Morocco: Aid El Kebir Festival of the Sacrifice

9 Jan 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

Ali: “I had lost my job and we didn’t know if we would be able to purchase a ram, as tradition requires, for the Festival of the Sacrifice.” Zohour: “In the meantime we had received a sum of money from one of the families of the Focolare community in Orano, Algeria, for the purchase of a washing machine; because they noticed how tiring it was for me to wash the linens with two small children. A store in Tangeri (Morocco) had some washing machines at a good price. Thinking about the Festival of the Sacrifice, I proposed to Ali that we use the monies received for the washing machine to purchase the lamb. But on second thought we said that we should respect the intentions of the people who had given us the monies. .We went together to the store where they sold the washing machines at the best price and bought one. As we were leaving the store we were invited to take part in a drawing among the paying customers. When we returned home, we felt glad for the decision we had come to together. As far as the animal was concerned, we placed ourselves in God’s hands.” Ali: “The store telephoned that very afternoon informing us that we had won the drawing, and we were now the owners of a ram! Thus, three days later at the religious feast we were able to joyfully sacrifice a ram out of respect for tradition. For us this experience was a sign of God’s greatness. It was another sign of his love each time we love one another and are united in his name, prepared to give our lives one for the other. That same week I found a job!”

Myanmar: At the Service of the Community

8 Jan 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

Kanazogone

“Ever since 1860,” parish priest Father. Carolus Su Naing recounts, “the parish has served the local church by focusing on the social and pastoral development of the local people, and over time four parishes were begun: Pinle, Aima, Pein ne gone, Myitkalay and Wakema where over 8,000 Catholics are living. Kanazogone has always played a vital role in caring for the neediest people in the region. In 2008, when cyclone “Nargis” hit the delta region, our village became a centre for refugees: more than 3000 people who had been hit by the cyclone.”

Silo for rice husk

What is the situation like now, Father?

“Currently, Kanazagone doesn’t receive electrical power from the state,” the focolarino priest explains. “All the villagers must find their own light, using candles and batteries. Only very few homes have their own generator. Recently we spoke with the village leaders about the necessity of having a powerful enough generator that would be able to provide electrical power for all the families in the village. The installation of a strong biogas generator would help to improve the life of the village and the ability to work.”

We asked Rolf Ifanger from the Focolare, who is directly involved in the project, how such a generator would work:

“A biogas generator could run a dynamo of 200 KW, which would be plenty for the entire village. It is a Myanmar invention. The novelty lies in the fact that biogas is produced from the combustion of rice husk, which is a waste product. The rice husk that is generally discarded can be used quite efficiently to produce biogas electrical energy. Moreover, technical support would be provided by the local producer of the motor. Many such machines are already being used quite successfully in Myanmar. This region is surrounded by rice fields. The rice mill where the grain is processed is found here in this village. This project, which is guided by the engineer inventor and by the chief of the village, began in 2013 with the arrival of a € 25.000 loan. It will have to be repaid within five years at minimal interest. We are making the strong experience of how God guides us and orients us to do things that are useful for the life of the villagers.”

The biogas plant

What are your expectations for when the generator will be up and running?

“Thanks to the light and energy that will be generated by the biogas plant,” Fatherr Su Naing assures us, “the daily life of the villagers will improve. Their incomes will rise, giving them the chance to work at home in the early evening hours. The light and energy will support the schools and clinics in the village during normal hours and during emergencies. The children will carry out their tasks more easily. Street lights will provide a sense of security, encouraging social life.”

If you would like to support the project:

German Bank Account:

Maria Schregel Hilfswerk e.V.

Sparkasse Uelzen – IBAN: DE39 2585 0110 0009 0079 49

Swift: NOLADE21UEL

Still Happy Christmas

7 Jan 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

“I was born in Moscow, to a Russian Orthodox family. When I was three years old, in 1989, my family came to know the focolarini who had just arrived in Moscow. My mother and grandmother were very impressed by these men who seemed so authentic and filled with the freshness of the Gospel. My mother checked with the parish priest because she wanted to continue the friendship with the focolarini. After looking into this non-Orthodox community, the priest gave his blessing. Today the Focolare community in Moscow is much larger and the majority of its members are Orthodox. My family has had a beautiful relationship with the Focolare community for the past twenty-five years, sharing its spirit of deep unity, freedom and mutual respect. The turning point in my life came in 2000 when I was 13 years old. There was a meeting with Chiara Lubich in Poland which I attended with a group from Russia. During those days together I felt a particular union with God, and that my faith had greatly grown. I became strongly aware of God’s real and constant presence in my life. A few months later I travelled to Japan with a small group of teenagers from Russia, to attend an international conference between youths from the Focolare and Japanese Buddhist teenagers. It was the first time I ever met such young teenagers who were seriously living the Gospel in a spirit of unity and sharing. I felt a strong desire to continue living in this way with my friends back in Moscow. Following the events in Poland and Japan I began to feel a deep desire to grow in my personal relationship with God. I had a thirst for God. I began attending Church even alone without my parents. The parish priest also saw a change in me and invited me to be an altar server. So for eight years I had the beautiful experience of being near the altar. The fruit of this way of living – as a member of the Orthodox Church and as a member of the Focolare community – was the realization that God was inviting me to leave everything and give myself to him completely. After leaving Russia in 2010 I entered the focolare community, and found myself participating in the liturgy in a new way: I began singing in the choir. It was one of those forgotten desire from my childhood, which I now live as a gift from God. As in all focolares, we strive to live in reciprocal love which often makes us experience the spiritual presence of Jesus among us.

