8 February is the World Day of Prayer and Reflection Against Trafficking in Persons. This year 2022 an online prayer marathon starts in Oceania, crossing the globe to conclude in North America. The Focolare is among those active against human exploitation. “In our area there’s a lot of prostitution. The Pope’s invitation to go towards the existential peripheries to seek out the most vulnerable, needy and forgotten, encouraged us to approach those involved in prostitution. Our aim is simply to accompany them, be close to them, make them feel we love each of them as a person”. Laura Diaz, a Volunteer in the Focolare Movement, is one of eight women forming the “Juntas en camino” (“Together On Our Way”) group, launched in 2013 from the parish of the Holy Eucharist in the Palermo quarter of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Every day they dedicate themselves to tackling prostitution by taking care of those caught up in it. “By serving,” she continues, “we receive so much more than we give. Something has changed within us: our mentality, our attitude without prejudices. This change has affected some of our families too. We look at the people we approach as people whose dignity has been violated and whose dignity can be restored”. This and many other testimonies from over 30 countries will be presented during the online Prayer Marathon on 8 February. Entitled “The Power of Care”, organized to coincide with the World Day of Prayer and Reflection Against Trafficking in Persons, the prayer marathon runs from 9:00 to 17:00 (CET) passing from Oceania, Asia and the Middle East to Africa, Europe, South America and finally North America. It will be streamed live in five languages (English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) on the website www.preghieracontrotratta.orgMarcela Villares is a Focolarina living in Argentina who strives every day to combat the tragedy of trafficking. She works with the members of the Episcopal Commission for Migrants and Refugees of the Argentinian Bishops’ Conference as their anti-trafficking
Marcela Villares hands over the booklet of educational activities to the Pope
coordinator. “We’ve understood the importance of working to inform children and youth on these issues,” she explains. “For several years we’ve been offering formation linked to the dangers of such trafficking, to all the dioceses in our country, especially through schools. It’s been very effective, especially among children and young people, in sowing the seeds of awareness, as well as in the teachers and directors who have accepted it as a pedagogical tool for the years to come”. As a result of this experience, a booklet aimed at 6 to 17 year olds has been published including teaching activities and games on the topic. Marcela continues, “This year, in the Diocese of Orano, north Argentina, at the border with Salta – a region at high risk from this crime – we’ve been able to supply formation programs and materials to four schools, sponsored by a group of friends of Associazione Mondo Unito (AMU) in Luxembourg. The Vicar for Education has asked us to extend this formation to other Catholic schools and has introduced our program to directors of public schools too”. This in turn has generated media interest. The President of the regional Journalists’ Circle proposed distributing the formation and awareness-raising material to journalists, to doctors and nurses in local hospitals, and to all transport workers. A university is planning a conference on the issue.
The statute of Saint Bakhita by artist Timothy Schmaltz
“The pandemic has caused an increase in trafficking, has heightened the vulnerability of those most at risk and has led to a rise in gender inequality,” declares Sister Gabriella Bottani, event Coordinator. “All this must be faced with courage. We women, as a result, must take on a leading role in promoting a new economic model based on the power of care. The violence caused by exploitation can be transformed with gestures of care and solidarity.” The prayer marathon on 8 February 2022 is coordinated by Talitha Kum, the international anti-trafficking network of over 3,000 nuns, friends and partners, and is being promoted by the International Union of Superiors General, in partnership with the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Service to Integral Human Development, Caritas Internationalis, the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, the Focolare Movement, the Jesuit Refugee Service and many other organisations around the world.
