Sengsoury Francesca Cheangsavang

Hers is a moving story. It began when her parents, who were still quite young, swam across the Mekong river, fleeing the regime in their country, Laos, to reach Thailand. Eventually, after enormous challenges, they landed in Italy and were welcomed by a family they hadn’t ever met who live in Loppiano, the Focolare’s international community. And it was right there at the house of Raffaella and Roberto Cardinali that Sengsoury (which means “ray of light” in Laotian) and her twin sister Sourinia came into the world on September 12, 1979.

Ever since she was small, “Senny” showed a special fondness for the Gospel spirit of unity and love that fuels Loppiano. When she was 9 she asked to be baptized, choosing the name Francesca. Becoming involved enthusiastically in the Gen Movement, when she became a teen she was on the front line with Sourinia preparing Supercongress 1997.

When she was 23 she achieved her dream of spending the entire year at Mariapolis Lia, the Focolare’s Argentinian little city, where young people head to from all over the world. It was an experience that brought her to a more radical choice of God, and to choose a love that was more practical and polished than ever for those she met.

Sengsoury loved to write poetry and lyrics that she sang together with her sister, accompanying her beautiful voice with guitar. She enrolled in beauty school in Florence. Those who know her describe her as a girl who was fascinating because of her perceptiveness, natural grace and radiant eyes. Yet she was also a person whose determination to follow Jesus could floor you. She and her boyfriend Marco became close and began to make plans for the future.

In 2004, when she was 25, a sudden, serious autoimmune disease changed her life. Four years later she dictated a letter to a friend for Chiara Lubich where she described her situation:

“I have a rare disease that has made it difficult for me to get around, to use language. There’s a lot of pain – sometimes shooting pain – in my bones and muscles. “These last few years, thanks to the support of my ‘grandparents’ Raffaella and Roberto, from Focolare young people and from many from the movement, I tried to transform these moments of pain into ‘drops of love’ for Jesus, including the long stretches in the hospital, tests and medicines.

“At Christmas I checked in to a facility near Florence for therapy. However, bronchitis forced me to return to the hospital. I suffered a lot, and not just physically. I asked myself why it was me in this situation. I am the youngest in the ward, I have to be fed by tube and wear an oxygen mask. I have seen many of my dreams shattered: getting married, a career, travel, guitar, singing.

“Sometimes I feel that Jesus is so far away. I turn to Mary, but she too is not close to me. Yet answer always comes: from a reflection, a spiritual writing, or a word from those who come to visit me. Peace returns, and with it the strength to say ‘for you Jesus; in every situation, like a sleepless night because of the pain. I don’t want to give up, and I ask Jesus to help me make it and to fulfil God’s design for me. I want so much to become a saint!”

The Focolare community got involved in many ways, from moral and economic support for her parents to taking turns at her side, even to celebrate and share. From her bed, Sengsoury spread a special love.

“There is only the present!” she confided to a Gen. With her feeble voice, she started to sing “O sole mio” to Jesus. She was more and more determined to offer him every suffering and transform them – as she used to say – into ‘golden nuggets’.

On September 16, 2008, she began intensive treatment. In the days before her passing on September 24, she became more than ever that “ray of light,” dispelling every darkness with many a “yes” to Jesus. Those near to her sensed it through a hint in her eye or a squeeze of her hand.

For them, for the ward staff and for all the young people of the movement, Sengsoury is – as her name says – a true ray of light, a vibrant light, an authentic witness of the Gospel lived.