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Up Sails! The international letter of Faith and Light N°28 March 2016

Contents

Editorial Let's dream 2

Reports In Cordoba, "Leave your country" 4 In Belgium, 35 candles from "Rocher" 5 The "Danube" province is back on course 6 Back to meeting fiesta for "Kimata" 8 In Brazil, so much talent 10 In Poland South, "Love one another" 11 From Brazil to Argentina 12 In Portugal, change the world… 14

Testimonies Looking for Faith and Light in Zambia 16 In France, Ambre's confirmation 18 In USA East, birth of a community 20 In France,when it is too much 21 "Get up and walk!", a retreat in Trosly 22 Family album 24 Readers mail 25 International solidarity 26 International agenda 26 Marie-Hélène's letter For me, merci is like a Hebrew word 27

Foi et Lumière international 3 rue du Laos 75015 Paris France - T. + 33 1 53 69 44 30 foi.lumiere@wanadoo.fr www.faithandlight.org - http://fli-afoi.blogspot.fr/

Blessed and happy Easter!

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A t the end of January, I took part in a formation session in Kitwe, Zambia. There were twenty of us, all people

wanting to see Faith and Light start up again in this country where there have already been many communities. As in other countries and regions, the fire had gone out for various reasons, but the needs are still there; to help people with an intellectual disability and their families find their place within the Church and society (Faith and Light Charter, foreword) is always vital throughout the world… It is a huge mission for Faith and Light to always be concerned with moving our movement forward, progressing and developing, if we don’t do this, we would be like a bike, which when you stop pedalling, it stops and falls over. With regard to Zambia, there are people in the Capricorn Africa province who have this drive to see the communities, in each one of the countries in the province (South Africa, DRC Lubumbashi, Zambia and Zimbabwe), to be ever more lively and missionaries. Kathryn Morgan, the provincial coordinator, who is from Johannesburg, Time Baluwa, the former vice-provincial coordinator, from Harare, and Father David Harold Barry, the former provincial chaplain from Lusaka, where he now lives after many years spent in Zimbabwe. We organised two very packed days for fifteen people, some of whom had been part of the country’s communities and others were discovering the movement and were keen to make a commitment. Charity, from Lusaka, wore a T shirt one day upon which was written: “dreams +

Editorial

action = reality”. I truly believe that this was an important key in the development of Faith and Light across the world! It isn’t the structures that are going to make the communities grow, it is the communities themselves who must act so that their dreams can become reality! The energy of Faith and Light is to be found within the communities, the light that shines in the eyes of the person with disability when their talents are revealed within a community, when we listen to their desire for relationships and friendships, do not come from Faith and Light structures but from the communities themselves. The sole responsibility of those who are coordinators, vice-provincial coor-dinators or at the international level is to take care of the communities, to accompany, confirm, encourage and inform them, a bit like the Little Prince who took care of his rose and wanted to see it grow and blossom! It is our responsibility, at provincial and international level, to take care of the communities, as did the little Prince. Let us encourage them to dream, to imagine their great and colourful future, and talk with them about how they can transform their dreams into reality. Let us water and put on a bit of fertiliser, but especially let us not pull the stem to make it grow! In October, I was in the Danube province, in November in Argentina and in January in Zambia, and each time I went and observed that the situation was difficult and complicated, that the leaders were tired and the future was gloomy… Three times, I invited those I met to dream and I saw that if the leaders were tired, the communities, contrarily, were full of life and energy! And I left happy to see local situations not as terrible as I believed

Let’s dream! Ghislain du Chéné International coordinator

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them to be. In the Danube province, a new team was put in place to accompany the dreams of the communities; in Argentina, a meeting of the communities is being prepared for September 2016 with a plan to review the objectives and appoint a coordinator to accompany the communities in fulfilling their dreams; in Zambia, Patrick Mulenga has been appointed as a point of contact: he will coordinate the promises of restarting the former communities and starting up new communities. There was also at this last meeting, a Congolese nun who has a dream of seeing Faith and Light start up near her home town in Kolwezi! I do not believe I have achieved anything special, I have quite simply followed what is described in the foreword of our Charter: - Faith and Light was born of a desire …. At the

start, it was the dream of Jean Vanier and Marie-Hélène Mathieu to help those with an intellectual disability and their families.

- Faith and Light was born of an action to transform this dream into reality: a pilgrimage organised to Lourdes at Easter of 1971.

- Faith and Light has grown because a great number of communities maintained and deepened the links that had been created between their members after the pilgrimage; it then spread across the whole world over the years.

Do not hesitate to encourage the communities to dream, it is through such things that beautiful stories start!

GdC

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Report

In Cordoba, "Leave your country"

A formation session was organised in Cordoba from 9 to

12 October. It was aimed at the “Iberatlantic” province communities on the theme: “Leave your country”. This was a remarkable meeting. We felt how much we are all part of a same fam-ily in the Church. We were able to bear witness to what is at the heart of Faith and Light: the people with disability. There were approximately two hundred of us from Ma-drid, Merida, Seville, Cor-doba, and Salamanca… We experienced times of prayer, formation and celebra-tion. We released ourselves in order to become better aware that we are all equal. That the people considered normal, very often suffer from an emo-tional disability that impover-ishes our heart and prevents us from establishing the bonds of true and deep friendship as asked for in the Charter. The Charter, which was at the heart of our ses-sion. However, the people with a disability possess great gifts for increasing the unity between all of us, in a natural, sincere and simple way. Strong links were created be-tween us and were strength-ened by the Lord.

On Sunday, we left in a pro-cession to Cordoba Cathedral for mass and a meeting with bishop Demetrio Fernández González. He encouraged us to continue with our work and to deepen our faith. We were also very happy that Father Isaac, the international chap-lain, was there. This mass in the presence of the parishion-ers allowed us the make our-selves better known. The impetus given during these days spent in El Puente del Pilar encourages us and invites us to pursue our work for a fairer society that is more open to the poor

CORDOBA DIOCESE WEBSITE Fr Isaac and bishop Demetrio

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O n 13 September, our “Rocher” community in Charleroi (Belgium)

blew out 35 candles! We had invited many, a lot of friends… 200 of us met “hand in hand”.

