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Up Sails! The international letter of Faith and Light N° 30 September 2016

Faith and Light 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/

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Contents

Editorial Is it a return ? 3

Reports France: A tireless chaplain 4 Italy: Players and witnesses 5 Hungary: It happened in Szeged 8 Poland:

What have you been seeing in Konstancin? 10 USA : Come away… 14 Austria : Embrace our poverty?! 15

Testimonies France: Responsibility, a service 17 Italy: Experiencing mercy 18 In Sweden: We have fun and pray 20

Publications 22

Family album 24 International solidarity 26 International agenda 26 Marie-Hélène's letter 27 Mother Teresa, so big and so small

Editorial direction: Ghislain du Chéné Chief editor and layout: Corinne Chatain

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E very year at this time, you hear: the holidays are over, time to return. However, I believe that life doesn’t

really stop for people with a disability: you don’t imagine that they can send their disability on holiday for a few weeks? And then Faith and Light never takes a holiday! There is always something happening at Faith and Light. First of all, for all the countries in the southern hemisphere, July and August are winter months… and then let’s take a look closer to home at everything that has been going on over these past months: A Coordinating Council meeting in Konstancin (Poland) where, for a week, the province leaders from across the world met to share, celebrate and pray together. The World Youth Days, at the end of July in Krakow, where many community members took part and I know that they all returned, certainly tired, but full of renewed energy! Province meetings have taken place at Mount Vernon (Washington) with participants from USA West and Canada West and at Juiz de Fora in Brazil (Campo Belo province).

Summer camps have taken place almost everywhere (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Poland, England, France…). Formation sessions were organised in Kigali (Rwanda) and Lubumbashi (DRC). And the month of September is off to a promising start, filled with province assemblies, formation sessions, pilgrimages and a Board of Directors meeting… Emperor Charles V said: the sun never sets on my Empire. It was a declaration of power, of the desire to speak of the greatness of his land and to humiliate in advance those who wanted to stand in his way … Faith and Light is more in humility, fragility and smallness but despite everything, our communities, in the four corners of the world, reveal a global wisdom that should make anyone continuously obsessed with the desire for power think. Let us continue to tirelessly give our testimony, let us be ambassadors for those who have no voice, we will eventually change the world, not through force but through one heart at a time; our only weapon will be that of loyalty to the vision that our founders left to us. Have a good return to meetings!

Is it a return?

Editorial Ghislain du Chéné

International coordinator

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disability received his first communion. The other pil-grims from the diocese with whom he came to Lourdes (his parents had abandoned him) refused to take part in this celebration: ‘’it shouldn’t happen. He doesn’t understand anything; it is cheapening the Eucharist! Fr Jacques Cuche, on the contrary, did not “excommunicate” Bertrand since his luminous eyes re-vealed the intensity with which he welcomed Jesus Eucharist in him.

Ten years later, the first

Faith and Light pilgrimage to Lourdes took place. Needless to say how much Father Jacques Cuche was touched by this process! He very quickly became a community chaplain: he has been a tire-less supporter of Faith and Light communities, he has founded three of them, has been chaplain of four (Our Lady of the Assumption, Syca-more, the little Prince, Heart of

I t isn’t often that you can take part in the thanksgiv-ing mass of a priest who is

celebrating his 70 years in the priesthood. In addition, when it is a chaplain who has had an extraordinary influence, it is an occasion not to be missed!

Father Jacques Cuche was ordained a priest on Holy Sat-urday, 20 Aril 1946, in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathe-dral. He very quickly met fami-lies in which the presence of a child with disability, in addi-tion to the wound that this represented for the parents and for the brothers and sis-ters, caused more suffering when they were not welcome in the Church. Since 1954, in Lourdes, he has met with those families experiencing problems through lack of sup-port at this large Marian site. In September 1961, through a happy turn of circumstances, again in Lourdes, he cele-brated the mass during which Bertrand, a boy with a severe

Report

Jesus and Mary) and his great-est pleasure was to prepare and lead children with disabil-ity to Jesus, ready to move mountains for that.

Members of the four com-

munities were present on Sun-day 5 June and the mass was celebrated with great joy. Many of them were those who had been able to take their first communion or be con-firmed thanks to Father Cuche!

Thank you Father Cuche,

Faith and Light owes you a lot! Following your example, we are going to open the roofs to lead our friends with disability to the feet of Jesus and may this step of faith from our communities make the light of our good news shine as widely as possible! Magnificat, Alleluia!

F.P.

A tireless chaplain

Father Cuche with Cécile and Marie-Hélène

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QUITE EXTRAORDINARY THINGS HAPPENED IN ROME ON 11 AND 12 JUNE ON THE OCCASION OF THE JUBILEE FOR THE PERSONS SICK AND DISABLED, WHICH WAS HELD WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY. FAITH AND LIGHT WAS A PLAYER IN AND A WITNESS TO THESE EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS.

P layer, because these days had been being prepared for during the

past year with the Pontifical Council for the New Evangeli-sation; its President, Monsi-gnor Rino Fisichella, had sup-ported involving some move-ments in its organisation. This is why Faith and Light and l’Arche took part in many work meetings to set up the programme for these two days. Witness, because besides a significant delegation of Ital-ians (who were again strongly mobilised only one year after their big 40th anniversary pil-grimage), there were small delegations from France (I came with Isabelle and Julie), from the USA and from Slove-nia; Father Isaac was also there. Several specialist cate-chises were suggested in vari-ous languages and even in sign language: for Faith and Light and l’Arche, we met in the Sant’Andrea della Valle Church in Old Rome with Monsignor Gérard Daucourt, emeritus Bishop of Nanterre (France). Father Gérard, as he likes to be called, spends one week a month at Trosly for the retreats; he has already led several catechises at the WYD (Paris, Rome and Krakow) and he likes to give people with disability their say because he

Players and witnesses

Well done Faith and light!

