22 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
Is it really possible to imitate God our Father in a love that truly forgives? It’s most certainly not easy. However, what can prepare the way for us to reach this point is to have received what Pope Francis calls “the grace of shame” in our lives and the subsequent joy that comes from having been forgiven. It’s a mysterious pathway which Lent indicates to us so that at the end of it we can arrive at unexpected places. Healing wounds One day someone surprised me with a really sharp personal criticism, which I didn’t think I deserved. I was deeply hurt and the attack burnt inside me afterwards. I was tempted to cut that person out. I no longer wanted to have anything to do with them. But I realised this attitude was not coherent with my choice to live the Gospel. How could I heal this wound? I turned to Jesus, and immediately his words came to mind: “Don’t do to others what you would not wish them to do to you”. For days I practised this motto with everyone I met, including the person who had so insulted me. And I noticed something healing within me, replacing any bitter thoughts. I experienced that sense of relief which can only come through forgiveness. (R. – Italy) Unconditional love For quite a while my wife and I had been arguing more and more. Who knows why? The smallest trigger, a word out of place, a something which was nothing, and we’d start to raise our voices, dragging up old grudges. One of those evenings, when the atmosphere between us was truly electric, I noticed our nine year old daughter sitting on the stairs and apparently playing with paper aeroplanes. She was smiling, as was our younger son. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves! That got my attention, so I picked up some of the paper planes and showed them to my wife. Close up we could see that each plane was decorated with little hearts and messages like “We love you lots”, “You’re the best parents in the world!”, “We want to hear you singing!”. As my wife read them, I saw tears running down her cheeks. We looked at each other, ashamed of ourselves. We hugged and promised to rediscover our “yes” of love pronounced years ago. (M. – Portugal) The first step From when I was a teenager, my father and I could never get on. My mother suffered a lot over this, but we could never find a way through. Until one time, when I was travelling away from home, I confided in a friend who was an active member of a Catholic movement. He said that in difficult situations he would ask himself the question: “If I don’t love that particular person, who can do it in my place?” I returned home with these words ringing powerfully in my ears. Surprisingly I began to recall many occasions in which I could have taken the initiative to show love to my parents but didn’t. To make up for this, I decided to start with small things, helping out in little ways which before I always avoided. Basically, I noticed something inside me change. Twenty years have passed since then and now I have my own children. I understand the importance of taking the first step, as if the other person’s happiness depended only on me. (R.T. – Hungary)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, anno VIII, n.2, marzo-aprile 2022)
21 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
In the Our Father, Jesus invites us to ask God to forgive our debts as we too forgive our debtors. It is the Word of life that we try to put into practice during this month of March 2022. Our love for our brothers and sisters must be full of mercy, even to the point of forgiveness. Jesus says that we must always take the initiative so that harmony and fellowship are constantly maintained. Therefore, he urges us to live the commandment of love of neighbour in a radical way. In fact, he does not say: ‘if you remember having offended your brother or sister’, but rather, ‘if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you.’ For Jesus, the very fact that we remain indifferent about any disharmony with our neighbour – even if we ourselves are not responsible for this disunity – is already a reason for not being acceptable to God and, indeed, being rejected by him. Jesus wants to put us on our guard not only against serious outbursts of hatred toward others, but also against any expression or attitude that in some way denotes a lack of attention or love for our brothers and sisters. … We should try not to be superficial in our relationships, and instead search the innermost depths of our heart, to be sure that we have eliminated even the slightest attitude of indifference or lack of generosity, every attitude of superiority or any intentional neglect of others. In everyday life, we can make up for any rudeness or impatience with an apology or a friendly gesture. If at times this isn’t possible, what counts is to radically change our inner attitude. Any instinctive rejection of our neighbour needs to be replaced by an attitude of welcoming, of full and total acceptance of the other, of boundless mercy, forgiveness, willingness to share and attention to their needs. If we do this, we can offer God all the gifts we want. He will accept them and take them into account. Our relationship with him will grow deeper and we will experience true union with him, which is our happiness, both now and in the future.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] Città Nuova, 2017, p. 283)
