When life presents us with challenging and unexpected choices, which may even frighten us, our values and the desire to live them consistently emerge clearly.

It's not always easy. Our response in a situation that requires a free and personal decision can seem like a difficult gamble, almost a leap into the void, and we need the strength to push beyond our limits.

But where can we find this strength? For some, it is faith in a supernatural dimension and in a personal God who loves and accompanies us. For all, it can be the closeness of friends, of "travel companions" who support us and make us feel their closeness and trust. They bring out the best in us and help us overcome the seemingly "impossible" nature of our incapacity to achieve the "possibility" of a coherent life.

It is the consequence of the community dimension that is the fruit of relationships based on reciprocity. As Chiara Lubich said in 1948, in the language of the time: "And onward! Not with our own miserable and weak strength, but with the omnipotence of unity. If we remain faithful to our motto […] the world will see unity."[1].

Pushing our limits opens us up to new opportunities and experiences that might otherwise seem beyond our reach, allowing us to believe and witness that all hope is possible.

But is it feasible to believe "that everything is possible" in the face of the absurdity of Evil? This is the great question facing humanity today and always. An unanswerable question that unites everyone, believers and non-believers alike, in a quest that can only be undertaken together. Because if "Evil" remains a mystery, the force of "Good" is equally powerful. There is no answer, only a horizon of meaning.

This was reaffirmed in a recent interview by Edith Bruck, who was deported to Auschwitz at 13 and who today, at 92, remains a true witness to peace. When the war ended, she and her sister faced the dilemma of their lives. "Five Hungarian fascists who had supported the Nazis begged us to help them return home secretly, and we helped them along the way. We shared bread and chocolate with them. That was one of the most intense moments I've ever experienced spiritually. I was treating someone who could have killed my father as a friend."The decision was not easy and there was a lot of discussion with his sister, but they did it because they thought that perhaps, this way, those people would never mistreat a Jew again.[2]

^[1] Chiara Lubich, First Love: Letters from the Beginnings (1943-1949), Ciudad Nueva, Madrid 2011, p. 180
2] Marisol Rojas Cadena SER – article about E. Bruck 01/26/2024.