Building peace in daily life

Some time ago, some young men and women from Poland moved into an apartment close to my house. They all lived in one room, and when they weren’t out looking for a job, they were drinking. One of them, a shy young girl, sought help from the nuns who also lived in our neighborhood. In her broken Italian, she confided that she no longer wanted to stay with her friends because she was afraid of what might happen to them all in the future.

The Sisters gave her room and board while they worked at obtaining the proper documents for her stay in Italy. After many months, the official who had been asked to work on her papers had not succeeded in obtaining a permit for her. The Sisters asked me to help them find a solution.
Even if I knew nothing of the existing laws, I thought this was the chance for me to give a hand to a foreigner.

I went to the employment office to find out about the procedures: the request had to be posted there for 15 days, after which it had to be posted at their office in Rome for another 15 days. Because it was holiday season, the office was often closed or the employee concerned was not present.
In brief, I had to take 2 afternoons off work to go to the embassy, the police headquarters, the messenger service to send to Poland the required documents for her visa, and then to the bureau of income tax to get her taxpayer’s code number… What a tough job!

One day the girl asked me, “But why are you helping me?” I replied that as a Christian, I want to do things out of love and that I was not expecting anything in return. I truly felt that by assuming the problems of the person next to me, a stranger though he or she might be, I was actually helping to lay down the foundations of a spirit of brotherhood among all.

After a month, the girl was employed and her situation legalized. In these times when there’s a lot of talk about immigration, I can’t help but think of the endless difficulties faced by foreigners due to bureaucratic red tape, and how they might easily be led to discouragement. I understood how love, instead, is a key which opens every door.

L. – Italy

The regime which my country, Albania, has lived under for 50 years left deep scars in the life of all Albanians, leading them to economic, and above all, spiritual ruin. In spite of such dark trials, the deep-rooted values of my people have remained alive and my family transmitted them to me, together with their faith in God.

The fall of the Communist wall in 1989 provoked a socio-political upheaval here, too. We young people were confused and disoriented. We did not know in whom to believe nor in what truth to hold on to. We were scarred by passivity, pessimism and hopelessness. Deep within me, I believed that the past should not have enslaved our dreams. Actually, I felt that the hope for a new life was my soul’s strongest desire.

It was right during this period that I met some young people. Through them I discovered a new aspect of Christianity: believing in God’s love for each one of us and living accordingly. In God I found the answer to all my aspirations and I began to live the “art of loving” which the Gospel teaches.
However, in spite of my yearning for peace and unity, I still had a large knot inside. The mere thought of the people who led my country to ruin aroused within me a fierce sense of rebellion. How can I forgive them?

But the love of God which has penetrated the depths of my soul, helped me learn to respect and even understand them. Little by little I stopped seeing them as my “enemy”, as I decided to love other people without expecting any return and without differentiating.

I believe that it was my first step in acquiring a peace-building mindset I can spread to those I meet.

R. – Albania