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Forgiveness as the basis for unity

4 Jan 2021 | Non categorizzato

The start of the year is a good opportunity to begin again in interpersonal relationships. In the following text Chiara Lubich proposes a radical strategy: a complete amnesty in our hearts to let Jesus dwell there and create cells of unity in the world. What I want to focus on today is unity. Unity must triumph – unity with God and unity among all people. The way to achieve this is to love everyone with that merciful love which characterized the Focolare at its beginnings, when we decided that each morning and all through the day we would see every person we met – at home, at school, at work, everywhere – as a new person, brand new, deliberately not remembering any of their short­comings or faults, but covering everything over with love. That is exactly how this month’s Word of Life invites us to love: to forgive seventy times seven times; to reach out to everyone we meet with a complete “amnesty,” with universal forgiveness in our hearts; and then to “make ourselves one” with them in everything except sin and evil. Why should we do this? To obtain the same wonderful results the Apostle Paul was seeking when he said: “For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. … I have become all things to all people“. (1 Cor. 9:19-22). If we “make ourselves one” with our neighbour, as Paul recommends, which will be easier when we have this forgiving attitude, we will be able to pass our Ideal on to others. And once this has been accomplished we can have Jesus present among us, the risen Jesus who promised to remain with us forever in his Church, and who allows us to almost see and hear him when he is in our midst. This must be our main work: to live in such a way that Jesus may live among us – Jesus, who is victorious over the world. For if we are one, many will be one and the world will someday be able to witness unity. …

Chiara Lubich

(Taken from a telephone conference call, Rocca di Papa, 15th October 1981)  

TV Movie on Chiara Lubich:  how to watch it outside Italy

3 Jan 2021 | Non categorizzato

Exceptionally, the film “Chiara Lubich – L’amore vince tutto” can be seen on RaiPlay anywhere in the world at the same time as the film is broadcast. Thanks to Rai and Eliseo Multimedia, in an exceptional way, the film “Chiara Lubich – l’Amore vince tutto” can be seen on RaiPlay (usable on any device, after registration) anywhere in the world at the same time as the film is broadcast (Sunday 3 January from 21:25) and on demand for the next 48 hours. So far, the following schedule has been confirmed: Monday 4 January: New York 07:30 PM Los Angeles 04:30 PM B. Aires e S. Paolo 09:30 PM Tuesday 5 January: New Delhi  01:35 PM Bangkok  03:05 PM Sydney 07:05 PM Tokyo 05:05 PM Manila 04:05 PM Jakarta 03:05 PM Wednesday 6 January: Peking 09:20 PM Bangkok 08:00 PM New Delhi  06:50 PM Tokyo 10:20 PM Manila 09:20 PM Jakarta 08:20 PM Thursday 7 January: Los Angeles 08:00 PM Friday 8 January: Johannesburg 09:35 PM All times are local. For Europe: The film will be openly available (not encrypted) on Raiuno via satellite across Europe (not geo-blocked). This is the list of European countries which receive Rai Uno (not single operators). ALBANIA, ARMENIA, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, BOSNIA , BULGARIA, CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, DENMARK, ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GEORGIA, GREECE, HUNGARY, ICELAND, KOSOVO, LITHUANIA, LUXEMBURG, MACEDONIA, MALTA, MOLDAVIA, MONACO, MONTENEGRO, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, RUSSIA & CIS, ROMANIA, SERBIA, SLOVAKIA, SLOVAK REPUBLIC, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND  

Focolari Communications Office

 

A site to build a united world

30 Dec 2020 | Non categorizzato

The Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre in Florence promotes a culture of dialogue, welcome and respect to help us rediscover we are all members of one human family. “Attending the La Pira Centre made us realise that the school was fundamental to building a future of peace and serenity, and inspired us to create something that would enable lots of children to receive a good education”. Armand José and Armand Xavier Mabiala are two young brothers from Angola. The first graduated in economics in Florence, the second is studying civil engineering. Both attended the Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre in the Tuscan capital where they took courses in Italian and participated in cultural activities, and made friends with young people from different backgrounds, cultures and religions. It is a place that has become such a point of reference for them that they want to take the values it expresses back to their own country. Founded in 1978 at the request of Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, Archbishop of Florence, to support students from other countries, and entrusted to the Focolare Movement, the Centre is dedicated to Giorgio La Pira – who was one of the founding fathers of the Italian Republic and mayor of the city between 1951 and 1965.  Its purpose is to be “a place of fraternal welcome, encounter and dialogue” – according to its website www.centrointernazionalelapira.org – a “door opening on a Europe that is willing to give as well as receive, to learn from everyone”. Its horizon is “the dream of the Gospel, the ideal of universal brotherhood, the dream of Peace whose goal is a united world”. Having received a sum of money from their father the two brothers, instead of spending it on themselves, decided to invest in something they considered more important for their country, on education, as an instrument for peace, development and well-being.   They have built a school in Luanda, Angola’s capital which is also named after Giorgio La Pira and takes its inspiration from the ideal of universal fraternity. This is just one of the many stories told at the La Pira Centre and speak of welcome, solidarity and friendship between people of different origins, convictions, faith and culture, even during this time of pandemic. Mohamed Abou El Ela is a Florentine student, a member of the board of Young Italian Muslims and secretary of the Islamic Community of Florence and Tuscany. Together with other young Muslims and with the support of the Islamic community, Caritas, the Food Bank and the La Pira Centre – which he attended with his friends – he has formed a group of thirty people who bring relief to hundreds of students and families in difficulty, and volunteer for the Red Cross, Misericordia and the Caritas canteen. “In difficult times we must not act separately but in a more united way,” he explains. “This is the lesson we have learnt from the crisis imposed on us by Covid19. A story of sharing and cooperation that overcomes ideological barriers, emphasising how we are all members of one human family. This is the spirit underpinning every activity and every project at the La Pira Centre.

Claudia Di Lorenzi