Klara Sorg
- Date of Death: 10/04/2020
- Branch of belonging: Volunteer
- Nation: Germany
Syria: stop the embargo
New Humanity, a Focolare NGO, says the time for peace in Syria is now. An appeal has been sent to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Commission and the European Parliament. Many political, civil and religious authorities have expressed their support. “We call for a suspension of economic sanctions against the Syrian government so that the people have access to international markets and financial services and can receive the medical supplies and funds necessary to defend themselves against the COVID-19 virus.” This is the gist of the appeal promoted by New Humanity, an NGO of the Focolare Movement, in response – first and foremost – to the cry of the Syrian people who have reached the tenth year of civil war and are heavily affected by the pandemic that has now spread to their country. But that’s not all: well-known figures from all over the world are supporting the cry of the people. A few days ago, Antònio Guterres, UN Secretary General, sent a message referring to the current situation that is uniting us in the fight the common enemy: “The virus is not interested in nationality, ethnic group or religious belief. It attacks everyone indiscriminately. Meanwhile, armed conflicts are raging in many parts of the world. And it is the most vulnerable – women and children, people with disabilities, marginalized, displaced people – who pay the price and risk the greatest suffering and devastating loss because of Covid-19.” “Hundreds of humanitarian appeals have been made for Syria,” explains Marco Desalvo, president of the NGO, “but now we are in an exceptional situation. We are equally vulnerable to Covid-19 but the response that each state can give is very different. We have drafted this appeal for the Secretary-General of the United Nations and for the European institutions, calling for the suspension, at least temporarily, of the embargo on all medical and financial transactions so that Syria can obtain supplies of drugs and medical equipment.” “This is not an issue regarding political division,” explains the Hon. Lucia Fronza Crepaz, former member of the Italian Parliament and one of the promoters of the appeal. “On the contrary, it wants to go beyond party membership because the objective of safeguarding the Syrian civilian population is above any political or ideological orientation.” The appeal already has the support of several well-known political, academic, scientific and religious figures in Italy and beyond such as Romano Prodi, the Undersecretary for Labour and Social Policy, Sen. Steni Di Piazza, Patrizia Toia and Silvia Costa, Don Luigi Ciotti, founder of Gruppo Abele Onlus and LIBERA, Giovanni Paolo Ramonda, General Manager of the Pope John XXIII Association (APG23), Michel Veuthey, professor of international law at Webster University, Switzerland, Andrea Olivero, president emeritus ACLI, Cornelio Sommaruga, former president of the International Red Cross and P. Bahjat Elia Karakash, ofm, superior of the Franciscan Friars in Damascus. Join the petition on change.org
Stefania Tanesini
Four Words
“This year for many Christians the days of the Holy Week and Easter – which the Western Churches celebrate on April 12, while the Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate on April 19 – will be a special experience because the coronavirus pandemic will prevent them from participating physically in the liturgical celebrations. In the following text that Chiara Lubich wrote during Holy Week in the year 2000, she suggested how to live these “holy days”. Today is Holy Thursday! We feel that today is truly special because of the spirituality that flowed from the charism given to us by the Holy Spirit. So we want to pause for a moment to meditate, contemplate and try to relive the mysteries it reveals, together with those of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. To begin with, each of these days could be given a title that expresses or, I would say, has proclaimed within the Movement for over 50 years what we should be: Love on Holy Thursday; Jesus forsaken on Good Friday; Mary on Holy Saturday; the Risen Lord on Easter Sunday. Today, then, it is Love. Holy Thursday, this day on which, over the years, we have often experienced the sweetness of a special intimacy with God. It reminds us of the abundance of love that heaven has poured out over the earth. Love, first of all, is the Eucharist, given to us on this day. Love is the priesthood, which is a service of love and which among other things, makes it possible for us to have the Eucharist. Love is unity, the effect of love, which Jesus, then as today, implored from the Father: “That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you” (cf. Jn. 17:21). Love is the new commandment that he revealed on this day before dying. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35). It is a commandment which enables us to live here on earth a life modelled on that of the Holy Trinity. Tomorrow: Good Friday. Just one name: Jesus forsaken. I’ve just written a book on him entitled The Cry. I dedicated it to him with the intention of writing it also on your behalf, on behalf of the entire Work of Mary “as – and this is the dedication – a love letter to Jesus forsaken”. In it I speak of him who, in the one life God has given us, and on a day, a particular day that was different for each of us, called us to follow him, to give ourselves to him. You can understand then – and I say so in the book – that what I want to say in those pages cannot be like a talk, however informal, warm, and deeply felt; but is, rather, a song, a hymn of joy and above all of gratitude toward him. He had given everything: the life he lived beside Mary, in hardship and obedience. Three years of mission, three hours on the cross, from which he forgave his executioners, opened Paradise to the good thief, and gave his Mother to us. Only his divinity remained. His union with the Father, that sweet and ineffable union with the One who had made him so powerful on earth, as Son of God, and so regal on the cross; that feeling of God’s presence had to descend into the depths of his soul and no longer make itself felt, separating him somehow from the One with whom he had said he was one. And he cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46). The day after tomorrow: Holy Saturday. Mary is alone. She is alone with her dead son-God. Is this a depth of anguish that cannot be filled, an infinite agony? Yes, but she remains standing, thus becoming a sublime example, a masterpiece of virtue. She hopes and believes. During his lifetime Jesus had foretold his death, but also his resurrection. Others may have forgotten his words, but she never forgot them. She kept those and other words in her heart, and meditated on them (cf. Lk. 2:51). Therefore, she doesn’t give in to suffering: she waits. And finally: Easter Sunday. It’s the triumph of the Risen Jesus whom we know and relive in our own small way after having embraced him forsaken; or when we are truly united in his name and experience the effects of his life, the fruits of his Spirit. The Risen Lord must always be present and living in us during this year 2,000. The world is waiting for people who not only believe in and love him in some way, but people who are authentic witnesses and who can truly say, as Mary Magdalene said to the apostles after having seen Jesus near the tomb, those words we know so well but which are always new: “We have seen him!” Yes, we’ve discovered him in the light with which he enlightened us; we’ve touched him in the peace with which he filled us; we’ve heard his voice in the depths of our heart; we’ve savoured his incomparable joy.” Let us keep these four words in mind during these days: love, Jesus forsaken, Mary, the Risen Lord.
Chiara Lubich
(Taken from a telephone conference call, 20th April 2000)