From the start, the Faith and Light spirit led the Eucharist and gave tone to the whole day.

It was also the opportunity to thank Father Fons for his 20 years as chaplain to our community by giving him a “Faith and Light” stole embroidered by Paulette. After a delicious buffet and a slapstick religious show from

others… who lit our 35 candles with their joy and their laughter. All your friendship sparkles in our hearts!

Christine Lacroix

35 candles for the "Rocher"

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the "Catécado" company, we invited our friends from the "La Colombe” community in Mons, who were celebrating their 30th anniversary, to blow out the candles on a cake in the shape of a rock with a dove on top.

All singing "Mille colom-bes" (a thousand doves), we departed with a head full of memories.

A thousand thanks to all the Faith and Light communities from Hainaut, our parents and friends from "Soleil Levant", the pari-shioners of Charleroi, the Italian community and

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T he Danube province is very dear to me, indeed it is the one I have visited

the most! I went there for the first time at the beginning of 2001 for the International Council meeting; and I have returned there on numerous occasions for formation ses-sions, zone and province council meetings, pilgrim-ages… I know all the coun-tries: Hungary Romania and Serbia… but particularly I have many friends there that it is a great pleasure to meet again every time! So when this beautiful province had problems, I was very affected and tried my best to do all I could to help. In 2011, an assembly took place during the provincial pilgrimage in Miercurea Ciuc… the experience showed that it isn’t good to mix gen-res… Four years later and de-spite meetings and at least one formation session, the exhausted province team had just one wish, to pass the reins as quickly as possible! It was under these circumstances that the provincial assembly took place at the end of Octo-ber 2015 in Budapest. I went with many misgivings be-cause I really did not know how to proceed with such a situation. A core of very moti-vated former coordinators, Péter, Csaba and Mircea, were priceless in making sure eve-rything went smoothly! More than half the commu-

their disposal… Everyone played the game and during this time with Péter, Csaba and Mircea, we attempted to draw an outline of the groups of communities who were suf-ficiently close to one another to get to know each other well and organise communal ac-tivities. The following mor-ning, after having presented (and honed with the com-ments of each person) these outlines, the people present got together in groups to sug-gest the name of the most appropriate person to coordi-nate each of these geographic bodies… And that worked really well because very quickly, a small team of nine people was enthusiastically set up! Finally, it was impor-

Report

The Danube province is back on course

nities were present and we began by listening to the re-ports from the provincial team; then each of the com-munities present were able to talk about what they had ex-perienced over the past four years. I was very happily sur-prised to hear that the prob-lems of the team had not im-pacted the life of the commu-nities very much! They contin-ued to have their meetings regularly with the help of the Guidelines, to have their sum-mer camps… As a result, rather than return to the prob-lems and possible solutions, I asked people to go into small groups and reveal their dreams for the future without omitting the obstacles along the way or all the assets at

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ing about proposals for pro-jects to such a point that I intervened to tell them that it will be difficult to do every-thing and that they would probably have to make choices; but it pleased me to hear them planning like that! When we say that the Holy Spirit breathes on the assem-blies, I can confirm that dur-ing this assembly, he really was present amongst us! I thank Amar and Mónika for all that they have done for the province during these four years, certainly a bit diffi-cult but they have never given up and if this assembly was a success, it is in a great part thanks to them and the provincial team.

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tant to appoint a person to lead this team and to be the point of contact with the in-ternational team. A tele-phone call was all it took and Blanca, from Cluj, accepted this mission! A chaplain and a treasurer are still needed to complete this team but it is well on its way All this, taking into ac-count the circumstances, is of course a trial and we will re-turn next summer with Uliana, the vice-international coordinator, to make a first assessment of the way in which all this will be imple-mented and we will then be able to confirm this team. I am not too worried because I heard, at the end of the as-sembly, a lot of people talk-

Mili

Monica Reyes

The "Danube" province includes Hungary, Romania and Serbia Number of communities: Hungary : 20 Romania : 20 Serbia : 10

My friend Levente

Former and new coordinators

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as well as a coffee and a small cake. It is always a pleasure to meet friends again after the summer. Some had already seen each other during the summer camps in August and September, others were meet-ing up after several months. Everyone greeted each other warmly. It began, as always, with a time of sharing. We sat in a circle in the garden, Antonio introduced the agenda for the day then Simone talked to us about the importance of walk-ing “hand in hand” through-out the year, following the Guidelines that had just been translated. Everyone was in-vited to take with their right hand, opened downwards (symbolising the gesture of giving), the hand of their neighbour and to welcome, their left hand opening up-wards (symbolising the ges-

ture of receiving), the hand of their other neighbour. Then we closed our eyes and we tried to sense how we should live in our communi-ties, that is to say, in mutual support. We read the Gospel of John together: I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (Jn 15, 5). If we remain united in Jesus who is the Source, His life and His joy will spread amongst us and we will bear much fruit! Our meeting continued with dancing and games. We dedicated the begin-ning of the afternoon to the “Hand in hand… to help one another” activity. We drew the outlines of our hands on paper and cut them out. On one side, we wrote “Lord, I pray for …” and on the other side “Lord, I thank you for…”

O n Sunday 18 Octo-ber, the fifteen com-munities from Rome

and Velletri, which belong to the “Kimata” (The Waves) province, celebrated the start of a new year together. Long known as the “Back to meet-ings celebration”, this annual event can also rely on the presence of a small delegation from l’Arche in Rome, “Il Chicco”. Whilst these communities met in the capital, the other communities from Italy Cen-tre, belonging to “Kimata”, met in Perugia and Fidenza. At the Istituto Salesianum in Rome, everyone was wel-comed by Antonio, the leader of the organising team, who was temporarily transformed into a “traffic officer”, helping cars to park. At the welcome table, each participant took a card of a certain colour de-pending on their community

Back to meetings fiesta for Kimata

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adding our own personal in-tentions. These prayers were carried in the offering pro-cession at the mass. At the end of the mass, all the lead-ers received a symbolic dis-patch sign for all the year, that is to say, the Guidelines and the five finger prayer from Pope Francis. Then we remembered all the commu-nities in Syria and the prob-lems that they are currently experiencing. We said the prayer of St Francis for them as requested by the interna-tional team. Mirna’s last letter and some photos were re-produced for a poster that was displayed on the wall. All the “Kimata” communities received a copy of it. The day was at an end. Everyone said goodbye in a real family atmosphere and we all wanted to begin a new year together. This will cer-tainly be a very intense year, just as the one we have just had was.

