"I can't remember exactly when I first held Ombres et Lumière in my hands. It was probably 1971. Chicca was about ten. She lived at home with us, and we were drowning—the way so many parents know.
There was silence. Tears in the dark, beside her bed. I was trying to understand the mystery of her, the meaning of her life. Grace moved through us slowly, without our knowing it. After the light of Lourdes came Faith and Light—the pilgrimage to Rome, friends who gathered around us.
That was when I discovered Ombres et Lumière, and it gave me strength, courage, hope. In its pages I found what I'd wanted to say for so long but couldn't. It was like hearing from unknown friends offering their hearts and hands across the distance—all of us hungry to speak, to listen, to share.
I'd always thought of Ombres et Lumière as a letter with many voices. A "being together" on a rocky path that gradually becomes a great road full of people, led and guided by Jesus. I thought: Italy needs a magazine like this. But how? We brought it up at a national Faith and Light gathering, and the response was overwhelming. So we decided to take the leap."
Mariangela Bertolini