Dr Gianni Caso (on the rigth) receiving the honour

Communion and Law is an attempt to discern those aspects of the spirituality of unity coming from the charism of Chiara Lubich that have significance for the world of law and let them inspire new avenues of research and new paradigms. Dr Caso, honorary Assistant President of the Italian Court of Cassation, is working at the moment in a similar field within the Focolare Movement. He has recently come back from a visit to Guatemala and Colombia where he was able to deepen his understanding of these countries. While there he was the recipient of an honour conferred by the Colombian Parliament upon the Focolare Movement. We asked his reflections.

What can the experience of Communion and Law give to societies struggling with difficult issues to do with the rule of law?

‘The role of Communion and Law in relation to what happens socially, economically and politically in such countries is twofold: it seeks to transform these areas of life and it seeks to rethink the dominant culture and its interrelationship with the society’s economic, political and legal order.

The first of these two things came into light in Guatemala. Here they asked us ideas on how to bring into effect the rule of law so that it could transform a society deeply troubled by injustice and without any guarantee of protection for citizens and for communities.

The second aspect came into light in Colombia, where there is a clear link between a society’s development of an individualistic culture and its economic, political and legal system, since individualistic culture affirms an economic order based on private profit and, at the same time, that kind of economic order promotes an individualistic culture. The consequence is a deeply divided and unequal society, with the formation of a class of rich people together with the exclusion of a large part of the population from positions of responsibility in economic, political and cultural life.’

If things are so tough and challenging, are there any positive signs or chances for change?

‘The strongest impression I had was when I compared the social and cultural situation of those Latin American countries with the current situation in Italy, and generally in Europe. In Latin America there is an extremely powerful “culture of life”. Even though socially things are very difficult because of the tremendous social inequality, leading to poverty and exclusion for a large part of the people, there is a real sense of the desire and the joy of living. This is caused by the huge numbers of children and young people generally (parents, in general, even though they are poor, have great love and care for their children). Here in Europe it looks as if we’re dominated by a “culture of death”: not many children, few young people, an ageing society, many “single” people, closed in ourselves, depressed and lack of zest for life. All of which is clear to those who visit those countries and come back here.’

What is the centre for inculturation? In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi, Paul VI had expressed concern over the split between the Gospel and culture, seeing it as the drama of our age. He therefore hoped that this gap would be overcome by approaching the different cultures with more interest and care. The evangelization of the cultures is, as John Paul II also stressed, is the deepest and most complete for the message of Christ to enter into the consciousness and penetrate the customs of the people, the activities of the people, their institutions and structures. In line with this thinking, in May 1992, during a trip to Nairobi, Chiara Lubich founded the Centre for Inculturation inspired by the spirituality of unity,  On that occasion she identified the goal: to discover the way of dialoging with the African culture and its values in order to promote evangelization among the peoples of the continent.

This year, the focus was on the human person in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was examined from the perspective of the anthropology of the African community by geographical regions; Semitic Biblical and New Testament writings; Second Vatican Council documents and the contribution of the spirituality of unity. The participants also shared a variety of experiences that greatly enriched the academic discussion.

“Examining certain aspects of our culture in the light of the Gospel involves a confrontation of values that are divergent. Jesus is demanding,” explained Vital Muhindo who is from Congo: “The challenges are there: It’s not that the Gospel must enter into our cultures, but that our cultures that must enter into the logic of the Gospel.” In this context Victorien Kone recalled the powerful moment of his six year old daughter’s death. According to local tradition, the little one could not receive a burial because she was still in the process of becoming a person. “How could we give her a decent funeral?” her father asked. “Although still small, Joelle was spiritually a giant! She had a deep relationship with Chiara Lubich. She was loved by everyone, great and small. The funeral was held and attended by many people. It was a sign of life. This way of doing things was a surprise to many, but it also gave a testimony that had an influence on the common mentality.”

This year’s course also included a group of young people of the Focolare Movement from around the world who enthusiastically launched the Sharing with Africa Project, which is one of the many projects of United World Project. Simultaneously, United World Week 2013 was being celebrated inn Burkina Faso where a project was carried out in a pediatric ward of a hospital. In Nigeria there was a Genfest attended by 1,000 Christian and Muslim youths, and in the Ivory Coast the United World Project was presented to the UNESCO National Commission.

