Education projects to support youth
In 2011, 250 young people have been helped at every level of their education, from elementary schools up to specialised post university courses, in 14 countries around the world: Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Lebanon, Philippines, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Allowing young people to study and train professionally is without doubt an investment for the future. The experience of Action for a United World and the Economy of Communion project show that it is already possible to live the communion of goods, and there is mutual giving and receiving. 
They write for example from Cebu, in the Philippines: “Every Saturday, some students go to our social centre to do tutoring to others that are younger: the students at university help those of the secondary school, and the students at the secondary school help those at the primary school that are in difficulty. In their free time they also help with the various social programmes of the centre, cleaning the premises, feeding the smaller ones, distributing scholastic materials at the beginning of the year.” And from Brazil: “I am 20 years old, and I have 3 brothers, one of them has a physical disability. This makes us live more united as a family and helps us grow in facing life with simplicity and openness towards the needs of others. At the beginning of this year I understood that I could live the Gospel in a more radical way, both at university and during my free time, and this would make a difference in my life. How could I put this decision into practice? I got the idea of dedicating myself to voluntary work, because in this way I would be able to participate in the reciprocity typical of the Economy of Communion, through which I receive my scholarship, and “in exchange” give my free time to other persons in need. So I began to work in a home for the elderly that has more than 50 inmates. I carry out activities with them to improve their quality of life. I set myself the objective not to look at them as “aged” in general, but to get to know each one with her life history, her family, to understand what they really desire.” 
“I attend the nursing school at the University of Para’. The profession I have chosen is an opportunity to be of service to others. Sometimes I find myself in situations where I risk contagion, but I try to intervene always in favour of those who are in need. Once I was given the responsibility to care for a person who had committed crimes. For me this was simply a person who needed care. My attitude drew the attention of my colleagues who reflected on the behaviour that is required from our profession.” 
«“I am aware that the objectives of the Economy of Communion, besides helping persons in difficulties, is also “the formation of new men and women”, so I try to be a sign of communion between my student friends, by circulating between us the knowledge and experience of each one of us. I do not own my books, and I try to leave in a good state the learning material that has been given to me for my use. But others do not have the possibility of buying, not even the hand outs, so I share this material with them. This is what I can do so that others can study. I feel that the achievements made by my study do not belong only to me, but to all those who collaborate in the project.”
“I was studying for a history test in class and I could not concentrate; there were many pages and I was thinking that it would be difficult to succeed in covering them all. To make the situation worse, I get an sms from some friends who ask me for help with a mathematics test. I reread the message, think about all the history pages and almost answer that I cannot help them. After some seconds however something within me tells me that I am losing an opportunity to love friends who are in difficulty. Instinctively I had put myself in the first place, without thinking about how important it is to help the others. I close my book, and hurry to the house of one of them where they were gathered. I involve myself and help them until late in the evening. When I return home, there is no more time to study history, now how would I carry out the test? I trust everything to God, believing that He would find a solution. On the morrow, some companions ask the teacher whether she can postpone the test; evidently I was not the only one who had not studied. The teacher, who is usually intransigent, decides to postpone the test. Simply luck? I do not believe so! I think rather that God in His providence has rewarded the act of trust done the previous evening.” (S. G. –Italy)
