“Sophia”, an Institute of higher education, emerges from a paradox: Chiara Lubich’s decision to “put her books in the attic.” Maria Emmaus Voce: Chiara had an ardent desire to know the truth, and thought she would get to know it through studying philosophy. At a certain moment she felt within that Jesus was asking her to seek the truth not in books, but in following Him, the Truth in incarnate. So she made the choice to put her books away in the attic, and give up her dream of studying in order to follow him. She also felt Jesus saying to her, “I will be your teacher”, promising to reveal his truth, and his knowledge, to her. And this is what happened through the gift of a charism, the charism of unity. From the profound conviction that the charism of unity contains the capacity to generate a doctrine capable of lighting up the various fields of knowledge, a university institute has been born today. “Sophia” it has been  said, would like to be a laboratory for formation and research where the links between life and thought, study and experience, are re-established. What does this mean in practice? Maria Emmaus Voce: The attempt to live the unity between these aspects means that those who register at this institute come with a pre-condition, that they are ready to love others, to be open to everyone, regardless of culture, religion, from wherever or whatever race they belong to. The “Sophia” students accept an experience of life where they discover that they can be open to one another not only as individual people, but that their cultures can be open to one another. They also discover that each discipline is profoundly linked to others, and the foundation of all knowledge is Wisdom, God’s vision of man and human affairs. What do you hope for, as a movement and personally, from the process that with “Sophia” has just begun? Maria Emmaus Voce: We would like to form men and women who know how to put together teaching and life, and are capable of contributing to unity, of being men and women of unity, wherever they are in society, in their professional and social lives. We really expect these people, like catalysts in any group of people, to build up a point of attraction, a focus around which cells of unity are built, which reach out more and more into society until “all will be one” when the human family will be brought together in unity once more. This is Jesus’s prayer to the Father, it is Chiara’s and our dream, and therefore also my personal dream. By Chiara Santomiero – November 20 2008