Rome (Italy). From 20 August to 2 September 2023, the traveling Via Lucis for young people, organized by the Tucum Odv Association, takes place throughout Italy. On Sunday 20 August, at the Angelus, Pope Francis greeted the young participants in the first stage of the journey:
“I greet the young people of the “Tucum” Project, who today start a Via Lucis through the Italian railway stations, to meet people who live on the margins and bring them the hope of the Gospel.”
Now in its 5th edition, the initiative is aimed at young people aged 18 to 35 who, through workshops, times of service and testimonies, and confront the experience, values, and Charisms of the various realities involved, fill themselves with Light in order to take it “to the ends of the earth” (Is 49).
Rome, Naples, Brindisi, Foggia, Assisi, Perugia, Bologna, Milan, Turin are the 9 cities reached by regional trains or buses, covering over 3,000 kilometers.
A first experience proposed to young people, divided into small groups, is the “proximity workshop”, which consists in walking through the streets adjacent to the station, trying to observe with an attentive and docile gaze the poverty – material and spiritual – that one encounters. In a second moment, we get close to one or more people who affect us and talk to them, trying to give what we have – that is, ourselves – according to the evangelical indication, “You give them something to eat” (Mk 6 :37). “A word, a gesture, a simple attention can really make a difference in the days of those who are alone. We carry a note with us to leave them as a reminder of our passage and as a message of hope for the end of the dark moment they are probably living”. This is the explanation of the workshop, which concludes with sharing in the groups what has been experienced and the prayer of the Our Father, placing everything in the hands of the Father.
Eucharistic Adoration is another strong moment that involves the parishes or the associative or charismatic realities chosen in each city. Each stage is accompanied by the presentation of a young witness of the faith, who lived in or passed through that region, who will be a source of encouragement to follow an authentic and courageous path of Christian life.
On 1 September, in the Milan stage, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Community of Mary Help of Christians of via Bonvesin de la Riva, of the Lombard Province of the Holy Family (ILO), will host young people for adoration and listening to the testimony on Filippo Gagliardi, coadjutor, educator of the oratory of Intra (Verbania), and husband, died on 11 September 2013, at the age of only thirty, from a tumor.
Tucum is the Project of which Giandonato Salvia – a young graduate in Economics – is the founder and president. Together with his brother Pierluca, he created the A.p.p. Acutis S.r.l., a social enterprise which, inspired by the young blessed Carlo Acutis, distributes donations to the needy through the “suspended economy”. On 29 November 2021, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, awarded Giandonato the honor of Cavaliere al Merito of the Italian Republic “for his contribution in promoting the social use of new technologies.” On 8 March 2023, at the end of the General Audience, he met Pope Francis, who signed the banner of the Via Lucis.
“This is the Love we wish to proclaim with the journey of the via Lucis, so that whoever we meet can know that they are loved in the simplicity of a thought, a gesture, a word. It is a journey that invites us and helps us to purify our hearts and eyes, so that we can learn to recognize the Father’s Face in the faces of the least and of the saints who are in heaven and on earth. It is a journey that makes us discover the Church with many different charisms and talents, placed at the service of the Good to bear fruit!” (Giandonato and the friends of the Via Lucis).
