Apr 17, 2019 | Non categorizzato
Holy Thursday: this reflection on today’s solemnity is taken from a homily prepared by the bishop, philosopher and theologian, Klaus Hemmerle (1929–1994), for Holy Thursday 1993. If the disciples see in Jesus the great and powerful God on high, they will not find him. They have to bow right down, And look into the dust; Jesus is there, washing his followers feet. Self-giving, humiliation, service, taking ordinary human needs seriously, becoming small, denying self, the harshness of being exhausted, being modest, being hidden: all this, which has nothing to do with divine splendor, is the splendor of the true God, is the inner core of our worship of God, is the Eucharist.
Klaus Hemmerle
(Klaus Hemmerle, Gottes Zeit-unsere Zeit, München, 2018, p. 65 – editor’s translation)
Apr 15, 2019 | Non categorizzato
Continuous and long blackouts throughout the whole country paralyse basic services and business activities thus making life for people very difficult. A humanitarian drama is leading to deep social divisions. Rosa and Óscar Contreras, a family that belongs to the Focolare community relate how they manage to brave this desperate situation with faith and courage and continue to give their share towards universal brotherhood. Rosa related:“The situation continues to get worse. A few weeks ago, 105 hours of power cuts crippled our city, especially commercial and financial activities. To make matters worse, we lack also constant public services such as water supply, waste collection, telephone and internet services And then, national backouts continue to hit the country….” “In spite of everything we feel that life must go on”, Oscar said. Then he continued to explain, “We have reopened our factory, which produces wooden and acrylic goods and resumed our work. It is a great challenge to keep the business going when sales have really dropped, but we are try our best to comply with the commitment we have with suppliers and employees, without running the risk of bankruptcy. We aim at being creative and open to constant strategical change to be able to react against hyperinflation and complex fiscal policies. This led to a total change in the wage structure of our employees; we try to find new ways to improve their income, to encourage greater motivation and achieve better results. In the meantime unexpected circumstances do crop up. Until some time ago we were able to travel to visit people and be close to them, but presently we cannot do this anymore because our car has been damaged and we cannot afford the expense to repair it, besides being a long process because of power cuts. Meanwhile, our savings are running out, but God’s Providence does not abandon us; recently we have managed to buy a few necessary things to keep us going”. “We have never realized that there are so many unimaginable opportunities to live the Gospel radically”, continued Rosa. “Every day we come across so many relatives and neighbours who are in need and are desperate, that we are obliged to be attentive and share the little we have. Each time we ask what Mary, Joseph and Jesus would have done if they were instead of us. We are pleased to see that many of our neighbours have started to be more friendly. We think that this is the result of initiatives we have carried out very silently to help others and create relationships”. Oscar confided:“However, we must admit that we are really physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, but still we are certain that the Holy Spirit is with us and that, through us, He can fill others with the joy and hope we seek to transmit. Last week, even though we had no electricity, we thought of meeting some young people from the Movement to share experiences and reflections, and watch a film together. Many say that these difficult times are a favourable opportunity to generate more communion within the families. The absence of mobile phones, TV, schools, work and other commitments is providing space for more dialogue within family circles and for addressing questions that were never dealt with before. Many come together to pray and they share what they have with others. It is interesting to note the change of attitude when people come to purchase or get something; they do not only think about its use for their own family, but they also think about its usefulness for others”.
edited by Anna Lisa Innocenti
Apr 9, 2019 | Non categorizzato
A Foundation set up in Colombia to help children who are forced to fight or work on coca plantations “We would like to create a safe haven where poor children can experience dignity, realize their dreams and grow up in an environment that promotes a mentality of peace and justice”. These were the objectives of Fr. Rito Julio Alvarez, a priest from the Ventimiglia-Sanremo diocese, when he set up the Oasis of Love and Peace Foundation in 2006, in the Catatumbo region of northeast Colombia. 
This NGO was set up in one of the poorest areas of the region where Fr. Rito was born and lived for twenty years. It aims at offering an opportunity that safeguards children in this country from being recruited by the rebels or forced to work on coca plantations. This idea matured from Fr. Rito’s personal experience, that can be read on the Foundation’s website http://www.oasisdeamorypaz.org/ – “He came to know about the guerrillas when he was a child. Very often these illegal revolutionary groups came to the village and tried to persuade children to join them. Some of his companions, even 11 or 12 years old, were enticed by the offer of these rebels, joined them and died in clashes with the regular army.This is what happened to his childhood friend who was killed at the age of 14. Nothing was known, not even about his abandoned body”. He relates: “In the 90’s, the peasants in the territory were made to believe that planting Coca would change their lives, but instead the situation got worse. In 1999, paramilitary groups came into the scene and great massacres ensued”. Rito Julio Alvarez became priest in 2000. From Italy he followed his people’s suffering owing to the war that broke out because of the control of the coca plantations, that involved paramilitary groups, government armed groups and guerrillas. In a few years, in a territory of 250,000 inhabitants there were about 13,000 deaths. Even his family members had to be evacuated and many of his friends were killed. 