Bishop Daucourt and Julie

Report

Lucia Casella (vice-internacional coordinator) and Francisco

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ity, organised by the Italian Episcopal Conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the specialist catechesis in Italy. And there, as so often happens, Pope Francis left his official speech to one side and preferred to react to situations arising from questions, like that of Serena, a young girl with Downs Syn-drome who asked why she wasn’t welcomed in her par-ish. He branded this attitude

very firmly: It is discrimination, a really bad thing! He put a lot of emphasis on the welcome and access to the sacraments that should be open to every-one without exception. His speech was distributed to participants and is worth reading and being widely dis-tributed. In the afternoon, it was time to go through the Holy Door, but at the same time, there was the preparation of the miming of the Gospel of the next day’s mass: a mime suggested by Faith and Light, it was the first time, in all his-tory, that a mime was planned during a mass in St Peter’s Square! And this mime was prepared and realised by Faith and Light! Julie had the great honour of taking part in it. We were, however, able to take time out to join the group going through the Holy Door and Julie very quickly returned to her group. I then went to the Radio Vati-can studios for an interview where I talked on the theme of “Mercy and disability”.

The end of the afternoon was dedicated to a gathering of movements at the Sant’An-gelo Castle where the l’Arche and Faith and Light stand had many visitors.

says that “these are the ones who evangelise us”. After a very good mime of the Gospel of the merciful father pre-pared by l’Arche Il Chicco, there was an actual cateche-sis, a time where all who wanted to express themselves could do just that. At the same time, in the Paul VI room, Pope Francis was taking part in the confer-ence for people with disabil-

L'Arche and Faith and Light stand

The mime during the mass

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After a very good dinner that brought together all the Faith and Light participants, it was necessary to quickly re-turn to our lodgings because the departure for St Peter’s Square was scheduled for 7am the following morning. We therefore arrived very early and were able to take our places: Julie with her art-ist pass left with those who were going to present the mime, others went to the seats to the right of the altar and some ten favoured ones, four of whom were persons with disability, were right at the front in order to be able to greet Pope Francis after the mass… The mass was preceded by a time of testi-monies including that of Jean Vanier, which had been re-corded at Trosly. The mass began and the much antici-pated great moment had fi-nally arrived. A Gospel mime on St Peter’s Square, never before seen, and it was Faith and Light presenting it! The synchronisation with the reading from the deacon was perfect, the actors were all excellent and you could really

see Mary Magdalene dampen-ing the feet of Jesus with her tears, wiping them with her hair and pouring an expensive perfume on them; the indig-nation of Simon the Pharisee was very visible and the expla-nations of Jesus very clear! The homily from the Pope that followed was also very good, he proposed that we use, when faced with our limita-tions, smile therapy, Jesus is the physician who heals with the medicine of love.

Yet what an illusion it is when people today shut their eyes in the face of sickness and disability! They fail to unders-tand the real meaning of life, which also has to do with ac-cepting suffering and limita-tions. The world does not beco-me better because only appa-rently “perfect” people live there – I say “perfect” rather than “false” – but when human soli-darity, mutual acceptance and respect increase. How true are the words of the Apostle: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong." (1 Co 1, 27)!

After the mass, there was the joy of being able to greet

Italy has 68 communities divided into three provinces:

"Seas and Volcanoes" (Italy South)

"Kimata" (Italy Centre, Cyprus and Greece)

"Peace River" (Italy North, Galilee)

Francis and Angelo

1 Discours improvisé et discours offi-ciel: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/june/documents/papa-francesco_20160611_convegno-disabili.html

the Pope, to see the simplicity with which he embraced the persons with disability. I was able, speaking very quickly and in Spanish, to say how very beautiful his words of the previous evening about the access of the persons with disability to the sacra-ments were and confirm our mission; he raised his thumb in a sign of approval! These two days were truly very beautiful and rich with all that happened. It is very im-portant, after having taken part in the preparation of these jubilee days and having been players, after having at-tended in all these beautiful events as witnesses that we widely echo of the words spo-ken by Pope Francis within Faith and Light. What was said in Rome (urbi) must be announced to the world (orbi).

GDC

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A fter about twelve visits (advice, as-semblies, forma-

tion sessions, pilgrimage…) in the Danube zone then province, I now have many friends there. In June, I re-turned there with Uliana, from neighbouring Ukraine: she is the one who is now going to accompany this province. It was happening at Szeged, in Hungary: the arrival was a bit compli-cated because our car broke down on the motor-way, but we arrived safely. The situation that I leave isn’t simple because no-one has agreed to take on the responsibility of coordinating this beautiful province. In October 2015, the communi-ties were taking on their own destiny and had organised their accompaniment based on geographical proximity; this year after six months, an evaluation has been carried

(Etelka), two in Romania with Blanka (Hungarian speaking) and one person to be appointed for the Ro-manian speaking commu-nities. Father Csaba will be the national chaplain for the Hungarian speaking communities;

one national organisation for Hungary with a corre-spondent (Endre) and a chaplain (Father Gábor).

Erika remains province chaplain;

Zsofi will represent the province at the Province Coordinators Council meet-

out. Blanka, who agreed to be the correspondent for the province, has moved and now finds herself far from the centre and does not wish to continue at province level. She will be vice coordinator for the Hungarian speaking communities in Romania. The other vice coordinators came and gave their reports. From these presentations, several decisions were made: six regions have been cre-

ated: three in Hungary (Réka and Gábor, Péter and Gábor, Zsofi), one in Serbia

It happened in Szeged

Reportage Report

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ing at the beginning of July in Poland;

priorities have been defined for the next four years: for-mation and mission.

