Bogota, Colombia. Flickr

We Have To Live This Way Everyday

Living the life of the Movement among financial frustration and familial dissaproval, yet conquering all of this to remain in front of Him and the friends that bear his face.

After spending two years in Italy, I have returned to Colombia carrying inside of me a burning desire that I can only explain as the result of the experience that I have lived with my Italian friends. Once in Colombia, I faced the challenge of conveying that experience to the people of my town, and to my family. I immediately looked for a girl who lived in Cali, my hometown, and had been in the Movement for the past 10 years. With her and another friend, we started having School of Community in my building. I tried to explain to my family what the Movement was and what we were trying to do, through my words and my actions. Unfortunately, because of difficult experiences and relationships they had in the past, my relatives were skeptical. They even tried to warn me, telling me to be very cautious, because they didn’t want me to get hurt. For a while, I continued with School of Community, and there was no change in the situation with my relatives. Then, through my friends in Bogota, I learned that the CL vacation would take place in January. I realized I would not be able to attend, due to financial problems, and my relatives’ reluctance–consider that, in order to reach the location where the vacation would be, I would have to take a 10-hour bus trip, and traveling alone here is not as safe as in Italy. I called Father Marco, the leader of the Movement here in Colombia, to inform him that I would not be able to attend, but he replied, “Money is not a problem. You can pay us back when you find a job. You have to come and meet the community.” At the same time, I also learned that Juanse (a friend from Bogota, whom I had met at the Rimini Meeting) was in Cali for his Christmas vacation with his wife Mariala, and that they were available to give me a ride to the CL vacation. The signs were clear. Therefore, after talking to my family and asking them to trust me and the decision I had made, I was on my way. I traveled with Juanse, Mariala, their son Gabry, and another friend, Lizeth; it felt like we had been friends forever. The vacation was a fantastic experience, so much so that when facing the question, “How can man live?” I could only say: “We have to live this way, every day.” Just like Father Giussani. Just like what I experienced in Italy– which is the same here in Colombia. At the vacation, I met wonderful people; we sang, we played, and we prayed. I found a family of friends. After the vacation, they all offered to help me find a job. I stayed in Bogota for three more days, as a guest of Juanse and Mariala. I realized that the friendship that I first experienced in Italy didn’t change; it stayed intact even if I was now living on the other side of the planet. This is possible because this friendship is the face of Jesus, present here and now. When I told my family about my experience at the vacation they finally saw the generosity, the love, and the interest that these friends had towards me–for example, in the way they helped me find a job. This was the greatest miracle: my relatives’ misgivings vanished, and they now trusted the experience I was living and the people I was meeting. I pray to continue living like this in my life. Christ used the vacation, and the friends I met there, to make my relatives understand all those things that, when I first moved back to Cali, I was trying to convey to them through my words and actions.

Maria Alexandra, Colombia