Massachusetts: Depending on Christ
LettersSharon discovers a deeper sense of dependence in the simple gesture of collecting intentions for a pilgrimage.
Letters - 2019
New York: Surrounded by Love
LettersAn evening at the parish Christmas party leads Jonathan to wonder--"How is it that God knows exactly what I need?"
Clu exercises: the difference in the eyes of Arva
LettersIlaria returns from the weekend of the CLU exercises in Rimini. Her Albanian roommate welcomes her. She recounts what she experienced: the lessons, the songs, the testimony... And she asks her friend: "What about you?"
New York: Shopping for Fulfillment
LettersDetermined to test the proposal offered in the Albacete lecture, Stephen encounters inconvenience and discomfort. Is it a problem to be "fixed" or a "Mystery to be lived"?
Boston: What I have learnt in life
LettersA friend's prize-giving ceremony at Harvard. At first, in such a prestigious context, Monica feels out of place. Then something changes, and a new thought emerges within her, which makes her see what really matters.
Mauritius: A greater openness
LettersRoberta has begun to take the work proposed by the School of Community seriously. She is discovering that, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean, "insignificant" things can begin to become signs.
Rio de Janeiro: Looked at like the apostles
LettersIs it possible to feel loved in a totally disinterested way? Often we can't even look at our children in this way... But when it happens, it's a point of no return.
Free Us From All Anxiety
LettersA young man facing a terminal diagnosis witnesses to the overwhelming response of his friends--and the recognition of the Father.
"Me, a Muslim, at the food collection in Via Padova”
LettersSulaiman is one of the young people from the Islamic Cultural Centre in Milan, who accepted the invitation to volunteer at the Food Collection. Here's what he saw, in a popular neighbourhood where there is a strong foreign presence.
USA: Love and Mercy Beyond Comprehension
LettersStephen talks about the origin of the Crossroads Event “Old Age as a Time of Grace?" And how we can only rely on the Mystery to find beauty and value in life.
UK: “To make my heart beg for Him, always”
LettersLoredana shares her experience of the Beginning of the Year Day, of a new job and the re-discovery of the significance of School of Community. “I don’t need to do anything more than simply embrace our daily bread, this reality, my life.”
“This is what I do in Central Africa”
LettersNicola, a retired teacher and former headmaster, tells us of his decision to leave for Africa. He talks about what he is discovering, today, in the Carmelite missions in and around Bangui.
Bucharest: The grace of a day with the poor
LettersFollowing the Pope's invitation, several charities in the Romanian capital organized to spend the day with the less fortunate. From mass, to lunch and games, it was an opportunity to share hope.
Chile: The rock in the middle of protests
LettersA letter from a university student who fled Venezuela. Her distress in front of the protests that wipe across her new country, the smile of a friend who is worse off, the questions that do not leave her alone. And then her decision to volunteer...
Aix-en-provence: My life is infinite
LettersThe Beginning of the Year Day of the CL communities in south-east France. An irrepressible question. And the rediscovery that "a Presence is a face charged with proposal".
USA: Popular Music and “The Religious Sense”
LettersA teacher and his students trace the longing for the Infinite expressed in American Popular Music.
USA: Saturday Morning Kayaking
LettersA young priest’s enthusiasm draws friends for kayaking—and something more.
Traces Day: The beauty of proposing “what we hold dearest”
LettersTurin, those who prepared an exhibition with phrases drawn from issues of Traces also distribute its most interesting articles. The Alpine choir also arrives. It’s an opportunity to experience what it means to be an “outgoing Church”.
Argentina: "The questions of those who donate are ours as well”
LettersThe day of collection of medicines in pharmacies in Buenos Aires. The gratitude of Silvana, the discovery of Sonia and the freedom of Maria Rosa...An account of a “special” Saturday.
Kenya: If the Maasai warriors were to sell Traces
LettersOnce a month, outside the masses of the parish in which they do School of Community. This is what happens in Nairobi when a group of friends propose Traces. "Something to do with Christ's victory now..."
Brazil: "Towards Aparecida, in the company of my solitude"
LettersOn the night of 5-6 October, the communities of the movement of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro went on pilgrimage from Guaratinguetá to the shrine of the patron saint of Brazil. Anelise recounts her experience along the way.