As a youth, Lara participated in the first project as “an enthusiastic young girl who sees the bright side of the situation and dreams of an approaching united world”. The meetings are held twice a month: “We discover and explore the similarities and the differences among us”. The meetings deal with various topics in order to know one another: the family, values and upbringing in the different religions, etc …

It’s an important project, but the question that remains is: after these meetings, will we continue to see each other. The experience continues and the project has also helped in understanding the other’s point of view. Lara explains further: “In times of conflict and difficulties, we meet up, share our sufferings, and pray. It seems like a dream that’s distant from reality, but it’s a truth that we live together.” Lara is one among 4 youth who shared their testimonies, dreams and hopes: with her there’s also Hani, a Palestine Muslim, who’s studying law; Huda, a Jew born in New York but who moved to Jerusalem while he was little; Nalik, a Christian from Portugal.

The nuncio, Mons Lazzarotto, in his address to the youth, invited them to “be prophets” to “make this land once more the land of dreamers”. Prof. Alberto Lo Presti expressed this appeal as a ‘Social principle”, that of fraternity, which contains within itself “the power to transform our history”. In answer to this, rabbi Raymond Apple (ICCI) underlined the need to learn to trust in each other: “the road to fraternity is to be able to say: I trust you”. Rabbi Kronish, Director of the  Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), who moderated the event, concluded by encouraging the participating youth to continue to bring this message of hope to all.

We leave Jerusalem with the desire to look up and grow in mutual trust, in order to change history.

New Zealand. “We do a different social project every month. There are many beautiful beaches in our country that are open to all: families, youths, runners and children. Even though the natural environment is generally taken into account and respected, the beach isn’t always clean. We contacted Wellington’s City Council which welcomed our project, supplying us with the tools that would be helpful for the clean-up. A group of youths from Youth for a United World met one afternoon, with rubbish bags and gloves. We chose one of the most crowded beaches. In addition to performing a service for the city, we also built friendships with many young people who got involved in the project.”

France. Following the Tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, we organized an evening of solidarity. During the evening we presented the United World Project and there was an internet link-up with a group of Japanese Youth for a United World. They shared how they had lived through the disaster, trying to help the people around them. We got to know more about the community of the Movement in Japan and their daily life. Some of our friends who were present that night were discovering for the first time the importance of solidarity and the joy that comes from being involved in a project that is geared towards universal brotherhood. The money we raised was sent to Japan to assist the local community.”

Italy. “My mother who is 94 years old, was rushed to the emergency clinic at 11:00 at night. My sister and I were worried and displeased when they asked us to leave the room, and our mother was left alone. A boy was seated beside us who looked like he wanted to talk. We asked him why he was there. His mother had perhaps suffered a heart attack, he told us. When we were allowed to visit our mother we found that she was in the same room as the boy’s mother. Thus we were able to bring the news to him and the husband who was seated in front of us. Then the boy went into the room and, in turn, brought us some news about our mother. The father – who was sitting there silently – began to speak with us of his work and the problems he was facing. Two hours later both our Moms were released. As we said goodbye to each other, the boy said: ‘It was a pleasure talking with you! I hope we can meet again!’ Our own anxiety had disappeared. Our personal pain and worry and we experienced that these can be overcome by loving the people around us.”

Ivory Coast. “The young mothers with children were not able to concentrate to focus on their work in the fields. So they decided to help each other by taking turns watching over the children. Before  going to the fields, they now drop off their children with two of the other mothers who stay in their homes that day. They prepare the meals and stay with the children for the entire time. And a great trust has been born among this group of mothers.”

United World Project ¦ Facebook

See video – Franciscan Media Center

Berlin

By means of video clips and some interviews on stage, the organisers of the evening gave a brief vision of the Focolare Movement’s commitment to dialogue on various fronts:  between cultures and religions, in the fields of economics and politics, among generations.

In her address, Maria Voce recalled some important challenges facing today’s society – in Europe and all over the world: material needs aggravated by the financial crisis, reservations in the face of increasing migration, social tensions provoked by cultural diversities and insufficient integration.

“We have discovered dialogue as the highway which can be travelled with hope for success for all those who want to contribute to bring about universal brotherhood”, explained the president. “Dialogue is a style of life, a new culture, which the Movement can and wishes to offer to today’s men and women”.

If every person allows himself or herself to be guided by the consciousness of being the child of the same Father, and as a consequence of being brothers and sisters among themselves, then there would be the chance to reach a true “dialogue among persons, and not between ideologies or systems of thought”, an exchange characterised by mercy, compassion and love.

Maria Voce regards the media as the most suited means to promote this kind of dialogue, provided the contacts don’t remain “brief, fleeting, lacking sense, restricted exclusively to the virtual domain”. Instead it’s about “transforming contacts into relationships, i.e. building true networks of fraternity”.

The speech was followed by a lively and profound dialogue with the audience: What does one do when the other person does not show any interest in building a fraternal relationship? Is it right to condemn social networks as superficial means within personal relationships? Maria Voce replied in a very practical way, giving examples from her own life and inviting all those present to always take the initiative.