History and prophecy, the two eyes with which humanity contemplates its scene in the drama: one looks to the past and the other to the future, so that it can regulate the present. You could say that prophecy is God’s view and history is man’s. Thus history is an epitaph of the fallen and prophecy the longing for freedom from death and new life, a longing for peace. And Christ came. And over his cradle, in the mists of time, the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men on earth.” What is glory for the Lord God in Heaven is peace for men on earth: Peace is the glory of men; glory is the peace of God. Now Christ indicates peace. “Christ is our peace. . . peacemaker,” come “to bear the good announcement of peace,” as Paul says to the Romans, who were a people of war. His revolution centers on the discovery of the brother, made by the light of charity, and peace is the fruit of charity. His law is forgiveness, and forgiveness replaces the impulses of war. War denounces, in those who promote it, a practical atheism, a rebellion against God. One of the Gospel beatitudes sings: “Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called the sons of God.” Peacemakers are makers of peace. For peace must be made, it is produced and it is the most precious product of human civilization. The Christian is a producer of peace that reconstructs the fabric of time indefinitely. He continually reconstructs life, “making war” on war, as Pius XII says, in order to combat his enemy which is death.. But there is peace and there is peace. . One is life and the other is death. “My peace I leave with you,” Jesus says, “I give you my peace, not the peace that the world gives.” The world’s peace is imposed by war; Christ’s peace is the gift of love. In this respect, both – peace and war – spring from the heart of each one of us. Too many of the world’s peoples still continue to repeat with the prophets: “We wait for peace and we do not have it; we await the hour of healing and remedy for the ills we have suffered, and behold: new tumors and disturbances are appearing; we wait for the light, and look at us still in darkness. . . We await justice and it’s not there; health, and it is still far from us.” Civilization and peace identify with each other in the same way war and barbarism accompany each other. A prophecy is needed today – a vision of love and reason – to shout on the heads of those responsible the imminent dangers to which their foolishness, their fear can lead us. If the body of humanity flows with the Blood of Christ, It shall free it of evil. To the city of man today as to the Jerusalem of then Jesus continues so say: “Oh, if you also knew – especially this day – what would bring you peace!” Precisely on this day, for there is no more time to lose. What is conducive to peace is human rationality together with the divine rationality, and this is substantially what love is. The Blood of the Redemption which makes us consanguineous with Christ and therefore with each other, reassembles as a family: in community, able to reach unity. Moreover, a universal unification seems to be already underway. The ideals of freedom, justice and peace are common to all, elevating the black and the yellow, proletarians and workers of every land and condition. Upon their agitation which is forming the dramatic history of our times, the prophetic invitation of Christ is all the more urgent: “May they all be one!” Igino Giordani 
Marisa Baù, an Italian 
The news, as is to be expected, has spread swiftly among everyone in touch with the Focolare, Marisa’s friends and all who know her. Official Focolare channels and social networks have begun a chain of communion and prayer which has the commitment to pass on any information useful to the search. ‘We are praying in Sweden too’; ‘We pray for her in Berazategui, Argentina’; ‘In Columbia we pray every day. We call upon heaven with faith!’; ‘Also from Spain we pray that she’ll be found’; ‘We miss you, aunt!’; ‘I pray that your guardian angel with be close to you and that you give us some sign to lead us to you’; ‘Marisa … you followed your star, you walked the streets of the world fulfilling the dream of your life: to serve your neighbour out of love. In this period we are the ones looking for a star to follow so we can find you.’ These are a few of the echoes received.
From the heart of Europe it takes about twelve hours to reach the farthest peninsula of the Eurasian landmass: Korea, ‘the Land of the Morning Calm’ as it is called. This country is one of the few in the world still divided between North and South. 
Social Initiative. Heaengbok Maeul, ‘The Village of Happiness’, is a monthly project that has been active for eight years. It helps foreign workers, refugees from North Korea (more than 20,000) and many others in need. Among its services, the project offers a range of medical services, food and clothing, hairdressing and lessons in Korean. ‘To begin with,’ the volunteers with the project say, ‘people were wary, but now they feel loved, and bit by bit they open up and they even bring their own food to be shared.’ 
Politics and economy. The Movement for Unity in Politics (MUP) in Korea began in 2004. It was the initiative of a group of Members of Parliament who, since 2008, have been meeting once a month in the ‘Political Forum for Unity’. The group conducts research and is recognized by the Korean Parliament. Its activity extends to a ‘Social Forum’ open to journalists, lawyers, civil servants, doctors and economists, which meets in Parliament every two months with about 30 people each time. Among the activities promoted by the MUP in 2010 there was the