23 Nov 2018 | Non categorizzato
The “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women,” instituted by the UN in 1999, is celebrated each year on 25 November, as an invitation to the governments, international organisations and nonprofit Associations to undertake campaigns to raise public awareness and bring about change. Much has been done, but there is still a lot to do. There is no need to go to faraway countries to see cruel violence still practiced on women, even in our own environments and in the most sordid silence. The words of St. John Paul II still echo forcefully in the apostolic letter, Mulieris dignitatem (MD, 15/08/1988), which underlines that “God created man and woman to his image, not only as singles, but in their common humanity, as a “two-fold unit.” Woman and man therefore, are essentially equal, and are both persons, called as such to participate in the intimate life of God and live in mutual communion in love, based on the model of God who is Love, which is unity in the Trinity, and to reflect in the world the communion of love in God (MD 7).” It is a goal which we can refer to daily, as individuals and as a society.
23 Nov 2018 | Cultura, Focolari nel Mondo, Non categorizzato, Spiritualità
Innovation is on the horizon for focolare.org users. The Focolare website will soon appear in a restyled format and with additional navigational features. This is a project which the International Centre of the Focolare Movement in Rocca di Papa (Rome) has been developing over the last two years. The project aims at integrating the communication networks, carried out up till now by four separate publishing sectors (Website, Information Service, Mariapolis Newsletter, and Collegamento CH Worldwide Linkup), thus creating a unified “Communications Office”. Already operating since last February, this Office gathers news about the life of the Movement worldwide and transmits them through various media. Among its main objectives is to promote activities of the Focolare Movement, to communicate its life to a broader audience, and to contribute to a greater sharing of news among the various Focolare communities worldwide. The development of new communication technologies and trends called for the restyling of the website which includes a new graphic layout, significantly more minimalist in structure, and an upgraded navigational logic. The use of new applications will also allow for greater integration with the social media, and will enable users to access content in different and personalized modes. The new structure will, in fact, be mobile-friendly and as such will take into account the use of smartphones and other mobile technology in our daily life. It will focus on content that is brief and varied, available in different formats (text messages, infographics, video clips, etc). The contents of the current site, however, will not be lost. The static content will be published as an e-Book and in the future the news articles will be accessible through searchable archives. Also envisaged is a space, entitled “Mariapolis”, dedicated to news regarding many aspects of the life of the Focolare Movement. It bears the same name given to the traditional summer gatherings of the Focolare held around the world. The current print edition of the journal “Mariapolis” will be discontinued after December 2018. The digital version aims to be a virtual “community” open to anyone who wants to visit. A system of notifications will allow the users to choose when, which themes and channels, and the preferred device (PC, tablet or smartphone) they would like to receive the information on. Every two months, a “Mariapolis” newsletter in pdf format will deliver a summary of the main highlights. Happy surfing! Joachim Schwind
21 Nov 2018 | Non categorizzato
A disabled daughter A parent never expects to have a disabled child. When this happened to us, my wife, already psychologically fragile, fell into a depression. I found myself taking care of the family in an unexpectedly new way. The first month, full of queries, I was isolating myself from friends and relatives. One day, at the staircase of the condominium, I met a couple who seemed to be very serene despite having a daughter with the Down syndrome. When I asked them how they managed to be so, their answer amazed me: “Our daughter is the biggest gift we could ever receive. She has brought us back to reality and the whole family benefited from it.” My wife and I went to visit them often. We learned about their faith, and day after day, thanks to them also we rediscovered the values we had neglected. (A. e G.F. – Italia) An unexpected gift Some relatives who had distanced themselves from us for inheritance reasons, accepted our invitation for them to stay with us for a few days. But when they told us the date of their arrival, it was not the best moment: we were having financial difficulties and I had no time to prepare the house as well as I would have wanted. Then I thought that the new found peace was the biggest gift and with the entire family we decided to do our best to make their stay a happy one. We would have liked also to give them a gift, but for want of anything better, our