The 35 participants of this 'Larinese' adventure (we met on the hills of the town of Larino, in southern Italy) are part of a 'chat' which actually brings together people (253!) who in their youth - have lived a strong experience together in the Focolare Movement with the intention of making the flag of unity fly high among peoples and spending their lives for this noble ideal...
The recomposition into a group of many people who now find themselves scattered to the four corners of the earth and who have undertaken paths very different from the religious ones, is the result of a challenge that one of them started about three years ago, to first connect to himself and then to those friends who had shared that youthful experience with him. And to everyone's great surprise and wonder, the group magically grew...
What has characterized the vitality of this group in recent years has been the desire to be present - to the extent possible for what the platform allowed - to everything that was happening in the meantime in Italy and in the world, not least the war between Russia and Ukraine. There are various initiatives undertaken, even in times of Covid, but in these lines we would above all like to focus on what these days experienced "together" were like, by some members of the chat.
During the days we lived in Larino we spontaneously wanted to be guided by a single rule, the golden one: "don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you" (which is enough and more...) and that of welcome, of us and among us but also with all those who have touched or intercepted this peculiar group of people...
Even in situations of relaxation, cultural and historical learning, sharing food and refreshments, ideas have spontaneously emerged, but even before that, life paintings based on simplicity, hope, beauty...
Yes, Beauty itself reigned supreme, now glimpsed in the mild and contagious smile of Don Peppino (of whose experiences of strong social solidarity many were already aware, but validated and made 'flesh' by his presence in this assembly), now captured in the passionate words of the 'guides' who illustrated the riches of a luxuriant nature or a glorious historical past of the town of Larino,
In short, more than a holiday together, it seemed like a 'reunion' between people who had a soul capacity in common, despite coming from even painful experiences: failed marriages, separations, abandonments or from experiences completely different from the religious one, capable of throbbing for the beauty of an 'us' that does not require particular personal knowledge or belonging or militancy of any kind, rather the willingness, then demonstrated by the facts, to shed those 'social' masks that one is sometimes forced to wear and experiment with.
It was spontaneous upon returning home to contact each other to find out if the friends' trip had gone well, like family. In short, to put it in a more... poetic way: 'omnia vincit amor!'
Obviously we agreed to meet at the next 'reunion'.
Adriano Pischetola and Gennaro Lamagna
