As you finish reading, pause for a moment of silence and imagine the words those who cannot speak or write would have chosen. The poorest among us — yet by far the most important — they teach us, through their mysterious silence, to enter into the mystery of God.
The Young People
I loved the songs with hand-clapping because I could do that too. (Vercelli)
I wish I could have helped more of the people I met who couldn't do things on their own. (Vercelli)
I hope we have gatherings like this again. (Vercelli)
For me, the most important moment was being with my spastic friends from Brescia. (Vercelli)
I hope to be treated and seen like every other boy my age. (Vercelli)
What stayed with me was a deep joy — it seemed I was a child like any other. (Vercelli)
I hope to live out what I glimpsed of the new heavens and new earth, sharing with everyone I meet the joy the Lord has placed in my heart. I am happy to live with handicap as God's gift. Alleluia. (Parma)
My hope is to put into everyday life the feelings we cultivated during our time together. (Parma)
I wish we had discussed the movement's spirituality at greater length and its goals more clearly. (Parma)
The most important moment for me was meeting the Holy Father in St. Peter's. Especially when he embraced the sick child with such love — in that moment I felt the Pope was embracing me too. Through his gesture, he showed me all the love Christ has for the sick and the handicapped. (Turin)
The most important moment: meeting the people from Belgium. (Parma)
I want to meet again, and I want to be a bearer of light myself. (Parma)
I want to carry forward this experience, extending it to so many of our brothers and sisters who have not had the joy of meeting light and faith. (Parma)
I met young people from all over the world. I want to come again. (Salerno)
In the square, despite all the crowds, there was a reverent silence as the Pope blessed us all. (Salerno)
I felt happy to be together with so many unknown friends. (Salerno)
What stayed with me most was a dear friend: Sister Damiana. (Salerno)
I want to have many friends. (Salerno)
A young man gave me a postcard from Canada, and it moved me deeply. (Rome)
What I liked best was the Pope and the dancing. (Rome)
I wish they had stayed longer. (Rome)
I hope to be accepted, to have many parties. I want lots of gatherings. (Rome)
Parents
Joy in the midst of so much sadness. (Abano)
My impressions were wonderful: I watched my child full of joy and delight. (Vercelli)
I wish there had been more meetings between parents and educators to study the serious problems facing handicapped people. (Cuneo)
I experienced something beyond words. I would make this pilgrimage again exactly as it was. (Parma)
I have never lived such intense moments of joy and brotherhood, despite my fear of getting lost. (Parma)
My son Alessandro, for four wonderful days — he received his First Communion for the first time! — was not alone, and he felt that deeply. (Rome)
My son was happy! (Rome)
From this encounter I take the certainty that this movement is valid, and a new friendship with so many brothers and sisters. (Rome)
I saw what I had never seen in my life. (Rome)
I hope we will always stay together with the same spirit of the pilgrimage. (Rome)
My daughter was thrilled by the encounter. She met many people she will not forget easily. (Rome)
I wish the Pope had spent more time with the young people who came from so far away to see him. (Rome)
Every moment was important, especially meeting the Pope — because the Church officially recognized a category of people too often overlooked. (Vercelli)
I hope people will understand their duty to help these people. (Gattinara)
This was my first pilgrimage; I wish there could be one every month. If I could, I would live always with these people, and I want others to discover their worth. (Vercelli)
I want to keep deepening my relationship with these people and create a truly human family. (Parma)
I was left with the certainty that a person is a person beyond outward appearance — sick or well — and that Christ is the only one who takes all of us seriously. (Bologna)
I hope to give others the peace and joy I have felt. (Piacenza)
Everything was at its fullest. Each encounter, in its own way, was perfect. The most moving moment came during the Pope's heartfelt address. (Brescia)
What struck me was the faith of the parents pushing wheelchairs with such love. (Fossano)
The closing Mass remains vivid in my memory. I have witnessed larger gatherings, certainly, but never a service so moving, so fraternal, so inspiring, so fresh — where everyone truly was brother and sister to one another. (Alessandria)
The most important moment: the Eucharist celebrated at St. Paul Outside the Walls — for me the height of love and brotherhood. (Cuneo)
I was left with a renewed love and desire to continue working and living with handicapped children, and to live in friendship with their families. (Cuneo)
I felt, more deeply than ever before, my brotherhood toward every human being and the radiant reality of Christ's Church in the world. My hope is that Jean Vanier's vision — expressed through his work and writing — will be realized. Once you understand this problem in its true light, you cannot help but be drawn into direct engagement and offer your own contribution. It is crucial to raise public awareness about this issue to the fullest extent. (Andora, SV)
I wish there had been fewer prayers and more discussion of social problems. I realized that the world of the handicapped is a real and vast reality, and the problem needs to be extended to all of society — which, sadly, shows itself insensitive to these grave and important issues, even among the religious. (Parma)
Everything was important because I lived with my brothers and sisters as it is in heaven — life as it would have been without sin, selfishness, power, idolatry. A great celebration of encounter with the Father and with one another. (Parma)
My boy has a difficult temperament, and he found several physically disabled friends who understood how much suffering lies in his struggle to fit in. He was thrilled, and through them he found new and true reasons for living. (Salerno)
I was very glad for the days I spent in Rome; I discovered many things that made me reflect. I had formed the wrong idea about the Church as an institution. I realized this when I saw the Mass in St. Peter's, when the Pope embraced children and adults, the healthy and the sick, with no distinction. I was used to seeing only a few priests and religious caring for the sick, the needy, the handicapped — I don't like that word at all, but I don't know another way to be understood — so I had lost some faith in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In Rome I realized I should not despair about the Church after what I saw during those days, in the Masses and the gatherings. (Rome)
The Mass at St. Paul Outside the Walls convinced me even more that the Church is all of us together when we are in joy — because Jesus wants us in joy. Rome taught me that. (Rome)
My brother and the children with us were happy, and perhaps for the first time they truly lived. (Rome)
At first I felt disoriented: I had never seen such suffering and such joy together. (Rome)
I felt a sense of unity and awareness that I need others. I saw people truly happy; you were carried along to do things you would normally think silly — clap your hands, sing, make a circle. (Rome)
What stayed with me was a change in my own attitude toward mentally retarded people and acceptance of their place in the Church among us. (Rome)
I wish we could build a home where our children could live together, find one another, grow as one. (Rome)
I lived moments of deep intimacy with some handicapped young people. (Rome)
Two children speaking: I wish everyone could have come! What I liked most was the moments of silence, when we said "darkness" — when we thought thoughts we had never felt before. (Rome)
We close this long list with words of hope that Maria Camorali of Parma sent as a greeting and encouragement before she ascended to heaven, shortly after the pilgrimage. We unite ourselves in brotherhood with the sorrow of her mother.
I have the hope that everyone will continue to be united, to communicate with others, so we can keep walking this path of Faith and Light.