Throughout the world, but especially in Brazil where it was born, we are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Economy of Communion. A project, which, already at that time was called “an explosion”, by those who intuited the capacity it had of its being able to say something new in the field of economic action, putting the person and, perhaps most importantly, those in need at the center of the economy itself. You are Brazilian, from Recife, among the first to come into contact with the spirituality of Chiara. What were those special days like for you? “At that time I was one of Chiara’s secretaries and I joined her on her trip to Brazil. They were truly extraordinary days, long awaited ones. . . I remember our conversations with vera Araújo, Heleno Oliveira and others who were as passionate as I was, among the first group of those who came to know this new life here in Brazil – at a time when the hopes of resovling the social problems which were so overwhelming our country, seemed to be waning. . . We decided to form the “Grain of Wheat Gang” (referring to the grain of wheat in the Gospel that dies in order to bear fruit), prepared to give our lives one for the other, so that one day a powerful solution could be found through this Ideal that had fascinated us so. And the Economy of Communion was the precise answer, and it was like a large explosion in our hearts, reaching far beyond our expectations. How did you feel when Chiara left Brazil in 1991 and what did you do? I had already been a month in Recife, immersed within a portion of humanity that was suffering and thirsting for justice. But now it was different! The very painful situation that I found there didn’t take away my peace. The answer I had been looking for had now been found, on that day when I encountered the ideal of unity in 1958! I wouldn’t know what more to say. Each contact in my native land was fruitful and filled with hope. And to my great joy, I realized that I was no longer the same. I felt like a piece of shrapnel from that explosion.  I can only say that in that moment I saw that it was worth putting all my energy into it. And now we see the positive results in the EoC throughout the world, recognized as a project which is able to respond tot he strong inequalities in Brazil and beyond, and now it has also been welcomed into academic circles as well.”