PIETRO VETRO Provincial Coordinator

The "Kimata" province includes Italy Centre, Cyprus and Greece. Number of communities: Italy Centre : 22 Cyprus : 3 Greece : 1

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W e met for a provincial meeting at the Sa-cred Heart Seminary

in Juiz de Fora, with the rep-resentatives from 18 of the 21 communities that make up the "Campo Belo" (Brazil Centre) province. We began our meeting in an atmos-phere of joy and lively friendship, with a warm wel-come from the local commu-nities. Music was brought to us by the Valadares communi-ties, which, despite having travelled all night, did not lack joy nor drive! During the time of prayer, we meditated on the visit of Mary and Elizabeth, as sug-gested in the Guidelines. Mary went to see her cousin Elizabeth to share her joy. At Faith and Light, we too ex-perience joy and sharing. We sang the Magnificat to-gether to give thanks for the existence of Faith and Light. In the afternoon, whilst workshops were held with the persons with disability, the parents met in small groups with Marie-Hélène Mathieu’s book "Never again alone" to get to know the pioneers who gave their time and their gifts so that Faith and Light came into being. A fine example to us all. For the evening, we or-ganised a “talent show”. It was the time that affected me most during this meet-

So much talent!

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ing, discovering the often hidden talent of the person with disability. Talent for mu-sic, theatre, dancing… So much hidden talent that Faith and Light has allowed to be revealed! We left by making a date to meet again next year for a pilgrimage to the Nossa Sen-hora da Piedade sanctuary in Caeté!

ANGELINA DE FÁTIMa Provincial Coordinator

The province "Campo Belo" (Brazil Centre) includes 23 communities

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Love one another

I give you a new command-ment, that you love one another. Just as I have

loved you, you also should love one another (Jn 13, 34). This was the theme chosen by the Poland South province team for their annual meeting in Hałcnow. I was welcomed at the airport by Agnieszka, the provincial coordinator, and Zbyszek, the reliable inter-preter from our coordinating team meetings. This airport, which is called Jean-Paul II, has a lot of expansion work going on in the light of WYD 2016; this great event is being prepared for and you feel that the Poles can’t wait to wel-come young people from all over the world to their beau-tiful city. We lunched at a small res-taurant, Lunch Bar Awokado, which is a sheltered work-place. There, I met, to our mu-tual joy, Piotr who was in Leeds in 2013! Then on the road from Hałcnow, we stopped at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Łagiewniki: it was here that Saint Faustina Kowalska lived and here that Pope Saint John-Paul II entrusted the Di-vine Mercy to the whole world. We took part in the Rosary prayer of Mercy in the chapel where Saint Faustina is buried, thus preparing slightly early for the opening of the Jubilee of Mercy. We met the weekend par-ticipants and immediately began our meeting with the mass; we had the opportunity

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camps and pilgrimages (one community went to Lourdes!), a great vitality.

One of the workshops was

dedicated to making up a small orchestra with the persons with disability who were there and, after an extremely short prepara-tion time, they performed the song “Hallelujah”, by Leonard Cohen, for us. It was greatly applauded!

A huge thank you to Agni-eszka and to the whole Po-land South team for this beautiful meeting. Your prov-ince is very beautiful and it was a great pleasure to be with you! And as with each time, I learnt a few more new Polish words, I say to you: dziękuję bardzo, kocham Polska Wiara i Swiatło!

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of having with us six chap-lains, a luxury! The former provincial chaplain, Father Jarosław Chlebda passed the baton to his successor, Father Maciej Ścibo, during a beauti-ful celebration. I spoke twice to those pre-sent (about seventy) on the theme of the meeting and also spoke to them about the large international family. I felt I was carefully listened to and with very active atten-tion! There was also, as in all other meetings, times of workshops, celebration and prayer. The joy was palatable all the time! Among all the things ex-perienced, there were two things that particularly struck me: During the presentation,

some communities came to bear witness to their ac-tivities and I felt, through the testimonies of summer

Thank you, Father Jarosław

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F or a few seconds during which I was able to speak to Pope Francis at

the end of June in St Peter’s Square, I told him that I would be going to his coun-try to meet the Argentinian Faith and Light communities. I was able to keep this prom-ise by going to Buenos Aires from 20 to 22 November. I went there with Maria-Silvia and the “Bridge of Friendship” provincial coordi-nators, Marcia and Walter who I met at their home in San Paulo. Maria-Silvia has been telling me for some time that Faith and Light in Argentina needs encouragement and galvanisation… so I decided to go there in order to at-tempt to give back a bit of energy to this great country. We began this visit by meeting the person who started it all in Argentina, Bishop Alberto Bochatey, OSA. From the time when he

Report

From Brazil to Argentina

gether listening to them, dreaming and organising… and the fruit of this day is that the Argentinian communities have the desire and ability to continue living the Faith and Light life, the desire and abil-ity to make Faith and Light grow in the country with, in particular, the help of the special catechesis, who is ready to open doors during visits planned in the dioceses of the country during next year. A small team is going to be set up and will prepare a meeting that will take place in September with the atten-dance of Don Alberto. Young people who have taken part in the WYD will be invited to come and give their testi-mony. The election of a leader to coordinate Faith and Light in Argentina will be carried out at that time. On Sunday, we attended the meeting of the Nuestra Señora de Esperanza commu-

was a young priest in a parish of Mendoza, he was at the start of several communities. Today, there is one with which he has kept very strong links and our meeting al-lowed us to resume contact with this “Saint Augustin” community, whose province has lost track of it a bit. In the diocese of La Plata, of which Don Alberto is the auxiliary bishop, an hour by road from the capital, there still isn’t a community and yet there is much need for one … The next stage brought together Mariela Esponda, the leader of the Nuestra Señora de Esperanza commu-nity in Haedo , in the western suburbs of Buenos Aires. It was there that we brought together three people from the San Francisco Solano de Rosario community, a town 300 kilometres to the north, and two from the local com-munity. We spent a day to-

Marcia, Walter, Don Alberto Bochatey, Maria-Silvia and Ghislain

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nity; I was able to observe that in the meeting place, there was a sheet upon which were displayed all the dreams of the community, an example to be followed?

