This is a small collection of excerpts from emails or texts received in recent years from friends who have attended or attend the Turris groups in the various headquarters in Turin, Genoa, Rome or Milan.
“For me, Turris is a place where tenderness and strength meet. A place where a large family is created based on the sharing of values and ideas that sometimes conflict with common opinion. Turris taught me how to fly high without detaching from the roots, what means to love and have faith, how to get ready for the future, how to make the heart communicate with the brain, and many other things that would form a long list but would all come to the same conclusion: persevere, preserve, love and hope!"
“Each of us is like a house that is built year after year. And it is made up of floors, pillars, bricks .... And everything good, useful and useless, you want to put into it.
Turris was for me a part of those bricks that created the house I am now. And I feel like I'm a solid home. I wouldn't be the same without the Turris "bricks".
May it be a good road!"
"Turris is an invitation to recognize, thank and cherish beauty"
"Turris is learning to look at the circumstances of every day with the eyes of Mary, sweet and strong at the same time!"
“Turris was a wonderful training ground for friendship. It taught me to communicate but above all to grow by taking the best from each and helping others and myself to understand what I wanted and what was important, without closing myself in selfish relationships .... when the choice of the other person has occurred, life as a couple has always been and still is open to others, to understand how to improve and help or be helped, so that none of us is an island and never stops growing. "
"It is necessary for the Turris to exist because within the Church it hasn’t yet been understood the great need to announce clearly and forcefully that preparing for spousal love is decisive for one's own happiness and the good for the Church and society."
“The Turris is the hand of the Virgin Mary who reaches out to young people and reveals the meaning of life to them
Turris = true joy, true beauty" (a priest)
“The Turris was my lighthouse. I’ll never thank enough all the people who, without ever expecting anything in return, have just given and formed us. "
“In these days, forced at home, I started tidying up the drawers and many memories related to Turris came out ... everyone has a nostalgic thought of the moments spent with you, both alone and with my children. Now that so much time has passed and that life has taken us through its ways, I often think of the serenity you gave me, the questions you all made me ask myself and your enormous availability. I embrace you all virtually and will always thank you for walking a little with me. Best wishes for everything and everyone .. "
"I am deeply grateful to Turris for all that it has given me and for how it has accompanied me so far. I ask the Lord to live the preparation for the sacrament of marriage with grace, strength and purity to build the "we"!!! Thank you very much" (a girl on her wedding’s eve)
"I am more and more aware of how much this work is of fundamental importance, and I am more and more happy to be an instrument of it.”
“Many years have passed but you are still in my thoughts. I have been married for almost 10 years and we are parents of two girls. I often think of Turris, our discussions, the meadows in Champoluc, the fashion shows, the WYD in Rome 20 years ago! In recent times, due to a series of fortunate circumstances, encounters and aspirations of the heart, our paths have crossed the path traced by Humanae Vitae and the theology of the body of John Paul II..."
"Thanks!!! As never before has the need for TRUE THINGS been felt so much!!! Great is your work! I can assure you that my humble prayer is often addressed to Our Heavenly Mother so that she can always accompany Turris in this “Missionary” work among the young!"
“Thank you thank you thank you always for these letters that open the heart.
This time I was particularly moved, because you sent us Don Peyron's homily of 26 July 1976 in Champoluc: I had been to the camp a couple of weeks before ... I remember everything, everything remained inside me ... especially those Masses that I was waiting for with joy... I was 15 years old...
I pray for you, for this splendid mission which, despite my troubled life, has constituted and continues to constitute a fixed point in my spiritual and human life and which you carry out with courage and wisdom. Holy Mary, take us by the hand. (Anna)
"After the last monthly letter that reported various episodes of Turris, I want to thank you! For a moment I relived those beautiful moments spent in the distant summer of 83 in Champoluc, every BEAUTY experienced is our treasure forever!
I vividly remember you all, busy, making that holiday comfortable and tasty, Don Peyron's unconditional faith that erased all doubts, the confrontation on the "problems" of the time with the welcoming and helpful Don Antonio, trips to the mountains with dear friends and so much more that it has remained indelible, alive and fresh in the heart! A big THANK YOU from my heart."
"I remember the first 27 as a big question mark, yes ... having to say a Rosary ... “What will that be?”, I wondered ... if I only think that today it’s a prayer that stimulates me a lot, makes me cry, makes me laugh, makes me say thank you anyway and always; And slowly between a 27 and another and the moments at Mass in Champoluc, I learned to understand what was the joy, the happiness, the richness of faith!!"