A very beautiful evening ended this assembly, whose objectives have not all been achieved but it is good to see that the provinces are mature enough to take charge and put the good accompani-ment of the communities as the first priority. This really is the most important thing! Good luck, Uliana, I am sure that you will be very happy accompanying the Danube province!

GDC

The "Danube" province brings together Hungary, Romania and Serbia. Hungary: 20 communities Romania: 21 communities Serbia: 10 communities

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FOR FOUR DAYS, THE PROVINCIAL COORDINATORS OF FAITH AND LIGHT MET NEAR WARSAW FOR THE COOR-

DINATORS’COUNCIL. THE MEETING, SCHEDULED IN OUR CONSTITUTION, IS AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE BET-

WEEN TWO INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS; THERE ARE NO ELECTIONS, NO MAJOR DECISIONS, WE MAKE VERY SIM-

PLE THINGS, THIS IS A TIME WHEN AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IS BEING CREATED (CONSTITUTION IV, 65).

I realized how important that time is for everyone to meet and share, to cele-

brate and pray together! The layout of the premises with a large central hall led to nume-rous meetings, all very rich; it helped make great fiestas, all very joyful; making it possible for us to gather in front of the Grand Cross of Jerusalem for times of prayer during which a spirit of communion was very sensitive.

To summarize, we were like a great Faith and Light community living an excep-tional meeting for four days! To quote but one example, perhaps the main one, the warm welcome of Christine coming from Syria was truly extraordinary: she was able to give her testimony during a

banjo that we have not heard, everything went well! There were about ten cha-plains; they were the ones who showed us the ecumeni-cal diversity of our move-ment; liturgies were propo-sed every morning in diffe-rent traditions; a great ecu-menical celebration, a was-hing of the feet and the sen-ding off mass have brought us together in the same fer-vor around Jesus, him to whom we say: Jesus, you ha-ve called us to follow you in a community of Faith and Light, we want to say "yes" to you.

There would be no Faith and Light meeting without a gospel mime, and there was one every morning for prayer time and during the sending off mass!

morning prayer, of the life of the Faith and Light communi-ties in her country, and we could figure out how strong and solid is what we build in our "small" communities; we build on rock!

If nothing is said in the constitution about the pre-sence of people with an intel-lectual disability in this mee-ting, the Polish local team had taken care to invite a do-zen; a community meeting without our friends with a disability is like an orchestra without instruments.

There was also a band, of course, that animated many times of our meeting; Kirt, who was in charge of it, had well prepared everything but at the last moment, he could not come... but, apart from his

Report

What have you been seeing in Konstancin?

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we tried to discern the will of God for Faith and Light. The main outcome showed several things:

nothing new: almost all of what came out from the sharing groups is reflected in our prayer or in the boo-klet "You will shine in the world like bright stars",

a desire to deepen our spi-rituality: the guidelines 2017-2018 thus will guide us to meditate our beauti-ful prayer,

if our identity has not chan-ged, the world around us

There were also sharing times that were the conclu-sion of what was experienced during the year with the pro-posals of the guideline. So, as required by the Constitution, all together we sought the will of God for the movement, and being in the service of people with an intellectual disability and of Faith and Light com-munities in the spirit of the Charter.

From the same pattern, each day (morning prayer, mi-me and reflection; personal time for reflection in silence; sharing time in small groups),

has changed since 1971 : so we must be attentive to God's call for our move-ment today. The Internatio-nal coordinating team is going to work on this in these coming months.

The coordinators' council is also halfway between two in-ternational meetings and the provincial coordinators were able to know the progress of the projects launched in Leeds after the definition of the 2013-2018 priorities; this enabled to take better account of the reactions and comments of each and everyone one. The large gathering of young peo-ple, which will be held in Spain in early August 2017, was announced and presen-ted; the draft revision of the constitution was the subject of a detailed presentation by the team in charge.

So what have we been seeing in Konstancin? A reed shaken with the wind? People dressed in fine clothes? None of this, we have been:

in a place of rest for all tho-se who are struggling under the weight of the burden, a very light burden when we are several to carry it toge-ther,

in a workshop where the Faith and Light movement

Margarita, Philippines, during the washing of the feet

Miguel, Spain - Kristina, Slovenia - Joanna, Poland - Uliana, Ukraine Kathryn, South Africa - Muski, Spain - Marie-France, Mauricius - Hetty, Netherlands

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of the future is getting prepared...

Welcome back everyone, this coordinators’ meeting was a wonderful event, a mo-ment where time stops and then everyone leaves with joy and energy to share our good news to all in the provinces! The day we left, Kristina recei-ved her monastic habit from her General Superior in the monastery of Poligny in Fran-ce and became sister Anawi-mel, the poor of God. I saw her on my return: she bea-med with joy and her prayers and those of the sisters of the monastery have brought us

throughout our meeting. O Bonitas!

Special thanks to Joanna and her team for having or-ganized everything; everyo-ne was welcome wonderful-ly, and we felt like home in

Polish dance

Mime of Noah's Ark by the polish communities

Denisson, Brazil and Krysztof, Poland

Céline, Guénaël and Corinne

this beautiful house of the Pallottyn Fathers. Dziekuje bardzo!

Thank you also to the in-ternational secretariat, our three super Musketeers: One for all, all for one!

GDC

Sister Anawimel

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Another planet

Thank you for this superb international meeting that will remain etched in my memory. Du-ring these four days, we were on another planet. I give thanks to God for the highlights, the superb meetings. You are beautiful, marvellous. I feel so spoilt to know you. I embrace you with all my affection, in union of Prayers with all those with whom we were, all those who could not come and not forgetting Viviane and her family. I do not forget Henri and Louise either in my prayers.

