The Adventure of Unity: Igino Giordani

Jan 12, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

Although a lover of peace Igino Giordani became an officer in the First World War where he was wounded and awarded a medal of honour. Teacher, anti-fascist, librarian, husband and father of four children, he was also a well-known polemicist for the Catholic side. After the Second World War, as an anti-fascist, he was forced into exile but later became elected to the Italian Constituent Assembly. He was the one credited with bringing lay married people and families into the Focolare as active members, opening the Movement – in a certain sense – to the entire human family.

His encounter with Chiara Lubich took place in his office at the Office of Deputies in Montecitorio, in September 1948. He was going through a particularly difficult moment in his life, both spiritually and politically: “”I studied religious topics with a passion,” he writes in his Memorie di un cristiano ingenuo, “but mostly so that I would not have to think about my soul whose appearance wasn’t very edifying. It was burdened with boredom and, in order not to have to admit to its paralysis, I buried myself in books and tired myself with activity. I believed this was all I could do. I had grasped and possessed a bit from all the areas of religious culture: apologetics, ascetics, mysticism, dogmatics and morality . . . but I possessed them only as a matter of culture. They weren’t integrated with my life.” That day quite an assorted group appeared at his desk, whose originality immediately struck someone like Giordani who was rather expert on ecclesial life: a Conventual Franciscan, a Friar Minor, a Cappuchin, a man from the Third Order and a woman from the Third Order (Chiara). He would later write: “To see them united in such harmony already appeared like a miracle of unity!” Chiara spoke first, while perceiving the courteous skepticism of the deputy: “I was sure I would hear a lot of sentimental dribble about some utopian welfare scheme.” But that wasn’t the case at all! “There was an unusual tone in her voice,” he later commented, “a sense of deep certainty and conviction that seemed to come from something supernatural. Suddenly my curiosity was aroused and a fire began to blaze within me. A half hour later when she had finished speaking, I found myself completely taken by an enchanted atmosphere: enclosed in a halo of happiness and light; and I would have wanted that voice to continue speaking. It was the voice that I, without realizing, was waiting to hear. It placed holiness within the reach of everyone.” Giordani asked Chiara to write down what she had just said, and she quickly did. But personally, Giordani wanted to know more about his new acquaintances. He gradually came to discover in his experience of the Focolare, the deep desire of St John Chrysostom that the laity might live as the monks but without celibacy. “This desire had always been so strong in me,” he went on to say, “and so I had always the Franciscan style of teaching among the people and the virginal instruction given by St Catherine of Siena to the Dominican Third Order. And I supported all the initiatives to bring down the walls placed between the monastic life and the laity, between the consecrated and the common folk: confines within which the Church suffered like Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Something happened in me. Those chunks of culture that had always been standing side by side for comparison began to move and come alive, to become a living body that was generously flowing with blood. Love had entered in and invested those ideas, and its gravitational pull drew them into an orbital path of gladness.” Following the death of his wife, Mya, whom he deeply loved, he spent his final years living in a focolare in Rocca di Papa, Italy. Here he would often explain his “discovery” to people with the following words: “I moved away from the library cluttered with books, to the Church filled with Christians.” It was a real and true conversion, a new conversion, which “having plucked me from the doldrums that fenced me in, was now urging me to step onto a new landscape that was endless, somewhere between earth and Heaven, inviting me to walk again.” The cause is presently underway for Servant of God Igino Giordani, who was familiarly known as  “Foco”. Biography oj Igino Giordani (more…)

Congo: Beyond the Silence

Jan 11, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

“It’s not easy to describe what we’re going through in North Kivu, Congo, due to the terrible situation of conflict that has been unsettling my country for years. Our history has been filled with so much suffering that is still not overcome.

I had been a member of the Gen3. I belonged to a community of people who were genuinely living the Gospel. When I entered university I found myself in a different world. I saw people reaching to the point of killing one another because of tribal and ethnic differences. Corruption, fraud, revenge and many other evils were the daily fabric of life.

When I graduated, I found work in a non-governmental agency that was working for the rights of Congolese women and particularly for women who had suffered violence and had their consciences enslaved. As I travelled all around the country I was met with the misery of so many people, even though Congo is very rich in natural resources.

I watched as the climate of resignation grew. You’d hear people saying: “This country is already dead, there’s no point in trying to do anything . . .”

Around the beginning of 2012 something new happened within me. I knew that God can come and be among us and that all things are possible for Him. I realized that it was up to me to take the first step, to be willing to spend myself in a radical way to bring some change in my land.

Thus a protest movement was begun, comprised mostly of young people. The first public protest was held to denounce unemployment among young people. According to statistics, unemployment among young people in Congo is up to 96%. As Congo’s Independence Day drew near we anonymously printed flyers denouncing the crisis in justice,  serious unemployment among the young and the paradox of the great natural resources of the country and the general poverty of most of the population.

On the evening of the vigil, as we were distributing the flyers, I was placed under arrest for a week along with two other young people. I was subjected to dozens of interrogations that were veritable psychological torture. I felt the threat of death or condemnation drawing nearer each day. I wondered why God had not intervened for those who were fighting on the side of justice. The thought of the dying Jesus came to my mind. He had also felt abandoned by the Father, and so I began to love again. I found something I could do during the days of my arrest. I could prepare some food for the other detainees and the guards.

In a show of solidarity and to obtain our release the young people organised a sit-in in front of the building; the mobilization was very large. Students decided not to return to university until we were freed. In the days that followed another two friends allowed themselves to be arrested.

We fight for a Congo of the people, who are able to demand justice but also fulfill their civic duties. A year of struggle has brought about some results. The movement now exists and is recognized  and in other places in the country; we have carried out more than 50 actions with concrete positive results; we are still alive in spite of the many waves of arrests, threats and attempts at exploitation; we are the first youth group i which while respecting the laws of the land, has managed to denounce, sustain, take a position on many even serious problems, including sanctions against the military who have been implicated in crimes and extortion. And now not just us taking a position. An ever larger generation of Congolese has taken up hope again and become involved for the good of the country.”

I share the Word of Life with many of the young people in this movement. The most important thing I’ve learned is that in order to bring about a true change, the strength comes from love. Acting with love, without violence, means acting on the side of God.” (M.M. – Congo)

Morocco: Aid El Kebir Festival of the Sacrifice

Jan 9, 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

Jan 8, 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

Jan 7, 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

Jan 3, 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.