“For me Berlin is a city that displays the wounds of history. However, out here walls were broken down too. And you, citizens of Berlin, offer these wounds and invite others to share the fruits”. This echoes her first considerations on the German capital.

“Maria Voce does not limit herself to theory alone” – affirms Nuncio Périsset, who had received the Focolare president that same morning. “She invites us to break down the walls, to build bridges, and to take the initiative. This is important even in my work as a diplomat. God redeems the world in us and through us. And I have witnessed and lived it this evening”.

Andrea Fleming

Replay streaming event (in English, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, French, Portughese)

On May 1 there will be a flashmob and  a march for  peace in Jerusalem. Thousands of youth  from all over the world will participate in the concluding program through direct streaming. Direct link-ups with Loppiano (FI), Mumbai and Budapest are planned as part of this program.

United World Week, the annual event organised  by the youth of the Focolare Movement since 1996 will start from here.  This is the tip of the iceberg of a commitment to promote unity and peace at all levels. So, “let us be ready” in line with the United World Project, launched  precisely at Genfest 2012.

This broad commitment wants to be an answer to Pope Francis’ appeal to youth: “Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope” and it is a step towards World Youth Day 2013 atRio de Janeiro.

Video:  Franciscan Media Center

Miguel: We are members of a very large Catholic parish near Denver, Colorado. We arrived there from Argentina about 3 years ago. We didn’t know anybody, not one single person in the area; we arrived in the middle of a “snowy” winter, when people – understandably so –tend to “socialize” less. The fact of us being retired didn’t help.

It was a new chapter in our lives, but, as always, a new opportunity to practice the “art of Christian loving”. We sensed immediately that it was going to be a matter of taking the initiative – be the first- to reach out to “strangers”: fellow parishioners, neighbours, etc, in an attempt to get to know and build more permanent relationships with them. So Raya and I said to each other: “We have to be pro-active and creative in trying to create opportunities to do this, not just for ourselves, our “survival”, but to contribute a little “to change our little corner of the world” for the better.

Many of our parishioners were well acquainted with one another and had enjoyed for many years well-established social networks that seldom allowed for newcomers. Our first effort was to deliberately hang around after Mass in order to start a conversation with someone. Our second effort was to meet and greet these folks each week for the next 18 months. I consciously did this by always asking them something they may have shared with me in our previous conversations, and almost everyone always seemed to feel valued

Miguel: I joined a Catholic men’s association where I found myself helping others install big Christmas trees in the parish, , and driving 60 miles to take food baskets to migrant workers in the Colorado corn fields. In most of my conversations, I would first try to talk about what the other guys would feel comfortable with: daily life, Denver Broncos or mountain hikes; trying in other words to make myself “one” with them as the “art of loving” suggests. But then, whenever the opportunity allowed, I would also try to share something from my spiritual life and my experience in trying to live -not just think- in the spirit of the Gospel. Gradually, I could sense their “respect” and friendship was growing, and within less than 18 months, Raya and I were nominated for the Parish Council.

Raya:  A few months later, we were asked by the Church to host a new “small faith community”. Since in all the 80 or so existing small church groups, we had not found any who emphasized the practical side, the connection between Scripture and daily life, we knew that we wanted to focus our group exclusively on this topic so we agreed to host these weekly meetings.

Miguel: About 50% of our time together in the group consists in the sharing of real-life experience in the art of loving so that the abundance and diversity of opportunities to love our neighbors can be universally appreciated. After a while people in the group also started sharing their own experiences of living the Word. One, for example: George, a computer engineer, shared one day: “Since I saw this new approach to the Gospel I realized that I had to change my relationship with my customers and colleagues, by being more attentive, 100% present in each moment, in dealing over the phone with anxious customers whose computer systems were not working, or by taking without the usual ’lamentations’ more complex jobs which my colleagues or boss would send in my direction.”

Raya: Eventually, I began to notice the power of this kind of sharing in helping to inspire others to live more authentically. One lady immediately realized that being a good neighbor was something that she and her husband could easily do—after all almost everyone has a neighbor or two. So, she recounts, “We took the initiative and went together to speak with a couple with whom we had only a casual encounter before. We soon discovered that the wife was about to undergo cancer treatment, and that the husband was quite anxious about it. We volunteered to prepare meals for him while she was in the hospital, we brought her flowers when she returned home, and afterwards I was able to share with them information gathered from my own workplace regarding many positive outcomes reported for her very kind of treatment.”