The need to help these people was great. Together with his relatives at Catatumbo, he decided to set up a home for child soldiers and for those who came from the coca plantations. He recalls: “We started in 2007, in a small shack where we welcomed the first 10 boys. We had no money but we had a lot of goodwill. We prepared their beds; my sister was a mother to them and she saw to their food. My mother lent me cutlery, dishes, pots and blankets. This is how we started this adventure”. Today, the Foundation handles two projects that comprise the breeding of fish and livestock and banana and coffee plantations. Hundreds of children have been welcomed by the Foundation; some of these have become educators and NGO managers. One of them, whose relative was a drug trafficker in the area, is involved in politics. “I am so pleased when the Foundation welcomes those children whom I have seen harvesting coca leaves with their sore hands”, says Fr. Rito very emotionally, “and here they grow up and live in an environment of peace; they feel safe and can think of a different future. All this encourages me to look ahead without fear. My trust in the Lord assures me that this work can proceed”.
Claudia Di Lorenzi
Apr 2, 2019 | Non categorizzato
With his profound knowledge of Asia, where he lived for almost 30 years, learning to speak several languages, Silvio Daneo who died recently, has given a unique contribution to the inter-religious dialogue of the Focolare Movement and beyond. His later years were dedicated to helping the lonely and those on the margins of society. He is buried in the cemetery at Loppiano, Italy. “It’s not easy to capture in a few lines a life as intense and full of adventure as Silvio’s. In one of his recent books, he reflected that he had lived seven lives! all “in a continual discovery of the divine treasure in each person in every encounter”. With these words, Focolare President Maria Voce recalled Silvio Daneo. He spent his life spreading the spirituality of unity in many different countries in North America and Asia: USA, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Pakistan and later Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. He embarked on the first of these journeys in 1962, at just 21 years of age. His destination, the United States, where together with two other focolarini, he launched the Movement’s first men’s centre in North America. Four years later he flew to another continent, this time to the Philippines, with Guido Mirto (also known in Focolare circles as “Cengia”). Over the course of many years in Asia, Silvio contributed to the beginnings of Focolare communities in many countries. He demonstrated unconditional love for people, he had an open mind and heart, and was totally dedicated to the wellbeing of each person he met. He would help everyone he could in a spirit of true generosity, which led people to experience and recognise divine love through his practical way of serving in the things of daily life. He was less for giving talks and more for giving practical assistance. For example, a young member of the Focolare Movement was once going to a Buddhist temple to be ordained. Silvio accompanied him, sleeping on the ground for days on end, eating whatever was offered to him by the monks, in sweltering tropical heat, under constant attack from mosquitoes. This act marked the beginnings of the movement’s inter-religious dialogue in Thailand. Silvio’s contribution was fundamental in introducing the Focolare to the country’s Buddhist monks. In 1995, he organized the first meeting between Phra Mahathongrattanathavorn and Focolare foundress Chiara Lubich, keeping in touch with developments for as long as his health permitted. Silvio knew Muslims, Hindus, Parsi, Gurus, and he knew how to identify with the good in the heart of each person he met. Silvio did a lot for me too. To him I owe the openness I find within myself towards the other great religions, and the experience of not noticing the barriers when with someone whose beliefs are different from my own. Silvio wrote in one of his books, “Again and again I must acknowledge how in every Asian country I’ve lived in – wherever I’ve tried to assimilate the culture and traditions of the place – I’ve found myself enriched by the knowledge of the various religious traditions. I’ve had many real opportunities to get to know people in the practice of very differing faiths, and from the witness of their lives, of their prayer, meditation, their coherence, dedication to others, and honesty in their daily action, I’ve gained a fascination to get to know the content of the doctrines taught by the different religions”. In Vietnam, back in 1990, I worked with Silvio on opening up a trading enterprise, which proved surprisingly successful. I also remember one particular day when we were in Bangkok, Thailand. We could not believe our eyes as we saw him down on his knees in the street outside our house. He was treating the bleeding knees of the workers who were building the road, disinfecting their wounds and applying bandages. Nothing like this had ever been seen before, and those labourers were touched to the heart. A few days later, these same workers set themselves to build a ramp linking our house to the new road, and they refused any payment! Silvio spent time with bishops, priests, Imams, Rabbis and monks, often greeting them in their own language, to their obvious delight. “Should it ever cross anyone’s mind to praise me – Silvio wrote in the introduction to his last book – they would, however unknowingly, be committing an error. I am convinced, at least I hope I am, that I’ve been nothing other than an instrument, and all too often a less than docile one at that! … All the merit and acknowledgement is due to Him, to God, the only One capable of achieving such great things”. Silvio spent his later years in Rome, and even though his health was compromised, his commitment to live life wholeheartedly never was. He dedicated his time to prisoners, to those experiencing loneliness and different forms of abandonment, collecting food and other useful goods on their behalf. About a year ago I met him when I was accompanying a group of Thai Buddhist monks to Rome. With that unmistakable smile of his, Silvio greeted us all, and his luminous countenance conveyed a sense of how he had been purified by his illness. This encounter left me with the conviction that life signifies this: to reach the end well, conserving what really counts, knowing ever more powerfully how to transform every suffering that comes our way into Love.
