Crumbs of heaven

Andrea Lanfri – Paralympic athlete – at a certain point in his life he lost his legs and fingers due to meningitis, but he did not abandon the sport for this, he learned even with all his prostheses to climb the mountains tallest in the world and now he says to touch the sky with his three fingers. When he came to the Arsenale dell'Armonia to tell us his story, our guests were quickly won over: Aizada – for her it is already an unthinkable effort to climb the tower of the Hermitage with only one prosthesis – her eyes were dreamy, and Subkhidin , who has similar problems, instead did it stubbornly and sweating all the way to the top for the feast of San Giovanni: he absolutely had to see the fireworks! Our boys are like this: hanging between life and death, between what seems obvious to us and what may no longer exist at any moment, such as the possibility of standing on your own legs...

The tumor is an unexpected and never welcome guest yet it never comes off and eats you inside, it is silent for a while and then it makes itself felt again; if at the checkup there is a strange speck in the CAT scan, days of exhausting waiting follow until you discover that they were only traces of chicken pox, you can go home peacefully, at least until the next checkup. But isn't this life for everyone? Even if we do everything to forget it, our days are numbered and there's not even a moment to waste, yet we can't resign ourselves to nothing, because we are made for something else, we have a throb of eternity in our hearts. Crumbs of heaven descend to earth every time a girl decides to spend her time for another, glimpses of eternity pass through the eyes of two lovers who extend their love to those who bet on life every day.

As has been happening for six months now with the new, little inhabitant of the Hermitage: we call her The Little. This little creature is filling the life not only of her family , but of all of us; she comes to church and she really likes to sing, she dispenses smiles and joie de vivre to anyone. For her, every little thing is an incredible discovery and every new gesture an immense conquest. She is learning to hold objects in her hands and not let them slip away. Even walking is one of those skills that we take for granted, but which were epochal progress for each of us as children. For some people, like Andrea, Aizada and Subkhidin, it continues to be a challenge. But La Little, who is learning with all her strength to hold life in her little hands, with her smile makes us understand the joy of God, happy with everything he has created, in love with each of his creatures, whether they have three or ten toes…


Maria Claudia Brunello
NP October 2022