When you recite the Lord's Prayer in some twenty different languages, you hear the sound of an orchestra tuning up before the concert begins. There were 150 of us in Strasbourg, from 54 countries (out of the 86 where the movement exists), and we found ourselves praying together as Jesus taught us—each in our own tongue—more than once. Then the orchestra would start. And it was the joyful music of the young people from the Faith and Light and L'Arche communities in Strasbourg who came to meet us. Little Lucia, with her irrepressible laugh, led the "choo-choo train" through the streets of that beautiful Alsatian capital. Or it was the real music of guitars led by Raul Izquierdo Garcia, elected international coordinator for the second time. There is always a lot of singing and dancing at Faith and Light gatherings, and it was Marie-Helène Mathieu, at 94 years young, who emphasized that joy is integral to the charism of our movement.
Over the past five years, the movement has faced both covid and war. We heard from Elena in Peru and Oksana from Ukraine
Over the past five years, the movement has faced both covid and war.We heard from Elena in Peru and Oksana from Ukraine
But there was also painful music in the voice of our Ukrainian friend Oksana, who spoke of a community in the Zaporizhia region with which contact has been lost since the war began, and of how hard it has become for the 37 communities in her country to gather. The thousand reasons why meeting is difficult are obvious enough—but she added one more: autistic young people especially are terrified by the sound of sirens and the blast of bombs, even from a distance.
To take stock of the past five years—from the last assembly in Lebanon to now—it was impossible not to speak of war and pandemic. Elena, from Peru, showed me a photo of her community in Lima. I was struck to see only ten people and asked her why. She told me the community had been much larger, but some had died of covid and many fathers had to return to their cities of origin because they'd lost their jobs. Faith and Light lost 160 communities and two provinces in five years. Does that mean there is no more music to play in our score? We didn't think so at all. Oksana herself thanked us—moved to tears, and moving all of us—for the help that has poured out from many Faith and Light provinces to Ukraine. And beyond the extreme example of war and its consequences, Faith and Light still serves a purpose.
It serves in all the regions of the world—and there are many—where intellectual disability remains hidden within families. It serves as an ecumenical presence, witnessing that Christians of all denominations can live and grow together. It serves everyone as a place where we discover the presence of God dwelling in wounds, in fears, in our limits. "The opposite of faith is fear," said our international spiritual assistant, Don Marco Bove, as he opened the Strasbourg gathering.
Now the assembly has ended and everyone has returned home, carrying with them the priorities for 2023–28 that the Assembly voted on. The movement will work to develop new ways of announcing Faith and Light; encourage all community members to take on responsibility at every level; create a financial plan that can sustain us over time; and implement a code of conduct to prevent abuse of the most vulnerable. But the priority of all priorities remains the same: to listen to the young people, to their mothers and fathers, to their brothers and sisters, and to learn the value of fragility, the beauty of care, the joy of giving freely.