"Children of the same Father"
LettersThe Baptism of a friend met at university. A yes that becomes the sign of a preference for each of his friends, of "Christ working in us".
Letters - 2021 - Page 3
Fraternity 2021: "Those who love do not need to be summoned”
LettersA small group of friends from Cantù follow the Spiritual Exercises in a parish. At the end of the three-day event, the priest who hosted them wrote to say thank you: "I pray that you may bring a hope that does not disappoint to every person you meet..."
Dublin: living asking Christ to reveal himself
LettersChurches in Ireland are still closed due to the pandemic. Organizing the Good Friday gesture was a bit of an odyssey, but also an opportunity for new encounters and to enjoy the wonder of the latest arrival to our community.
It takes courage to seek happiness
LettersBice attended the GS Easter Triduum. The appeal of what she heard and the questions and desires that have arisen. "And if I find myself at the mercy of fear and pain, I will think back to how I have been reborn during these days."
Life happens now
LettersWhen Covid hit, Matt found himself working under one roof with his six kids and his pregnant wife, desperately seeking "projects" that provided an escape. Then, an invitation came.
A mother at the Easter Triduum
LettersEight years after graduating, Anna was able to follow the Good Friday gesture for CL university students. "Even as a wife and mother, I need a Father to follow."
The voice of the movement in Dutch
LettersThe pandemic has been an opportunity to translate some of the texts proposed by CL to be able to read them in their mother tongue and to make new encounters: "from the last to arrive, we learn what the charism we have received is”.
When plans fall through
LettersIn isolation, worried about "filling her time," Emanuela felt that the more she did, the greater her discomfort at not being able to go out. Then, in such an unwanted situation, a question opened wide…
"A smile in the eyes that is not mine"
LettersHelping the homeless with the Sisters of Mother Teresa has changed shape because of Covid and the restrictions. Pietro, a university student, is also forced to change by discovering something new, as he recounts in this letter.
I Want to Stay Awake to See Him
LettersStruggling after the deaths of both of her parents, Melissa discovers unexpected joy in a "painfully beautiful" encounter.
"Mom, I am a happy child"
LettersAmidst a mother's struggles and suffering in the face of her son's disability, until she realizes that he "lives each day responding to a love"...
Colombia: "Have you ever thought about working for Nasa?"
LettersA year of teaching in Bogotá, distance learning and effort. But Maria Laura recounts how "every week something happens that moves me".
"That girl’s big heart"
Letters"Thrown" from her high school teaching job to middle school and support teaching. A huge struggle, so much so that she was even angry at God. A teacher recounts what then changed everything.
"Good morning Prof, what time are you going to mass?”
LettersMonths of teaching that are tiring, yet very rich, where it is possible to see the humanity of young people flourish. Like that of a boy who talks about his grandmother and his faith, or that of the student who recommends a film about Chiara Lubich...
Teachers and students. A single path
LettersIt is possible to bet everything on each of our hearts, as was said during the meeting on January 30. What happens when a student struggling with online learning is asked the big question about the meaning of life?
"I began to ask myself: Who am I?"
LettersDissatisfied, tired and challenged. Mara asks herself, "What does God want from me?" Then came her encounter with CL. During the lockdown, an unexpected gladness and decision.
Brazil: Beauty and pain go together
LettersThe story of eight friends, a young Fraternity group in São Paulo Fraternity, and what they are experiencing thanks to Andressa's testimony... If "the finiteness of life is not the end".
Chile: "Nothing stops us from living intensely”
LettersNo community vacations due to the pandemic. Thus the CL community in Chile moved its days of living together online. Four days of meetings, testimonies, games, art and cooking workshops... An experiment that tries to embrace everything.
Basel: "What allows me to walk?"
LettersDuring the pandemic, the discovery of the true root of friendship, and the possibility that everything becomes an opportunity for the discovery of the self and of the world. Like an encounter with a Nigerian doctoral student…
When there is no proper place for sadness
LettersAn evening with the homeless in Barcelona at the end of December. An encounter “with the last among the last” and a novelty, through charitable work, that can change lives. This is what happened to Peter.
My new (temporary) dwelling place
LettersThe virus strikes Nando and forces him into a hospital room, but his roommate and the comfort of those outside do not leave him alone. A companionship that gives no respite. It is a bit like when you are young at an amusement park…