Then we went to visit the l'Arche home in Buenos Aires, then Maria-Luisa, the founder of l’Arche in Argentina. It is always good to meet our brothers and sisters from l’Ar-che; they are firm friends upon whom you can rely… Maria-Luisa and her husband organise retreats for parents on the spirituality of Jean Vanier; there are also oppor-tunities to meet with Faith and Light …

But soon it was time to go! And I then stayed two days in Sāo Paulo during which I was able to meet the leaders of the national association of Faith and Light in Brazil (who are preparing for their forti-eth anniversary celebrations in 2017 in Aparecida), forty members of the Sāo Paulo communities to whom I was able to speak for a moment about the mission of Faith and Light. And before leaving, I was also able to visit l’Arche

The province "Bridge of Friendship" includes Argentina, Brazil South and Paraguay Number of communities: Argentina: 3 Brazil South: 26 Paraguay: 1

warm from everyone in both countries has meant that I was able to do my utmost to ensure the mission is a suc-cess and will bear much fruit! Muchas gracias, obrigado!

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where Hélène Anctil, the Canada East province coordi-nator, is currently helping the local community with its re-organisation. This visit was packed be-cause I had the impression of having many meetings in a very short time, but it was very rich and the welcome so

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T he idea was to celebrate our anniversary as well as commemorate the

International Day of Persons with Disabilities by displaying placards and banners with positive messages on the theme that we had chosen: “Change the world one heart at a time – fragility is a source of unity”. We invited all the commu-nities from the “Luzitana” province and we proposed four groups of scouts from the town join with us by tak-ing an active part. Two groups came carrying ban-ners with messages. We also invited a group of musicians with huge drums called "Giga Bombos". They took part with a really contagious joyfulness. And the BOOM BOOM of the huge drums called out to many people. Faith and Light were there with friends and our special friends. They were the reason for all this joy. Their faces shining with joy right at the centre of the Square, singing with their friends, proclaiming the slo-gans in the name of friend-ship just had to be seen. All our hearts were beating to the rhythm of the drums! After this moment in the Square, we went down, in a cortege through the rua do Raimundo, to the auditorium

Report

Change the world...

deep time of sharing on the life of the communities and together, we paid tribute to Alfredo Souto Neves, who died at the beginning of Sep-tember, and who, with his wife Zeca, left his mark on Faith and Light in Portugal. On Sunday, we attended the Eucharist at the Our Lady

of the Evora University (where music is studied) and so began, to the sound of a guitar, the very beautiful con-temporary ballet "Mergulho a Pes Juntos" by the dance company InclusivE, a beauti-ful group that warmed our souls with their performance. We sang and celebrated friendship and our friends again staged a small history of our community in Evora. It was an afternoon filled with joy and life where God was present in every smile. In the evening, we had an Assembly of the legal associa-tion of the province where everyone was made aware of the Plan and Budget for 2016. We had a particularly rich and

AT THE END OF THE YEAR, THE "NOTRE DAME DE FATIMA" COMMUNITY CELEBRATED ITS TWENTIETH ANNIVER-

SARY IN THE PRETTY TOWN OF EVORA. THE FESTIVITIES BEGAN AT THE VERY HEART OF ITS LIFE, ON THE FA-

MOUS GIRALDO SQUARE. THIS IS THE STORY OF AN UNEXPECTED EVENT!

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of Fatima Church, the parish where we meet, presided over by the Archbishop of Evora, Mgr José Alves. This was a very beautiful celebra-tion, full of music and life that fulfilled us. We took a more active part in the offer-tory where we offered a ban-ner with the theme of our celebration, a gift that we had received from the Vila do Conde community and a boat, the symbol of our movement. After the mass, we shared a meal with the communities present and Mgr José Alves. At the end, it was in joy tinged with sadness that we departed. Each community was blessed and sent on its way, receiving a small glass jar with a small lit candle in it that shone. It did not shine as much as our hearts filled with such beautiful things. Thank you Jesus for this weekend where we celebrated the life of our friends with disability.

RUI MELGÃO Former Coordinator

of the Evora community

The province "Luzitana" (Portugal) includes 13 communities.

With bishop José Alves

We celebrated the life of our friends

Olga Grilo, provincial coordinator blesses the communities

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Y esterday, 27 August, I travelled to Kabwe by bus and Patrick Mulenga came down from Ndola. It was

wonderful to meet him. He, and Andrew Phiri now in Chipata, are the only “survivors” among the shepherds of Faith and Light I can find in Zambia! We met at Makululu, a suburb of Kabwe where Fr Sax introduced us to Italian Sr Amalia who works among the community in a new parish. About forty parents and their children living with disabilities had gathered in a pre-school room to welcome us and I spoke at length about Faith and Light and Patrick

translated into Bemba and added his own reflections. I have witnessed many ways in which people show their thanks but a Bemba way seems to be to roll on the ground singing thanks and clapping! It was very moving as they all seemed to see Faith and Light as something new and unheard of. And they felt it was really needed in their community. They are determined to start and Patrick and I will keep in touch with them. Sr Amalia will give support as will Sr Lucia from the Pastoral

Looking for Faith and Light in Zambia

Testimony

FATHER DAVID HAROLD BARRY IS A MARVELLOUS AND VERY VALUABLE MAN TO FAITH AND LIGHT! HE WAS AT THE START OF FAITH AND LIGHT IN ZIMBABWE (HE SHOWED ME THE HOUSE WHERE JEAN VANIER CAME AND CONVINCED HIM AND REMEDIO FERNANDES TO START A COMMUNITY) AND HE HAS MADE A SPECIALITY OF BLOWING ON DAMPENED EMBERS TO RESTART COMMUNITIES. IN 2014, HE WENT TO NIGERIA AND MET A COM-

