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Jan 28, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
Free from prejudice
We decided to join together with a lively community of Evangelical Methodists in our city, in helping out the many North African immigrants who live in our area: Tunisians who work as labourers in silk production; Senegalese and Moroccans who work as travelling sellers. . . . Many of them do not find a hot meal during the week. So we planned on setting up a canteen where they could be served hot meals when they come for the public market each week. We take turns buying the food, cooking, serving and eating with them. So many prejudices and stereotypes crumble between one dish and the next. S. F. (Italy)
A seed of unity
While in hospital for a small surgery I read a book given to me by my fiancé. It contained factual experiences of Gospel life. They were beautiful but I said to myself: “It’s impossible to really live this way.” Then my fiancé introduced me to some of these people and, speaking with them, I saw instead that it could be done. This opened a new path for us. We married with the intention of keeping our family open to others. At first I wasn’t religious even though I belonged to the Evangelical Church and Anna was Catholic. As we began to live the Gospel I began to realize that I should first go and give witness in my Church. So I did. I made contacts and now belong to the parish council. Through our lives we’d like to show our children and everyone we meet how beautiful Christianity is, making our family a small seed of unity. D. J. K. (Germany)
Peace
The many more violent clashes inside my country had produced a strong sense of anger and revolt within me. I suffered because of my helplessness in front of so much injustice and suffering. Innocents murdered, families chased from their homes and villages in ruin. I felt like I was drifting away from God, as if I were dying within myself. That night, describing to my wife the way I was feeling, she proposed that I make one more effort to leave at dawn and go to welcome some refugee families who had fled their devastated village. We went and one of the families with three boys came to stay with us. Then peace returned to my heart. J.P. (Lebanon)
Source: Il Vangelo del giorno, Città Nuova Editrice.
![Living the Gospel: A Contribution To Unity]()
Jan 25, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
Elaine from the Central African Republic writes: “I’m a teacher in a Catholic primary school. Ever since I became acquainted with the spirituality of unity I’ve felt it my duty to put the Gospel into practice even when it means going against the tide, against the common or popular ways of doing things. 
When our country was threatened by guerrilla warfare, I presented the Time Out for Peace to my students. This is a moment of prayer during which people around the world pause to ask for the gift of peace in war torn areas and in the hearts of all people. So now we pause each day and pray for peace.” The school children commonly purchase chalk from their teachers, which they then use for writing on wooden boards. Eliane gives the chalk to her students freely, while another teacher charges them 25 francs, which she uses to buy her lunch each day. Noticing Eliane’s approach, this colleague asked her the reason for her generosity: “I tried to make her understand that it wasn’t correct to force the children to pay for chalk, because children deserve justice, and also because Jesus says: “Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). 
The studies prefect learned of Elaine’s lifestyle and asked her about it. “A short time later” Elaine recounts, “he and his wife asked me to be godmother of their youngest daughter. I joyfully accepted and now I feel truly part of their family.” Elaine’s colleagues later proposed her as a candidate for personnel representative under the supervision of the Labour Inspector. She now carries out this role of both mediation and supervision of the smooth running of the school and respecting of rights and duties. The women involved in this group also decided to pray the Time Out. Elaine concludes: “Now, many voices are raised in asking for peace not only in Central Africa, but in the whole world.”
![Living the Gospel: A Contribution To Unity]()
Jan 24, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
“One day the spiritual director asked Chiara: ‘When in his life did the Lord suffers the most?”
“I suppose in the Garden of Olives”.
“No. In my opinion he suffered the most on the cross when he cried out: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mt 27,46; Mk 15,34)”.
He left, and Chiara speaking with Dori (one of her students, and among the first to follow her, editor’s note) and later with the others, began to focus her love – and her studies – on that cry: on that moment of anguish in which Christ felt abandoned even by the Father, for whom he had become man.
“I am convinced that Jesus forsaken will be the ideal that will solve the world’s problems: it will spread to all corners of the earth.”
Year after year, this conviction would have been consolidated in all kinds of trials, thanks to which her ideal was taking root among humankind.
Thus, Jesus forsaken became Chiara’s love. And it became the love – the ideal, the goal, the norm – of the Work of Mary (or Focolare Movement, editor’s note).
One day she explained to us: “If when I am old and dying, the youth come to ask me to define in brief our ideal, I will reply with a feeble voice: Its Jesus forsaken!”.
Source: “It was a time of war…”, Chiara Lubich – Igino Giordani, Città Nuova Ed., Rome, 2007, pp. 122-123.
