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Guatemala: in the heart of Latin America

Guatemala: in the heart of Latin America

27 Mar 2012 | Focolare Worldwide, Focolari nel Mondo

Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti were welcomed by a colorful carpet of flowers from ancient religious tradition and by a festive atmosphere at the Our Lady of the Focolarini Mariapolis Center in the Guatemala capital. This is the first stop on an extended visit to Latin America. They have come to visit “the family of Chiara” that lives in this corner of the world. It has been an intense journey in which they have met civil and ecclesiastical authorities and representatives from various lay organizations who are members or friends of the Focolare. It has been a story of life and relationships that have been sown and nourished by Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity. Some have travelled from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Belize. The ancient cultures of the region are living on in them: Maya, Garifuna, Garifuna, the Incas and Mestizos. A set of dances is offered by children and teens who attend the Fiore Educational Centre in Guatemala City. One moment of the program is dedicated to Fiore Ungaro, a focolarina who first brought the spirituality of unity to these lands. Today the education center has 210 students with 28 teachers and staff. It is a concrete answer of love by the people of the focolare, because as in all Latin American countries, education is perhaps the decisive battlefront in which the wounds of this society will be defeated.    The Bishop of Escuintla, Victor Hugo Palma Paúl was also present at a meeting with representatives from ten Movements who are members of the “Comisión de Movimientos Laicales y Nuevas Comunidades” (Commision of Lay Movements and New Communities), an agency of the Bishops Conference of Guatemala. He welcomed Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti: “The Focolare is one of the most vibrant schools that we have.” “Your charism is one that enflames, welcomes and warms the Christian life, placing the accent on unity.”   Forty focolarini and focolarine live in this Central American country. They come from Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Italy. They are the “heart” of the Focolare Movement and a true reflection of it: different ethnic groups, professions, political, social and economic sensibilities. Maria Voce listens and, at the conclusion of the meeting, shares an idea: Unity should pass through a “culture of trust”. “It is a matter of having absolute trust in the other, in the sister or brother. The other wants what I want – unity. Let what you do not be done to be admired, to assert yourself or so that you may stand out. Let it be done for the sake of unity. Each of you works in a different way, but let each one work for unity. To trust in God and in the other, therefore, is an imperative. It means believing that God is at work. He doesn’t need perfect people, but only those people of whom he has need.”     There was folkloristic costume and dance, engaging rhythms and sounds. Six hundred people gathered in the Mariapolis Centre hall. They were all members of the Focolare community living in these lands. This history of the Focolare in Central America goes back to 1954 and it is extraordinary because of the war, the economic difficulties, and the great distances. Yet it is a story that expresses gratitude to God. “Your peoples,” Maria Voce concluded, “seem to me to have a destiny: that of showing what the world would be if account were taken of the value of each human being. Everyone’s experience is necessary to others in order to construct a mosaic of unmatched beauty.”      During a meeting with more than 200 youths between the ages of 15 and 25, a deep relationship was established in which, amid the exuberant joy of being together, there also emerged the difficulty of going against the current when it came to making certain choices: “You’re not alone,” Maria Voce told them, “each time that you find yourselves before a choice you must make, remember that you’re not alone, but that all the youths who have made the choice for a united world are with you.”   

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Guatemala: in the heart of Latin America

School: starting with the students

7 Mar 2012 | Non categorizzato

‘I came to a college of hotel management as a supply teacher after the year had begun and I was catapulted into endless meetings of the class council, without anything to help me sort out names, faces and backgrounds. What I found in the college was not very encouraging. It was difficult, my colleagues said, to motivate and teach the students, especially in the younger classes. I had to forget the rich and fascinating experience I’d had the previous year with High School students and change my whole approach and teaching methods. I began an exciting adventure that immediately forced me to put myself on the line and accept the challenge. ‘I am a nun. This not only shocked my students, but it made them ask thousands of questions. I didn’t let tough comments or jokes put me off my stride. So, I found myself sharing with them something about my life, my vocation, my reason for going into teaching. The first step was to begin forming a relationship, to start doing things together. Bit by bit, we became more open with one another and I began to put questions to the young people. I didn’t start with philosophical issues, but with everyday things that demand some kind of meaning: why should I get up in the morning, why should I study, be realistic, love, suffer…? Are we aware of what we’re living? This question struck the students like lightning and made them all pull a face somewhere between laughter and pain. Having punctured a hole in their apathy, I pressed on: what is the value of the human person, individual responsibility, the search for God in people and in history? One of them, surprised that the class was listening, joked that ‘Some of us have started thinking!’ Then, with one of my colleagues, we began to build up mutual respect and she and I worked together on the basis of our subjects. We looked out bits of literature or poetry that talk about the longing for real happiness… The students responded. They felt they were being taken seriously. They got involved with the lessons. To explain the religious sense, I suggested pieces of music that express how people feel in front of the question of meaning. Following the lyrics, the young people were faced with Bob Dylan’s ‘suspension of disbelief’, Guccini’s ‘scepticism’, Bono from U2’s ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’, and I asked them: ‘Where are you in all this?’ One of them put up his hand: ‘I write poetry. Would you like to hear something I’ve written?’ A friend of his accompanied him and, doing a rap, he told the painful story of the death of a school friend. It was heartfelt: what is the human response to suffering, to finitude, to death? Recalling John Paul II, I suggested looking at his reflections during the Jubilee Celebrations for Artists. Replying to Dylan he had said that the answer was not blowing in the wind. Someone had claimed to be the answer: Jesus Christ. And this was the beginning of an understanding of Christ. We are always finding that it’s not true that young people are indifferent to beauty and to truth. Many have first hand experience of tough times and possibly for this very reason they are more sensitive to the search for truth, for what is right, for the good, and to someone who cares about what will happen to them. One thing I’ve learnt from those who have shown me their passion for education (among them is my founder, Nicola Barrè) is this: you educate to extent that you let the other educate you. But I feel it is necessary everyday to preserve one’s initial wonder, not losing a sense of curiosity and the desire for fresh adventure every morning we begin in class. Preparing my lessons I’m strive not to leave anything untried in the attempt to meet the each person as a person and to transmit this message: ‘I’m happy you exist! Thanks for joining me on the way!’ Sr Marina Motta