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Maria Orsola: “Hurray for Life”

Maria Orsola: “Hurray for Life”

Mar 18, 2015 | Non categorizzato

In 1968 a race towards heaven by a young girl who found the secret of happiness. Her cause for beatification is currently underway. MariaOrsola_aSixteen years old and always on the move. At breakneck speed. Her destination: heaven. Maria Orsola Bussone (October 2, 1954-July 10, 1970) came from Piedmonte, Italy. She loved the pop music of the 1960’s and was interested in student protests. She played guitar and was taking voice lessons. A teenager like all the others, she was in love with nature, sport and music. She jotted down some of her thoughts in a diary, had many friends and wrote letters to the closest ones. She was the simple daughter of an old world that seemed on the verge of being overthrown by the winds of modernism. But her apparently serene life as the child of a tiny village in the Alps of Piedmonte, was hiding an extraordinary soul. A clear and genuine faith. With the support of their priest, and spirituality that gave her a head start, together with other friends, she brought to fruition the guidlines of the Second Vatican Council. Mariolina went into fourth gear and, in a short time, went through all the stages. In 1968 she was invited by the priest don Vincenzo Chiarle to take part in the first Gen congress, the new generation of the Focolare Movement. There Chiara Lubich presented to the youths of the 60’s another revolutionary model: that of a just man, who allowed himself to be immolated for the liberation of others. He also had his program: “That all be one”. Maria Orsola was fascinated, and this became the light of her life. When she was sixteen years old, her young life came to an abrupt end. But she left a stream of light behind her. She once revealed that she would give up her life, if that would help young people to discover God’s beauty. “And God took her at her word”, said John Paul II, speaking to thousands of her fellow citizens in Turin in 1988: “She accepted to transform her life into a gift, not a selfish possession” . “Hooray for life” was her motto.

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Since 2 October 2004, Maria Orsola’s remains repose in the Parish Church of Vallo Torinese.

In 2007 Gianni Bianco has written her biography, edited in Italian by San Paolo publishing house. “Hooray for life. A young girl’s race towards heaven in 1968”. (“Evviva la vita. La corsa verso il Cielo di una ragazza del ’68”). “She immediately seemed to me to be a tremendously modern teenager,” says the author, “who would have much to say to the teenagers of today. In a certain sense she even anticipated the aspirations of today’s young people, with her love for ecology and social volunteering. Moreover I enjoyed learning the story of this simple girl who was able to observe from Turin, where the 68’s began in Italy, a world that was rapidly changing. I was especially urged by the idea of being able to tell her story with a fresh and engaging language, to her country men and women of today, to the teenagers of today who are too often accused of having lost their values. Now they can look to her as a model.”

Middle East: the force of love against terrorism

Middle East: the force of love against terrorism

Mar 18, 2015 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria

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Lara Abou Moussa and George Zahm

«The two of us from Lebanon are grateful for this opportunity to speak before such a special assembly that wants to share the hopes and problems of the population, to transform them into laws at the service of man.» These were the opening lines of Lara Abou Moussa and George Zahm, who were among the 400 youth present on 12 March in the Italian Chamber of Deputies gathered in memory of Chiara Lubich. Lara is 25, a graduate in biochemistry and employed in a food control agency, and George is 22 and a marketing and advertising student. «As you all know, the Middle East is living one of the bloodiest pages in the history of humanity. And before so much horror, it is an extraordinary example of people condemned to death because of their refusal to deny their faith, and who pray for their persecutors and forgive them before being massacred to death, as what happened to the 21 Coptic Christians in Libya last February. We feel profoundly called, as Christians and Muslims living in these countries, to revive the greatness of love and pardon, which will one day change the face of the earth. Many events in Syria have once again confirmed that love overcomes all and even where it seems impossible. This is the case of a Syrian family that lost two of their children of 3 and 9 years of age. While they were playing on the balcony a missile struck them, precisely in a moment in which they were happy to finally play outdoors, during a so-called cease-fire. In face of the drama and suffering of their parents, the love of the Focolare Community who shared this pain, is helping to heal this deep wound and help them find a meaning to their existence. Another dramatic fact happened to a family who was expecting a baby. The father and his brother had offered to be volunteers to ensure the safety of their neighbourhoods. The armed groups kidnapped them for two months before releasing their dead bodies to their families, in pieces. Once again the love of the Christian community around these families was able to offer some consolation. These families declared that the force of love is helping them to accept this tragic event and slowly overcome their drama. One of our friends who wanted to visit us was stopped at the frontier, and by mistake found himself closed up in the darkness of a prison. Having only the sole weapon of prayer and faith in God, he decided to put his suffering aside, to offer to the other prisoners a smile, a listening ear and some advice and also the little food he had. He wanted to testify to God’s love in this obscure place. Seeing his attitude, surprisingly the other prisoners in turn started to be helpful towards the others. A few days later, he was released from prison. In various places, especially in Jordan, many go out of their way to share their homes and few belongings with the Iraqi refugee families who we consider as brothers and sisters. We try to share the hunger, humiliation, loss of loved one and enrich ourselves with the treasures concealed behind this suffering. The words of Jesus in the Gospel are a continual reminder: “…I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me water, I was a stranger and you welcomed me to your home, I was naked and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you came to visit me!” With many of our friends we experienced and believe firmly, that violence will not have the last word. If it is able to destroy, it will never cancel man and the force of love that lives in him. Before God, as Chiara Lubich said, an act of love can block the hand of a terrorist.»