In these weeks of the Festival of Friendship, I have already found myself taking the lessons I’ve learned with me into my daily life. The discussion with Professor Francesca Silano about the life of St. Therese of Lisieux, for example, gave me great hope in our current situation. Like many of us, I have had to adjust to living a smaller and quieter life than I had anticipated due to the pandemic and other unexpected circumstances. Listening to Francesca tell the story of the Little Flower, it really struck me for the first time that we are found even in our littleness. There are so many “pins” given to us to be picked up in the hope of doing a little act of charity, that any of us can do no matter what the limitations!

The exciting discovery of this year’s Festival of Friendship is that even the big problems are addressed with this spirit. Elder care, education, prison reform, and other issues that seem so overwhelming are put into terms of human relationships and friendships. Out of love, people are “finding” people on the margins and building relationships with them, with these little acts of love as bricks. It might seem impossible that a prisoner be given the keys to leave his or her prison, for example, but in the context of a relationship built with love for the person, it happens. In finding each other, a different You is found.

Ian, Rochester, New York