CLAIRE BOUCHER

"Ile de France West" Vice-provincial Coordinator

Thanks from Christine who came from Syria We are the children of life. We have the hope of once more experiencing hope. During the first two years of the war, the communities no longer met. Now, they are beginning to meet again. I carry here all the Syrian communities. Despite everything, we have joy and hope, like during yesterday’s dance. Thank you to everyone for the messages of friendship and prayer. It is good to know that we are being prayed for. Thank you for the solidarity that allowed me to come here.

Sending mass, benediction of the chaplains

Some numbers

51 provinces represented 91 participants,

8 chaplains, 3 speakers, 8 interpreters (English, French, Spanish, Polish)

19 members of the local team, of which 9 people with intellectual disabilities

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W hen, along with Kirt Bromley, the vice- International

Coordinator who accompa-nies the four provinces of the USA and Canada, we had planned my participation in the USA West province meet-ing at the end of July (to which the participants from the Canada West province were also invited), it wasn’t anticipated that he would not come to the Coordinat-ing Council meeting in Kon-stancin (Poland) at the be-ginning of July. It was not anticipated either that Mi-chael Brault, the USA West province coordinator, would not be able to get on the plane to Poland… The Can-ada West province was also unable to send a delegate… So no participants at this meeting in Mount Vernon, Washington, were able to talk about what happened in Poland, apart from myself. I saw in it a sign of Providence! On Thursday 28 July, I ar-rived at Seattle airport where I met Michael and Kathy Brault. We took the shuttle together that took us to the

north of Washington State, in an 80 hectare area, very out of the way and where an abso-lute calm reigned. Come away to a deserted place, and rest a while (Mk 6, 31): this is what we did for three days, in a re-laxed and friendly atmos-phere. There were fifty of us taking part. There were of course some more studious times: times of formation (accompanying, discernment…), a time when I was able to talk about what happened at the Coordinat-ing Council meeting in Kon-stancin. There were also spiri-tual activities like a washing

Come away...

of the feet, a Gospel mime and the thanksgiving mass on the Sunday, rich in emo-tion for everyone! And there was – of course- a very beau-tiful celebration. After these days so full of sharing and exchanges, I thanked all those who had prepared this beautiful meet-ing; it really was a session very rich in events experi-enced in friendship and com-munion! I bear in mind that these two provinces, marked by communication problems due to the very significant distances, have opportuni-ties to meet allowing this isolation to be broken (Olympia and Bellingham, in the state of Washington, are not so far from Vancouver in Canada; and Winnipeg is not very far from Minnesota)! Next year, at the beginning of August, the two provinces are going to meet for a pil-grimage to Our Lady of the Snows. They will all be very happy to meet up!

GDC

USA West province

Canada West province

Report

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I really want to share with you all about our Provincial Meeting that we had with our province “Heart of Europe”. The

meeting was held in Tainach, Austria, from 26-29 of May 2016. Tainach is a little place at the very southern point of our province, not far from the Slovenian border.

There were a lot of foolish aspects around this meeting. I would say that the road that led us to prepare this meeting was already a kind of pilgrimage. A very important pilgrimage!

When we started to think and talk and pray about it, I myself was very tired and a bit de-pressed by the situation in my province: the lack of new young members for our communities, the lack of people who can take over the re-sponsibility for a community or a country. Our province consists of 4 countries: Germany, Lux-emburg, Austria, The Netherlands. At that mo-ment, at the start of our provincial council, I felt very old and vulnerable and poor and weak …

We started with a Gospel reading of the poor widow in the temple of Jerusalem in Mark 12, 41-44. We were talking of the mean-ing of growing old, ugly and of no meaning anymore for the world… I was telling about my vulnerable mother of 91 years old, she is like a delicate little bird: what can she do, what is her ‘use’? And what can I do? No more than ‘to be’ with her (= essential in Faith and Light) and to embrace her and hug her. Her fragility

brings out in me all the tenderness of my heart... Then we were talking about how we can approach this reality of growing old, this pov-erty in our province. And in a mysterious way there came a kind of deep joy within our meeting. Because is this not the essential atti-tude as a Christian and as a member of Faith and Light? It seemed as if all the stories of the Gospel lightened up and gave us a new view through this experienced poverty. Father Jos reminded us of the old widow Hannah at the Presentation of our Lord in the temple, the feast of Faith and Light on 2 February, at Can-dlemas. Our poverty is not a problem; it is a grace! In my heart - in our hearts - there came a shimmering of joy and sensation that God showed us His mercy through the poverty we are dealing with…

So we found a very strange new courage to go forward and, yes, to organise a Provincial Meeting and to give new life to our province! Even though we realized that we would not be very numerous and that only few would be able to come. We really wanted to let us selves be surprised by everything that God was surely willing to give us through this meeting. The theme that we choose, off course, was: “To embrace our poverty?!” (with a question mark and an exclamation point…)

After this decision there were many more questions: where are we going to hold this

Embrace our poverty?!

