From Condé...
Friends we met at the cottage on October 14th write to thank us for our welcome: "Despite speaking different languages, understanding and connection come easily for everyone at Fede e Luce... it's hard to say everything that moved us—you had to live it as we did, together hand in hand... the pinnacle of our pilgrimage was when the Pope took our little Christophe into his arms..."
Dear Marie Angèle from Casa San Amico of Fede e Luce
A Request for Help
I received the latest issue of your lovely newsletter. Thank you. But I'm not sure the office received my letter from months ago. I wrote to you with humble gratitude—I am a woman nearly ninety years old who can no longer leave her home. I can barely manage, with the little strength I have left, to care for my brother, seventy-four, who is completely handicapped, including sensorially, since age one. I pray to God to replace me when He calls me.
I desperately need someone—a person with the right age, gifts of mind and heart—to do this work, which is a mission though not an easy one. But where can I find such a person? And for a retired schoolteacher with no financial means, what choice is there?
If you could help me meet someone, it would be true charity.
Please pray for us too. In my prayers, I continue to ask God's grace for all of you—the grace to continue doing good for your children, to love them until the end, with the peace that comes from accepting all the sacrifices this entails.
Thank you, and a blessed Christmas.
Colombina Vanetti Via Colli 14 (TURIN)
Farewell...
As I leave Rome, I want to thank God, the Jesuit community, and so many friends for all the joy and service I have been able to experience here at the Curia. I will not soon forget this sense of the Church's life and the Compagnia, at this crossroads through which flow almost all the vital currents of our Christianity. Alongside this, I have always wanted and sought to stay in direct contact with the local Christian community—among others, with the friends of Fede e Luce, with whom I have lived intense moments and stimulating encounters.
As I leave all this, the pang of nostalgia is erased by the certainty that such friendships do not vanish, even as the manner and rhythm of our meeting changes.
Thank you all for sharing in this richness that already inaugurates the Kingdom!
I will stay in Rome in January. Then I will "pitch my tent" at Centre Spirituel St Robert Bellarmin (25 rue Marcel Lecomte, 5150 Wépion - Belgium; Tel. 0032 - 81 - 714731)
I am certain I can count on your prayers and friendship. My thoughts and prayers reach out to you with the wish that the Star of Christmas guide you toward the fullness of joy in Jesus. Alleluia!
Marcel Bégaert
Dear Friends of Fede e Luce
I have wanted to write to you for some time. I left without being able to say goodbye before departing for Genoa. I am writing because I received the latest issue of "Insieme" and also to wish you a blessed Christmas.
I read, with a touch of longing, about your camping trips and your experiences. I also read the wonderful news that Robert has become a priest. Though I know for you there is some sadness, since he too is far away.
It pained me deeply to leave you. You are dear friends, and I have grown attached to you. I remember you all, though I won't name you one by one—I don't want to forget anyone.
I know the best way to stay connected to you is not to surrender to nostalgia. Fede e Luce taught me that creating bonds of friendship is the truest and most creative thing to do. Here in Genoa, I have already met Mario and his family, Titita, Pinuccio and theirs. I hope that the friends of Fede e Luce will grow more and more.
On the occasion of Christmas, I wish for myself and for you that baby Jesus give us the faith to be convinced that we make no distinctions: we all have the same dignity and the same Father. May He give us the light we need to understand the best way to create bonds of friendship.
I greet you with deep affection. Don't worry—I am doing well and beginning to find my place in this new setting. Pray for me a little. I am already praying for you. Goodbye to you all!!!!
Don Andrea Bertoldo - Parrocchia Nostra Signora di Coronata
15162 Genoa-Cornigliano
Friendship
Dear friends of FEDE E LUCE, I write of my experience—an experience that has deepened my understanding of "faithfulness." I want to share the testimony of a dear friend of mine, Zaira, who is handicapped. Zaira is no longer young, but strong and always ready to help those she shares her days with. I came to know her better during a trip with our "Sant'Anna" group to Bassano Romano.
I understood that life and friendship are truly the greatest gifts from our Heavenly Father. True friendship must be built on selflessness, attention to others, loyalty in difficult times, and faithfulness across time.
About "faithfulness," I want to share the testimony of my dear friend Zaira. Though no longer young, she is strong and always ready to do small kindnesses for those she lives with day by day.
Rather than curse her life or despair over the storms that assail her existence, Zaira—holding fast to the memory of friendship and of "faith and light"—has the courage to say: "These storms should teach us to turn the other cheek and, above all, to live." Those who came on the trip to Bassano Romano will remember what a beautiful day of true friendship it was—even though the sky was gray and it rained, even though the "storms" of Roberto and Elena were a language I could not understand. Yet I loved them, I love them, and I will always love them.
I close by thanking Zaira for her pure testimony, a gift surely welcome to all of us. Yes, dear Zaira, I speak for all of FEDE E LUCE in Rome when I thank you.
Vittoria Cori
Christmas 1979
It brought me great joy to attend the celebration at Villa Patrizi for Christmas.
It had been a long time since I had been to one of these gatherings because my sister Pina is ill, and when I have free time, I try to dedicate myself to her with affection and love.
She is so dear to me. She cares deeply for my daughter Agnese and her friends—she knows almost all of them by name.
I wanted to speak of this sorrow in the hope that you will help me with your prayers, so that the Lord will give her more strength and courage to bear her suffering.
Returning to the celebration at Villa Patrizi, I was surprised and happy to see Don Vittorio with our group. He stayed with us the whole afternoon and concelebrated the Holy Mass. (I had always known he was very busy—I imagine he must have put aside his pastoral work for half a day.)
The moment of the lit candles was beautiful—the church in darkness and our hearts moved as we thanked the Lord for giving us once again the chance to feel so united.
Angela