An Opportunity to say that “Yes”
“It is not often that we manage to put aside our insecurities and weaknesses to dedicate ourselves to something bigger than ourselves. It is difficult, very difficult. We think and rethink what could go wrong, and eventually we back down. I’ve experienced this a million times. However, the “Lights at Night” vigil which we spent in the Cathedral of Pavia, was precisely that for me. It was the opportunity to say that “yes”, to take a risk despite feeling insecure and vulnerable. I went out and met others, giving them the opportunity to experience what, at that moment, was giving me an almost incomprehensible value and joy.
This moment of prayer and mission called “Lights in the night” is an encounter with others, but it is also an encounter with God. Because who, but He, was at the centre of everything? I met him in the people I approached, in their kind response even if the initiative didn´t appeal to them and in my friends who experienced this with me. Importantly, I met him too, inside the Cathedral when He gave us the energy to go out into the rain again, with more confidence and enthusiasm than before. For after experiencing that kind of love and peace, you just want to go and share it with everyone.
By the middle of the night, the Cathedral was illuminated by many, many candles and with baskets full of intentions, symbols of those who, passed by that Wednesday night, either by chance or by curiosity, intrigued by this church that for once came out of its walls, and allowed itself to be moved and touched. They remain symbols of what love can do when it is truly at the service of others.
Arianna, The community of Pavia