youngest son prepared a drawing and the oldest one, a welcome poem. The day before their arrival, in my husband’s company, the employees received a bonus package. When we opened it, there were two watches, a lady’s and a man’s watch: the unexpected gifts for our relatives. (R.H. – Germany) Another chance One of my sisters-in-law asked me the favour of taking her in our house for a period and to sign a bank loan she needed. Our house is small but we welcomed her sincerely. I saw that my husband however was very worried about the loan, considering that a few years back we had lent her a sum which she never returned. I told him that I would accept whatever decision he made, adding however that everyone should be given a chance to redeem himself. Doesn’t God himself do so with us? We signed the guarantee for the loan, which my sister-in-law is punctually paying back, even if at times not on time. As to me, I feel I have to continue helping her, and at times we have long talks during which she opens out to me as if I were a sister, overcoming the barriers that divide us. (M.D. – Paraguay) Totally at service After the death of our first girl, at only14 months, also the other two sons that arrived started to show the same symptoms. My wife and I were with bated breath, and the house became like a small hospital. However, trying to love one another, our children grew full of peace. How many times was I converted upon looking at them! Returning home after work, I tried to leave all my worries and problems behind, so as to be totally at their disposition. It could only work out this way, otherwise we would have been crushed by anguish and worries for the future. We concretely experienced that God is all powerful, and can give us a taste of paradise even in such a difficult situation. (G.M.B. – Italy)
20 Nov 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
With a simple language like that of Jesus who used common terms that anyone could understand, to explain his kingdom, Sándor began his account of how he tried to incarnate the Gospel in everything he did. A group of farmers was formed around him that met regularly to their each other’s joys, pains and progress… They felt they had a mission. Their relationship with nature, such a source of wisdom, was a gift they could share with people living in the city. This simple little spark led to meeting with city mayors. From the meetings between mayors and farmers the need arose for creating an alternative to the globalization that sanctions and extinguishes so many traditions and values. In September 2016, they held a meeting which included experiences and presentations by specialists, with the goal of finding a way to give a soul to the area, beginning from the countryside. Some 350 people took part in the gathering, including 20 mayors. The 2cnd meeting was held last September in the Hungarian Municipality of Újkígyós, in the South East of the country where, despite the freezing weather, 500 people attended. 27 stands were set up to sell cheese, handmade rugs, honey, small furniture and marmalade… With gratuitousness and much generosity the farmers from many communes, boroughs and villages, offered the best of their culinary and artisan products. They also brought horses and gave rides to the children. It was a real feast for the population. 
The conference speakers included specialists in the fields of ecology, agriculture, noise pollution, farming, as well as researchers and university faculty who were all joined in strong and genuine friendship. This was not only the secret to the success of the project, but also the realizable path for making a contribution towards authentic fraternity. Even the local Mayor, who brought folkloristic groups, confided that he was seeing a “new soul” in the community. The parish priest underscored the efficacy of evangelizing in this way, which he experienced there. One of the organisers told me: “We didn’t have any political or institutional support: it was all a gift. The whole event didn’t cost a single penny: from the chairs, to the tents, to the tables. Here, as you can see, we’re all like brothers and sisters, because out in the villages, human relationships are the winning force. There is another kind of relationship between people in the city. They form circles, common interest groups, entertainment spots…but the people are isolated. They don’t know the people in their own condominium building. The farmers, because of their contact with nature, nurture a religious soul that knows the value and the cost of everything around them, and they acknowledge the sacredness of every human being, which is what Pope Francis continually calls us to do. This meeting seems like a small step, not only for the Church itself, but also for the society.” Franciscan Friar, Csaba Böjte, OFM, from Transylvania, Romania, also spoke at the event. He is famous beyond his homeland in Hungary and Eastern Europe where he and his volunteers provide a home for 1992 children and teenagers in difficult family problems. Currently there are 82 homes, and they welcome 2500 children. Sándor’s work is a pebble dropped into the ocean, but the circle is widening. Tanino Minuta