Hetty and Marina

Testimony

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meeting? And who can we ask to help us with this meeting? I immediately thought of Tim and Maria Cecelia Buckley, but what a crazy idea! To ask them to undertake such a very long, long travel to Europe, only to be with us for one long weekend… But Tim and Maria-Cecilia said “yes”! They know everything about foolishness: they are in Faith and Light! They could combine it with a retreat in Trosly and … we found totally unexpectedly a sponsor who covered the costs of their flight … So finally, we have held our Province Meet-ing! And it was beautiful! There were more than 60 participants: 14 from Germany, 8 from Luxembourg, 15 from The Netherlands, 2 from the USA, 1 from Slovenia, 21 from Austria and another 9 or 10 people from the neighbour-hood, who came only for an afternoon or an evening, but they grabbed the special atmos-phere of a meeting of Faith and Light, which was very important! The atmosphere was great, the talks of Tim and Maria Cecilia were very deep and at the same time very joyful and creative. We went from our own poverty to the poverty in Fatih and Light, and we were invited to think to-gether about what makes us Faith and Light! Especially what we discovered about pov-erty was very beaytiful. To be human is to be poor, needy, limited, unable to do some

things, and dependent. This is a fact for every one of us. We cannot do and be everything! The first sin is refusing to embrace my being in its littleness, its poverty, and in its inexplicable wonder. Jesus says to us: “Blessed are you who are poor (in spirit), who have embraced your poverty! Blessed are you when you know and live out of the fact that you need God and oth-ers. Only if you can accept this, you can be a disciple of mine and enter God’s realm of Sha-lom.” Tim told us about the 3 phases in poverty: to grow in awareness, to accept my poverty (and overcome all my resistances) and finally to embrace it. During the Mass the priest (who was not in our preparation team) told us about a fourth phase: God breaks through our pov-erty, He breaks us open, every time when we change our regard from our own poverty, lit-tleness and unworthiness and focus our eyes on Jesus. We can do this little movement every time we celebrate Eucharist, with the wonder-ful words of the centurion: "Lord I am not wor-thy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed...” What more is there to say?

HETTY GOMMANS Provincial coordinator "Heart of Europa"

Number of communities in the province: Germany: 10 Austria: 8 Luxemburg: 6 Netherlands: 8

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W e have been committed to the Faith and Light movement since 1990. The creation of a community in the

Paris region then leaders of the "Paris le levant" region, accompanying communities in Ver-sailles then leaders at the service of the "Les Pèlerins d’Emmaüs" (Pilgrims of Emmaus) community in Château-Thierry (France North) for three mandates of three years that ends next October.

We have received a lot through our meetings and during the Faith and Light pilgrimages. We have discovered the simplicity of heart of the persons with disability, their absence of judgement and their friendship. We have experienced “the smallest place” in the heart of Jesus. We have had the joy of giving, of taking “care of one another” and of having a bond of trust with the chaplain, not forgetting the baptisms, the first communions and the confirmations. Graces received.

We have made way for testimonies from people from the community:

Responsibility, a service

I like coming to Faith and Light to share. We pull together. We become friends. I find comfort. We gather our strength for the week.

I like to come to the meetings, it is a joy to meet all together to pray.

We all have a disability because we are sinners.

It is important to recognise our weaknesses, then you have help with the community. You can call for help.

In Faith and Light, I am called by my Christian name and I am happy.

In Faith and Light, I am loved by God. The community is a single entity.

Community prayer carries us, it is a support and brings us closer to the Lord.

All these words do not belong to us, it is the work of the Lord. Thank you.

May the responsibility be always and in all circumstances a “service”. No-one is the owner of his responsibility. This responsibility must always be exercised on behalf of the Church in and through Faith in Jesus Christ.

DANIEL AND ROSELYNE COLOMB

Roselyne and Daniel at the top left surrounded by their community

Testimony

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Experiencing mercy

W e are here to receive. Not to give. We have come to experience this jubilee to be drenched in your love, to feed

ourselves from you. You welcome us and give us a commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. But the love of which you speak is not what we are told: it is something concrete that touches the flesh, the daily devotion made from small gestures in the family that give life every day. You give yourself to us and you ask us to bear fruit by giving ourselves to those around us.

It was with these words that Don Mauro Santoro, our province chaplain, introduced us in the jubilee that the Lombardy communities experienced on 17 April at Soto Il Monte, birth place of St John XXIII.

There were a lot of us, about 240. We spent a day listening to the call of the “Good Pope John” in the sharing. We entrusted to him the smallest of us. In the “Garden of Peace” (place dedicated to Pope John XXII), we addressed our simple prayers to him.

All the "Fiume di Pace" province wanted to experience this jubilee in two stages. The first was experienced in small groups of two or three communities with the passage from Eze-kiel 36, 26-27: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. We asked Jesus to transform our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

The second stage was passing through the Holy Door.

In Sotto il Monte, we reflected on a passage from Revelations (3, 14-22) and from the Gos-pel of John (15, 9-17). The first text explains that it is God who makes the first step towards us: I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in

to you and eat with you, and you with me. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. The Gospel of John gives us the commandment of Jesus and the invitation to love one another as he has loved us. It teaches us that we must stay. God knows that, at times, we can be angry, rebellious and tired. We can also sometimes cry. But we must never feel alone. We must take this road of love: That your joy may be complete. God has loved us first and is never discouraged by us even if there are reasons. He loves us and in-vites us to bear fruit.

Then, on entering the church through the Holy Door, each one of us took a small yellow card matching our feelings at that moment (happy, sad, worried, angry…) that we

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brought to the alter during the Offering. Jesus told us: Come to me as you are, offer me your life, and keep me in your heart. At the com-munion, we received a green card upon which each person could write how they felt after their meeting with Jesus. The transformation may not have been immediate but we brought back with us the certitude that Jesus has loved us first and will continue to always do so even if we are sad or even angry with him.

At the sending off, we received a word from Pope Francis: When we have experience of mercy then life can change. We now know that it is certainly true!

