When our children were little, they involved us in a daily game that we played together every morning before going to kindergarten or primary school. It was about throwing a dice, the love dice created by Chiara Lubich. Depending on the face of the dice that came out, all 4 of us tried to live it during the day. The phrases on the dice are “Love your enemy”, “Love first”, “Love as yourself” …
This dice, for our family, has been a real gym: it has trained us in love, it has accustomed us to trust God on every occasion and to always start again in the face of our mistakes.
Today, even if the children have grown up and the dice is no longer rolled, we try to keep in training both by continuing to live those words personally and by responding as a family to the different needs that we see around us or are presented to us.
One afternoon a friend of mine told me about Roland, who was about to finish his two years at a reception centre and was looking for a place to sleep in order to have time to find work and an apartment to rent.
I made myself available to look for a solution, but after a while we had not found anything and she expressly asked me to host him with us.
I immediately got a little anxious, but then we discussed it all together. Nicolò was enthusiastic.
Many times Chiara Lubich, explaining the phrase “to make oneself one with others” said that it was to feel on one’s skin the pain, the troubles of the other, as well as the joys and conquests. Making the feelings of the other our own.
We felt called to make these words concrete and so we gave our willingness to welcome him. And so Roland became part of our family!

The yes arrived almost in the euphoria of the moment. But after a while, however, all the doubts began. The first of a logistical nature: what kind of accommodation can we give him? Do we move Elena from her room? How do we manage the moments when we as parents are not there? How to “read” the situation. Then came more “negative” doubts about him: but who will this guest be? Can we trust him? Will it be be safe for 16 year old Magdalene and for the more or less things of value in the house? Do we give him the keys and the alarm code? Fears and clichés were beginning to give us doubts.
The other side of the dice that often comes out is the one that says “love Jesus in the other” and so, keeping up this family habit we lowered the barriers that we were building.

Then Roland arrived and from that moment on a phase of knowledge and enrichment began. We were able to get to know him more and more and through him, we were also able to share in the experiences that all these migrants are living in their countries of origin, during the long and troubled journey to get her and even when they arrive. Many times our dinners have become an important moment of exchange and confrontation.

Difficulties are certainly not lacking and above all living together is a school of humility and compromise. Just like any older child who starts to have commitments and to go out of the house, so Roland is always here and there and many times at the beginning we would prepare dinner for him and then he wouldn’t show up. We had a discussion to solve this problem and tried to give an answer by using a group what’s app. and slowly we found a new method of organizing meals at different times. The other difficulty we are experiencing, concerns, finding a home for him. Roland has been fantastic in finding work and therefore has also an income, but the prices of the appartment
market are really high: at the moment we can not find a place to rent that accepts tenants without a permanent wage. We are therefore facing the additional problems of those who, while working, do not have the opportunity to become completely autonomous.

Finally, a touch of humility: the other day we had a dinner at our house while Roland was away for work, we also needed his room and the bathroom he uses for guests and so I started to clean that bathroom. I found myself disassembling and cleaning the various filters in the shower that, as we all know, are never the best… while I was immersed in it, I said to myself, “but just look at this, with all that is said against migrants today, and how much we want to keep them away from us… here I am immersed in cleaning Roland’s things”. At that point I stopped for a second to reflect on the situation I was living and then I said to myself: “I’m happy”.

(S. and A. Italy)