17 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
A cultural exchange project breaks down the barriers between Haitian migrants and the community of La Romana in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is a country in the middle of the Caribbean Sea that shares the territory of the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Historically, it has a cultural value for the entire American continent, since it was there that Christopher Columbus landed on his first voyage. Both countries share cultural and historical roots, but also have contrasts that have separated them for centuries. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Political instability and internal violence have caused thousands of people to migrate to other countries. Every year thousands of migrants cross the border from Haiti to the Dominican Republic in search of a better future, creating tensions between the two nations. “It is estimated that there are about 2 million Haitians in the Dominican Republic. They come mainly to work in the cultivation of sugar cane, because there are several sugar factories here, “says Modesto Herrera, a doctor who is part of the Focolare community in the Dominican Republic. Although there is mutual exchange between these neighbouring peoples, there are also latent tensions and discrimination against Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. One of the biggest barriers is language, because in the Dominican Republic the language is Spanish, while in Haiti Creole is spoken. A few years ago, the Focolare community of La Romana began a project that aims to create bonds of fraternity with Haitian migrants living in neighbouring cities. “We work in the parish where there is a “Batey”, a rural community of sugarcane workers, mainly made up of Haitians,” says Sandra Benitez, a businesswoman. Although many had never visited the Batey because it is a remote area of the city, a group of young people and other members of the community decided to break down the barrier that has divided them for years and began to visit it. They gradually discovered that the Haitian community needed to be integrated into society. La Romana is known for its textile industry. “We saw the potential of young people and decided to work in the textile sector,” says Cristian Salvador Roa, who teaches sewing to the Haitian community. He adds: “It gives me great satisfaction to see that young men no longer wasting their youth, but becoming productive and who start to make the most of their lives by doing something productive.” “The best testimony we can give is that, given the barrier of language, the barrier of social bias, when that barrier is broken, we discover the great wealth that can be found in a culture or that can be found in sharing our human condition with others,” concludes Concepción Serrano, an industrial engineer.
Clara Ramirez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeyGvKnZJAs&list=PL9YsVtizqrYsxCVExqFc_vvuzCKyNbr43&index=4
14 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
Everything passes, even life. Only the Gospel will remain forever, since it is not subject to the passage of time. Today, 14 March 2022, 14 years after Chiara Lubich’s death, we publish this text in which she hands over the Gospel to those who follow her on the path of unity. It is an invitation to live the Word in all our daily activities. A thought constantly comes to mind: “Leave only the Gospel to those who follow you. If you do so, the Ideal of unity will remain. It is obvious that in the time in which you and the others are living, there have been useful concepts, phrases, and slogans that have made the Gospel relevant and applicable in modern times, but these thoughts, these sayings, these almost ‘words of life’, will pass away. When unity among Christians is almost achieved, ecumenism will no longer be a distant goal. When a certain degree of unity has been reached in the world, there will no longer be talk of a global person as an ideal to be pursued. When the predominantly atheistic world is permeated by the reality of God, atheism will no longer be so prominent. The spirituality of unity itself, which is now a medicine for our times, once having achieved its purpose, it will be placed alongside all the others arising from the various charisms given by God to the Church down the centuries. What remains and will always remain is the Gospel, which does not suffer the passage of time: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt 24, 35). This means all of Jesus’ words. I feel that we must certainly adapt ourselves with all our might to the times in which we live, following the particular inspirations that God gives us to bring about and cultivate the kingdom of God in ourselves and in those entrusted to us. But we must do all this knowing that life is transitory, knowing that there is eternal Life announced by Jesus in his Gospel. We must put in second place in our hearts all ideas and ways of doing things that are useful but not purely evangelical, and constantly renew our faith in the Gospel, which does not pass away.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in La Parola di Dio, [The Word of God] Città Nuova 2011, pp. 112-113)
9 Mar 2022 | Non categorizzato
