English 
I attended the Mission Festival in Turin, October 9-12, a deeply moving and enriching experience. In the word festival there is “feast,” and really these days were a feast of the heart, of faces and of fraternity lived in the simplicity and joy of the Gospel. Turin, with its history, its modernity and its social saints like Don Bosco, Cottolengo and Piergiorgio Frassati, became a great common house where faith, culture and solidarity were intertwined in a single song of hope. The Festival opened with a lay pilgrimage through the human peripheries of the city: mental health, migration, addiction, education, prison and loneliness. Walking together was a way for me to “walk through” the wounds of the world, understanding them with compassion. The theme, “The Next Face,” deeply questioned me: no longer “Who is my neighbor?” but “Who do I choose to approach?” I understood that mission comes from getting close with love and being willing to say from the heart, “Here I am, I am there.”
During the Festival, I heard moving testimonies such as that of Diane Foley, mother of the journalist killed by ISIS, who chose forgiveness, and witnesses of peace from Palestine and Israel. Their pain turned into hope touched me deeply. As a member of SUAM National and GIPIC, I participated with Missio Ragazzi in the animation in the squares, experiencing moments of joy and creativity with the children, who reminded us that mission is a joy to be shared. A powerful moment was the concluding Eucharistic celebration in the church of St. Philip Neri. Cardinal Roberto Repole‘s words, “We need to feel compassion,” struck a deep chord with me. And again, “The other looks at me and concerns me.” These phrases made me realize that mission is not just doing something for others, but living with others, sharing their joy and suffering, letting oneself be transformed by their gaze.
In those days I saw so many faces of mission: religious, lay people, families and young people united by one passion, to build a more fraternal world. Returning to my community, I carry in my heart the certainty that mission comes from encounter: from time, from listening, from compassion. Only in this way can we be near faces, witnesses of hope and missionary disciples in a world that awaits love.
Sr. Susila Pillai, Italy
Sr. Susila Pillai, Italia