MUNITY WHO WE HAD NOT HEARD ANY NEWS FROM FOR A LONG TIME! FOUR OF THEM WERE AT THE FORMA-

TION SESSION AT THE BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER IN COTONOU. NOW THAT DAVID IS LIVING IN ZAMBIA, HE HAS SET A TARGET OF GOING TO FIND DISAPPEARED COMMUNITIES, AFTER HAVING BEEN THERE SEVERAL TIMES FROM ZIMBABWE. AND AS IN ALL THE BEAUTIFUL STORIES, THERE IS A HAPPY ENDING! HERE IS THE TALE OF HIS RECENT VISIT TO KABWE. THANK YOU DAVID!

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Centre, whom those of us who went to Kabwe two years ago will remember. I attach some photos but not, I regret, one of the lady rolling on the ground! As we all know, in our countries in Southern Africa, we often meet great enthusiasm and joy when we start Faith and Light. But then it often happens that enthusiasm wanes when the difficulties of persevering seem greater than the results that are seen and felt. How can we sustain our communities so that they stay faithful to the people living with disabilities and their parents? Patrick and I are planning to blow on the embers of the fire here and rebuild. He has always had people in Ndola who have stayed with Faith and Light and we plan to have a formation meeting with them and the Kabwe leaders and others we may discover. Time has kindly agreed to come up and join us for that event. Let us pray for Faith and Light in all our countries and keep searching for ways of building and rebuilding and so reaching out to the poorest and often most forgotten of people.

Father David Harold Barry

Patrick translates into Bamba Very interested parents

Fr David, Sr Astrid and Patrick

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T he return to Faith and Light this year was full of vivid colours, like at the beginning of the beautiful season of autumn. The

Faith and Light communities from Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence and Nice arranged to meet to blow out the 25 candles of the first Faith and Light community in our department, baptised with the same name as the Sanctuary where they have met over the years: "Notre Dame de Valcluse". Colours of friendship first of all, with the large majority of its founder members accepting the invitation Colours of memory, then at times slightly tinged with sadness when remembering friends now with the Father. Colours of the Spirit of celebration, finally, that can be seen shining in the eyes of each person. On the occasion of this gathering of our communities, joyfully celebrated by the 78

Testimony

Ambre’s confirmation

members who were there, a high point of the day was the confirmation of Ambre, a young autistic girl from our own "Notre Dame de Valcluse" community. Consequently, Bishop André Marceau honoured us with his presence and edified us with his words of welcome, talking accurately about the person with disability and his/her welcome by our communities. The Sanctuary church was barely big enough to bring together such a large audience... Qu’il est formidable d’aimer, says a hymn which was really apt. The Faith springing from our hearts in prayer, the Light illuminating our faces with magnificent smiles to surround Ambre and her family. Then the sacrament was given with great reverence, until the leaving song, Messengers of joy, which was sung and repeated by the audience. The Spirit showed us the way, at times sowed with shadows, but often also

Bishop Marceau confirms Ambre

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What a great joy it was, on 20 September 2015, for our daughter Ambre, 21 years old and disabled, who does not speak but knows how to express her needs, joys and troubles in her own way, to receive the confirmation sacrament at Notre Dame de Valcluse abbey as part of the Faith and Light community. This joy was immeasurably shared by her brother, her parents, her many friends, particularly by her godmother, who came from Montpellier, and by all the brothers and sisters from her community, Notre Dame de Valcluse, as well as those from the communities of Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles and Nice who came on the same day to celebrate 25 years of Faith and Light in our department. Our affiliation to this community began ten years ago and, at that time, Ambre was able to make her first communion and she rejoices every time she receives the body of Christ. The times of family prayer are for her a source of happiness, so we, her parents, supported by our Faith and Light community, therefore wanted her to be able to receive the confirmation sacrament, filling her with the Holy Spirit and confirming her baptism and so her belonging to the Church and giving her spiritual strength and light. Thank you to Bishop Marceau, to our Faith and Light brothers and sisters and to all our friends who have allowed this beautiful event to take place.

BERNADETTE

Ambre’s mum

with light in the world of those with a disability. Walking together, hand in hand (the theme chosen for this year by the Faith and Light movement at international level), we will find a thousand reasons to hope.

MARIE-ANGE OLIVIER coordinator of "Notre Dame de Valcluse"

Ambre and her parents

Ambre her confirmation godmother

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"Circle of Love" is part in the USA East province USA Est which includes 34 communities.

I was part of a community in Washington

DC for six years then I moved. Happily, in

the county of Rockland, only half an hour

away from the convent where I lived, there is a

Faith and Light community. One day, on leav-

ing the meeting, an idea came to me. Why not

start a community in the county of West-

chester? The challenge was launched and I

couldn’t wait to take it up!

I began by contacting the priests of the

three neighbouring parishes. They offered me

their support. I identified several friends in

their parishes and in various other places in

the county and they in turn put me in contact

with other people. One of them sent me infor-

mation on a grant scheme for faith-based ini-

tiatives for persons with disability in the State

of New York. That gave me the courage to

contact nearby homes.

A director of nine homes organised a

meeting with the leaders of these homes. It

had been decided that a picnic could be a

good way of introducing Faith and Light to

the residents. That took place on Saturday 24

August 2013. It was a great success! Nine

members of the homes came with the staff

and family members. People who lived with

their families also came and joined us. In Oc-

tober, a community in formation began.

Three Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a layper-

son from a neighbouring parish, parents of

the participants and the leaders of two homes

joined us. They were all supported in the or-

ganisation and leading of the meetings and

supplied the meals. A lot of other people

joined us: our chaplain, a Jewish cantor, some

seminarians, members of two other New York

communities in Long Island brought along by

the vice coordinator of New York and a Brazil-

ian mum with her two sons. She had become

part of Faith and Light whilst she was a stu-

dent in South America. Fortunately, several

other women have joined the coordinating

team with the wealth of their talents and en-

thusiasm.