ANGELA GRASSI Provincial Coordinator "River of Peace"

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Summer camp Vadstena is an old town near Lake Vättern

situated between 185 and 300 km from our four communities in Sweden. It is a place central to everyone. A beautiful place to meet! It is the town of St Brigitte, a Swedish saint who founded the order of St Brigitte in 1370 as well as the “Blåkyrkan” church and convent in this town. There were 76 of us, new and old friends, who met in this magnificent spot with great views over the lake. This year, there were a lot of children. More and more young families are joining us and we are very happy about this! The programme was full of joy, music, songs, mimes and the weather was fine at least on the first two days. During the second day, we had mass in the beautiful “Blue Church” which dates back to the XIIIth century. On Saturday, we were welcomed at the convent by the Sisters of St Brigitte. The Sisters were happy to join with us to sing the community song: Through you, through me,

In Sweden, we have fun and pray

through us the community lives… The Sisters told us that one of the best moments of the year was when Faith and Light came here. A young Syrian family who live in Stockholm took part in the camp and church, we met another Syrian family with their daughter. One of the nuns also comes from Syria and she would like to join Faith and Light, so perhaps this is a small seed for a new community? We really enjoyed the presence of our chaplain, Father Lars Dahlander, who was ordained in June. He has been with us for several years whilst he was studying and it is a great pleasure for us that today he is our chaplain. There was also Karin Andersson, a priest in the Church of Sweden and our faithful Father John McCormack who has been part of Faith and Light for years.

Father Lars gave a lesson about Lazarus and his sisters that really touched me. He said that many people came to Bethany because they were sad at the death of Lazarus, Jesus also cried (Jn 11, 34). This reminded me how very sad we are when we lose someone from our community even if we know that God takes care of our friends in heaven. On Saturday, we organised our own Olympic games with challenges like carrying a potato on a spoon, filling a bucket of water with a cup, finding the correct nut for a screw, trying to walk in pairs with a balloon between the feet, discovering what object is hidden beneath a cover… I think that we loved these games more that the real Olympics in Brazil! We really laughed a lot. Not to mention the prizes that we received (sweets) which were really appreciated. In the evening, there was a big celebration with a delicious buffet. We sang, read poems, told jokes, danced, told stories and the Marimba de Floby orchestra interpreted African music to a lively beat and some were able to dance… After these four days together, it was a bit sad to say goodbye to our new and old friends.

Testimony

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But we promised to meet again next year. Until then, we will carry on talking about this camp in order to remember the good times spent together.

BERIT KESZEI Provincial Coordinator "Northern Lights"

A retreat Each year, the communities of the province come together for a retreat during the summer. This year we were twenty of us, from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The retreat was preached by an old friend, former chaplain of Ireland who is now Bishop, Brendan Kelly, on the topic of God's mercy. We were also pleased to welcome Lutheran pastors of the churches of Denmark and Sweden. We took our breakfast in a meditative silence facing the lake. Then we had a time of prayer with Taizé songs accompanied by guitars, viola and flute. And a word from Father Brendan, translated into Scandinavian. After

each speaking time, we met in small groups with two questions. This time was followed by an hour of personal meditation. In small groups of seven people, we could confide in confidence what the speaking time meant to us. We called this time "sharing" and each one of us has found a family. In the youth group of which I was the anawim, the theme of the retreat was expressed with a few words. We made drawings, mimes: the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Good Shepherd... and the Little Prince. Every morning, Leila invited us to do some gymnastic movements. Roland, who was on a pilgrimage to St. Bridget in memory of his deceased wife, heard about our retreat and joined us one morning with a song he had composed in Danish especially for the occasion. We had some other happy moments such as the mime of the parable of the sower performed by Carsten with an umbrella to symbolize the plants and Clara with her butterfly costume!

SIMON GOUGH Coordinator of the Bethleem community, Denmark

Father Brendan and Inge, interpretor

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Publications

Never again alone !

The adventure of Faith and Light "A crazy story”

This ought to have been the title of Marie-Hélène Mathieu’s book because this work is first of all a memory work telling the unlikely story of Faith and Light. For Faith and Light community members, it is a precious work that allows us to return to the instincts of the founders, forty years after the beginnings. For everyone else, it is a book that is very easy to read, full of anecdotes and charged with emotion. The text does not hide the hesitations and doubts of the beginnings and shows how the movement was not planned but how it was truly “inspired”. You will discover those that the world considered “crazy” (Lourdes, 1971) and that God has mysteriously chosen… It is also the recital of a true gift made to the Church, which, when it places at its heart the poor people, finds itself deeply renewed. The great book of a woman of heart and action.

PIERRE DURIEUX Provincial Coordinator "France Loire Rhône Auvergne"

This book has met with such success, not only with members of Faith and Light but also with unknown friends across the world, that it is today translated into six languages (seven if you count the two books in Portuguese): Brazilian Portuguese and Portugal Portuguese, Polish, Italian, English Spanish and Croat. It will soon appear in Hungarian! Next in Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian…?

"Never again alone" is an indispensable tool to get to know ourselves better and to promote us. Every community member should read it! The book is available from the Westbow site: http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000923382/Never-Again-Alone.aspx

Reading this book has reawake-ned so many memories… Forty years after, we still have the cer-tainty of having experienced an amazing event. A love or a life like that between everyone was possible! Josiane, with her disa-bility, was reborn or even she was born. “Never again alone!” is true; we have never left the community. In this book, I have also discove-red all the lengthy and difficult preparation that we were totally unaware of and the importance of the international dimension.

Marcel and Christiane, parents

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A very beautiful booklet has just been published made up solely of the tes-timonies of Faith and Light chaplains and prefaced by Jean Vanier. Sixty chaplains from across the world from different faiths, men and women, bishops, deacons, nuns, pastors… tell us what Faith and Light had brought to their personal life and their ministry. It is a very beautiful tool to promote Faith and Light in the parishes, seminaries, dioceses… 110 pages of faith, joy and light. 6 €

The 2016 – 2017 Guidelines are centred on youth! Each month, we are going to be invited to journey with someone who did extraor-dinary things whilst he (or she) was still young! Young Samuel, Francis of Assisi, young rejected fami-lies, Martin Luther, Berna-dette Soubirous, Kateri, St Faustina, Mary, Father Da-mien, Vladimir the Great and Brother Roger. These people were chosen so that all the continents are repre-sented. This year, it was a Ukrainian team that produced the Guidelines and did the il-lustrations. These drawings transport us into a new world, at times unexpected but full of symbols to be discovered… Have a good year! 2 €

What’s new?

