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21 Feb 2014 | Non categorizzato
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Our earthly experience continually unfolds in relationship with others. When you come into contact with children, a light is unleashed from their eyes, which has its source in other constellations. So too when servants of humanity who live solely by their ideals, or labourers of every class who are enlivened by their sense of justice draw near – an atmosphere is unleashed that comes from somewhere above and beyond the material world.
Perhaps human nature unconsciously searches for Divine life. It just has to find it, and this requires searching. Search and you will find. Human life – with its virtue and blows, weariness and glad moments and experiences of every sort – is in itself a search for that good which we call God (even though we may not realize it.)
However, if we open our sight and take advantage of events in life to peer into the mystery of life, then we will find an explanation and peace in God. The way God reveals himself to the soul resembles the way parents educate a child with caresses and admonishments amid smiles and tears.
This is how it is with the Eternal Father. Intimacy with him grows as the purification grows. You feel closer to him inasmuch as you love him. The Lord says: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). Purity of heart is the condition attached to the love that sees God.
People with such love are able to perceive the flow which gives life to the soul and conveys both poetry and art, knowledge and health, victory over evil, longing for affection, awareness of a vitality that is wider than the galaxies. Perhaps we don’t realize it but this is almost the breath of the Lord that raises molecules and planets, thoughts and feeling. It is the joy that breathes in the child and the peace in the old woman or man.
Someone with a pure heart is carried along by love as if by a current that endlessly draws everyone in. God takes everyone, wants everyone because everyone is a member of his generation. It’s a matter of ousting the obstacles, which are quickly removed if we love one another. By this the world will know that you are my disciples if you love one another – the requirement that Beethoven liked most because it seemed to be the most basic simplification of the Divine harmony of the universe. Of course, disagreements are always surfacing between people, but Christ teaches harmony. He asks us to stop the spiral of offences and revenge and reset the circuit of communion through forgiveness. Giving forgiveness to the people who have done us wrong is giving what is good, it is giving a gift to God who loves us. This means that living is loving, and that loving is understanding».
Igino Giordani in L’unico amore, Città Nuova, 1974
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17 Feb 2014 | Non categorizzato
Lampedusa, symbol of immigration: of suffering and of welcome. The news of disembarkations never stop, just as the commitment of the Town and its inhabitants. It was here that “The Charter of Lampedusa”, was signed on the Island by hundreds of international associations and hundreds of citizens. A real and true handbook of respectful welcoming of the human rights of all the inhabitants of the world, “in all the Lampedusas of the world”, as the Mayor Giusi Nicolini affirmed.
This is the reason why the Town of Lampedusa was chosen by the Association Cities for Fraternity, as the winner of the 5th edition of the “Chiara Lubich Award for fraternity”. Inspired by the thoughts of Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, the Association was born in 2008 proposed by the mayor of Rocca di Papa, Pasquale Boccia, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Focolare Movement. Today it is made up of 133 Italian towns, and other local authorities, who adhere to the initiative, and have expressed the desire to create a network of dialogue and discussion between the towns and the local authorities with the fundamental objective of promoting peace, human rights, social justice and above all fraternity, through their actions and administrative deeds.
The Foremost Citizen of the Island encouraged the promoters to continue their actions that reinforce fraternity, because “we need to create and cultivate the sensitivity to these very important themes”. The aim of the Award, in fact, is that of highlighting every year, a Town that has particularly distinguished itself through actions and attitudes of fraternity. The awarding took place in Ariccia (Rome) at the Chigi Palace, Saturday, February 8, 2014. Hosts of the event were, Emilio Cianfanelli, mayor of Ariccia, and Pasquale Boccia, mayor of Rocca di Papa and president of the Association Cities for Fraternity. The other promoter of the event, the Movement of Politics for Unity Italy, was represented by the President of the Italian chapter Silvio Minnetti.
Just as in the other editions, the awarding ceremony was preceded by a convention of reflection and formation. The themes that were presented this year included: “Economy and the Community rhyme with Fraternity? A comparison of the thoughts of Adriano Olivetti and of Chiara Lubich”. It was an excellent occasion to highlight the extreme relevance of some principles that are common to both Movements, the Community of Olivetti and the Economy of Communion.
The interventions of Melina Decaro, of the “Adriano Olivetti Foundation” Study Center and professor at the Luiss University of Rome; of Luigino Bruni, professor of Economics at the Lumsa of Rome and coordinator of the International Commission of the Economy of Communion; and of the entrepreneur Giovanni Arletti, Vice President of the Association of Entrepreneurs of the Economy of Communion (Aipec) generated a great interest.
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15 Feb 2014 | Non categorizzato
“During one of our long winter evenings, following an abundant snowfall, the courtyard of our school was completely covered in snow. I realized that neither the teachers nor the suppliers of the school canteen would be able to park their vehicles. I telephoned several companies, also a few private ones but they all responded that it would take another few days until they were able to shovel the snow, and at a considerable cost. Following a few more attempts, I accepted the offer of a neighbour who was willing to lend me his truck that had a snow plough.
