SPAIN!

13^th Stop: Girona, Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Spain

"Evidence is to the eyes of the spirit
what vision is to the eyes of the body"- (Gaudi)

From Augsburg (near Munich) to Barcelona is definitely not a short journey, so I stopped in Lyon for a night. As usual I stayed with the people of the Focolare Movement (1). It always feels like home, even though I don’t know them beforehand, it feels like family.

It feels like family because love exists. Where there’s love, there’s no differences, no divisions, no barriers, no fears, only unity exists- a fraternity continues. A fraternity or universal brotherhood is not something utopic, or a dream, it is reality, it can be reality wherever mutual love is present. Mutual love is where one treats the other as oneself; places oneself in the other’s shoes; sees not only one’s needs, but the needs of the OTHER. 

Girona

Let me share...

So I guess I’ve shared so many experiences of how I’ve loved, how I’ve tried at least, or how I’ve failed to love, but now I’m going to share of how I’ve BEEN LOVED.

From Lyon to Barcelona, I stopped in Girona (1 hour from Barcelona) to visit a friend I knew from Loppiano (2) from the Focolare (1). I had only about 5.5 hours there since I needed to arrive in Barcelona for the night. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted with a great big hug.  Before I could even explain about my trip, I was handed a sack of food, with drinks, sandwich, banana, and chocolate that my friend had prepared.  Afterwards, he explained to me of how he had planned every minute of our 5.5 hours, visiting beautiful places, biking around, walking along the coast, and going to mass. I didn’t even have to think of where to go, what to see because he had thought it all out. He knew how much I loved going biking, so we ventured out to the beach on bikes. Not to mention that the night before, he pumped the tires and checked that the bikes were 100% safe. At mass, since it was in Spanish and I can comprehend about 33%, he translated so I would have full understanding. While we walked around the coast, he helped me take pictures wherever I wanted without me even asking. As the day in Girona finished, he brought me to the train station and wanted to wait until my departure but I was going to be alright waiting myself.

John and I

Isn’t that LOVE?

On my trip to Barcelona, I only found a place to stay because my friend from Girona phoned up and helped me ask somebody he knew also from the Focolare (1). That somebody offered her place to me for however long I wanted to stay. As soon as I arrived after a long long journey to Barcelona, she had the bed ready, with fresh towels on top. Before telling me where everything was around the house for me to use, she offered a glass of water to drink, some delicious peaches to eat, and a couch to relax for a second and watch some soccer “football” action. The next day, she had stayed at home, while I went around the city, and when I arrived, food was ready for me. Before I left to Madrid, she went out to buy me a few traditional foods from Barcelona, accompanied me to the station, and made sure I was 100% okay before we waved goodbye.

me and Concita

Is that LOVE?

While I waited for my train to Madrid, I saw a young men also waiting for his train, and asked if he had eaten anything. I was given so much food from the lady I stayed with, I couldn’t stop but give what I had been given. As I shared with him my sandwich, he told me stories of his country-Sierra Leone.

After another tiring journey, lots of waiting, and endless sweating, I arrived at another place of the Focolare Movement (1), this time in Madrid. I don’t want to repeat, but exactly the LOVE i experienced in Girona, Barcelona, I felt it in Madrid.

On the first night, me and my friend went to a concert- Gen Rosso-international band of the Focolare Movement (1). We were nervous about the train times to get back to our place of stay. As soon as we arrived at the concert, a friend I knew told us that we could go in her car back to where I was going to stay even before I asked.

 Love makes miracles happen.

Even though we arrived back to our place close to 1 in the morning, the lady we stayed with made sure we were fed, comfortable, showered before she went to bed. When we missed our bus, she drove us to the train station. When we wanted to go to a place, she told us right away how to get there, what bus to take, and checked the train schedules. Whenever I was at home, she would always ask if I needed something to eat, offered amazing Spanish food to try, and made me feel so at home.

Is that LOVE?

me and Laura

When I went to Granada, I didn’t have a place to stay and there again, the Focolare family offered their place for me to stay. I left having slept on a bed with ironed sheets, with a sack full of food, and feeling loved to the max. I didn’t know these people the day before, but they’re like family now.

Is that LOVE?

In Girona, Barcelona, Madrid, and Granada the same experience of Love, this care, this understanding, this giving, this sharing, this joy, this happiness, I was so truly LOVED.

This isn’t an utopia, it is real, I lived it in each of the 14 countries, I felt it in each of the 44 cities, I experienced it in each of the 80 days- this universal brotherhood, this fraternity that we are all part of one HUMAN FAMILY.

But one ingredient is needed- LOVE.

So all my experiences of how I’ve tried to love, isn’t just my experience, isn’t just my conviction, isn’t just my revolution.

It is of many, of thousands, of millions that LOVE,

that gives rather than takes,

that shares rather than divides,

that sacrifices rather than indulges,

that becomes selfless rather than selfish.

Me and my bro

We are the New Generation

we live for SOMETHING GREATER-
to bring LOVE to the world

we are in the world but not OF the world.

one of US, BEAU

 (1) Focolare Movement: an international movement present in 182 nations aiming towards an universal brotherhood and fraternity through the way of “Love” and putting the words of the Gospel into practice.

(2) Loppiano: place where I stayed 9 months in Italy to live with people from around the world to learn about other cultures, religions, backgrounds, and more so learning about myself.