In this year dedicated to the Jubilee of Hope, the Gen 4 (the children of the Focolare Movement) in Rome decided to embark on a journey to discover more about the history of Christianity and understand how to live the Jubilee in their city that is welcoming millions of pilgrims from all over the world. The stages of their journey are the Vatican Basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major. They asked Father Fabio Ciardi, OMI, professor of spiritual theology and author of numerous books and publications, to be their guide.
First stop: St. Peter’s Basilica
In October 2024, two months before the Jubilee began, the group of 33 children with as many adults, learned about a very special reality before entering St. Peter’s Basilica. It is located next to the residence where Pope Francis lives. It is the Dispensary of St. Martha, a place where the Gospel becomes incarnate every day through the assistance given to hundreds of mothers and children. It’s an opportunity to explain to the Gen 4 how the Jubilee can be lived concretely by helping others.
Father Fabio explained, “It is a real family clinic, which began this work of care for poor children and their families in 1922. Today over 400 children, with their mothers, are assisted free of charge by about sixty volunteer doctors. They are mostly people without a residence permit, without health care”. Services include gynaecological and paediatric examinations as well as dental care for the homeless.
Father Fabio then linked this story with the story of Saint Peter, using some drawings. The children listened attentively to his voice through headphones: “Jesus met Simon the fisherman and invited him to follow him. ‘Come with me,’ he said, ‘I’ll make you a fisher of men.’ And he gave him a new name, he called him Peter, which means “rock”, because he wanted to build his Church on him”. And as the story continued, we moved to the Basilica to pray at the tomb of St. Peter. “Peter came to Rome. When Nero set fire to the city he blamed the Christians. Peter was killed in the circus of the emperor Caligula that Nero had renovated…and finally the tomb of Saint Peter in his Basilica”. There was an atmosphere of deep recollection among Gen 4, despite the influx of tourists on that Roman Saturday afternoon. Going towards the Holy Door you pass some masterpieces of art. In front of the Pietà, Father Fabio said, “This statue of Our Lady was very dear to Chiara Lubich. Every time she came to the Basilica she stopped here to pray to Mary”.
The stop in San Giovanni in Laterano
The second stage was in January 2025. This time the group was larger: 140 people including 60 children, always under the expert guidance of Father Fabio, met to discover the Basilica of St. John Lateran, full of surprises and treasures related to the history of Christianity. Attentive and curious, with headphones in their ears, for just over two hours Gen4 listened to Father Fabio’s fascinating story.
Gen4 at St. John in Lateran Gen4 at St. John in LateranGen4 at St. John in Lateran
In his blog, Father Fabio wrote, “It was wonderful to tell the story of the obelisk, it was nice to explain the meaning of the cloister, it was nice to tell the stories of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist and to let the children go and find their statues in the Basilica. It was nice to show the ancient Papal throne and the current one, on which the Pope e sits to take possession of his office. It was nice to point out the relics of the table on which Jesus celebrated the last supper and the one on which Peter celebrated here in Rome. It was good to go through the Holy Door together…It’s good to be with the children and tell them beautiful things…”
At this point, the children have built a special bond with Father Fabio. They walked beside him in the Basilica, held his hand, asked him questions to learn more. A Gen 4 asked, “What’s Heaven like?” He replied, “Imagine a busy school day. When it’s over, you go home to a beautiful, welcoming, warm house, where your parents, grandparents and friends shower you with love. You feel happy in that moment, don’t you? It’s like that in Heaven: it’s a place where you feel good, where you feel at home!” This stage also came to an end. We returned home happy and aware that for us, the Jubilee must be a time to give hope and happiness to the most disadvantaged, to our poor, to those who suffer.
The journey with other generations
Waiting to continue this journey with the Gen 4, the Gen3 (40 teenagers), the Gen2 (30 young people) and a group of adults, fascinated by the positive experience that the children were living with Father Fabio, also wanted to follow the same journey, always guided by him.
Father Fabio wrote in his blog, “First the children, then the teens, then the young people and adults. St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Mary Major. So I keep living the Jubilee, over and over. The story of history, art and spirituality, because it is all intertwined, human and divine, past and present. These monuments live on, still speaking after hundreds of years and continue to narrate beautiful things”.
Gen 2 at St. Paul outside the WallsGen 2 at St. Paul outside the WallsGen 2 at St. Paul outside the Walls
And the young people thanked Father Fabio “for preparing our hearts for such a beautiful experience, you helped us to go through this stage of the holy year together, with meaning and joy. We really liked the atmosphere you managed to create, arousing in us the desire to visit together other places in Rome which were important for the first Christians and you gave us the desire to deepen the meaning of being pilgrims on the way to the goal of Paradise”.
