On June 14-15, 2013, a group of 48 focolarini from 13 Christian Churches examined some important points of the spirituality of unity in relation to ecumenism. During the meeting we listened the story of Hanneke, a Dutch focolarina from the Reformed Church. “I grew up in a family that belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. When I was 13 years old my mother passed away and a rather difficult period in my life was begun. None of my family members went to church anymore, but I felt that I didn’t want to leave God. I always kept in contact with the local church community. When I was 21 years old I made the ‘profession of faith,’ which is quite an important step in the Reformed Church. There I committed to give my all for the building up of the Kingdom of God in the Church and in the world. On that day too, just as when I was very young, I felt that God wanted something more from me.   In my searching I met the Taize community where I discovered a Christianity that was different from what I had known up until then, one that could be lived together with others. Shortly afterwards, through a colleague at work, I came to know the spirituality of the Focolare. My colleague never spoke about it directly, but I could understand from the way she lived that her life had a very strong spiritual dimI began to visit the focolare in Amsterdam. Once I arrived during a birthday party, something very simple. But there for the first time I experienced that spiritual presence of Jesus, and began to better understand the significance of the words: ‘Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt. 18:20). There I saw mutual love being practiced, and I began telling myself: I want to live like this too. At first I didn’t feel the difference between me (from the Reformed Church) and the majority of the others who were Roman Catholics. Only after a few years did I realize that we were different in the way we professed our faith, and many questions began coming to my mind. At times I didn’t feel understood. The key to continuing along this path I found in Jesus Forsaken. I recognized his countenance in the wounds of division between the Churches, in our different way of thinking, and this helped me to go ahead. I was transferred to Eindhoven in the south of Holland where most people are Roman Catholic. On the one hand I experienced great openness and, on the other hand, I learned to express my questions or difficulties when I saw things that didn’t that didn’t click with the mentality of the Reformed Church. This helped me in building truer relationships. Also within the Focolare Movement as a whole there are many of us from the Reformed Church in different vocations and callings. We have had beautiful experiences of coming to know each other, some trips to Rome for example. We also became aware that ecumenism is a journey that is common to us all, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic. For some years Christian leaders from several Churches and movements have been asking how they could give a witness of unity to Holland, rather than one of division. So a committee was set up that was called ‘We choose unity.’ A day of reconciliation among all the Churches was proposed, and 4000 people took part in the event. This work is being carried on today in the Dutch Global Christian Forum. What I find to be very important for Christian unity is listening, listening deeply to others. You really need to be empty of yourself in order to listen. Sometimes you think you know what the other person is trying to say, but first you must hear them out, listen well to what they’re trying to say. It’s living that teaching of St. Paul, putting yourself in the other person’s skin, in order to accelerate unity.”