Letters - 2021

Maria was set to go to the CLU Spiritual Exercises with her friends. "For the first time, I felt a great need." But she was unexpectedly forced into quarantine. Here is what she discovered during those days…

The lessons of Javier Prades, with Charles Taylor, Lady Gaga and Edith Stein, and the testimony of Guadalupe Arbona Abascal. Three days to learn to look at oneself and one's life in a new way.

Matteo describes how moved he was by his encounter with new friends from the Oklahoma City community during a business trip.

Her decision to become a social worker and the opportunity to work in reception centers for migrants. Serena recounts the story of her relationship with an Afghan girl and her family.

Marco moved to Tokyo with his wife and children. The experience of the movement had won him over a number of years earlier in Italy, but over time his enthusiasm began to wane...

Carie is a US Navy helicopter pilot on an assignment where she least expected: Japan. She has begun to work on herself to recover that gaze of "openness" and to live again with gratitude.

"To live the real intensely". Starting from this provocation and a deep desire, a group of high school students began going to Mass before school each morning, as recounted by Filippo.

A Russian and a Belgian from Moscow meet at a friend’s house in Damascus. Despite the electricity rationing, they listen to the Beginning Day together. "A tiny, invisible gesture in a densely populated neighbourhood plunged into darkness and poverty."

Lisetta speaks of the illness and death of her husband Carmelo. A journey of pain and joy. "Seeing my husband transfigured by the consciousness of being loved by Jesus was, for me, the experience of a hundredfold."

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Leonardo managed to visit some CL communities across the country. The surprise of seeing - in such precarious situations- life that blossoms.

Meeting Ambassador. The possibility of taking what happens in Rimini all over the world. This is what happened in Belgium a few days ago. Emanuele recounts what happened to him and his friends.

Just before the pandemic, Ilaria found out she was pregnant but that the wife of her PhD student had miscarried. Amid the drama, a dialogue emerged that allowed her to re-discover what allows her to face any circumstance certain and happy.

Some signed up as volunteers whilst others sang in the choir. The spectacular sunrise watched alongside young children waiting for the Pope. An account from the small CL community in Slovakia.

After emergency heart surgery, Fulvio is now in a rehabilitation center. "I remember the first day I looked out the window. There were four trees, the bus stop and, in the background, the ring road. Everything was wonderful."

Claudia happened "accidentally" to go to the CLU summer vacation. She considers herself agnostic, but accepted the invitation. Something unexpected happened during those days. "Now I have a fire within me that I want to nourish."

Singing school, the opportunity to perform at some summer events, while news of pain and need reaches her from the other side of the world. This is what Laura discovered.

“It is not about where we met, but who we have met.” A CL community vacation in Georgia. Those “unknown” friends and the challenge of moving away. A letter from a friend in Gainsville.

Matteo had zero expectations before leaving. And for Marta, only two days sufficed for her gaze to change. An account of four days of vacation together in La Thuile.

College ended in the middle of the pandemic. Then came illness, many uncertainties, and the desire to be able to relive the fascination of the encounter. Ana speaks of why she decided to join the Fraternity.

Faced with her husband's leukemia, Valentina finds herself on her knees, drawn into a dialogue in which everything is illuminated.

A hundred friends from the CL communities in the South East spent a few days together on the shores of a lake in Georgia. Enrico speaks about the testimonies, the games, the walks… and the baptism of their new arrival.