A new lens
LettersWhen Steph moved to Minnesota with her family, she felt overwhelmed with stress and resentment. While attending the International Assembly with others, her heart began to revive.
Letters
Letters - 2020
Kids who, without asking, ask for everything
LettersA substitute teacher with children to take to preschool, who gets called at the very last minute in the midst of an endless number of anti-Covid rules. How not to get overwhelmed trying to fit everything in? What reminds us that reality is good?
Twenty-seven pairs of eyes and zero risk
LettersThe desire to start school again. The speech ready for the first day. Then the gruelling discussions about security protocols: "Would it not be safer to stay at home?" But the gazes of the students over their masks...
Achilles’ desire
LettersPaola goes to school for the first time not having prepared her lesson perfectly. A journey through Greek and Latin Literature. "My ideas will become clearer in the dialogue with my students.” And so, Serena raises her hand and says...
"The unprecedented discovery" of returning to the classroom
LettersA teacher and mom, the evening before the reopening of schools. Everything is ready, "it seems almost normal.” Instead, life has changed in recent months. What can rekindle the expectation of a new beginning?
Genoa: All because of that invitation
LettersAnduela’s baptism and the meeting with the Bishop, the last stage of a friendship that began with an afternoon of charitable work and with a question: "What is behind it?"
Brazil: Flipping through pages of flesh
Letters"Passos" is the Brazilian version of "Traces". Giovanna subscribes to the magazine and wrote to their editorial staff to thank them, and to describe a companionship “that entered my room without warning” even during the lockdown.
"The force of millimetres and moments”
LettersBusy in Rimini with the official radio station of this year's special edition, Elisabetta describes what she experienced and discovered. From the "scandal at what was missing" to finding herself "faced with a privilege that has opened up many questions".
Beyond the Ivory Tower
LettersAs a graduate student in the midst of a pandemic, Letizia feels distanced from what is happening in the world--until an encounter that opens her to a larger horizon.
Latin America: When quarantine “sounds” better
LettersFrom seven countries, connected by WhatsApp and Zoom. What unites a group of university students is their great passion for music. And an unexpected new friendship is born from a question: "Who do we do it for?"
The Meeting enclosed within four walls
LettersEverything was ready to participate in the event in their town square. But after returning from Croatia, they needed to quarantine... And yet, Monica's experience has been an adventure worthy of the summit of K2.
An opportunity for conversion
LettersMarta describes the significance the Rimini Meeting has for her and why she decided to sign up as an ambassador for this year’s special edition, all the way from Scotland.
"Without forgiveness, Belarus will have no future”
LettersThe country has been in peaceful protest since the elections on August 9. A Catholic priest recounts how he has witnessed "the awakening of a people" which until now has been apathetic to the regime. "We live the dizziness of living the present as it is."
Brazil: "My bond with the infinite"
LettersThe arrival of the life-threatening pandemic. But also the beginning of a journey. With the GS students, with the young mothers, with those who care about society. A novelty that comes from the rediscovery of one's own humanity.
Florida: Where is certainty in a time of uncertainty?
LettersCoronavirus also hit the south east of the US a few months ago. Lockdown and the appeal to stay at home, waiting and fearful. Yet "in that friendship, Christ surprised me once again..."
We Shared Life
LettersDespite the masks and social distancing, Stacey experiences an extraordinary vacation.
Perth: The gift of tenderness
LettersLockdown in Australia. At home with his daughters and grandchildren, an apparently ideal situation. Yet it was not easy: “I was forced to take steps”, until his daughter washed his feet on Holy Thursday.
Latin America: A companionship "on the road"
LettersOnly four of them were able to undertake the annual university students' pilgrimage to Aparecida. But with them, connected via video link, were dozens of friends from nine countries. "Following a "yes" that has made the Ideal that has reached us flesh."
His Faithfulness Defines Me
LettersThe present situation provokes our desires for peace, rest, hope, meaning. But where are they to be found?
Taipei: Angie and Rosalia are back
LettersThey were baptised in the parish of the priests of the Fraternity of St. Charles. Then life took them far away. But, during lockdown, they came across Fr. Emanuele’s videos. And they asked to meet him again. Thus their friendship was ignited again.
Dublin: “Only Christ can fill my life”
LettersThe health crisis has paralyzed his language school. An employee asks him, "How can you wake up in the morning not knowing if it is going to end well?" To answer, Mauro remembers the time when he and Margaret slept on a bench…