"Circle of Love", the name chosen for the

community, have now been meeting for three

years. We are grateful to God and for all the

efforts of each person for the life of the com-

munity. Today, two other communities are in

formation and a third is about to start. The

challenge is to find coordinating teams for

each one, but the members of these newly

formed communities seem enthusiastic.

The Spirit of Faith and Light continues to

breathe on Westchester and the other coun-

ties in New York!

SISTER BARBARA BARTLETT, SHCJ

Community coordinator

Testimony

Birth of a community

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Testimony

A s a mum to a young adult with a se-

vere disability, I would like to say that

at times, life is too much, that we

would like it to stop. A glance that is too fierce

in the street, the disability that gets worse,

and one more argument with the education

team, which sees in you the person to dis-

tance and not the basic partnership to build.

The rebukes more or less concealed, she is too

this, not enough that, if she was less this and

more that, it would be easier to deal with her

in the establishment. She hardly understands,

doesn’t talk, is too slow, she wants to under-

stand and talk… how you make life harder for

us… So it is true that we can do no more, that

we don’t see how it is going to turn out; that

we are afraid of what her life will become

when we are no longer there to speak for her

and to give her speech. And we want it to

stop. We want to die after her.

The mystery is perhaps that we still carry

on, that we remain standing beside her, with

her brothers and sisters, with those who love

her; the mystery is the love that is around her;

the mystery is her determination to live and

to find a way to communicate and laugh and

dance. The mystery is that we do not lose our

confidence in the professionals, in fact we

even trust them.

The mystery is that we are still here to-

gether. And that we are also happy. Espe-

cially that we are happy.

M. L. (Paris)

When it is too much...

IN SEPTEMBER 2015, A MOTHER WAS CONVICTED OF THE MURDER OF HER EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER IN

2010. THIS LITTLE GIRL HAD A DISABILITY. THE "LA CROIX" JOURNAL DATED 5 OCTOBER 2015 PUBLISHED

THE TESTIMONY OF ANOTHER MUM...

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Get up and walk A RETREAT AT TROSLY-BREUIL FOR THE FRENCH COMMUNITIES

up, go!” But when Jesus arrived, Lazarus was dead. Martha reproached him for not coming sooner. “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes, I know” Your brother is alive, he will live for-ever… “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God”. Martha was a woman of faith. Mary did the same thing as Martha, a re-proach! Jesus said nothing. He was upset, he cried. “Remove the stone!” "If you believe, you will see the glory of God”. If you believe in Faith and Light, in the fragile ones, you will see the glory of God. “Get up”. Find this initial faith that made you come to Faith and Light. Those who are seen as a punishment from God are a way to God. They have hearts that open so easily to the trust of others, trust in Jesus, and trust in the community. It is they who proclaim the truth. Jesus remains in my heart, present in me, in the most vulnerable part, there where I need to be loved. Following this teaching, we met in small groups of eight people, still in pairs, to share on what touches us.

W e arrived at the mass and slipped to the side of the chapel, just behind Jean, who was sitting in a wicker chair.

At the time of the sign of peace, we saw a large smile spread across his face, relaying the peace of Jesus to us. During the meal, that evening, we met be-fore receiving the instructions: silence would be a must! The meal took place to background music. Jean would deliver two teachings each day, preceded by a time of prayer in the morning, songs in the afternoon, plus an in-tercession before the washing of the feet in the evening. In fine form, our dear Jean! He spoke without notes. When he quoted the Word, it was from memory, with his words. Throughout the weekend, he would continu-ously come back to two key stories that we had already heard or read: that of the first communion of François, whose uncle said to his mother: The ceremony was beautiful. What is sad is that François has not understood any-thing. So faced with the tears of his mum, François said: don’t worry mum, Jesus loves me as I am. And that of Pauline, who had epilepsy and a paralysed leg, 40 years of suffering, re-jection, full of anger and humiliation. She shouted her desire to be loved as she was. Jean gave us a concentrate of his medita-tion of the Word. Two women lived with Laza-rus, their brother. It seems that Jesus often visited this family. The two sisters sent a mes-sage to Jesus: He whom you love is ill. In the Gospel, the house of Martha is mentioned. Why not Lazarus? At that time, it was the men who owned the house, not the women. And if Lazarus had a disability? Jesus chose fools, those who could not manage alone, those who let their heart lead rather than their head. This is the bond of trust. The person knows that they are loved and respected, that some-one trusts in them: they can blossom. Each one of us can be in a tomb of sadness and anger, not feeling loved. We need to hear Jesus telling us: “Leave, I need you to stand

Testimony

Jean and Sylvain during the washing of the feet

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On Sunday, Jean gave a meditation on death and resurrection crossed with the story of Faith and Light, born from the suffering of parents and their rejected children. As Mary Magdalene was sent to her broth-ers, may our communities still be more mes-sengers of happiness. Our mission is to for-give. May our small communities be the face of forgiveness The secret of Faith and Light is summed up in the words of François: "Don’t worry mum, Jesus loves me as I am".

Marie-Madeleine Lorrain Vice-provincial coordinator, "France Centre"

