I Can't Do More
I'm sending you a second list of donations for Ombre e Luci. I'm sorry—truly sorry—that I can no longer collect door-to-door. I'll do it for my own group, but I don't have it in me to go house to house anymore. There are two reasons. First: If these are real friends, by now they should make a small sacrifice and send an offering themselves, or at least bring the money to me. Second: My years keep adding up, and I'm lazier, more tired.
But it's the first reason that troubles me. Despite everything, there's still so much indifference toward our young people and toward those who care for them—well or badly—and their families. Yes, everyone asks for help today, and everyone has a thousand needs. But anyone who has read this newsletter even once—so simple, yet so full of examples, guidance, and hope—cannot fail to feel touched by it personally.
"If you're the parent of a struggling young person, send out your call for help. If you're a parent without problems, thank God and share in the suffering of those less fortunate. Parents, friends on the road of life: we're all in the same boat, each of us needs the others, and all of us need God. [Our magazine is] the only light in our sleepless nights."
Laila Castagnoli (Parma)
Thank you, Laila, for everything you've done for our magazine over so many years, and thank you for what you'll continue to do. All of us in the Editorial Office want to take this chance to thank those who work with us, support us, and labor to make Ombre e Luci ever more widely read and distributed.
We People with Disabilities
To be honest, we people with disabilities are not always treated well. We're often seen as women and men good for nothing. That judgment isn't always fair, because they don't understand us. I'm not a mother or a grandmother, but in my life I've known suffering since I was young. Last Sunday, March 8th, one of my nephews was confirmed, and there were twenty of us at the table. The godfather asked: "Who are the first teachers?" I answered: "The parents—if they're truly believers. The family is the domestic church."
Of the three theological virtues, only charity will remain. It will endure even after death.
This year, on Sundays, we hear much from Luke's Gospel about mercy. Mercy will have the last word in judgment, because only God is judge—we must not judge. This is the path to follow. I don't want to go on at length; what little I can give goes toward offerings.
Now I'll close, and I ask you to send me some postal payment slips. I'll send something to your association. It won't be much, because my father is dying, and despair will come to this house. When he's gone, I'll have to write to relatives abroad.
Antonietta Pescarolo