The Emergency Coordination of the Focolare Movement has launched an appeal for the Middle East, to help people in those countries suffering from conflict, through Action for a United World ETS (AMU) and Action for New Families ONLUS (AFN).
Azione per un Mondo Unito ETS (AMU) IBAN: IT 58 S 05018 03200 000011204344 at Banca Popolare Etica Codice SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX
Azione per Famiglie Nuove ONLUS (AFN) IBAN: IT 92 J 05018 03200 000016978561 at Banca Popolare Etica Codice SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX
Reason for payment: Middle East Emergency
Tax benefits are available for such donations in many EU countries and in other countries around the world, according to different local regulations.Italian contributors will be able to obtain deductions and allowances from income, according to the rules for non-profit organisations
The “La Sorgente” Mariapolis Centre is located in Ain Aar, in a mountainous area, 20 kilometres north of Beirut. Just as it was in 2006, the year of the 34-day military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, people fleeing the bombs that are devastating the South of the country are arriving here, in this predominantly Christian and asking for hospitality. “It is normal to knock on the door of the Mariapolis Centre and find it wide open,” says R. of the Lebanese community of Focolare. “How could we not welcome them? What would have become of the ideal of brotherhood that we cherish and which should be our hallmark?” A similar experience occurred in 2006. Then too, Lebanon experienced large-scale movements of families and the Focolare welcomed more than a hundred friends, entire extended families in its Mariapolis Centre. “We met in those conditions and became like brothers and sisters, sharing joys and sorrows, hopes and difficulties, needs and prayer. In a simple and sincere relationship, woven into everyday life, a true experience of brotherhood started and grew, without filters or prejudices”.
No one expected the situation to deteriorate so quickly. “The Lebanese were preparing to return to school, optimistic about this new year”, says R. “Yet an unexpected storm erupted, relentless, threatening and deadly”, with “terrible consequences for a population thirsting for peace, justice and paths of dialogue”. In a few days, or rather hours, military actions hit ordinary neighbourhoods and the people found themselves living “a real nightmare”. According to the Ministry of Public Health, as of 25th September, almost 600 people have been killed in Lebanon, including more than 50 children and 94 women, and about 1,700 others have been injured since 23rd September. Mass displacement continues, reaching around 201,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Since Sunday, the “La Sorgente” Mariapolis Centre has also been filled with guests “arrived with their fears, the trauma experienced in their targeted villages and neighbourhoods”. They drove 120 kilometres, taking between 5 to 8 hours. The roads are crowded with cars fleeing the South. They leave the villages before reaching the big cities of Tyre and Sidon. Around them, they see the destruction of the recent bombings. There are currently 128 guests at the Mariapolis Centre in Ain Aar. Some come from the South, others from the popular suburbs of Beirut hit by the latest attacks. It is not easy: “Their presence raises questions in the Christian community of the region”, say the focolarini. “One wonders: are there members of Hezbollah among them who could threaten peace in the region? But the sense of solidarity is stronger than suspicion. “R. adds: “Where could they seek shelter this time too? Where could they go and know that they would be welcomed without reservation?” For the community of the focolare, a new adventure begins. The welcome is coordinated with local, religious and civil authorities.
A “contest” of solidarity is taking place throughout the country. From the parish priest, to the faithful of the parish, to the volunteers. There are those who take care of the children by organising activities and football matches for them. Those who take care of the necessary help for the reception. “People arrive shocked, worried about their future, with the apocalyptic sight of destroyed houses, burned fields, but also news of acquaintances, relatives, neighbours, friends or students who were killed in the attacks and they will never see them again. Together we unite in living the present moment, with the faith that has allowed us to endure adversity for centuries”.
The “La Sorgente” Centre aims to be, along with many other places scattered throughout the country, true “oases of peace”. “The hope, the deepest wish is that we can soon return home. So much blood spilled must make the desert of hearts bloom. We hope that this ordeal we are experiencing will open a breach in the conscience of the powerful and of everyone, showing that war is a defeat for all, as Pope Francis repeats. But above all we believe and hope that from this crucible of pain a message of possible brotherhood for the entire Region can emerge from Lebanon “.