As we began the job, we noticed that quite a bit of snow was accumulating along the edge of the snowplow that had to be removed manually. At that hour of the night there was nobody to help us, only the elderly woman who cleaned the school. She informed me that there was a group of boys on the other side of the building, who had gathered to smoke. They were known to be the school daredevils, frequently absent, reported for thefts, fights. They were on the verge of being expelled.
When I asked her to go and ask for their help she was a bit shocked and refused. She feared that those delinquents might do her some harm. So I decided to go myself even though I didn’t expect them to help. I had already accepted that I would be the one cleaning away the snow from the snow plough.
At first the boys were a bit confused seeing me there, but they gave me a cordial greeting. I told them that they were my only hope, and that the school they also loved, would not be functioning the next day. Before I could finish my sentence, they began to shovel the snow, and they worked for over an hour! When I thanked them for their help they said: so, we’re not as bad as some teachers think. . . .
It confirmed again that there is something positive to be appreciated in every person, and it’s only a matter of finding the right opportunity for it to come out. A more trusting and open relationship has begun among us.”
This has been the experience of Paulius Martinaitis, a Focolare volunteer from Lithuania, who is director of a high school in Vilnius.
“I learnt that offering young people an area of trust enables them to come out of those cages of transgressive behavior that sometimes imprison us with the labels we give to them.”
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14 Feb 2014 | Non categorizzato
“It was a special evening, rich in meaning;” I felt enveloped in such a family atmosphere, also in the simple fact of sharing supper together, it made me feel so at home;” “It was a spectacular performance that responded to the needs of our time;” “My only regret is that of not having invited many more people:” “We shoot short films and know a bit about acting. The directing was phenomenal. Recitation of the lines with such quick rhythms enlivened the performance. It wasn’t heavy at all, even though the themes were very challenging!” These were but a few of many comments by actors and others who witnessed the performance on the evening of December 14, 2013 in a theatre of Prato.
Directors and actors explain: “The piece we chose is quite unique: The Visitor by the French Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, with its humour and irony and originality that challenges every viewer concerning fundamental questions of life. And so it was quite adapted to creating dialogue.”
The performance which was conceived as forum theatre was organised by a Focolare Movement’s dialogue group for persons with no religious affiliation in Prato, along with the non-profit organisation La Sveglia, which has been in operation for 35 years and brought this performance to the stage.
“The crucial point of the play, which is set in Vienna, Austria, in 1938, is the dialogue between Sigmund Freud and a mysterious visitor who is taken to be God: a dialogue that was never banal and which everyone could identify with.”
The audience sat mesmerized for two hours, enjoying the passionate interpretation of every word.
At the conclusion of the performance the forum was opened, and unfolded in a family atmosphere with reflections on the piece. People spoke who were already involved in this type of dialogue, but also others who were new to the experience.
Also those directly involved in the presentation of the comedy described what it meant to them, the genesis of taking to the stage and their enjoyment of presenting it within such a context.
The outcome was truly the result of everyone’s effort: dialogue across the board! Some worked on publicity; some on the presentation of some thoughts from Chiara Lubich which were offered during the evening meal; some brought trucks for transporting props and scenery; a chef from the dialogue group prepared pasta sorrentino for the theatre company’s lunch; someone else took care of videotaping the event; others contacted the theatre and the SIAE (Italian Authors and Editors Society) for copyrights; not to mention those who contributed with their cultural expertise toward the success of the discussion at the end of the performance.
Given that the company has offered to give other performances, one viewer who is engaged in working with prisoners, proposed a presentation in a jail. Someone else suggested that La Sveglia stage other equally meaningful texts.
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11 Feb 2014 | Non categorizzato
“One day the spiritual director asked Chiara: ‘When in his life did the Lord suffers the most?”
“I suppose in the Garden of Olives”.
“No. In my opinion he suffered the most on the cross when he cried out: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mt 27,46; Mk 15,34)”.
He left, and Chiara speaking with Dori (one of her students, and among the first to follow her, editor’s note) and later with the others, began to focus her love – and her studies – on that cry: on that moment of anguish in which Christ felt abandoned even by the Father, for whom he had become man.
“I am convinced that Jesus forsaken will be the ideal that will solve the world’s problems: it will spread to all corners of the earth.”
Year after year, this conviction would have been consolidated in all kinds of trials, thanks to which her ideal was taking root among humankind.
Thus, Jesus forsaken became Chiara’s love. And it became the love – the ideal, the goal, the norm – of the Work of Mary (or Focolare Movement, editor’s note).
One day she explained to us: “If when I am old and dying, the youth come to ask me to define in brief our ideal, I will reply with a feeble voice: Its Jesus forsaken!”.
Source: “It was a time of war…”, Chiara Lubich – Igino Giordani, Città Nuova Ed., Rome, 2007, pp. 122-123.