In today’s society, choosing to forgive is very unconventional. Some people think that forgiveness is a weakness,” Chiara Lubich affirms in the passage we publish here. “No, it is the manifestation of the greatest courage, it is true love, the most genuine love because it is the most selfless. If we want to contribute to creating a new world, the only way is to do as God does. God not only forgives, but also forgets. The Lord forgives all our faults because “he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness”[1]. He overlooks our sins[2], he forgets them, casting them behind his back[3]. God forgives because, like any father or mother, he loves his children and therefore always forgives them, covers their mistakes, gives them confidence, and encourages them without ever tiring. Because he is father and mother, it is not enough for God to love and forgive his sons and daughters. His greatest wish is that they treat each other as brothers and sisters, get along well, and love each other. Universal fraternity, that is God’s great plan for humanity. A fraternity that is stronger than the inevitable divisions, tensions and hard feelings that creep in so easily because of misunderstandings and mistakes. Families often break up because they cannot forgive each other. Old hatreds maintain the division between relatives, social groups, and peoples. At times there are even those who teach people not to forget the wrongs they have suffered and who cultivate feelings of revenge… And a dull resentment poisons the soul and gnaws at the heart. Some people think that forgiveness is a weakness. No, it is the manifestation of the greatest courage, it is true love, the most genuine love, because the most selfless. “If you love those who love you, what merit have you?” – says Jesus – everyone knows how to do that: “Love your enemies”[4] . We are asked to learn from him and to have the love of a father, of a mother, a merciful love towards all those who come our way, especially towards those who do something wrong. Moreover, to those who are called to live a spirituality of communion and fellowship, that is, the Christian spirituality, the New Testament asks for something more: “Forgive one another”[5]. We could almost say that mutual love requires that we make a pact with one another: to be ready to forgive one another always. This is the only way we can contribute towards universal fraternity.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] Città Nuova, 2017, pp. 666-667) [1] (Ps 103:3:8) [2] (Cf Wis 11:23) [3] (Cf Is 38:17) [4](See Mt 5:42-47). [5] (Col 3:13)
“Living Peace”, a peace education project promoting a culture of peace and fraternity, began in 2012. It involves more than 1,000,000 young people, teenagers and children from 130 countries around the world and is inspired by Chiara Lubich’s “Art of Loving”. On 5 February 2022 an online event on Living Peace International’s Youtube channel will celebrate its 10th anniversary. “I was teaching in an American school in Cairo, Egypt, and the idea of contributing to peace and culture developed: it seemed a way of responding to the many challenges in the Middle East.” This is how Carlos Palma, focolarino and teacher, creator of the “Living Peace” project, begins the story. The initiative started on 5 February 2012 with the aim of promoting a culture of peace, fraternity and solidarity. Today, after 10 years, this peace education pathway has developed all over the world. It is promoted by the AMU Association Onlus – Action for a United World, in partnership with Teens4Unity and New Humanity. More than 80 international organisations and more than 1000 schools and groups take part in it, involving more than one million children and young people. On 5 February from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm (UTC+1) on the YouTube channel of “Living Peace International” there will be an online event translated in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian, to mark the tenth anniversary of the project. The “Dice of Peace” lies at the heart of the “Living Peace” project. There are no numbers on the faces of this dice but phrases that suggest ways of building peaceful relationships between all. The dice was inspired by the points of “The Art of Loving”, which Chiara Lubich had proposed to the children of the Focolare Movement many years ago. She too used a dice to explain these ideas. “Time Out” is also offered as part of this project: at 12 noon every day, in every time zone, thousands of people take a moment to be silent, to reflect and to pray for peace. Initially, this project seemed most suited to primary schools but it soon spread to secondary schools and reached universities, youth movements, associations, foundations, prisons, religious communities and art centres, etc. What does peace education mean? The UNESCO Constitution states: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” Educating for peace is not just another discipline to learn, but rather it means making every educational environment an instrument of peace, a pathway that tries to develop creativity and autonomy in children in dealing with problems and conflicts and learning to dialogue. Educating for peace, therefore, means promoting concrete actions for peace and reconciliation, starting from schools and reaching as many educational environments as possible. “In 2013 I was appointed ambassador for peace by the Universal Circle of Ambassadors for Peace in France and Switzerland,” says Carlos Palma. “Two years later the idea emerged to also appoint young ambassadors for peace ranging from 6 to 25 years old. Today there are 600 young ambassadors in the world who carry the ‘Dice of Peace”’ everywhere. They are protagonists of the most varied activities in many different areas. This project has also become a subject of study in some universities. Thanks to the young ambassadors, the ‘Dice of Peace’ has been created in braille for the participants who are blind. In addition, they have devised the” Peace Got Talent” programme which takes its cue from the television series known in various parts of the world. This gives space to young talented people to promote peace. Then came the pandemic. But in spite of this,” concludes Carlos Palma, “young people have continued and continue in a thousand ways, through the web and social networks, to promote peace and fraternity.” For more information, see this link.
