My mother died fifteen years ago, at only 53 years old, after a long illness. That was a very painful time, my life was turned upside down, all my plans and desires vanished into thin air, I found myself with no mom, a house to run and a father to take care of. In addition, I had recently started a job that I loved, but reconciling everything was very stressful indeed. I had so many friends to keep me company, but none of them could fill my void.

I have always been a believer, but in the face of what was happening to me I was having a hard time accepting, trying to find the solution and an answer to everything. The result? Dissatisfied, tired and challenged, it was a constant questioning: "What does Christ want from me?"

Five years ago, I decided to change jobs, and that is where I met CL. My boss, who was part of the movement at the time, was in a very difficult period of his life, to the point of wanting to leave everything. Yet, I could see his friends in the movement who kept looking at him with an inexplicable tenderness. Moved by curiosity, trying to understand what was behind that gaze, that attention, I began to participate in the gestures and meetings that the movement offered. It gave me pleasure just to look at some of them: they had such bright eyes that I could not forget, indeed it was through those eyes that day after day I still found the strength and courage to face the various difficulties. I began to experience how Christ was taking me back, His carnality through a companionship that I had not chosen. I began to ask myself, "But who am I?" and no longer, "What does Christ want from me?"

Although I have been living the experience of the movement for more than four years, it was only now that I decided to join the Fraternity. I do not like to do things mechanically, I had the desire to join several times, but I was also a bit fearful. I wanted my "yes" to be mature, free. Nothing happens by chance, it was precisely during the lockdown that I made the verification of how important this companionship is for my life: even if physically distant, by simply making memory of what I met, of their faces, of the dialogues, at the end of the days I was happy. Only through a companionship that brings you back to Christ can you live like this.

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I am sure that I will fall many times, but I am certain that I can get back up only by remaining attached to this place and this companionship where Christ is present to me.

Mara, Tornareccio, Italy#11February