On 11th -12th March 2022, a Conference entitled “The Second Vatican Council and the charism of the Unity of Chiara Lubich” will be held in the heart of Florence (Italy). It is being jointly organized by the Chiara Lubich Center and the Sophia University Institute and can be followed via live streaming in Italian and English. On 11th-12th March 2022, Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, will host a Conference entitled The Second Vatican Council and the Charism of Unity of Chiara Lubich. Starting with a careful analysis of the conciliar event, the aim is to go to the heart of this itinerary, a moment, that was fixed in history and continued over time. They will be two full days that, thanks to the presence of numerous personalities and experts, will open up a journey of investigation and study, outlining the vital link between the charism of the foundress of the Focolare and Vatican II. There will be three important sessions: A chronological and kairological coincidence: a Council and a charism; The Word becomes Church; The Church becomes Word. Vincenzo Di Pilato, Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Puglia, and Florence Gillet of the Chiara Lubich Center, theologian and expert on the founder of the Focolare, are speakers at this Conference. We asked them about the event. Prof. Di Pilato, what, in particular, will this Conference highlight ? Originally, the conference was part of the centenary celebrations for the birth of Chiara Lubich (1920-2020). However, due to the global health emergency it was postponed until now. The objective was and remains, to probe the productive reciprocity between the charism of unity and the two Constitutions promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, on the Revelation of God and on the Church: Dei Verbum and Lumen gentium. How much have the two documents found a fertile place of interpretation and development in the ecclesial experience aroused by the charism of unity? And vice versa: how much was the flowering of ecclesial life promoted by the charism of unity made possible precisely by the horizon opened by the extraordinary event of the Council? These are the basic questions that will accompany the dialogue between the participants. It should be remembered, however, that it was Vatican II who reiterated this essential unity between hierarchical gifts and charismatic gifts (cf. Lumen gentium, no. 4). Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI went so far as to speak of the “coessentiality” of these gifts, while recently Pope Francis stressed how the action of the Holy Spirit produces “harmony” between the different gifts, recalling charismatic aggregations to missionary openness and synodality. Dr. Gillet, what questions led you to organize this conference? One may wonder if it is too daring to parallel two such different events. What relationship could there be between an ecumenical Council that saw 3,000 bishops and great theologians intervene with prophetic visions for the Church and a charism given to a young woman twenty years earlier, from which a worldwide Movement was born? To answer this, let us first note the harmony in their origin: the Holy Spirit who wanted to speak to the world on the threshold of the third millennium. Then these are two ongoing events that must increasingly fertilize each other: the Second Vatican Council has not yet been fully received, even if its reception is now significantly in progress in the synodal process desired by Pope Francis. The Holy Spirit still has surprises in store. The charism of unity has also yet to reveal all its potential. It must be translated into life in the people of God. In short, it is only at the beginning as the Pope also said during his visit to Loppiano in 2018. Prof. Di Pilato, how can we reread Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity in the light of what is happening in the world today? If the pandemic seemed to be the deadly context in which the conference should initially have been held, the decision to postpone it suddenly catapulted us into another, no less dramatic scenario. In this sense, the paradigmatic experience of Chiara Lubich and her first companions in Trento, during the Second World War, offers us a key to interpreting the conference. Everyone is aware of the role that the Word of God assumed for those young women at a time marked by the collapse of the ideals with which they had grown up. The light that emerged from the pages of that little book of the Gospel that they carried with them during the bombings, guided them to heal physical and existential wounds, to inspire millions of people in the world and to involve them in the realization of God’s dream: universal brotherhood, “that all may be one”. And it was the Word of God translated into social commitment on behalf of the poor and the most needy that generated a living Church, as their Bishop of that time was able to confirm, with amazement and great joy. Even today, while everything seems to collapse again under the blows of a short-sighted and forgetful policy, there is nothing left in our hands but the Word of Life, the only thing capable of regenerating the Church. And it is on this witness of life that the Church can become for the whole world, an authoritative Word of peace and unity. To follow the event via live streaming: https://live.focolare.org/firenze2022.
Maria Grazia Berretta
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