The first booklet of Faith and Light games! The games proposed in this booklet are based on the pleasure of playing, soli-darity and helping one another. It is not about winning but working to create an at-mosphere of trust where each person in the group can express themselves. In these ten new chapters, you will find games to get to know yourself, inside games, outside games, for celebration days and holi-day camps. There are games for everyone! We need your help to fin-ish this booklet! If you know of other games, please send us the rules by email. We will add them to this compilation! Thank you! 3 €

These booklets are available from the International Secretariat or from the little Faith and Light shop on the website: http://www.faithandlight.org/rubriques/haut/publications/faith-and-light-publications

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Family Album

Friends of Our Lady of Nazareth

It has already been two years since I met Marie-Hélène Mathieu at Trosly at a retreat with Jean Vanier during Holy Week. This meeting was a deter-mining factor in my desire to create a Faith and Light com-munity in Vaison la Romaine (France). Last January, the "Friends of Our Lady of Naz-areth" community was rec-ognised in the Rhône Azur province. We returned from our pil-grimage to Lourdes where we celebrated 45 years of Faith and Light. We could not return without demon-strating to Marie-Hélène our gratitude and giving our thanks to her!

Frédérique Aubert

The mother of Mirna

Dear friends, the peace of Christ be with you. I am sorry to inform you that the mother of Mirna died on 26 June in Syria. Let us pray for her.

Angad Edward Vice International Coordinator

We send our sincere condo-lences to our friend Mirna and assure her of our union in prayer.

Didier le Polain de Waroux

Dear friends, it is with great sadness that I must inform you of the death of my husband, Didier. His heart became very weak, an operation had been planned in a few weeks…

He quietly left us on 8 July, in his sleep… leaving his two sons and me in shock at his too sudden departure… Doubtless, his time had come to “go to the other side” and join Laurent in the heart of the Father. The love of Papidou for his three granddaughters will remain forever in our hearts. We entrust ourselves to your prayers. In communion, I embrace you.

Viviane Le Polain Former International Coordinator

Father Guy Marchand

Father Guy has been the chaplain of the “Listening and Friendship” community in Clamart (France) for 33

A new chaplain

Jean Carles was appointed chaplain for the “France West” province on 20 May by Monsignor Dornellas. He is the permanent deacon of the Rennes, Dol and St Malo diocese. We wish him a beautiful journey with the province!

News from Austria

I have the pleasure of an-nouncing that the commu-nity in Inzing in Austria was recognised on 27 May! Alle-luia! It still hasn’t got a name but this is a huge step for-ward!!!

Hetty Gommans “Heart of Europe”

Province Coordinator

The Faith and Light Way of the Cross

Thank you very much for the Way of the Cross. It is a true gift for me, for us and for the communities. Let us all pray with this booklet. In the peace of Christ.

Yoshi Hamamoto Japan

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End of the year “Hand in hand”

It was pouring rain when the members of the Faith and Light community of Rivière-Salée (Noumea) met to-gether on Saturday, August 27th in the parish hall to end the year meetings (2015-2016) on the theme "a year hand in hand." Our goal was to share with as many peo-ple as possible, that friend-ship with the little ones is the source of communion and in timacy with Je sus. Throughout the year we strengthened the bonds that unite us, focusing each month on the identity and the great values of Faith and Light. Celebration, sharing, praise and fiesta were on the menu for this wonderful af-ternoon. A date is taken for 2016-2017 on the theme "You called me, here I am!".

Angéla Dao

Photo © Monique Magulu

years. He had just celebrated his sixty years in the priesthood before returning to the Lord on 18 July. His testimony can be read in the “Way of the Heart” booklet that has just been published. We assure his family, his friends and his community of all our love and prayers.

Cameroon, onwards!

On 31 May, Father Bertrand Ngaleu was appointed as national chaplain for Cameroon by his bishop and will remain in contact with the chaplains of the isolated communities of Western Africa. Let us wish him a beautiful journey in this mission on the most beautiful of the continents!

Welcome to Vincent and Claire

I want to share with you the joy of the Ile de France West province: Vincent and Claire Jacquet have been elected and accepted becoming province coordinators. We had a good day. Agathe, former Vice-International Coordinator was kind

enough to lead a last province election. Welcome to both of them and thank you for putting yourself at our service.

Dominique Pfeffer Vice-international coordinator

The new Guidelines

Hello to all the rue du Laos team. We are joyfully starting our year with the beautiful Guidelines from the Ukraine. We have already begun our collection of unique musical instruments! It’s great! Thank you all for everything.

Christine

Reunion Island

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International solidarity

Projects to be supported

Syria, formation sessions in Damascus and Alep: 3 000 € Ukraine, provincial assembly: 1 300 €

Since March, what have your contributions been?

