1 Nov 2011 | Non categorizzato
Launched into infinity
The saints are great men and women
who, having seen their greatness in the Lord,
risk for God, as his children,
everything that is theirs.
They give, demanding nothing.
They give their life, their soul, their joy,
every earthly bond, every richness.
Free and alone,
launched into infinity,
they wait for Love to bring them
into the eternal kingdom; but, already in this life,
they feel their hearts fill with love,
true love, the only love
that satisfies, that consoles,
that love which shatters
the eyelids of the soul and gives
new tears.
Ah, no one knows who a saint is!
He or she has given and now receives,
and an endless flow
passes between heaven and earth,
joins earth to heaven,
and filters from the depths
rare ecstasy, celestial sap
that does not stop at the saint,
but flows over the tired, the mortal,
the blind and paralyzed in soul,
and breaks through and refreshes,
comforts and attracts and saves.
If you want to know about love, ask a saint.
Chiara Lubich, Essential Writings, New City Press, Hyde Park, NY, 2007, p. 116
![Thailand: hope amidst the floods]()
31 Oct 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
More than two months of continuous rain, more by far to what is forseen every year, are beating Thailand and around eight million persons. The worst hit provinces are those of Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, and Nakhon Sawan, where the level of the water has gone beyond four metres high. Some members of the Focolari, who live in Bangkok, write to us: “ The consequences of what has happened are before the eyes of all: whole villages evacuated, industrial zones invaded by the water with the loss of tens of thousands of places of work, schools closed for an undetermined period. Years will be required to recover what we have lost.” But even in the midst of this situation, there are facts taking place that speak of still possible hope, of the desire for new birth stronger than sorrow. Thus, they continue to write from Bangkok: “What nobody expected, at least under these dimensions, is concrete love, the help that very many people are giving to who is suffering. A reporter from CNN has defined as “an incredible social effect” what is happening in Thailand. And it is so. All help each other, all try to do something for for those who have been hit; thousands of volonteers have worked 24 hours on 24 to prepare 1,200,000 sand bags to mend or raise the banks of some important canals in the zones of the floods.Those working are in the majority young people, who wanted to contribute to save what can be saved.” The work of the Focolari to bring material, spiritual, and moral help, forms part of this common work that involves the whole country, encouraging fraternal experiences that make every hope credible. Amongst the many testimonies that are reaching our editorial office, we have chosen that of S.C., university teacher, who thus relates: “I have tried to understand together with my students what to do for the victims of the floods. The youths consulted each other and decided to gather money approaching the people on the street, going up on the trains. It required a bit of courage, and yet…Around twenty of them agreed to meet each other in front of the big shops, equipped with large posters, a box and two guitars. They are all young buddists convinced of the importance of doing good to others. I encouraged them to first of all live in fraternity amongst themselves, offering difficulties and weariness for the good of the country. The collection went beyond what was expected, 17,700 bath, a large sum for our economy. But most of all, it contributed to widening the hearts of the youths on the needs of others. This commitment of theirs continues to give fruit.”
![Thailand: hope amidst the floods]()
29 Oct 2011 | Non categorizzato
One year has gone by since her beatification, attended by more than twenty-thousand young people who travelled to Rome for the occasion, and viewed by many more youths around the world via internet. . The powerful testimony of Chiara Luce Badano, the Gen from Genoa, Italy, who the Church declared blessed, seems to have made holiness fashionable again. Her “nineteen years full of life and love and faith,” (Pope Benedict XVI), awakens in youth and adults alike the desire to spend their lives for something great. They discover that holiness can be lived in daily life. Chiara Luce has shown us that we can also love always and unconditionally.” This was said by a Brazilian youth during one of the many evening presentations of the “Life Love Light” Musical which are spreading around the world: from Italy to Spain – during the WYD – and in other European countries; from the Middle East to Asia; reaching the Americas, Australia and many African countries. Her parents, Maria Teresa and Ruggero Badano have received numerous invitations to share their story. Everyone feels a living relationship with Chiara Luce Badano who is still alive. But, as one youth explains very well: “Chiara Luce has taught me something very powerful: I can’t become a saint on my own, we need to become saints together.” And Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare spoke the following words when she presented the young blessed: “The final goal of the Focolare Movement is to cooperate with the Church in realizing the testament of Jesus, ‘that all be one.’ While she was still a small child, Chiara Luce already discovered that sufferings are like precious pearls that can be gathered throughout each day. Therefore, she lived her life with Jesus and with Him she transformed her passion into a wedding song. Yes, Chiara Luce is a fulfilled Gen, a modern living testimony of our Ideal which came to maturity in her when she was 18 years old.” Her story is being spared using every means: over 30,000 copies of the book “Io ho tutto” and over 15,000 copies of “Dai tetti in giù” already translated in several languages. Then there are thousands of DVD and musical CD’s about her life and beatification. But it is mostly the internet that shows how many people know here, or discover her in unimaginable ways and want to live like her. Her Facebook page has numerous fans who share, post comments, photos. The “Life Love Light” website has become a reference point for many people to share their personal discovery of the reason for Chiara Luce’s life and the happiness that she expressed with her dying words: “Mamma, goodbye. Be glad, because I’m happy.” Direct Link to Chiara Luce profile on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChannelChiaraLuce
