Parents Who Ask Too Much
I'm sending you this small poem as a sign of my own death and resurrection. I know it's self-indulgent, but I'm certain you'll understand the overwhelming emotion I felt last week—by chance, at the hairdresser's.
I ran into the mother of Andrea's classmate from elementary school. She painted a picture for me, from her memory, of Andrea at eleven on a three-day school trip to Uccellina without his parents. He was happy. Full of excitement and hope, the way we parents are. But over time, it seems, we had to learn to settle for less. Please pray for all of us parents who demand too much of our children—because that's how we keep them from flourishing. I embrace you with deep affection.
Nostalgia for a Hope
Blond and curly-haired, with mysterious eyes closed always, he ran drunk on the many scents rising from the dunes toward the sea at Uccellina. Happy, no longer cradled by the world's protective hands, free, he moved across the sand with trust in life, content to belong to it and to feel in the wind the scents like seeds of hope.
Silvana Zamperoni
The Heroes of Our Time
How can we thank you for all you give to all of us, to Fede e Luce? Understanding, trust, hope overflow from your articles in Ombre e Luci, and the pain becomes lighter and we rediscover faith, the certainty that we are not alone.
Cardinal Martini was right when he said that the mothers and fathers of "our little ones" are the heroes of our time. But our little ones from twenty-six years ago are adults now, and their parents, where they are still with us, are growing old—old people who pray and hope for what comes after. And our house grows, slowly, day by day. I embrace you all.
Leila Castagnoli
They Bring Us Back to Life
Dear Mariangela, I hope you are well. My health is falling apart, but I don't lose heart and I look ahead. I often think of those whose health is worse than mine. When I was younger I watched young people and saw they were more stable: there were no separations and divorces like I've seen in the years since. Sometimes I ask myself why. Are we responsible? All we can do is pray and ask God for his mercy. The house where I live was a Center for Listening to God's Word for many years, and I never tired of writing. I remember telling you that at the very first Lenten gathering in 1993, the superior of the Canossians asked me: Antonietta, will you prepare the topics? I said yes. Then he said: "I want you to prepare the Holy Mass of the Passion." I spoke with my mother, and she gave me a book about Holy Week. The work came to fourteen pages. I didn't tire even before, in the preparation, and I gave myself with passion to the task I had taken on. He later became president of Catholic Action.
Thank you for your writings. They bring people back to life.
Antonietta Pescarolo