GostilyaThe members of the only Focolare Centre in Bulgaria, M. Lucia, Majda, Julia and Ildiko, from Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Romania, recounted: “Just before Christmas we went to Gostilya, a village to the north of Bulgaria, to visit friends who have been coming to the Mariapolis in Sofia over the last years. We wanted to show our gratitude and warmth  by visiting them in their homes.”

“We did not expect to find an almost deserted village,” they added. In fact, out of the 1,500 inhabitants at the start of the 1990s, the population now counts only about a hundred people due to the strong migratory phenomenon. There were about 20 young people. The school, nursery, library and other public facilities have been closed. The Catholic Church reopened three years ago, and the elderly deacon who was ordained lives the spirituality of unity.

NataleBulgaria3“We had prepared a bingo game with gifts for all and a chalk statue of Baby Jesus produced by children. We couldn’t imagine how much joy this would create: they were so grateful that someone had thought of going to visit them. A family that lived 30 km away also came and so did others who travelled three hours by car. The Mayor brought us on a “sightseeing” tour of the village.”

“They vied with one another to give us something: a poor and sickly elderly lady who could not come to the meeting, baked sweet bread for breakfast. Before leaving, we dropped in on her to say thanks and give her a statue of Baby Jesus. She was moved, and listened to our Christmas carols at her doorstep. We also received a huge chicken for Christmas lunch, along with jars of honey and other preserved foods, which they specified to be “ecologically pure.”

NataleBulgaria2After Gostilya, we went to the extreme outskirts of the Bulgarian capital. In Sofia, on 24 December, the focolarine visited a Romani family with seven children, their friends for years now and who they try to help as much as possible. Majda had prepared them to receive the sacrament of Baptism, and another stood as godmother. To stress their love and esteem, the mother called the last child Majda, despite the fact that it is a Slovenian name and thus inexistent in Bulgaria.

Julia, who instead works in a German school, spoke about this family to her colleagues who then donated clothes, foodstuffs and toys. “So we were able to prepare personalized gifts for each one – they said. A teacher asked them to take along her three children aged 8, 11 and 13 years, so they could see another reality, other than their own environment. Strengthened by such solidarity, we left for Botunetz, the name of the district where this family lives. We bought a small Christmas tree, so we could decorate it together. The mother had cleaned the house and dressed the children well, but there was so much humidity, cold and moulds. We passed a few hours with them, decorating the tree, singing Christmas carols, colouring drawings of the nativity scene, and unwrapping gifts. Everyone was happy and there was a real Christmas atmosphere. ”

The same can be said of the traditional Christmas Mass in the jailhouse of Sofia, where a group of the Focolare Movement goes every year together with the Sisters of Charity of Mother Theresa, and for the festivities in a pensioners’ club. They said that this Christmas was one of sharing, in the name of joy, sobriety and solidarity.

 Maria Chiara De Lorenzo

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