Miguel: But just having group meetings as you may all know is not sufficient to create a community – we also need to experience a sense of “family” among the members by relating one on one-personally- with each other and repeatedly. So whenever, our regular meeting schedule was interrupted, we would encourage group members to do something individually with another group member and to keep in contact with one another through telephone conversations at least once monthly. In addition, Raya and I regularly tried to model this individual caring for each of the members of our group by-for example- becoming empty of our own concerns when we would spend time with them, so that we could be 100% attentive to learning about theirs. We also encouraged others to share about their personal relationship with God, their deepest aspirations, and their honest struggles with the challenge to love others. All this, in the attempt to unite deeply, spiritually everyone in one group striving for a common purpose.

Raya: Striving to love our neighbours in this way always seemed to bear some kind of tangible fruit and the need to aim for this was always present. Sometimes, just before a meeting,  Miguel and I would differ on how we were going to proceed. We also knew we had a responsibility to always practice what we tried to teach, so working to always love each other as “neighbours” -  not without effort  – also became an important prerequisite for each meeting. The more we practiced living the Art of Loving, the more we began to see tangible fruits from our efforts. In myself, I noticed an increased sense of peace and well-being whenever I put the needs of another ahead of my own.  My relationship with Miguel also was enriched.

Our efforts were reciprocated.  Our neighbours began offering invitations to us, and some of the group members began sharing experiences of observable behavioural change. The importance of “practicing what we preach” became abundantly clear.

Miguel: Once one member shared : “I was brought up in a solid and even intellectual Christian tradition but here there is something “different”, a new approach related to ‘real every day life’ – a way by which I can concretely contribute to make of this world a better place: at work, family, wherever … Now I am also involved a with the formation of a teenagers and young adults groups, in my church.

Our faith community helps me not to feel alone, it gives me the strength of a “group” to start each day and to practice the art of loving…”.

See also: Expo 2013 website

They were in the same car that had come from the Turkish border. When they reached the outskirts of Aleppo a group of armed men stopped them. The men made everyone get out. They killed the deacon who was the driver. Since then the two metropolitan bishops have not been seen.

Mor Gregorious Yohanna Ibrahim, Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Aleppo is well-known. He is a bishop friend of the Focolare Movement and works with the Community of Sant’Egidio, as does Bishop Paul Yazigi.

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi, said that it is ‘a dramatic confirmation of the tragic situation faced by the people of Syria and its Christian communities.’ Speaking on behalf of the Vatican, he went on to say, ‘The Holy Father Francis is following events with great concern and intense prayer for the health and release of the two kidnapped bishops, so that, with the commitment of all, the people of Syria may finally see effective answers to their humanitarian drama and the prospect of real hope for peace and reconciliation.’

At the moment the condition of the bishops is unclear. On 23 April the news of their release was announced in the media, but this is still being verified locally. In the evening a small crowd gathered in front of the residences of the bishops in Aleppo, but eventually they returned home. In the next few hours new developments are expected. The whole world is praying for their release.

Source: Città Nuova online

http://cittanuova.it/c/427746/Incertezza_sulla_sorte_dei_due_vescovi.html

http://cittanuova.it/c/427729/Rapiti_due_vescovi_in_Siria.html

http://cittanuova.it/c/427611/Diario_dalla_Siria32.html

The experience of the “Court of the Gentiles” to open a dialogue among believers and non-believers, which was launched by the Pontifical Council for Culture, has contributed in these years to a greater mutual understanding among Lutherans and Catholics, and it can be strengthened and enriched by putting the gospel into practice, and sharing the fruits it produces.

In this context and keep this end in mind, we would like to situate two initiatives promoted by the Focolare Movement to mark Chiara Lubich’s 5^th anniversary.

““May none of those you meet be deluded, but may each one find in you light for their own lives, warmth for their own hearts, support for their own steps; (…) Remain faithful to your charism and witness to Christ in this world that is so confused, and at times weary and without enthusiasm”. These were the words of entrustment and exhortation directed by the Apostolic Nuncio in Sweden, Mons. Nowacki, to the Focolare Movement’s members.

During his homily at the mass on the 14^th March on the occasion of Chiara Lubich’s fifth death anniversary, he remembered her as “an extraordinary woman who (…) inflamed the world with the fire of Christ’s love and who discovered in Jesus’ cross a fundamental reason to live in intimate union with Him (…), each day as an expression of love for God and neighbour”.

Is the gospel still relevant today?”. Testimonies and life experiences were shared at this meeting, together with updates on activities of concrete solidarity, and a spiritual deepening with artistic contributions.

Some of the feedback received best express the tone of the evening: “I had thought of going back to work on Monday and asserting my point of view, but after hearing the experience in the hall I understood that I must be the first to love”; and another: “I realised that it’s possible to live the gospel even today. I want to try it out too”.

The next Focolare Movement appointment in Sweden will be the Mariapoli at Kumla (Örebro) from the 27^th – 30^th June.