"Relationship" is the word that echoes from those who have encountered L'Arca on their journey, and "family" is the word I would add, now that we have met through Fede e Luce.
It was early June when we set out from Bologna toward Rome for a brief pilgrimage of faith. Faith in what would be born—something we could only sense from a distance, catching its fragrance on the wind. Faith in those who would guide us. Faith in the seed that would be planted in us, to be nurtured together with the community waiting for our return.
A family, as everyone knows, comes with a long line of relatives, and here we were too, nicknamed "Fede e Luce's cousins," joining in the celebration.
A river of faces, stories, and encounters. A place of generous welcome and freely given solidarity. In all of this, we could only feel ourselves part of that chorus that brightened each day—part of the crowds filling the streets and churches of Assisi, part of those hearts receiving the Pope's blessing and recognizing themselves as "important in the eyes of God."
And so, in gratitude, we too left our small stone as a sign of a community growing wider and joining with the shadows and lights that each person carries.
Stefano, 2015