It was a living experience of the Church that was very important for them, a unique experience in their life that they will always carry in their hearts. That is how the family from Colombia described their experience – María Angélica, a dentist, and Luis, Director of the Ethics Department at the University of Gran Colombia, and their two sons of 18 and 20 years. From October 4^th to the 25^th, they attended the Ordinary Synod on the Family “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world.” They have been working for families for over 20 years in connection with the Focolare Movement, accompanying couples in the process of preparing for marriage, and for the years that follow when the inevitable crises threaten to deteriorate the sacrament and the love. You had an active role in the work of the small groups. Which moments seemed important to you in making a contribution to the Synod? The experience in the small groups was quite beautiful, because we were able to offer our own experience and that of other families, presenting what we wish to live as a family: the dynamic of love that is lived in the Trinity – in which each of the Three Divine Persons is Love for the other. This is one thing we were able to contribute. Also: emphasising the importance of the Eucharist; we highlighted the need for the presence of Jesus amongst families through mutual love; and so we shared with them about the times we have asked forgiveness of one another when there was not full unity.   Another contribution was the point about divorced and remarried couples. It is important to feel a particular love for these families. And that according to the measure in which the experience of faith in them begins to grow – accompanying them to the point that they feel that Jesus is also in their neighbour, in the Word of the Gospel that is meant to be lived, in the community that lives in mutual love – their nearness to Jesus grows.   We felt that one important point to be presented to the Synod fathers was Jesus crucified and forsaken, since He took upon Himself the sufferings of humanity. In Him we see the one who was betrayed, humiliated, feeling alone, abandoned, culpable, left without an answer to His question. We are all joined in Him because He lived through all that, and in Him we can have this unique communion wherein all are contained in this yes to Him. This was our proposal: that there is no difference between the family that has not suffered failure and the one that has, because we have all feel accepted by Him. We described the experience of many families, also in the Movement, in which they had said this yes with the pain of not being able to receive the Eucharist, but still knowing that they were called to holiness. Therefore, they are not excluded from the invitation to holiness. As Pope Benedict once remarked: they highlight the beauty of the indissolubility of marriage; they are also builders of this indissolubility, so they make a huge contribution as they grow in this yes. At times, it’s a matter of understanding the deep meaning of the sacrament. For many people of our day the sacrament of matrimony doesn’t say much, also because the couple has not been provided with an adequate formation, neither by parish nor ecclesial movement; whereas, it is a part of the journey of every human being to understand how to be human and to discover the transcendent dimension within oneself. It needs to be discovered how this sacrament can help in forming a family and why, through the family, we are responsible for children.” One day, coming out of the small group session, you felt the wish that the bishops would comprehend your deep love for the Church. . . “The relationship and the dialogue with the bishops has been drawing us closer and closer over the past few weeks, closer in knowing one another, listening to one another, also in trying to be ‘mothers’ towards them. For example, if they had a cough, a cold . . . we wished that they would be able to feel that we families also love the Church as they do; that we suffer for the Church as they do; that we also give our life for the Church. We’re on the same journey. As Chiara Lubich once told us: each one of us is like a piece of a mosaic, so our value lies in helping to create the beautiful reality that is the Church. It was very important that this was said – and heard.” One of your own offerings was included in the final document. “Yes, in the final small group meeting the relator asked if we would describe our experience as a family. Then, what was proposed for the final document also contained what each one of us had said. You can’t even tell, really, what was proposed by a family and what was proposed by a Synod father: it was everyone’s proposal, unanimously agreed upon.”  What would your wish be for the conclusion of the Synod?  “Many best wishes! The hope that, little by little, all families will discover the richness contained in them, no matter what their situation – ‘regular’ or ‘irregular’ – if they live as a real family, to make society better: for the growth of humanity.”