Online Province
We lived through strange, exhausting, unbelievable times. Everything changed. We had to be cautious, unable to meet in person. So what could we do? Our Province unleashed its creativity. WhatsApp chats, video calls — simple but effective ways to see each other via Zoom and Meet, like little houses. Someone shared their recipe collection with all the communities (Rho). Another kept the journal practice going with reflections done in virtual groups (Gratosoglio). And we all learned something new. A real growth as a community. Even those we lost — Antonellina and three parents — we held close in prayer. The same with prayer, we supported a friend in the hospital, doctors and nurses. Skype meetings never stopped, to sustain and connect us. Now a great unifying game is taking over the province. Each person is contributing words about the longing to see each other again, along with a photo of their face. Our Nicoletta will gather them all and weave them into a single work. The desire to be a community full of Faith never left us, even in these terrible times.
— Liliana Ghiringhelli
Sharing
We still live in a suspended time: we cannot gather as we once did, we have not had the Spring Festival or year-end pizza nights, there will be no summer camps. Yet more than ever, we have lived sharing within our communities and our Province. In Italy, Cyprus, Albania, and Greece, each community found its own way to stay close from a distance. We all worked to keep in touch, encouraging one another and praying together. We saw each other through video calls, organized games and contests, listened to the words of comfort from don Marco, watched videos from communities. We even took part in a great online Spring Festival. One of the strongest moments, when we felt most together, most involved and close, was when the Pope — on that rainy, ghostly afternoon at the end of March — told us that "We are all in the same boat." But we already knew that. The charism and strength of Faith and Light lie precisely in this awareness: we are all in the same boat, and we know well that after the storm, the sun always breaks through the dark clouds.
— Fabio Bronzini
In Memory of Fabrizio Guidoni
The image of Fabrizio that comes to mind is that of an elephant and a butterfly: the insect fluttering among flowers in a meadow, trapped inside that heavy "body," as he called it, which prevented him from moving with grace. The butterfly emerged in the gentleness with which he approached the other young people when they were upset, managing with tenderness to console them. In community he was a good friend to everyone, and I believe no one could say "I was Fabrizio's best friend" and claim to possess all of that precious friendship for themselves. The bond in Faith and Light is a web that connects us all equally, where no one becomes the "exclusive property" of another. We will probably never understand the circumstances that over time led him to hide the butterfly inside that elephant's cocoon, whose anger would rage against those who treated him like a fool, throwing those legendary snowballs at him from the balcony. The same circumstances that in recent times introduced us to a family we had not known for so long, a family you, Fabrizio, wanted to invite to your last Faith and Light gathering so they could meet your friends.
— Maurizio Manca