“Young people of the world, unite”: this is the invitation that Chiara Lubich extended to the younger generations 60 years ago, so that each one could answer God’s call to live for unity in a practical way. Today, this mission remains as relevant as ever and, in these extremely troubled times, continues to be a way ahead that often goes against the current. It refuses to let hatred and division have the last word. It means to journey as a family with hope and action, with a constant desire to live for a united world.
A new space created to get to know one another and to share in a direct and informal way. A moment dedicated to sharing news, stories and initiatives, so we can discover what’s happening at the International Centre and in different parts of the world and we can also strengthen our sense of community.
In this first episode, we’ll start at the International Centre (Rocca di Papa, Rome), the heart of the Focolare Movement’s governance, and after a few interesting facts, we’ll get to know some of the Councillors better – those who have completed their term of office following the General Assembly in March 2026.
Let’s get started!
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In the daily life of the focolare, Maria Voce lived the Gospel of unity in a simple yet radiant way, expressing it with intelligence, freedom and creativity.
One quality stood out immediately: she engaged her heart, imagination and intellect in loving each person in the way that person most needed to be loved. There were no formulas or ready-made solutions. Every individual was unique, and she took that uniqueness seriously.
One of us, for example, remembers arriving at the focolare unable to eat dairy products. A small detail, one might think. But not for Emmaus. Without ever drawing attention to it, she always made sure there was an alternative available at mealtimes. It was more than simple thoughtfulness; it was her way of saying: you are important just as you are. The same was true of different dietary choices or sensitivities. She respected them with a freedom that allowed her to welcome even what others might have found difficult to understand.
With Emmaus, everything seemed possible. Not because she made grand plans, but because she knew how to listen to people’s deepest desires and help them flourish. In this way, the dream that one of us had – to spend time in an English-speaking country to improve her language skills—became, with surprising simplicity, her birthday gift to that person.
She also had a special sensitivity towards different cultures. She did not merely appreciate them; she welcomed and valued them with profound respect. On the occasion of a traditional Korean celebration, she encouraged one of us, Korean, to embrace the event fully: to wear traditional dress and observe every custom, without shortcuts. Nor did she remain a spectator herself. She wanted to participate wholeheartedly, preparing an envelope with a monetary gift, as tradition prescribes for an elder offering a gift to a younger person. It was her way of saying that every culture is a gift to be treasured.
Emmaus also knew how to recognise and nurture each person’s interests and aspirations. When someone enjoyed cultural events, she did not simply say, “Go—it will be nice.” She actively searched for opportunities nearby, suggested them, encouraged participation and, at times, even accompanied us. It was as though she made other people’s dreams her own.
And then there were the gifts. They were never given merely for the sake of giving. They were carefully considered, sought out and prepared with loving attention. Whether it was a particular watch or a walk by the sea for a birthday, each gift was a tangible expression of personal love. This attentiveness extended not only to us and to other focolare communities, but also to our families—parents, sisters, nieces and nephews.
Art, too, was always present in our home and was one of her allies in fostering unity among us. How many times we sang together—she knew countless songs and poems by heart!—or staged small performances. One occasion, prepared for the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, remains unforgettable: a joyful and imaginative reinterpretation inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. Shared with her and for her, it transformed a simple celebration into a profound experience of closeness to Mary.
At heart, this was Emmaus’s way of living: she created family. One episode captures this particularly well. One Sunday afternoon, without any prior notice, our entire focolare went to visit a married focolarina who had recently moved to the International Centre. Surprised, she asked through the intercom who it was. Emmaus replied simply and joyfully: “Your family!”
On another occasion, she invited us to join her where she was spending a weekend holiday. To our surprise, she had noticed in a shop several items of clothing that she thought might suit each of us. And she was right. We tried them on and chose according to each person’s taste and style, experiencing that special joy that comes when Jesus is truly present among us.