"Poland West", formation session for young friends: 450 € "Capricorn Africa" and "Africa East", formation sessions: 1 900 € "Reborn" (Brazil North East), provincial meeting, formation session and retreat: 3 375 € "Jesus, Light of the Andes" (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru), provincial meeting : 2 000 € "Open Hearts" (Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Rep. Dominican), national meetings and

formation: 2 350 € Syria, holidays camps: 160 € Egypt, holidays camps: 2 500 €

On line donation: www.faithandlight.org

16-18 September: formation session for the young friends, Poland West province, Kanie Helenowskie

16-18 September: pilgrimage for the communities of UK North UK South, Walsingham 16-18 September: meeting of the Board of Director of Faith and Light international by

video conference 17-18 September: provincial assembly "Mountains and Valleys without Borders" (Switzerland,

French Jura", Fribourg, Switzerland 17-18 September: formation session for the communities for the "Campo Belo" province

(Brazil Centre), Governador Valadares 22-23 September: coordinators council "Southern Cross" province (Australia, New Zealand)

followed by a day of formation for the Nomination Committee, Sydney, Australia 22-25 September: general assembly of the Fede e Luce association, Bari 23-25 September: provincial meeting "Canada East", Trois Rivières 24 September: music festival, "Poland South" province, Lancut 28 September: 45th anniversary of Faith and Light in Czech Republic, Křižanov 29 September-2 October: pilgrimage for the "Poland North" province, Vilnius, Lithuania 30 September: provincial meeting "France Rhône Azur" and meeting of the Board of

directors, Rochefort du Gard 8-9 October: provincial meeting"France Centre" province, Vion 14-16 October: formation session for "Light of the Orient" province (South Korea, Hong

Kong, Japan, Taiwan) Busan, South Korea 21-24 October: provincial retreat " "France Sparkling East" " on the theme :"Blessed are the

merciful", Portieux 22-23 October: provincial meeting "Campo Belo" (Brazil Centre), Juiz de Fora 29 October-1st November: retreat for the communities of France, Mondaye abbey 11-13 November: formation session for the provinces of Poland, Hałcnów 3 December: "UK North" province , Christmas carols in the Streets of York

International agenda

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Marie-Hélène's letter

Mother Teresa, so big and so small

1979, when she received the Nobel Prize for Peace, she dared to confirm to the audience: The greatest destroyer of peace today is the crime committed against the child in the womb of his mother. If a mother can kill her own child, within her, what is stopping us, you and I, killing each other?” In India, when the government sponsored contraception and the sterilisation of women and when it authorised abortion, Mother Teresa, as always, did not content herself with speaking. She took a two-pronged approach: the creation of many centres teaching natural methods of birth control and a huge campaign in favour of adoption. Every maternity ward received a flyer in which Mother Teresa begged them not to eliminate any new-borns: We’ll take care of them.

Her freedom of spirit and word, her determination have somewhat shaken our indifference to ourselves, European countries, who are so often resigned and discreet in the face of the flood of abortion whilst so many childless couples hope to welcome a small child whose parents do not feel they have the strength to keep them.

WEAK WITH THE WEAK Mother Teresa was hit hard by the misfortune

of the western world. A world, suffering much in its way, of which she said for example: In the evenings I have walked in your streets and entered your houses. There is here amongst you another kind of poverty, a poverty of the soul, loneliness and uselessness”. These rich people, stifled by their goods, she did not point the finger at them, did not condemn them. She loves them in their misery and calls them out of their citadels of selfishness, to put themselves at the

I n October 1984, the General Assembly of the United Nations welcomed Mother Teresa. The Secretary General introduced

her as follows: We have the privilege to have the most powerful woman in the world. Five years later, when I met her, at first glance, what struck me, as has many others, was her small and thin figure. However, when she looked at me and smiled, I noticed above all her closeness, her kindness and her mercy. Evidence: if she is really the most powerful woman in the world, it is through the enormity of her heart. On the day of her funeral, 13 September 1997, the whole universe mourned her. In India, all were orphaned and had already canonised her: Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, agnostics and atheists. On 19 October 2013, John Paul II, in declaring her Blessed, offered the world a universal and present mother to every one of us if we want her.

EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE The compassion of Mother Teresa has no

limits. She goes to anyone who is suffering, those with leprosy, who are going to die on the pavement, those who live in misery, illness, disability, drug addicted, alcohol dependant… When she is asked if she has favourites amongst all of those she helps, she answers: "Yes, the poorest of the poor, those who have been abandoned, who no-one cares about." In Paris, in 1986, at the International Conference of the Family, I had been very touched by her impassioned plea in favour of “the small child in the womb of his mother who is truly a gift from God”. Is he not the weakest, having no means to call for help? In Oslo in

IN 1989, MARIE-HÉLÈNE MET WITH THE SMALL SISTER FROM CALCUTTA, BIG THROUGH THE ENORMITY OF HEART. ON THE OCCASION OF THE CANONISATION OF MOTHER TERESA, WE ARE PUBLISHING THIS ARTICLE THAT APPEARED IN ISSUE 144 OF OMBRES ET LUMIÈRE (SHADOWS AND LIGHT).

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service of justice and solidarity and to recognise the poor so close to us that we no longer see them. Perhaps there is someone in your home who feels very alone, much rejected, very disabled. Perhaps your husband, your wife, your child… Do you know?

The poor person are not only beside us, they are within us, a “mysterious suffering”, hidden in our heart and which needs so much mercy. Mother Teresa herself, it has been discovered in her correspondence, suffered for fifty years, a suffering unknown to everyone, a dark night, an agony similar to that of little Teresa of Lisieux. My smile is a great cloak that hides a multitude of sufferings… There are in me terrible shadows. It is only blind faith that keeps me going because in truth, everything is dark for me.

The secret of this life, so humble, in the midst of worldwide fame, so extraordinarily fruitful in the fragility, Mother Teresa has never hidden it. One day, a visitor discovering her in the process of caring for a man with stinking wounds, said to her: Even for a thousand dollars, I would not touch this man. Mother Teresa answered: Me neither, and even for a hundred thousand dollars I would not do it. But for Jesus, I joyfully look after him.” Yes, the secret of Mother Teresa is there: it is her intimacy with Jesus. She lived with Him, in Him, through the Eucharist, through her constant prayer. It is He that she takes care of, it is He that gives a drink to, feeds, to who she gives her dignity, usefulness and it is He that she receives in sharing in an endless exchange of love.