Maria Chiara Biagioni Source: AgenSir Photo: Focolare Lebanon
The Seminar, in its second edition after the first one held in 2017 at the Federal University of Paraiba in Joao Pessoa, presented 15 academic papers produced by researchers from six universities, around the Chiara Lubich Chair of Fraternity and Humanism at the Catholic University of Pernambuco (Unicap). The seminar comprised of two days of presentations and dialogue, introduced by a warm greeting from Vice-Rector Prof. Delmar Araújo Cardoso, and followed by live streaming to an audience of about 350 people.
The event, which was organized with the support of the Chiara Lubich Centre, was held mainly in Portuguese and was particularly appreciated for its openness to an international dimension, for the consistent and qualified contribution of the speakers, for the interdisciplinary perspective that brought together papers around the theme of language, not just in the field of linguistics, but also in the fields of law, pedagogy, communication, sociology and architecture.
What emerged, in extreme synthesis, was how a language inspired by love, of which Chiara Lubich was an effective model, can contribute to building a world of peace and fraternity.
Anna Maria Rossi
(1) The Abba School is a Centre of life and study desired and founded by Chiara Lubich in 1990. It is composed of members of the Focolare Movement, united in the name of Jesus and experts in various disciplines, whose aim is to draw out and elaborate the doctrine contained in the charism of unity.
Links to the 2nd Seminar on Linguistics, Philology and Literature:
“We are convinced that the cooperation of the Christian world is essential. The common Easter celebration in 2025 of all Christians, together with events for the anniversary of the first Council of Nicaea, can serve as a meaningful starting point to take up the challenges of humanity together and promote joint activities. We hope to organize a meeting with representatives of the Christian world, with your presence, in the place where the Nicaea council originally took place ”.
These words accompanied the ecumenical group “Pasqua Together 2025” (PT2025), that gathers groups and communities of various Christian denominations, first to Istanbul (Turkey), in audience with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, then in the Vatican with Pope Francis, on the 14th and 19th of September respectively.
The group asked the two Christian leaders for next year’s common celebration of the Resurrection not to be an exception but to become the norm for all Christian Churches: a further step towards unity, in preparation for the upcoming Second Millennium of Redemption in 2033, which will be the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s resurrection.
“Pasqua Together 2025” began precisely in view of the upcoming exceptional coincidence that, in 2025, the Easter date falls on the same day for the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Christians of the Western and Orthodox churches will, therefore, celebrate Easter on the same day. Moreover, the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicaea Ecumenical Council, which declared the Symbol of faith (the Creed) and addressed the theme of the Easter date, will be remembered.
The group is composed of representatives of various Christian churches and Christian political and social movements, like the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) that was the promoter; the “Together for Europe” project, the “Jesus Christ 2033” movement and the “Centro Uno” of the Focolare Movement. The group has been following a common path for two years which has led them to signing a joint declaration that brought about the commitment to work so that all Christian churches may celebrate Easter together. Besides the Patriarch of Constantinople and Pope Francis, the document had been previously sent to the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Jerry Pillay and the former General Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance, Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher. Contacts with other Christian leaders will take place soon.
Patriarch Bartholomew I announced that a joint commission made up of four Orthodox and four Roman Catholic members are already working on the programme for the celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council which will take place precisely in Iznick – the Turkish name of ancient Nicaea. The commission has already gone there to examine the feasibility. The mayor of the city is in favour and ready to collaborate. The invitation was naturally extended to Pope Francis, and this would be their thirteenth meeting.
The Patriarch also highlighted that the Easter date is not a question of dogma or faith, but fruit of an astronomical calculation.
Pope Francis too, in his talk reiterated that “Easter does not take place by our own initiative or by one calendar or another. Easter occurred because God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. Let us not forget the primacy of God, his primerear, his having taken the first step. Let us not close ourselves within our own ideas, plans, calendars, or “our” Easter. Easter belongs to Christ!”