I loved his tenderness What a joy to experience this retreat at Trosly with 37 other members of Faith and Light from almost every part of the ‘Hexagon’! I had the opportunity to attend with Philippe, we are both members of the “Espoir et Amitié” community in the Paris region. The words of Jean Vanier were spread over six sessions, sharing groups, Eucharist, washing of the feet, activities and the vigil… We sang to start the day, to welcome Jean and the give thanks. Anne set the pitch on her flute and Florien beat the rhythm with his Jambé. Jean invited us to experience this Faith and Light mission and to get to know the secret of the Gospel. We all have a place to fill. And Marcel answered him “yes, that’s true, we all have a place, nothing more, nothing less!” What was fantastic, was to see with what ease the persons with disability took part in exchanges with Jean, asking all sorts of questions and not hesitating to interrupt him when they didn’t understand when we certainly wouldn’t do it… What touched me the most was the famous great secret of the Gospel. “Jesus loves me as I am”. Jesus came to tell each person “You are more beautiful than you dare to believe”. Following these words, Edouard, who has a disability, was clearly moved and shared what he felt: “I have been overwhelmed in my heart. What Jean said agrees with what there is in my heart”. And he began to cry. Soon, Sylvain, one of his friends, got up, placed his hands on him to bless him and tenderly kissed him on the forehead. During the Sunday Eucharist, Philippe wanted to take part by reading one of the texts. So, as all the readers had been chosen, Michel, the deacon who accompanied the meeting, invited him to wear an alb and serve the mass. What a surprise for Philippe! A very great joy could be seen on his face. In the car, on the way home, he told me with a big smile : “You saw, I went to mass dressed in an alb. I was the servant and I cleansed the hand of the priest. I carried the candle beside the altar and what I felt at that moment was very strong, it was the Love of God”. The mass finished with a very beautiful send off, each person offering their neighbour a pretty candle (decorated during one of the workshops) whilst saying: “Jesus is sending you on a mission”. Even Jean left with his candle! In the evening, before leaving, a few tears rolled down Philippe’s face. He looked and me and quite simply said “You know I have appreciated the retreat from the first day because it is the first time I have met Jean Vanier. I loved his tenderness so much…”

Céline Doudelle

Marcel

Edouard

Philippe

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Family album

With God

Joanna Breza died on 28 December. She was 60 years old. Joanna had an intellec-tual disability. She was the daughter of Teresa Breza, the founder of Faith and Light in Poland in Wroclaw. Her parents are no longer alive. Joanna has been bur-ied with them. I had the pleasure of know-ing her personally. She was very warm, a thoughtful, open and joyful person. Faith and Light was always present joyfully in her mem-ory. Today, she is with her parents in heaven. Please remember her in your prayers.

Joanna Koczot Vice-international coordinator

Yvon Ouellette was the sec-ond leader (1988 to 1995) of the "l'Étoile" community. With his wife, they were al-ways very involved with Faith and Light in Quebec. Yvon died on 30 December, he was 88 years old. After the departure of Monique Fortier in October 2015 who had forty years of commu-nity life, two founders of Faith and Light “Canada East” have left us …

Suzanne Bélisle Vice provincial coordinator

Joseph Favard was, with his charming wife who is still here, one of the 1971 Faith and Light pilgrims. He has demonstrated a real living faith within our "Alleluia" community in Boulogne (France) and has done since the first day, with their son Emmanuel who has Downs Syndrome. We all carry Joseph and his family in our prayers.

Mireille Valentin

Gilbert Cione

I am writing to you on behalf of Mrs Jacqueline Cione, the coordinator for New Caledo-nia, to inform you of the death of her husband, Gil-bert, on Saturday 7 Novem-ber 2015, following a long illness. For several years, Gil-bert worked a lot with his wife, Jacqueline; indeed, we fully benefited from his artis-tic talents, particularly in model building and drawing. Pray for him.

Angéla Dao

Welcome Jimena!

The beautiful little Jimena was born on 19 October to Raúl Izquiero (vice-interna-tional coordinator) and his wife Laura to the great joy of her two big brothers: Adrian and Alonso. Welcome little Jimena!

Beautiful news!

Our friend, Father André Ca-bes, the former chaplain of the "Sainte Bernadette" com-munity in Lourdes, has been appointed the new Rector of the Shrines. Obviously, “Faith and Light is truly part of the genetic makeup of Lourdes” as Bishop Jacques Perrier told us at the Coordinating coun-cil meeting in 2011. A beautiful new road!

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Aurélia

There is in Aurélia’s life This strength that touches my senses,

A tender light that calms and infuses me: This is her soul.

In Aurélia’s eyes

There is a pure look placed on me, Simple and delicate:

This is her faith.

In Aurélia’s gestures, There are these signs which tell us about her,

Silent waltzes in a trompe-l’œil: This is her melody.

In Aurélia’s smile

The stars fade in gratitude, There is this magic of meeting her:

This is her beatitude.

I am sending you this poem and I would like it if you could put it in the next edition of “Up Sails!” I would like to pay tribute to those with a disability and in particular, to our Faith and Light friends across the world.

Angéla D. New Caledonia

A beautiful meeting

I had a beautiful experience on an assignment for my work in Malaga (Spain). I went down for breakfast and was very surprised to see a young girl with Downs Syndrome dressed as a res-taurant waitress. I thought she must only be clearing the tables with no contact with the hotel guests. Her presence brought a smile to my face. She came up to me and asked me in perfect English: Have you finished, Madam?

Can I clear your plate? Yes. Thank you. What is

your name? My name is Ariana.

Thank you very much, Ariana.

Then she was busy, cleaning tables, taking away plates, picking up serviettes… do-ing five things at once. She returned and asked me: Can I take your room num-

ber please? Inwardly, I told myself that I should make things easier for her because she probably struggled with numbers and I answered: Three zero three. And in her perfect English: Three hundred and three,

thank you. Have a good day.

I was astounded and I watched her asking other

Readers mail

tables for their room num-bers. Like me, everyone sim-plified the numbers. And Ariana clarified: Two hundred, four hundred

and eighteen, three hun-dred and twenty seven… Thank you, have a good day!

Sometimes, we underesti-mate the abilities of our friends! My assignment in Malaga was to take part in a debate with Mediterranean journal-ists. Everything went well but the best bit for me was the morning that I met Ariana!

Hoda Eturk

Vice President, Board of Directors

In Aurélia’s cries, There is this surge of grace

That breaks our silence: This is her fight.

In Aurélia’s hands,

There is this power that nourishes The trust of God:

This is her humility.

In Aurélia’s tears, There is this tranquillity of the confidant

That fertilises the future: This is her message.

In Aurélia’s kisses,

There is this sweetness That promises eternity:

This is her “being”. Thank you Aurélia.

(Aurélia is the daughter of Jacqueline and Gilbert Cione, whose death is announced on page 24)

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You want to make a donation? In several provinces/Countries, Faith and Light is a recognised and registered charity association. As in France, you may be entitled to a tax deduction for each donation made locally. Check with your provincial association.

