Sharing, prayer, service: the three pillars of all the experiences of the Sisters of Charity with young people. Pillars that, in Termoli too, we did not miss!

In the previous months

We want to leave the floor to the young people, but first we will share with you how we came to organise this experience.

Once again this year, the proposal of the Alternative New Year’s Eve in Rome, at the canteen at Termini Station, arrived on time. The young people and the sisters of the Termoli-Larino diocese would have liked to participate, but we had some objective limitations, mainly of study and work. The ‘common ground’ of listening to the wishes of the young people was an opportunity for a wonder of the Lord! We helped and supported each other for a ‘madness’, which for us was actually a great opportunity for meeting and communion.

The desire to do something for others on these festive days when it is ‘normal’ to think ourselves happy with the people we love was too strong! So why give up? If Muhammad does not go to the mountain…the Alternative New Year’s Eve goes to Termoli!

We were thus able to realise a “mini” Alternative New Year’s Eve. “Mini” because it took place in a little less than 48 hours, from the evening of 29 to the morning of 31 December, “Alternative New Year’s Eve” because it did not lose its fundamental characteristic of being an alternative to the traditional New Year’s Eve and, as per tradition (ours though!) the alternative is represented by the poor…starting with the characters that were chosen to accompany us on this journey: the shepherds.

sister Jessica and sister Giulia, Termoli

The torchlight procession in memory of the homeless who died on the roads

On the evening of 29 December we began our experience by taking part in the torchlight procession organised in the city to remember all the homeless who have lost their lives in recent years, to shine a light on a reality that seems invisible. At the end of this we gathered “in the fold” of our Caritas community, and gave ourselves some time to look into the eyes of those shepherds whose personalities questioned us in our deepest identity: “And who are you?” was the question with which we went to sleep, after having adored together the Baby Jesus laid in the manger of the crib.

“Finding myself before the shepherds made me question a lot: “Who are you?” “Where are you on your journey?” It was a little painful to learn that there is a desire for something great, to walk but there is still nothing clear about how to realise this desire.”

Face to face with the Gospel

The next morning we continued on our way – by now we really felt like shepherds! – and we met in our Termoli-Campolieti school community. Our shepherds continued to guide us, staying with us in an extended prayer time with the Word. Later we shared what the Spirit had breathed into us during our time of intimacy with the Lord. In the afternoon, we immediately set to work to prepare a time of sharing that we would experience in the evening with our friends from Iktus, an “educating community with prisoners” that for several years has been part of the circuit of the Pope John XXIII Communities, a reality that welcomes men who have just been released from prison or are serving an alternative sentence to imprisonment in the community.

With the Iktus community, an educating community with prisoners

As Franco, the community leader, likes to say: “Here there are no gates and bars. Everything is open so that everyone feels free to leave whenever they want. But in the end no one has ever escaped”. It is not the first time we have gone, so by now we feel…at home! After a moment of Eucharistic adoration and thanksgiving for the year just gone, in the beautiful chapel built – not by chance with discarded stones – we composed our personal Te Deum, in communion with the guests of the Piccolo Rifugio di Milano, who compose it every year.

Afterwards, laughter, guitar, chatting and karaoke gave the right seasoning to the dinner we shared, each of us bringing something. At the end of the evening we said goodbye but… with the promise to see each other again soon! “You can also come every day!!!” someone shouted to us as we left. “Meeting the last ones helps you to see God, to give thanks, to love”.

And so we arrived, after only one and a half days at 31 December, although the intensity makes us feel that much more time has passed) at 31 December. We “shepherds” carry with us a small sheep of DAS, different from each other to remind us that all our uniqueness and diversity have in common the most important thing: Him.

“The importance of having shared this experience with others and being able to recognise how God works in the lives of those who walk with you was perhaps the most beautiful part of this experience”.

In the Caritas Canteen for the News Year’s Dinner

Before we go, however, we serve the New Year’s Eve dinner at the Caritas canteen and have a chat with the guests, who, thanks to the small number that they are, we manage to call almost all by name, wishing each other that it will be a good year, in which every man and woman (starting with us) can go from being shepherds to becoming angels proclaiming the Good News.