During these four days, the Basque friends proposed a journey with moments of reflection alternated with the visit to the venues of some social projects in Bilbao and the presentation of significant places of a city in transformation. Everyone’s eyes were able to capture some peculiar elements of this popular process of citizenship: the attention to different situations of social exclusion as a reading of today, the diffusion of small projects in various points of the city, the construction of a network accompanying everyone’s change, the close relationship with the public social services to which the financing and access rules are linked, the renovation of buildings that pass from institutional and celebration places to places of life, the essentiality and everyday life of relationships with the people of the neighborhoods so that they can feel at home.

Tutto questo non dice solo di uno strumento organizzativo, ma è la traduzione di una spiritualità intesa come umanizzazione che si realizza. Su questo aspetto della spiritualità si è aperta nel gruppo una riflessione su un ritorno all’unità, all’essenzialità dell’essere umano (quali parole sulla propria vita, quale capacità di resilienza, di riduzione del male, di abitare il Silenzio, di cura delle ferite, di pienezza di vita) che precede le appartenenze religiose, le diverse spiritualità (clarettiana, gesuita, ecc) e che nasce dalle piccole storie. Tra le pratiche condivise l’ascolto, una relazione di cordialità, di comunicazione in libertà, la normalità delle diverse tradizioni religiose nella ricerca di significato, la benedizione di ciascuno su tutti.

The significant question is to be around and how to be inhabitants of cities with other men and women who live there and how to dialogue with them starting from difficult and opaque situations.

The floor of the building where we lived is the most eloquent sign made by the Claretians of Euskal Herria: the transformation of the whole building for social works (from the night, to food, to looking for work, to the protection of rights, to the acquisition of documents and of ownership). The Claretian community is included in the construction and systematically collaborates with the Lay Claretians and with the local authority.

The writing of a narrative text that tells and offers elements of understanding of the experience of these years is the commitment proposed for the next months. The journey together continues: the next gathering will be in Vic (Spain) at Casal Claret from 10 to 13 July 2018.