Luigi Butori
Mar 28, 2019 | Non categorizzato
After the first international meeting for those in the Movement responsible for the protection of minors, Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-president, Jesús Morán, have written to all the members of the Movement on the Focolare’s commitment in this field. “We invite all of you to commit very responsibly to this very important aim of promoting the wellbeing and protection of minors.” Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-president Jesús Morán addressed these words in their letter, sent on 27th March, to all the members of the Focolare Movement in the world after the first international meeting of those in the Movement who are responsible for the protection of minors. (See letter attached) The meeting, held from 14th – 17th March at Castel Gandolfo (Rome), was attended by 162 participants from 38 countries and all continents. It was an opportunity to take stock of the Focolare’s commitment to the wellbeing and protection of every person. This commitment has always existed in the Movement and can be seen in the many training events, initiatives and projects organised all over the world to promote child and adolescent wellbeing. Guidelines and commissions for the protection of minors In April 2014 the Movement adopted “Guidelines for the Promotion of the Wellbeing and the Protection of Minors” and in 2015 a Central Commission for the Promotion of the Wellbeing and the Protection of Minors (CO.BE.TU (in Italian)) was established. Around the world, local commissions have been created in various countries or there are well qualified people responsible for this role. Their task is “to protect, but also to promote formation activities for our members, especially those who work with minors.” The commissions also have the task of receiving reports of alleged abuse and undertaking a process of verification within the Movement. Maria Voce and Jesús Morán explain in the letter that over the years about 20 reports have been received and they communicate that, “It deeply pains us to recognise that, also in our own large family of the Focolare, some cases of abuse regarding minors caused by people who belong to the Movement, or by people who have taken part in meetings organised by us, have occurred. Most of these episodes occurred in the remote past (even over 20 years ago), but unfortunately some have occurred in the recent past. Consecrated members of the Movement were also involved in these.” The President and Co-president affirm with deep gratitude that the establishment of the Central Commission and the local commissions has helped not only to facilitate the reporting of alleged cases of abuse, but also “to understand how to do justice to the victims, how to accompany them and their families and what provisions to make within the Movement regarding the authors of the abuses, in addition of course to the judicial procedures envisaged by the laws of the respective countries.” Zero tolerance Maria Voce and Jesús Morán re-affirmed the Movement’s zero tolerance approach to any form of violence, abuse, mistreatment or bullying, carried out directly on through the Web, towards any person, with particular attention to minors and vulnerable adults. They go on to explain that, “This means reporting to the local commissions and to the Central Commission every suspicion of abuse or violence.” They consider it to be “a real temptation if anyone thinks of not reporting cases for the good of the Movement, to avoid scandal or protect someone’s good name.” In particular they add that, “Every single case represents a deep purification for the Movement. We accept it with humility and deep compassion for those who – perhaps through our lack of attention – have undergone indescribable traumas.” It is a worldwide commitment, not limited only to the members of the Focolare Movement and that, as Maria Voce and Jesús Morán observe in their conclusion to the letter, should be ever more open to the whole of humankind: “We cannot fail to make our own the cry of pain of all the children and teenagers in the world. … It is part of our vocation to go towards them. That is why we must be on the front line in defending those who are weaker, wherever they are victims of any kind of violence or abuse.” Letter Maria Voce and Jesús Morán -Protection of Minors.EN