Jesus had come down from the mountain where he had spent the night in prayer and then had chosen his apostles. When he reached a flat place, he began to preach to them, beginning with the proclamation of the Beatitudes.
Luke’s and Matthew’s gospels differ: in Luke’s text there are only four Beatitudes and they concern the poor, the hungry, the suffering and the afflicted, with the addition of as many admonitions against the rich, the satiated and the arrogant [1]. Jesus revealed God’s special love for the poor when he was in the synagogue at Nazareth [2] and, filled with the Spirit of the Lord, he proclaimed that his mission was to bring glad tidings to the poor, deliverance to the captives and freedom to the oppressed.
Jesus went on to exhort the disciples to love even their enemies;[3] a message that finds its ultimate inspiration in the behaviour of the heavenly Father: ‘Be merciful, as your Father is merciful’ (Lk 6:36).
This statement is also the starting point for what follows: ‘Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven’ (Lk 6:37). Jesus then goes on to reprimand the listeners by using a deliberately disproportionate image:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?’
Jesus truly knows our heart. How often in everyday life do we have the sad experience of finding it easy to harshly criticise other people for their errors and weaknesses without taking into account that in doing so, we attribute to ourselves a prerogative that belongs to God alone? The fact is that in order to ‘remove the plank’ from our own eye, we need that humility that comes from the realisation that we are sinners continually in need of God’s forgiveness. Only people who have the courage to notice their own ‘plank’ and what they personally need in order to change for the better, will be able to understand without judging or exaggerating, the frailties and weaknesses in themselves and in other people.
Nonetheless, Jesus does not invite us to close our eyes to what is happening around us and just let things run their course. He wants his followers to help each other as they progress along the path to a new life. The apostle Paul also frequently reminds us to show concern for and correct those who are idle and disruptive, to encourage the disheartened, to help the weak and to be patient with everyone [4]. Only love is capable of serving others this way.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?’
How can we put this word of life into practice?
In addition to what has already been said, during this Lenten season we can ask Jesus to teach us to see others as he sees them, as God sees them. And God sees with the eyes of the heart because he always gazes upon us with love. To help each other even more, we could restore a practice that was decisive for the first group of Focolare girls in Trent.
Chiara Lubich once told a group of Muslim friends, ’At the beginning, it was not always easy to love in a radical way. Even among us, dust could settle on our relationships and unity could weaken. This happened, for example, when we became aware of the faults, the imperfections of others and we judged them and so our mutual love diminished. One day, we decided that we should try to counter this situation. We made an agreement among ourselves and called it a ‘pact of mercy’. We decided that every morning we would see the people we met – at home, at school, at work, etc. as new – new – not calling to mind their faults at all but covering everything with love. It was a strong and challenging commitment, made by all of us together, that helped us to always be the first to love, in imitation of the merciful God, who forgives and forgets.” [5]
Edited by Augusto Parody Reyes and the Word of Life Team
It seems obvious that we are made to relate to other people: in fact, we could even say that our lives are intertwined by the relationships we make. However, we sometimes we risk spoiling the latter with our harsh or superficial judgements.
Throughout history, various images have become part of everyday language. Thus, in ancient tradition we find a well-known expression that says: ‘Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and not notice the plank in your own?’[1] Equally proverbial is the image of the two saddlebags: one in front of our eyes, filled with the faults of other people which we easily see, and the other on our backs, holding our own faults which we then struggle to recognise.[2] There is also a Chinese proverb that says, ‘Man is blind to his own faults but has eagle eyes for those of others.’
This does not mean that we should indiscriminately accept what other people do and just let events run their course. Faced with injustice, violence or oppression, we cannot close our eyes. We must commit ourselves to change and start by looking at ourselves and listening sincerely to our own consciences to discover what we need to improve. Only then can we ask ourselves how we can concretely help others by sometimes offering advice and correction.
Each one of us needs ‘another point of view’ that offers a perspective different from our own, enriching our ‘truth’ and helping us to avoid self-referentiality and those errors of judgement that are part of our human nature.
The word “mercy” may seem old fashioned but it is rich with meaning relevant to today: we can be merciful first towards ourselves and then towards others too. In fact, only if we are able to accept and forgive our own limitations will we be able to welcome the weaknesses and mistakes of others. Indeed, when we realise that unconsciously we may be feeling superior and in a position to judge other people, it is vital that we are willing to take ‘the first step’ towards the other person to avoid damaging the relationship.
