I am 56 years old and grew up in Verona, Italy in a very devout Catholic family. Growing up, I received all the sacraments but never lived my faith seriously.

I met Communion and Liberation for the first time in 1998 when I relocated for work in the US. This first encounter happened in Florida in 2000, but I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 2004 and did not continue to live my experience of CL. When my brother passed away in 2008, I went back home for the funeral. He used to attend School of Community with my sister in law. That School of Community is led by Padre Andrea, who also presided over my brother’s funeral.

After the funeral, Padre Andrea put me in contact with a CL family in Cincinnati.
The encounter with those people – starting from Padre Andrea, and also then the family in Cincinnati and the friends I met through them – changed my life and my faith.

In time, I began to participate in the life of the Movement, attending School of Community and other events. The people that I met over these years have become my family, and I am not sure what I would do without them.

With them I experienced that the Christian faith is an event that continues to occur. It happens over and over again, even at this very moment. This family reminds me of this important fact. Two years ago I asked to enroll in the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. I found myself so changed that taking this step was the most natural next step of my life, of my growth in faith.

Shortly after enrolling, one family in Cincinnati to whom I had become very close moved back to Italy. Before they left, I wanted to host them at my house for dinner, but I realized as a single man I did not actually have enough plates to use for dinner with a bigger family, so I went to buy new ones. Recounting this story to a friend in order to laugh at myself, she said, “How is it possible that someone in his 50s can be so reborn he goes out and, for the first time, buys new plates?!” She was right. Meeting Christ changes me even down to the way I want to set my table for dinner with dear friends.

Recently, I went back to Italy for my mother’s passing and asked Padre Andrea to preside at her funeral. I was there for a while, and during this time I had the opportunity to do School of Community with him. With his friends from School of Community, I also went to Giussani’s anniversary Mass. It was amazing to experience the same familiarity with those people as I do every time I am with my School of Community here in Cincinnati. We are one body, and through this experience it became clearer to me that Christ is present always and everywhere two or three meet in His name.

Marco, Cincinnati, OH