Focolare Movement
Young People in Tokyo: Fukushima solidarity concert

Young People in Tokyo: Fukushima solidarity concert

This is the invitation that was launched by the  Youth for a United World (YUW) in Japan on Sunday, 9 October during a “Power of the Smile” concert in Tokyo, as they remembered the fatal tsunami that hit the northern coast of their country. “They idea for the concert,” they tell us, “came to us when we realized how much the quake had shaken and frightened people. With the “Power of the Smile” we wanted to offer our friends a few moments of serenity, which they could then bring to others.” Their message was launched with the musical refrain from the final song: “With the power of my smile, I will believe that I can love this land.” “During the past months,” they continued, “many YUW groups have gone out of their way, finding a million ways to help us with their solidarity. And their projects and efforts have encouraged us to do something concrete ourselves. As soon as we heard of the disaster on 11 march, we began a collection of funds in the metro area of Tokyo, an unusual thing in our culture, but it awakened a strong spirit of solidarity and altruism in many people on the street. Subsequently, some of us went to the district of Fukushima for a few days, offering the refugees some warm coffee and loivng and listening ear.” Finally, with four musical groups alternating on stage, the concert took place. “Before going on stage we met in a circle and promised each other that even though we felt there were still a lot of holes in our original plans for the concert, what we most wanted to leave with the audience was the light of our unity.” “Little by little the concert went on,” recalls one of the presenters, “I saw the faces in front of me change!” This concert by the YUW of Tokyo was very unlike most traditional concerts. It was a coffee-concert, with groups on stage continually interacting with the audience and the possibility for anyone to go on stage, to meet and know each other over a cup of coffee and piece of cake. When the concert was over, some of those who had attended wrote: “I wanted to go and volunteer in Fukushima, but I couldn’t. What a joy to have discovered that simply by offering my smile to everyone, I can do something concrete to make our society a bit happier!” “I didn’t expect so many smiles! They filled me with love!” “Giving a smile is a power that conqers all!” “You too, me too. . . altogether let’s believe in the possibility that we can love this land!”

Sophia and the Life of the Word

Sophia and the Life of the Word

“The inauguration of a fourth academic year at Sophia University Institute, is certainly an appropriate occasion to pause briefly and consider the progress that has already been made and to derive motivation for what lies ahead. The academic performance of our students is an encouraging sign, particularly the theses that have already been completed by several students. In fact, they appear to be the result not only of an effort that has been carried out with intellectual and academic rigor, but within the context of an experience that is also quite unique. The charism of unity that animates this Institute combines intellectual life with real life, the development of relationships that are nourished and re-built each day within the heart of the academic community. All of this allows us to look ahead with real optimism, that is, with the gaze of one who, aware of the inevitable difficulties that will be met along the way, follows a design of light that is manifested and can already be seen unfolding. And so that this design that is contained in Sophia might be more fully realized, I would like to focus your attention on one of the fundamental points around which the experience of Sophia develops: the life of the Word. I would like to invite you to allow yourselves to be profoundly permeated by the Word, that is, by Jesus’ way of thinking, wanting and loving. Live the Word. Allow yourselves to be lived by the Word. This is what Chiara Lubich exhorted us to do, knowing that this is the indispensable condition for entering into a new way of life and a new way of knowing. Indeed, it is only a person who has been transformed by the Word who can attain a true conversion of the mind. Such a person will be a credible transmitter of the truth not only in words but living. Such a person can have an efficacious influence on diverse social and cultural contexts in which she or he works, by injecting a fruitful seed of the life of the Gospel. And thanks to all of you, may Sophia be an ever more authentic witness of this. This is my heartfelt wish, which I offer to you today.” Maria Voce