During Sunday Mass, I heard God's word spoken aloud: "When I am weak, then I am strong." Those words, and the homily that followed, carried me back to a moment from our pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, marking forty years of Fede e Luce in Italy.
We were in Assisi, walking through the town's streets that morning. I was with Angelo in the Basilica of Santa Chiara, and we went to pray before the Cross of San Damiano. Angelo knelt and read every prayer beneath the crucifix while I stood gazing at this extraordinary icon. Christ is shown both wounded and strong—He triumphs over death, and here He stands upright, not fallen. From this cross the Lord spoke to Saint Francis and asked him to go out and repair His church.
I watched the cross while Angelo finished his prayers, and I thought about all the gatherings we have had in Fede e Luce, and about this pilgrimage itself. Our "special friends" speak to us, reminding us of the word of God we heard that Sunday. Through them we learn that by living our fragility, our weakness, we become strong. I have spent days in which the encounter with our young people was always immediate, without fear, without difficulty in welcoming the other. "Faces shining with light that help us overcome all hardship, all struggle, all fragility"—so we sang in our hymn, and that is what it means to live the encounter of parents, young people, and friends in Fede e Luce.
"Take heart, it is I"—that was our motto for the pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. Jesus, who speaks to us in a special way through people with disabilities, has walked with us through these forty years of Fede e Luce. He tells us again and again: do not be afraid. Trust that He is always with us.
Roberto - Raggi di Sole Community (Conselve)