Mary, Seat of Wisdom
“Mary Most Holy is the Seat of Wisdom because she welcomed Jesus into her womb and he is the Incarnate Wisdom. With her fiat at the Annunciation, Mary consented to the divine will and Wisdom made its dwelling in her womb, making her Wisdom’s most exemplary disciples. The Virgin was blessed, not so much for having suckled the Son of God, but for having nourished herself on the wholesome milk of God’s Word.” (Pope Saint John Paul II, Angelus, September 4, 1983) In order properly to understand this sacred hymn of praise, we need to bear in mind that the Blessed Virgin Mary is speaking on the basis of her own experience, in which she was enlightened and instructed by the Holy Spirit. No one can correctly understand God or his word, unless he has received such understanding immediately from the Holy Spirit. But no one can receive it from the Holy Spirit without experiencing, proving and feeling it. In such experience the Holy Spirit instructs us as in his own school, outside of which nothing is learned except empty words and prattle. When the Holy Virgin experienced what great things God was working in her despite her insignificance, lowliness, poverty, inferiority, the Holy Spirit taught her this deep insight and wisdom, that God is kind of Lord who does nothing but exalt those of low degree and put down the mighty from their thrones…” (Martin Luther, Commentary on the Magnificat of Mary, Introduction). “The Madonna is Seat of Wisdom not because she had spoken, not because she was a Doctor of the Church, not because she was seated on the cathedra, not because she founded a university: she’s Seat of Wisdom because she gave Christ to the world, who is the Incarnate Wisdom. She accomplished a fact. The same for us: we’ll have wisdom if we live in such a way that Jesus will be in us, among us, in fact.” (Chiara Lubich, Una via nuova, Citta Nuova, 2002) “Mary doesn’t live of herself only, but from far more profound depths: the Holy Spirit in her. From him emanates not only her Son, the content and fruit of her being; from him emanates the fulfillment and the form of his very life.” (Klaus Hemmerle, Brücken zum credo)
In the Seggau Palace
“We were invited to this enchanting place, the “green heart” of Austria, by Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl, current bishop of this 800 year-old diocese,” writes Thailand’s Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak, who is coordinator of the Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement. “For us, this this stay was an opportunity to live together as brothers, to share each other’s joys and sorrows, to regenerate our strength and to anchor ourselves once again in the essential.” History: The first meeting of Bishop Friends of the Focolare was held in 1977 upon the invitation of theologian Klaus Hemmerle (1929 – 1994), once bishop of Aquisgrana, Germany. That time, the meeting was attended by twelve bishops from five continents. At the General Audience in the Vatican, Pope Paul VI greeted them and encouraged them to go forward. At the next meeting when he met them for the last time, he said: “As the head of the Apostolic College, I strongly encourage you, I urge you, I exhort you to continue in this undertaking.” The same encouragement arrived from successive popes, including Pope Francis who sent his personal greetings. In 1981 these summer vacations with a small group of bishops were began. In 1984, Chiara Lubich invited them to “decisively launch themselves, along with the whole Work of Mary, towards the unity of the churches and dialogue with other religions and people of good will” in accordance with the Church’s and the Focolare spirituality’s objective. The bishops write: “That invitation provoked a leap in quality in our communion [with one another].” 
This year 63 prelates from 31countries attended, including Lutheran bishop Christian Krause, once president of the World Lutheran Federation. The goal was the same as always: “to enter more deeply and live the spirituality of communion” and to “explore the ways it could strengthen the Church’s journey” in various socio-cultural circumstances. The setting was the beautiful Palace of Seggau (XII century), ancient seat of the Bishop of Graz and now transformed into a conference centre immersed in lush green surroundings. The meeting opened amidst much joy and fraternity, they write, “with a review the beginnings of the bishops’ participation in the charism of unity, which has led them to aim for a life of communion not only during summer vacation, but also at a distance and throughout the whole year.” 
There were several presentations. Fr Fabio Ciardi, OMI, who is head of the Abba School, offered several reflections on Chiara Lubich’s experience of light in 1949. Archbishop Vincenzo Zan, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, described the Synod on young people that will take place in October. Bishop Brendan Leahy from Ireland reported on the Meeting of Families that will be held in Dublin at the end of August. Focolare president, Maria Voce, anticipated the topic that will be explored by all the Focolare members throughout the next year: “The Holy Spirit, Soul of the Church and of the world.” Then, together with co-president Jesús Morán, she talked about their visit to several Asian countries last January where they met with communities of the Movement. They also described the recent large gathering of young people at the Genfest in Manila, Philippines. They listened again to the Pope’s speech at the Focolare town of Loppiano, Italy, on May 10th, which Moran described as a “kind of guidebook” for the Work of Mary’s journey.” The Governor of the region welcomed the bishops in the Main Hall of the university of the Jesuits and offered them a reception. This is an unprecedented event, he remarked, which places us in the good collaboration between civil institutions and the church “in an ecumenical spirit and openness to all religions.”
“Thousand Roads” to Rome
While tens of thousands of youths from almost 200 dioceses throughout Italy are on their way to Rome for the meeting with Pope Francis on 11-12 August, the two-day programme was presented. About 70,000 young people will meet the Pope on Saturday at the Circo Massimo, for a “face-to-face” dialogue, to be followed by a prayer-wake in the spirit of the synod of October dedicated expressly to the youth. During the night some Churches along the Circo Massimo-St. Peter route will remain open not only for personal and community prayers, and confessions, but also testimonials, performances and theme encounters. On Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square, Mass will be celebrated, followed by a new meeting with Pope Francis who will consign his missionary mandate to the youths and bless the gifts which the Italian delegation will bring to the World Youth Day in Panama in January 2019.
Not from war
Tommaso Carrieri, co-founder of the association “Not from war”