I step off the bus at Maderno and make my way to the large, cool villa where the Faith and Light community gathers. It's evening when I arrive—a humid evening, gray clouds massing on the horizon. Dinner is already underway, the dining room full of people. I recognize Luigi, Renato, Carlo. I find Marco, Mariangela, another Luigi, Annamaria, Silvia. It's my first time here, my first time with Faith and Light. Yet something in the air of this place makes me feel at home immediately.
After dinner we sing and dance, everyone in a circle. Fausto plays guitar while a summer thunderstorm rages outside—a real tempest, loud and close enough to matter. Close enough that Carlo invites us all to dance the sun: guitar and handclaps to sing "Jesus, enough water." The song pulls everyone in, no exceptions. And when the storm finally passes, what lingers is the certainty that together we can do anything.
Luisa Brambilla, 2000
Drawing by Valeria Mastroiacovo