Looking back on our life with Emmaus, we can say with conviction that unity is not an abstract idea. It is something that takes shape day by day. It calls us to become personally involved in our relationships with others through the small details, thoughtful acts of care and the creativity of love. Emmaus showed us that unity becomes possible when each person truly loves and feels truly loved.
Alba Sgariglia has degrees in philosophy and theology. Since 1975, the year before she entered the focolare, she began working at the Study Centre of the Focolare Movement alongside the foundress, Chiara Lubich.
What did your work at the Study Centre consist of?
I used to go to the library in Florence to photocopy passages from the Greek Fathers, which we would then translate at home, searching through countless pages for those brief phrases that could serve Chiara Lubich to confirm her inspirations. At the time I was working with Marisa Cerini, who told me: for us, building unity means that we should enter into the thought of the Greek Fathers and from there try to understand the light of the charism that Chiara has received. In the following years I also taught religion in secondary schools in Rome. I then joined the governing body of the Movement to oversee the cultural aspect and subsequently I became part of the Abba School, which Chiara founded in 1991 to study the notes from the so-called period of Paradise ’49. Finally, in 2014, Maria Voce Emmaus, then President of the Focolare Movement, entrusted me with the Chiara Lubich Centre, which was established to preserve, study and promote the life and work of Chiara.
What does this newly published book represent?
Paradise ‘49 is a text published posthumously, since it was written, compiled and edited by Chiara Lubich during her lifetime. She wished to describe the mystical experience she had lived between 1949 and 1951, accompanying it with footnotes that would facilitate its comprehension, so as to provide the group of scholars at the Abba School with a text that was accessible and could be used for research. The text contains a mystical experience that Chiara always said she could not keep to herself. Then, urged on by many people, she realized that the text could be understood and used by others in the Movement as well.
For example, in the early 2000s, she herself explained the essence of this experience to the young people of the Movement. Then little by little, she realized that the experience recounted in the text could also be shared with people of other religions. Over the years we have held symposia with Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims, to whom Chiara offered some passages from Paradise ’49. We have also discussed the text with people with no religious affiliation, who have given reflections far deeper than we could ever have imagined, emphasizing that it is a text of great value. There are many founders of charisms who have received this possibility of understanding the work they were carrying out, through so-called “intellectual visions” in which one perceives with the intellect what God is allowing one to see.
But since it is a mystical language, isn’t it difficult for most people to understand?
Mystical language is a unique literary genre; it is neither poetry, nor theatre, nor literature, nor theology. For example, one sometimes encounters difficulties on a theological level, because the mystic seeks words they cannot find, trying to express the inexpressible: a difficult task, so much so that often Chiara herself, whilst we were re-reading these passages, would ask us: “But how could I have written these sentences? What do they mean? Why did I write this?”
This confirms that, in such situations, the founders seek to express what they “see” using the cultural categories and concepts at their disposal, which are sometimes inadequate. For example, in Paradise ’49 there are references to The Divine Comedy because Chiara was familiar with it, or to philosophers such as Kant, whom she had studied. The external setting can also have an influence: Chiara and her first companions began this experience in the mountains of Trent, in Tonadico: it is a natural setting that speaks for itself through its beauty. This, too, helped her to express things she was perceiving for the first time in her life.
Over these 18 years since Chiara’s death, you have published books that shed light on the context of the Paradise ’49 experience…
We have continued to examine the text in depth across various disciplines, using the method Chiara had left us, which is to study everything with “Jesus in our midst”. I believe that three key aspects can be identified in this volume: the first is an educational aspect, as it teaches how to live out the charism of unity and offers a vital key to understanding it; the second aspect can be described as artistic and literary, as the text encompasses many literary genres: diaries, letters, writings and notes; finally, there is the doctrinal aspect, as the text undoubtedly has a theological focus. It is, in fact, a mystical experience that helps us to understand, on the one hand, the truths of Heaven: God, the Trinity, the Word, Mary, creation, hell and paradise; and, on the other hand, the incarnation of the charism in a movement that would have been founded in the following years, that is, after 1949–51. Every time one reads these mystical texts, one understands new things. This is what happens to me too: every time I read these pages, I understand new things, both intellectually and spiritually.