![Living the Gospel: A Contribution To Unity]()
Jan 21, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
I grew up near to Liverpool in the North West of England. As a child I remember there used to be processions either of Catholics or of Protestants and I used to go with other children to throw stones at the Catholics! When I was 18 I started working for ecumenism which was beginning to develop among various churches in England at that time. It wasn’t easy. Many adults in the area put obstacles in the way of unity because they were afraid of opening up towards Catholics. One day I felt particularly discouraged and I challenged God: “Let me find others who are enthusiastic about unity!” The next day I went to church to a Service for young people. The preacher told us a story: “It was wartime, and everything was collapsing…” It was the story of Chiara Lubich and the beginnings of the focolare. While he was speaking my heart was burning within me! I interrupted his talk: “Where are those girls now? Did they die in the air raids?” “No,” he replied, “don’t you know? They’re here in Liverpool!” I went to see them straight away. Rather than finding three foreign girls in the focolare I would say I found the Gospel being lived. I felt as if I was being born anew and starting my life all over again. I wanted to live the Gospel, too. I wanted to give God the first place in my life. But there were many prejudices to overcome.
London, 11 November 1996: Chiara Lubich and a group of Anglican focolarini with Archbishop George Carey and Bishop Robin Smith.
![Living the Gospel: A Contribution To Unity]()
Jan 16, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
Man (Côte d’Ivoire ), the ‘city of 18 mountains’ has some 100 thousand inhabitants from several different ethnic groups. Most of them are dedicated to farming and are reduced to extreme material and human poverty that has worsened as a result of the war that spread across the country in 2002. This is the social context in which the Focolare Movement’s Mariapolis Victoria is situated in the northeast of Africa. There were over 3000 refugees during the hot moments of the war; more than 100,000 patients showed up at its Community Medical Centre. The Movement also has a child nutrition programme that operates in the city and surrounding villages.
Some members of the Mariapolis share how Christmas was also spent in function of the most marginalised and lonely, especially those in most need of love: “There was a day of feasting with the Christian and Muslim children from the surrounding area at the local parish. There was singing, dancing, performances and lunch for everyone!” Each of the some 1000 children – plate and cup in hand – stood in a long line waiting to receive lunch. “It was nice to be able to look into their eyes, wish them bon appétit and thank them for waiting so patiently!”
One group of young people from the Movement decided to attend the festivities in Blolequin village, 175 km from Man, with some orphan children and the Consolata Missionary Sisters who care for them.
In the village of Glole, 30 km from Man, a group from the Focolare community became involved in preparing a Christmas feast. People arrived from 12 villages that have been assisted for many years by the Nutrition Centre at the Mariapolis. Local chiefs and village notables also attended, as well as leaders from several Churches. In the atmosphere of reciprocity that was created, one of the village chiefs stated: “When I present my work plan to my collaborators, if they don’t agree with it, I feel that I will no longer be able to bring it ahead on my own. Instead I will try to embrace what we can agree on together.”
An important contribution to the evening programme was a well-known text written by Chiara Lubich: One City is Not Enough. In it Chiara encourages us to seek out the poorest, the most abandoned, the orphans, the prisoners, the ones on the margins of life . . . and give to them: a smile, a friendly word, time, material assistance . . . concrete love that is able to transform a city and even more. This was followed by an exchange of testimonials, mostly concerning the activities in underway for suffering children and orphans.
![Living the Gospel: A Contribution To Unity]()
Jan 13, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
Daisy: We both come from Christian families. We met the Focolare Movement at a Mariapolis, and since then the spirituality of unity has given meaning to our lives.
Samir: In 1989, during the war in Lebanon, the situation became dramatic with death and destruction all around us: no work; no school; offices closed . . . We moved to the United States where my brother was living. As a university lecturer I was entitled to a sabbatical year.
Daisy: It was an intense year with many trials that led us to experience God’s love that kept us together. We often wondered which choice was better, whether to return to Lebanon or to stay on in a country that had so much to offer. We had both found a job and were eligible for American citizenship. Moreover, our children’s future would be secured.
Samir: It wasn’t an easy decision, but we didn’t feel that we could abandon our country when it was going through such hard times. We consulted our children and our friends in the Focolare and decided that we would return to Lebanon. Actually, we were all quite convinced that loving our own people was more important than the security that could be offered to us by the United States.
Daisy: When we returned to Lebanon our lives 
changed. We realized that happiness doesn’t depend on external circumstances, but is the fruit of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters. In our country we live alongside Muslims and through the spirituality of unity have established real fraternity with many of them.
One time we had to go to a Focolare gathering in Syria, the country on the other side of the conflict. Relations were still difficult and full of prejudice and distrust. Yet, our experience was that these were our brothers and sisters and we should also give our lives for them.
Samir: We understood our role in witnessing to love between Muslims and Christians when we welcomed 150 mostly Muslim people at our Mariapolis Centre. We feel that our role as Christians in the Middle East isn’t merely to be here, but to be an active presence in politics and in governmental institutions.
Daisy: At the present moment when most of the Lebanese are anxious for the future and many are trying to leave the country, we feel God’s love that is with us every day, deeply rooting us in our land and helping us to spread hope.