![Thailand: hope amidst the floods]()
23 Oct 2011 | Senza categoria
The Eucharist always had an important role in the life of Chiara Lubich, ever since her childhood. Both her personal life and that of her first companions – and that of the entire Movement – has been marked by the Eucharistic presence. And it could not have been otherwise, when we recall that Eucharistic Jesus is the heart and soul and very life of the Church. The action of the Holy Spirit in his charism of unity, instilled in Chiara and in her first companions a powerful attraction for Jesus in the Eucharist, to the point that they could not wait to go to Mass and share their lives with Him each day. And later, when they began travelling through Italy by train, they would eagerly gaze out over the countryside searching for church steeples, because they knew that the Eucharist, their love was there. There is a marvelous interconnection between the Eucharist and the spirituality of unity. Chiara comments on this great mystery in the following way: “Since the Lord concentrated our attention on Jesus’ prayer for unity when he wanted to initiate this vast movement, it meant that he had to give us a strong push in the direction of the only one who could accomplish this unity: Jesus in the Eucharist. In fact, just as newborns instinctively nourish themselves at their mother’s breast, hardly knowing what they are doing – ever since the beginning of the Movement we noticed that people who grew close to us began going to Communion every day. How are we to explain this? What instinct is for a newborn, the Holy Spirit is for an adult, who is a newborn into the life that the Gospel of unity brings. He is driven to the “heart” of Mother Church and he fees on the most precious nectar that it has, in which he feels to have found the secret of the life of unity and of his own divinization. Indeed, the work of the Eucharist is to make us God by participation. Mixing together our flesh that has been made alive by the Holy Spirit and Christ’s life-giving flesh, we are divinized in soul and in body. The Church could be defined as: the oneness caused by the Eucharist, because it is comprised of divinized men and women, made God, united to Christ who is God and united to one another. This God-with-us is present in all the tabernacles of the world, listening to our confidences, our joys, and our fears. How much comfort Eucharistic Jesus has provided for us in our trials when no one would grant us an audience because the Movement was under investigation! He was always there, at all hours, waiting for us, telling us: In the end, I’m the boss of the Church. And in struggles and pains of every kind he gave us such strength that we thought we should have died many times if Eucharistic Jesus and Jesus in our midst, whom he fueled, had not sustained us.”
![Thailand: hope amidst the floods]()
9 Oct 2011 | Non categorizzato
At the time that Chiara and her first companions began their adventure in Trent (Northern Italy) the town had a population of about ten thousand. The girls’ actions had a real effect on the people and also on the Church. Both the elderly and the young were left speechless seeing the unusual life lived by the girls living in the ‘little house’ in Piazza Cappuccini, the first ‘focolare’. In this humble apartment the poor were at home. In fact the social problems of the city, ruined by the War, were problems the girls made their own. They believed that they could solve the problems by simply believing the truth in the words of the Gospel. By loving each neighbour one after the other. Chiara wrote: ‘Among all the Words in the gospel we noticed immediately all those for our charism concerned specifically with evangelical love towards each neighbour, not only the poor, as when we read in the Gospel that Jesus had said “Whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine (and that means everyone), you did it for me.” (Mt 25,40). Our old way of understanding our neighbour and loving them crumbled. If Christ was in some way in everyone, discriminations couldn’t be made, nor could preferences. Our normal way of reasoning of classifying people was thrown into the air: fellow country man or foreigner, old or young, beautiful or ugly, likeable or not, rich or poor, Christ was behind each one, Christ was in each one. “Another Christ” really was each neighbour – if grace enriched his soul – or “another Christ”, a Christ proud – if he was still far from Him. Living like this, we realised that our neighbour was our way to reach God. It seemed that our neighbour was an arch we had to pass under in order to meet God. We experienced this right from the start. In the evening, during prayers or in a moment of recollection, after we had loved God in our brothers all day we had such union with God. Who gave us that consolation, that interior balm which was so new, celestial if not Christ who, from His Gospel lived “give and you shall be given”? (Lk 6,38) We had loved Him all day in those brothers and now He loved us. This inner gift was such a benefit! They were the first experiences of the spiritual life, of the reality of a kingdom which is not of this earth. So, in the marvellous way that the Spirit showed us, love for our brother was a new cornerstone of our spirituality.’ Chiara Lubich, Nascita di una spiritualità, in Enzo M. Fondi e Michele Zanzucchi, Un popolo nato dal Vangelo, San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo 2003, p. 18