International solidarity

Projects to be supported Province coordinators council meeting, from 5 to 9 July 2016 in Konstancin-Jeziorna (Poland):

90 000 € (total cost). This council will bring together the coordinators of the 52 provinces across the world. It meets every five years. Very poor provinces will not be able to bear the cost alone of the attendance of their coordinator. It is vital that those from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central and South America are able to take part.

What has your contribution been used for since December? Meeting for the coordinators and vice coordinators of the "Open Hearts" (Honduras, Mexico,

Nicaragua, Dominican Republic) province: 2 355 €

4-5 March: “UK North” provincial council meeting, Harrogate 5-6 March: “Southern Cross” (Australia, New Zealand) provincial council meeting,

Christchurch, New Zealand 12 March: formation session for the Danish communities, Aarhus 15 March: lent conference by Ghislain du Chéné, Montrevel en Bresse, France 18-19 March: “France West” provincial assembly 31 March-3 April: Faith and Light International Board of directors meeting, Trosly-

Breuil (France) 7-11 April: “Rainbow” (Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion Island, Seychelles) provincial

assembly, Mahé, Seychelles 8-10 April: retreat for the “Poland South” communities, Jasiona 8-10 April: Retreat for the community coordinators and the vice-provincial

coordinators from the Belgian province, Trosly-Breuil, France 15-17 April: fortieth anniversary of Faith and Light in Portugal celebration, Fatima. 16-17 April: “Canada East” provincial council meeting, Lachine, Quebec 16 April: “France East” provincial council meeting, Nancy 23-24 April: formation session for the French community coordinators, Bordeaux 29 April-1st May: meeting of the communities from Slovakia, Katimavik, Pila Častá 30April-1st May: “Campo Belo” (Brazil Centre) provincial meeting, Juiz de Fora 5-8 May: "France Rhône Azur" provincial pilgrimage to celebrate the 45th anniversary

of Faith and Light 13-15 May: holiday camp for the Irish communities, Kilcuan 22 May: "Campo Belo" (Brazil Centre) provincial pilgrimage to the Mãe Rainha

Sanctuary 27-29 mai : "Heart of Europe" (Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands) and formation,

Tainach, Austria

International agenda

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Marie-Hélène's letter

Mercy, a Hebrew word

urged to mutter a quiet sorry. A single word from her: “My dear!” meant a hollowness in the heart was followed by a light peace like an invitation to take another step and receive the forgiveness of God. I also remember this young disabled man returning all joyful from confession: “Finally! My heart is in place”. A holy year Mercy is the way which unites God and every man. It is the way that unites God and his creation. Pope Francis has a huge aware-ness of it and so on 11 April last year, he an-nounced an extraordinary holy year dedicated to living out in our daily lives the mercy which the Father constantly extends to all of us. He launched this initiative of love and peace at a time when the world has never been in such general peril, without a solution to the human viewpoint. A Faith and Light leader in Syria told me of the unimaginable situations of dis-tress, and I asked what our movement could do to give support to them, even if just a little, the reply was: Nothing, only pray and that is vital for us to keep hoping. God meets everyone What is a holy year? a journalist asked me. In the Old Testament, it is a year of grace that the Lord grants to his people, usually every fifty years. It is also called a jubilee, as important today as ever. A great anniversary is celebrated. We remember the great jubilee for the opening of the third millennium. This new holy year does not correspond to any anniversary; it is about a specific theme, di-vine mercy, an extraordinary jubilee of mercy. Pope Francis would like that this year be, for all believers, a real time of meeting with the mercy of God. A unique time where they can experience and obtain plenary indulgence.

F or me, mercy is like a Hebrew word, de-clared this student. He could not have put it better. Indeed, it is the Hebrew

people that God revealed his existence and his unbelievable love to. "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; the cry of their suffering”, said the Lord to Moses. Since then, God has continued to come and meet us until he sent his Son. It is important for us to see his face. He is only Mercy. In my childhood, I was like this student and found this word strange. It was an exclama-tion from grown-ups when they uncovered some great stupidity, “My God, mercy!”

It has to be said that in the last century and to the present day, the word mercy has been used less and less. Out of fashion and uncool, it had a ring of demeaning pity. The notion of sin and forgiveness has been erased, with one of its consequences, the virtual disappear-ance of faith and the sacrament of reconcilia-tion. On the morning after his election, Pope Francis himself remembered that this word had practically disappeared from the vocabu-lary, including almost all theology books. However, the origin of this word is so beauti-ful, from the Hebrew rahamim, the Latin miseris cor dare; literally a heart that gives it-self to the unfortunates. This evokes the emo-tion that grabs the innards in the face of a human being suffering. However, it is not lim-ited to a feeling. It calls for an act of relief, of healing, of accompanying in faithfulness. It is true to say, it seems to me that you only know mercy when you yourself have had the ex-perience. First of all, that of asking forgive-ness from a person you have wounded to a lesser or greater extent and that of seeing yourself “granted amnesty”. I have not forgot-ten that day (I was fifteen years old) when having been very insolent to my mum, I felt

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Not only is God going to meet everyone, wel-come and forgive us all our sins, but he is also erasing all the consequences. In my opinion, I have only skimmed over the more significant aspects of the Bull of In-diction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy that are important to know before embarking on the journey. In it are several new proc-esses. Thus, the Pope asks us “to live this holy year with a new enthusiasm, and wherever the Church is present, in the parishes, communities, associations and movements, wherever there are Christians, everybody should find an oasis of mercy” (§12). A wonderful appeal, which seems to especially address the movements and works born and growing for sick and dis-abled persons and those close to them. A call to pray together for all those who are en-trusted to us and with them. A call to rebuild the body and spiritual works of mercy includ-ing those you hardly dare mention. Choose to put on the right track those who correspond the most to our own vocation… Finally, is it not the goal of this Jubilee that each one of us becomes the face of Jesus himself, the face of mercy?

Extract from "Ombres et Lumière" N°208