When reading the text, doesn’t Chiara seem to be a bit presumptuous in certain passages?
We need to understand why Chiara says those things in that way. We could say that it is as if God, in order to express concepts that cannot be conveyed through a human being, identifies with that person, seeing things through their eyes. This is why Chiara finds herself writing: “Today I am universal fatherhood.” But she herself asks: “What does that mean?” In that moment, she identifies with that reality, so that she can express it. In the footnotes, she herself comments on and explains her amazement and her joy at seeing that other founders had experienced more or less the same thing.
What advice would you give to someone reading this text?
I would say: take this book and read it whenever and however you like, at any time. You can discuss passages that are unclear or more complex with others, or with an expert. But I suggest that you don’t let yourself be influenced by anyone, because this text speaks directly to the individual. Let’s open it at random and read whatever page we come across. We will understand what we need at that moment, because the text, despite a few difficulties, really touches us deeply. It’s a mystical experience, that can, in a certain way, be “shared”. This is the novelty, as Chiara herself explained to us. She always made sure that everyone could participate in her experience, and this book gives us that opportunity.
A full lecture hall, attentive, almost suspended in silence. This was the atmosphere in the Paul VI Hall of the Pontifical Lateran University (Rome, Italy) on Friday 22nd May, when Chiara Lubich’s Paradise ’49 was presented to the public for the first time.
It wasn’t simply a book launch. The widespread impression, heard in the corridors and in conversations among those present, was that this was a historical moment: for the first time, a text kept mostly private until now, was being openly offered to ecclesial and cultural debate, in a hall filled to capacity.
Welcoming those present, Anna Maria Rossi, speaking on behalf of the Chiara Lubich Centre – promoter of the series of Works by Chiara Lubich – immediately clarified the meaning of the event, recalling the extensive editorial process that led to the publication of the volume. “It is not an isolated text – she explained – but part of a broader journey, which tells the story of the emergence of a charism in the Church”.
The contents were introduced by speakers from different ecclesial and academic backgrounds. Alessandro Clemenzia, Dean of the Theological Faculty of Central Italy and an expert in Chiara Lubich’s spirituality, offered an important key to the book’s interpretation: “It is not a question of understanding what Chiara wrote, but what God wishes to say about himself through this experience”. A perspective that helped reveal the depth of the text without reducing it to a simple document.
Stefan Tobler, a Swiss evangelical theologian also involved in the reflection on the Charism of Unity, drew attention to the figure of the author: a woman who, through these pages, “offers the most intimate aspects of her relationship with God” sharing her experience in an authentic way.
Particularly anticipated was the contribution of Angela Ales Bello, philosopher and phenomenology expert, the only speaker external to the Focolare Movement. She clearly pointed out that mysticism is not something “strange” or esoteric, but “an illumination of reality lived in faith”. She also highlighted an original feature of Paradise ’49: an experience that involves not only the person, but also the community, almost a “we” that becomes a subject.
Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Limerick (Ireland) and, like Clemenzia and Tobler, also a member of the interdisciplinary study centre of the Focolare Movement known as the “Abba School”, intervened remotely. He highlighted the ecclesial significance of the text. Paradise ’49, he said, is not a systematic treatise, but can “inspire new perspectives” and help us understand the Church as a living and relational communion.
Throughout the meeting, alongside the great enthusiasm, there was also a certain caution: how can such an intense text be received without simplifying or misunderstanding it? The answer emerged several times, almost like a guiding thread: Paradise ’49 cannot be understood only by reading it but by letting oneself become involved in it.
Perhaps this was the deepest meaning of the day. With this publication, the Focolare Movement has taken a step towards greater openness: what was born as a lived experience is now being offered to everyone, not as an object to be analyzed, but as a proposal for life.
