From Italy
In Cuneo
I know every mother like me understands what it feels like to answer when a relative or acquaintance asks, "Where is Carla?" and to say: "She's in Cuneo, with her friends."
Until she was 24, Carla had never left my side—not because I wanted to keep her under glass, but because I wasn't given the chance. Then Fede e Luce offered it to us with such warmth, love, and selflessness. Now Carla spreads her wings every chance she gets, saying, "But not without Mom!"
I've wanted to share this joy for some time, but since Carla's disability is not severe—she's 27 now—I thought of myself as a lucky or privileged mother compared to other parents and children her age.
Now I understand that this natural reserve (as R.'s mother says) has melted away for all of us. Through genuine awareness, spiritual maturity, and excellent organization by everyone at Fede e Luce, all our young people can now take part in celebrations, gatherings, camping trips, and pilgrimages.
Fausta Guglielmi
How to Love
I've always admired those who have the courage to describe their own feelings and lives with simplicity. I hope "Together" will always keep this character of spontaneity and directness.
It is precisely the simplest people who have taught me, and continue to teach me, to recognize the true values of life.
We at Fede e Luce want to be small among the small. We must not judge those who may appear small on the surface but who carry within them perhaps that "wisdom" too great for all to understand.
"Together" will grow more beautiful if it remains a family magazine. We should not fear publishing the life and love of those who speak with words that reach the deepest part of us, words that shake us—who share their experiences and help us understand that it is not only the handicapped who deserve respect, but every person must be loved for who they are. And if not loved, then accepted and not judged.
Francesca Biondi
Fede e Luce
I came into contact with Fede e Luce a few months ago out of curiosity, driven by a constant search that shapes my choices.
So far I can say I see in everyone I've met—especially in the handicapped—a value essential to me: the deepest equality and the richest diversity of people who meet in the bond of a single human solidarity.
I have the feeling that Fede e Luce is a movement destined to spread far and wide because it is in motion and it provokes motion. Anyone who rebels against easy answers and believes profoundly in the value of life and human dignity unleashes a force—a strong current of universal love.
Donatella De Petris
Together
Dear friends,
I take up Olga Gammarelli's invitation and return to the subject of her letter.
I must admit that when I first read issue 20 of Together, I too felt a sense of unease. But it set me thinking deeply, and the results were good and positive.
I want to share these reflections with you, and you can judge them as you see fit.
Issue 20 was devoted to profoundly handicapped children, and it was only right that they should have the greatest share of space.
We must not forget that "Together" is different from other magazines. It is not—and will not be, and must never be—written with the mind, but with the heart. The language of the heart is something each person must interpret for themselves, according to their own sensibility. The mother of a profoundly handicapped child needs to speak more than anyone else—for herself and for him—of her anguish, her suffering, her physical and moral exhaustion. Is it not selfish to refuse her that voice?
And finally, what does "Together" mean? Certainly, we share useful information about our young people; we live moments of joy and prayer as one; we give news of the life and activities of each group. But above all—we share in each other's pain. We give one another the chance to speak of this pain when the cup is too full and about to overflow.
Life has taught me, now that I am closer to its end than its beginning: true friendships, real affections that comfort and restore—even through tears—the smile to our lips, are born only through pain fraternally shared, through the gift of even the smallest part of ourselves to those who need it.
I greet you with affection.
Laura Marazio
Oh child, you who came forth from a woman's womb,
Who will love you forever,
Who gave you your first awareness of life
And the chance to survive by her breast,
Listen to me:
Do not be proud
And do not boast of what you will achieve
That is beautiful and good in life.
It was "Someone" greater than you
Who gave you this power.
Look around you,
Give thanks for the gifts you have received
And do not turn away from those who received less than you.
They too are children of God:
They are your brothers.
Luigi Raffaghello
From Abroad
France
What joy to "discover" Fede e Luce. This first encounter with mentally handicapped people moved me deeply. I didn't know how I would react when I arrived. I knew Fede e Luce only through what you had told me about in Rwanda. I was captivated by the spirit of childhood among you, the simplicity and profound joy that reigns, and especially by the presence of the Virgin Mary.
I found her present in a particular way, and this always brings joy and assurance of the Holy Spirit's presence—because "when the Spirit finds Mary in a soul, He rushes into it." It is hard to express everything I received during that week with you and at Loreto, but my heart overflows with gratitude.
Anne Da
Poland
May the risen Christ bring His peace and joy to Fede e Luce in Rome, to all of Italy, to all the friends I met and loved during those five wonderful days with you in Rome.
We have prayed for all of you at Czestochowa. Father André's brief stay (P. Roberti from Belgium) was a great grace for us, I feel it. Here in Wroclaw it has been a source of hope for parents, especially the older and weary ones. Perhaps it will open a new perspective for the local Church and for young people too...
Tereza Breza
Israel
The last magazine I received seemed very good. It was the issue on the most severely handicapped. I think it could do great good for many people, and I am thinking about how to share it. Perhaps through some Italian Congregation, given the language question. I will let you know—and thank you again.
A sister of Nazareth from Haifa
Japan
After I returned home, I began to think concretely about starting a foyer in my city, Niigata. I found collaborators ready to share their lives with some of my handicapped friends, many of them severely physically disabled.
We have faced many problems and encounter new ones every day. Among them, the problem of parents who do not easily accept that their child should attempt this adventure with us.
The city authorities also asked me to abandon the project. Fortunately, the interested parties—all adults—have full trust.
I announce all this to you with great joy: we will try to live in the spirit of mutual aid and understanding that I found with you, at the Toit and in other communities in Belgium and France.
Fraternally in Jesus,
Henri Huysegons
Africa
As some of you know, Georges, Maria Grazia, and I, together with other French friends, spent Easter in Rwanda at the House of the Virgin of the Poor at Gatagara—the "Hill of Standing Men." It is a center created about twenty years ago by a Belgian priest that welcomes, cares for, and restores to life children, most of them stricken with polio.
It is not easy to describe the life and countless activities of Gatagara; it is even harder to convey the spirit that animates it: the blessedness of the small, the poor, and you are infected by the joy, courage, and faith of all—small and great alike—who contribute to Gatagara's life.
We left carrying all our Fede e Luce friends in our hearts. And on the last evening, at the end of our farewell celebration, we received this letter—which is meant for each of you as well.
Dear friends,
On this last day of your departure, we would like to tell you so many things that fill our hearts. But time runs away from us. Know only that before you arrived, we were ready to welcome strangers. They did not come. Instead came great brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters who know how to rejoice in the joy they find in others, who know how to rejoice in the joy they give.
We met at a crossroads and walked a stretch of the way together. You shared everything with us: our great joys and our small sorrows. The time seemed short; but the road we traveled was long.
The road was long because it allowed us to discover through you young France and young Italy—that true youth which is the youth of the heart. For our part, tell all the French and Italians you know, those who are like you, that we already love them as friends.
Tell our handicapped brothers in France and those of Fede e Luce that we join with them in thanking the Lord for making us the keepers of Hope.
You leave; we wish you a safe return with peaceful hearts, because we know it is only a farewell.
God bless you!
The Children of "The Hill of Standing Men"
Bertrand de Courville