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“Let the children come to me”: these words of Jesus are very real in the Focolare Movement where children have a privileged place. Gen 5 are children up to 4 years of age and Gen 4 up to age 9. The spirituality of unity is presented to these children in a style that they can understand and appreciate and they take to it with real enthusiasm, putting it into practice immediately wholeheartedly.

The children are enchanted by the life of Jesus and try to put His words into action, especially through living the Word of Life for Children.

One of their special resources has become well known, it is the ‘dice of love’, each of its faces shows a point from the art of loving: love everyone, be the first to love, make yourself one, see Jesus in the other, love your enemy and love one another. “We roll it each morning – they explain – and whatever phrase comes up we try to live for the whole day.”

The children share this life with their school friends, other friends and relatives as a result there are some classes and a few entire schools, as well as some parish groups and educational projects that have taken up using the dice as a method of formation.

From meetings, activities and via their own little Gen 4 magazine, the children come into contact other people: old, young, children from other cultures and religions giving them ‘first hand’ the experience from an early age of all peoples being the children of the one Father making them brothers and sisters to each other. They gain an awareness and sensibility to those in need, near and far and this drives them to put into practice the ‘culture of giving’.

These children really are living proof of the words Chiara gave them: “When we love we are happy, and if we always love we will always be happy!

 

Articles

Cube of love builds friendships across communities in Northern Ireland

Cube of love builds friendships across communities in Northern Ireland

Two schools, from different traditions in Newtownabbey, County Antrim have used the Cube of Love with their pupils as a tool for promoting pro-social education during their ‘Friendship Week’ this month. The week ran from 18th to 22nd November and was billed ‘Anti Bullying Week’ but following their participation at a ‘Learning Fraternity’ conference in Rome, the two school principals decided to turn the week into a ‘Friendship Week’ and teach the children in their schools a little more about the art of loving, through the Cube of Love.

Mr Kevin McKeague, headmaster of St James Primary School and Mr Frazer Bailey, headmaster of Whitehouse Primary School were part of a group from Ireland who participated in “Learning Fraternity” an education conference held in early September in Castelgandolfo.

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