Chiara Lubich told a group of Muslims about her experience when she and her companions lived in a small house in Trent as they began their adventures at the start of the Movement. Not everything was simple and there were misunderstandings. “It was not always easy to love in aradical way […] “Dust” could settle on our relationships and unity could diminish. This happened, for example, when we became aware of the faults and imperfections of others and judged them, so our mutual love grew cold. One day, we decided we should try to counter this situation and we decided to make a pact among ourselves and called it a ‘pact of mercy’. We decided that every morning we would see the people we met – at home, at school, at work, etc. – as new without calling to mind their faults but covering everything with love.” [3] his is a ‘method’ worth putting into practice in groups at work, in the family and in communities of all kinds.
THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is currently produced by the Focolare Movement’s “Centre for Dialogue with People of Non-religious Beliefs”. It is an initiative that began in 2014 in Uruguay to share with non-believing friends the values of the Word of Life, i.e. the phrase from Scripture that members of the Movement strive to put into practice in their daily lives. Currently, THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 25 countries, with adaptations of the text according to different cultural sensitivities.dialogue4unity.focolare.org
[3] C. Lubich, L’amore al prossimo, Conversazione con gli amici musulmani, Castel Gandolfo, 1° novembre 2002. Cf. C. Lubich, L’Amore reciproco, Città Nuova, Roma 2013, pp. 89-90.
This month’s Word of Life is taken from a series of final recommendations that the Apostle Paul makes to the community of the Thessalonians: ‘Do not quench the Spirit, do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good. Abstain from every kind of evil.” [1] Prophecy, discernment, dialogue and listening. These were Paul’s instructions to the community that had recently embarked on a journey of faith.
Among the various gifts of the Spirit, Paul highly esteemed that of prophecy.[2] A prophet is not someone who foresees the future but rather a person who has the gift of seeing and understanding personal and collective history from God’s perspective.
However, all gifts are guided by the greatest gift of all and that is charity and fraternal love.[3] Augustine of Hippo states that only charity enables us to discern the attitude we should take in the face of a range of different situations.[4]
Test everything but hold on to what is good.
We should consider not only the personal gifts we may have, but also bear in mind the potential and variety of views and opinions offered to us by the people around us or with whom we work or even meet by chance. It is important to always maintain a sense of honesty and to be aware of the limitations of our own point of view.
This word of life could be a motto to adopt in every situation of dialogue and even opposing views. Our hearts and minds are broadened when we listen to other people: although we may not accept everything they say, we may find something good in their ideas. When love impels us to create a space within ourselves in order to listen to other people, we have the possibility of building something together.
Test everything but hold on to what is good.
Cardinal elect Timothy Radcliffe, one of the theologians present at the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, said that ‘the bravest thing we can do at this synod is to be honest with each other about our doubts and questions, those for which we have no clear answers. Then we will approach each other as fellow seekers, as beggars searching for the truth.” [5]
In a conversation with members of the Focolare, Margaret Karram commented on this reflection: ‘Thinking about it, I realised that many times I did not have the courage to really say what I thought: perhaps because I was afraid of not being understood or because I didn’t want to be different from the majority. I realised that being “beggars of truth” means having that attitude of closeness towards one another, in which we all want what God wants, and where together, we all seek what is good.’[6]
Test everything but hold on to what is good.
This is Antía’s, experience. She is a member of “Mosaico”, a performing arts group that began in Spain in 2017. It is a local project that has developed from the Gen Rosso music group. It is composed of young Spaniards who use their art and workshops to offer their experience of fraternity to others.
Antía tells us: ‘It connects with my values – a fraternal world, in which everyone (very young, inexperienced, vulnerable…) gives their contribution to the project. “Mosaico” makes me believe that a more united world is not a utopia, despite the difficulties and hard work involved. I grew up working in a team where dialogue was too honest at times and I often gave up on my own ideas which I believed to be the best. I see that in this project “good” is built piece by piece together, by us all.”[7]
Edited by Patricia Mazzola & the Word of Life Team
[1] Ts 5, 19-22. [2] Cf. Giovanni Paolo II, Udienza Generale, 24.06.1992, n.7. [3] Cf. 1 Cor 13. [4] Cf. Agostino di Ippona, Ep. Jo. 7, 8. [5] Padre Timothy Radcliffe, Meditazione n. 3, Amicizia, Sinodo dei Vescovi, Sacrofano, 2.10.2023. [6] Margaret Karram in conversation with focolarini, 3.02.2024 [7]Mosaic GRLP
On the 24th of January 1944, Chiara Lubich discovered what would become a key point in the spirituality of unity: Jesus who experienced the abandonment of the Father on the cross, the utmost expression of suffering, the greatest expression of love.
Jesus Forsaken was precisely the focus of an artistic moment during Genfest 2024, the international appointment of the young people of the Focolare Movement. Here, we offer you a few extracts of it.