To be faithful to its commitment to the victims of J.M.M., a former French focolarino convicted of child abuse, the Focolare Movement has drawn up a psychological support procedure to be offered to victims who may wish to use it. This service (see attachment) is offered as part of the independent enquiry conducted by GCPS Consulting, which has heard the opinions of some victims. Obviously, this support is a first step towards the commitments which the Movement wishes to undertake in the future and after the GCPS Consulting report is published. With this in mind, the Focolare Movement has identified the Simon Network as a suitable resource for the care, listening and accompaniment of victims and those affected by this pain. The Simon Network consists of psychotherapists, psychiatrists and spiritual accompaniers who offer psychological or psychiatric support at different stages of the investigation to those who need it or request it. The agreement between the Focolare Movement and the Simon Network aims to ensure that victims can access this service as close as possible to wherever they live. (The network covers most of France). Those who do not wish to use the support network provided by the Focolare Movement may wish to turn to other professionals they trust. All aspects of the psychological and psychiatric accompaniment process, whether carried out by the Simon Network or by other individuals trusted by victims, will be undertaken by Dr. Alexis Vancappel, an independent professional identified by the Movement to coordinate this task. Dr. Vancappel is a psychologist, specialised in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Neuropsychology. He works as a clinical psychologist at the University Psychiatric Clinic, CHU in Tours. He is a member of:
the Centres experts dépression résistante (CEDR), Fondation Fondamentale – a National multidisciplinary network, involved in research into severe depression.
the Inserm Laboratory, Equipe Imagerie et Cerveau – a medical laboratory dedicated to the study of functional neuropsychiatry.
the Qualipsy Laboratory – a Psychology Laboratory dedicated to the study of quality of life.
Details regarding further commitment on the part of the Focolare Movement to the victims, including compensation for damages, will be agreed after GCPS Consulting publishes its report, expected by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
On this occasion we dwell on the fundamental cornerstone of the Spirituality of Unity. Chiara Lubich shows us the way to obtain the grace of unity from the Father. (…) This cornerstone, which is typically ours, implies “something more” than is usually required of the more individual spiritualities, at least as they develop. The “something more”, as we know, is reciprocity and unity. Unity. What is unity? Is it possible to achieve unity? Unity is what God wants from us. Unity is the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer: “May all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us “ (Jn. 17:21). But unity cannot be achieved through our own efforts. It can be achieved only through a special grace which the Father grants if He finds us prepared, in accordance with a precise and necessary requirement. It is mutual love, put into practice, as Jesus’ commanded… his mutual love, what he wants of us. It is not – as we know – simply spiritual friendship, agreement or mutual understanding. It means loving one another as He loved us, to the point of forsakenness: to the point of complete material and spiritual detachment from people and from things, so that we can make ourselves one reciprocally and perfectly. By doing so, we will have done our part and fulfil the conditions for receiving the grace of unity, which will not be missing, which must not be missing. … (…) We must remember that there is an added grace in our communitarian spirituality; that heaven can open up for us in every moment. If we do what our spirituality asks of us, we’ll be filled with this grace, and can do much, very much for the kingdom of God. … (…) During the next month, let us make every effort to obtain this gift always! And let us not seek it only for our own happiness, but to carry out our characteristic evangelization. You know it: “That they may be one so that the world may believe” (Jn. 17:21). The world needs faith, it needs to believe! And we are all called to evangelize. (…) May whoever observes two or more of us united (in the focolares, in the nuclei, in the units, in our meetings, or because we are together for any reason) be struck by a ray of our faith, and believe. May they believe in love because they have seen it. Let’s do this. It’s what the Lord wants from us. He wants it through our charism which has been engraved in our statutes: unity is the premise that comes before every other will of God.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, Conversazioni, Cittá Nuova, 2019, p. 523-524) https://youtu.be/YEth9TWpKUY
“By serving,” she continues, “we receive so much more than we give. Something has changed within us: our mentality, our attitude without prejudices. This change has affected some of our families too. We look at the people we approach as people whose dignity has been violated and whose dignity can be restored”. This and many other testimonies from over 30 countries will be presented during the online Prayer Marathon on 8 February. Entitled “The Power of Care”, organized to coincide with the World Day of Prayer and Reflection Against Trafficking in Persons, the prayer marathon runs from 9:00 to 17:00 (CET) passing from Oceania, Asia and the Middle East to Africa, Europe, South America and finally North America. It will be streamed live in five languages (English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) on the website www.preghieracontrotratta.org Marcela Villares is a Focolarina living in Argentina who strives every day to combat the tragedy of trafficking. She works with the members of the Episcopal Commission for Migrants and Refugees of the Argentinian Bishops’ Conference as their anti-trafficking 