Another Year for Living the Gospel

3 Jan 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

Family Intimacy

Here in Lebanon it is customary to remove the Nativity scene on the feast of Epiphany. We invited our children to join us for this conclusion to the Christmas season. It was a beautiful evening: we spoke honestly, of solidarity. . . There was such a beautiful atmosphere that we read the Gospel of the day rediscovering nuances in it that we had never noticed before. Since some of the small children were with us, we also spoke of the meaning of the feast. Then each of us shared an intention for the New Year, a wish. We made a proposal that we would find more moments during the year to recreate this family intimacy. You’d think this was a given in a family, but for us it was a discovery of that evening which concluded with some sweet songs of glory and thanksgiving to God. (M.M. – Lebanon)

Elina the Caregiver

My mother had an accident which caused her to go from being quite independent in spite of her advancing age, to being in need of constant assistance that my sister and were unable to provide for her. This is why we hired Elina, a young woman from Eastern Europe. My mother was finding it difficult to accept her. I took advantage of little things in an attempt to help them to find a positive relationship: translating Elina’s Slavic language, explaining the needs and expectations of one or the other, highlighting the positive in each of them.

A relationship began to be born when I discovered that Elina’s residence permit was about to expire. It had to be worked out legally with my mother. For four months I knocked on doors of the most diverse institutions, until things were finally settled. My mother gradually found a friend in Elina, almost a daughter. In turn Elina had found a family and later brought her son to live in Italy. Now she’s happy. (A. P. – Italy)

Gymn Shoes

My son hadn’t taken part in physical education classes because he didn’t have gym shoes. We simply didn’t have the money to buy them and in spite of all my good intentions, I just couldn’t manage to put aside the money for even the most economical pair. One day I recalled the words of the Gospel: “ask and it will be given to you.” So I asked God to help me save up enough money to buy the shoes for my son. I was deeply moved when on that very same day my son came home from school with a pair of gym shoes, plus a spare pair. They had bought them for him with monies from the distance support programme we belong to. How could I not see in this a concrete answer of God’s love, exactly at the moment when was most in need of making my son feel happy?

(E.B. – Bolivia)

Source: Il Vangelo del giorno, January 2014, Città Nuova Editrice.

Algeria, Muslim and Christian young people together

2 Jan 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

A testimony given at the 2013 Gen Congress.

For a long time we thought that it wouldn’t be possible to have any relationship with Christian young people in such a deep way. But the things that come from God can’t lack harmony.

We are Muslims, by culture and by conviction. We come from a country, Algeria, where nearly everyone is Muslim, where contacts with other religions are extremely rare or, more usually, completely inexistent.

Certainly, introducing into our lives a Movement rooted in Christianity is a real challenge. In first place, this is because our cultures are so different – with differences encouraged by political ideas and by history, which are made more intense by many social and cultural obstacles.

How can we take up this kind of commitment without damaging our religious faith? What is this idea for which we are so ready to sacrifice so much? These are not easy questions.

Our experience has been rich and ground-breaking. Cautiously we started along a path that, bit by bit, fascinated us, and we found we were able to overcome every discord.

Over the years we’ve been surprised by how our acceptance of one another has become spontaneous and natural, and we’ve realized that our understanding of our own religion has been growing. In fact, sharing the same principles has infinitely increased for us the human dimension of things.

We are committed by acts far more than by words, and we constantly go beyond the limitations of an environment that still needs a huge amount of love and greater openness. But every difficulty gives us another reason to carry on.

Nowadays, we meet in various towns in Algeria. They are sometime hundreds of kilometres apart. The relationship among us, Muslims and Christians, is enriched by what each one of us experiences, and this is helped by the Gen throughout the world.

We think that humanity’s greatest mission is to work for us all to live together, despite different religious convictions and cultures, so that love may triumph over every contrast.

Christmas on the street, in Santiago, Chile

1 Jan 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

“Today too, Jesus is born in this square in the periphery of Santiago. Every year we celebrate Christmas with our friends who live on the street or maybe those who have no one to celebrate with. It is beautiful to see young people, adults and children who share together and who sit at the same table without looking at differences. This time there were many migrants, especially those who came from Perù in search of work, and with many children, but their situation was not too good. Others came from the regions of Chile that were struck by the earthquake of 2010 and who are still waiting for a home. Some have just begun this “journey” in the streets and are discouraged: for example, Nelson left home 3 months ago, his wife doesn’t want to have anything to do with him because he is a drunkard; at table we talk, and he shared that he was very sad and missed his family. Loreto invites him to believe once more and to have faith, it’s Christmas! And she offers him help. The next day Nelson goes to the “Early Times Cottage” [an apartment where some of the gen boys and youth of the Focolare Movement live together to make an experience in the light of the Gospel, following the example of Chiara Lubich and the first focolarinas, ndr]. There he is able to take a bath, shave, and he receives a pair of pants and a nice shirt as a gift from one of the youth, and then, with one of us, he goes to the house of his wife. The joy of his daughter upon seeing her father is uncontainable. We explain the situation to his wife, who, after some time, agrees to start again and they remain together the whole afternoon. In the evening we accompany Nelson to the “Hogar de Cristo” (The Home of Christ). There the rules are precise: “Zero” alcohol, and he agrees to this. Now we must work as a team, we have to help one another, but Baby Jesus brought us this gift and many others, which push us to be the arms of His Love so that he may arrive everywhere. There is no doubt that a united world is possible, all it takes is for us to do everything we can to discover together what to do to realize it”.