The Pope also invites to share, plan and “walk together” and he launches an invitation: that of beginning “from Jerusalem like the Apostles, who proclaimed the message of the Resurrection to the whole world”. The Pope encourages to “turn, today, to the Prince of Peace in order to pray that he gives us his peace.”
An invitation that echoes what the ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I had already expressed by urging the PT2025 group to promote activities defending human rights and a peaceful living together for all peoples, praying in this way: “We implore the Lord to enlighten the hearts of those in authority and to guide them on the path of justice and love, that we may heal these divisions and restore the unity that is at the heart of our faith”.
Seventy-five years have passed since the day Chiara Lubich wrote “I have only one spouse on earth”, which we have reproduced here. It’s a writing destined from the very beginning to become a true programmatic manifesto for Chiara and for those who would follow her by adopting the spirituality of unity as their own.
The handwritten manuscript, preserved in the Chiara Lubich Archive (in GAFM) and written on the front and back of a single sheet, records the date of its composition: 20-9-49. Published, in Italian, for the first time in 1957, in an incomplete version and with some modifications, in the magazine “Città Nuova”, it was then reprinted in other publications of Chiara Lubich’s writings, until it was finally included, in its entirety, and according to the original manuscript, in The Cry (New City, London 2001). This is a book that Chiara Lubich wanted to write personally “as a love song” dedicated precisely to Jesus Forsaken.
It began as a sort of diary page, written on the spur of the moment. Considering the unique lyrical tone that permeates it, it could be defined as a “sacred hymn”. This definition seems appropriate if one considers that the term “hymn” originates from the Greek hymnos. The word, although of uncertain etymology, has nevertheless a close relationship with the ancient Hymēn, the Greek god of marriage in whose honour it was sung. Moreover, the spousal aspect in this work is more than ever present, even if – and precisely because – we are within a strongly mystical context. It really is a “song” of love to Jesus Forsaken.
The context of the writing takes us back to the summer of 1949, when Chiara, with her first companions, and the first two men focolarini, was in the mountains – in the Primiero valley, in Trentino-Alto Adige – on holiday. Also, Igino Giordani (Foco) joined the group, for a few days. He had already met Chiara in Parliament a short time before, in September 1948, and he had been fascinated by her Charism.
It was a summer that Chiara herself described as “full of light”. Since then – going back over its stages – she did not hesitate to affirm that it was precisely in that period that she had a better understanding of “many truths of the faith, particularly who Jesus Forsaken was for humanity and for creation – he who recapitulated all things in Himself. Our experience was so powerful,” she noted, “it made us think life would always be like that: light and Heaven.” (The Cry, pages 60-61). But the time had come – urged precisely by Foco – to “come down from the mountains” to meet humanity that is suffering, and to embrace Jesus Forsaken in every expression of pain, in every “abandonment”. Like Him. Only out of love.
So, she wrote: “I have only one spouse on earth: Jesus Forsaken”.
Maria Caterina Atzori
20-9-49
I have only one Spouse on earth: Jesus forsaken. I have no God but him. In him is the whole of paradise with the Trinity and the whole of the earth with humanity.
Therefore, what is his is mine, and nothing else.
And his is universal suffering, and therefore mine.
I will go through the world seeking it in every instant of my life.
What hurts me is mine.
Mine the suffering that grazes me in the present. Mine the suffering of the souls beside me (that is my Jesus). Mine all that is not peace, not joy, not beautiful, not lovable, not serene, in a word, what is not paradise. Because I too have my paradise, but it is that in my Spouse’s heart. I know no other. So it will be for the years I have left: athirst for suffering, anguish, despair, sorrow, exile, forsakenness, torment— for all that is him, and he is sin, hell.
In this way I will dry up the waters of tribulation in many hearts nearby and, through communion with my almighty Spouse, in many faraway.
I shall pass as a fire that consumes all that must fall and leaves standing only the truth.
But it is necessary to be like him: to be him in the present moment of life.
Chiara Lubich The Cry (New City, London 2001, pages 61-62)
