiness just meant 'not suffering.' So we run from pain and often distance ourselves from reality. Paradoxically, we also run from the deepest bonds of affection because we're afraid of being hurt. [...] In F&L, instead, the person who suffers is at the center of the community and becomes, mysteriously, a source of joy and unity. Jesus too accepted dying on the cross to give us the joy of resurrection. That's why at F&L the Alleluia has a different strength."
And then imagine...
...Stories about Fede e Luce communities far away, tales of friends from Lebanon, reports of elections of leaders in Croatia, the daily struggles of sister communities in Jordan, Switzerland, Cyprus.
These are the testimonies we were given.
Close your eyes and imagine ten, twelve people gathered together. Some know each other, many don't. Imagine different accents chatting, discussing, sharing. Imagine different ages exchanging experiences from Fede e Luce and from life. Imagine a lit candle in the center and voices telling about their arrival in the community, what their community is like today. Why they come, why they stay, why they sometimes leave. Voices sharing funny moments from their communities, but also difficulties, problems that seem hard to solve. The voices speak, but they also ask the person across from them: "What's happening with you?" or they say "This happens to us too."
These are the small discussion groups that welcomed each participant after the main gatherings, where we could meet in smaller numbers, share impressions in calm, reflect together, and listen to each other.
And finally, eyes closed again, imagine shared laughter; guitars playing late into the night; "Shh! The hotel manager asked us to keep it down"; a circle of seventy people; being moved together; walking and leaning on someone's shoulder you'd never met before; entering the dining room and feeling at home wherever you sit; the Our Father with hands joined; Maurizio Manca dressed as Piero Angela; little sketches prepared together; the dragged-out good mornings crossing paths in the bathrooms the morning after waking up; Roman accents, Puglian accents, Milanese accents, Venetian accents, Sicilian accents; Lucia from Naples smiling and explaining with gestures what she thinks; Daniele from Rome passing by in his impeccable black leather jacket; Emanuele from Rivoltella del Garda watching it all; Umberto from Palermo first putting his foot down and then winking at you; Eleonora from Rome giving you a goodnight kiss; relaxing on the hall sofa chatting between moments of the gathering; the final goodbyes, "See you soon!" even though you know it will be a while; the feeling of having used this free weekend well, for once.
M.C.V., 2008