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19 Mar 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
“In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church […].
How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.
How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own […] Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!
The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another […] In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!
Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened […]. Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! […] We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!
[…] In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness! […] Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. […] Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!”
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14 Mar 2013 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
“From Rome she spread her ideal of universal brotherhood all over the world.” These are the words that the municipality wished to have engraved on a plaque in the name of the city of Rome at the Viale Libia subway station which has been dedicated to Chiara Lubich.
The ceremony took place before a small crowd on March 14, 2013 on the fifth anniversary of the Focolare founder’s birth to Heaven. She had lived not far from the station in the early days of the Movement at the Italian capital. Maria Voce remarked on this in her address:
“What a beautiful choice of location (. . .) the quarter where for fifteen years Chiara lived both moments of special light as she watched the main features of a work of God begin to emerge, and moments of great suffering as the Movement was under scrutiny and study by the Church.” Speaking at the “Chiara Lubich: Charism, History, Culture” Conference Mayor Gianni Alemanno highlighted the unity between this event and the election of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires to the papacy: “Today we will perform a gesture that is simple, we will unveil a plaque.” May it be a reminder of Chiara to the countless people who will pass through this train station and be reminded of this journey of faith as a contribution to a sorely needed new humanism. The choice of a pope who comes from the southern hemisphere is a clear sign of the times. We will only emerge from the economic crisis in which we find ourselves by choosing humility and simplicity.” Later on during the unveiling ceremony, the Mayor paused to dwell on Chiara Lubich’s “deep bond with Rome where, in the heart of the Trieste quarter, she laboured, reflected, wrote and sent out her message.”
This relationship with the city of Rome had been affirmed by the conferring of Honorary Citizenship on the Focolare founder on January 22, 2000, her 80th birthday. On that occasion, Maria Voce recalls, Chiara expressed all her “passion for the Eternal City and also the precise commitment of dedicating herself more, so that Rome, a city so unique in the world, symbol of unity and universality might better correspond to its vocation.” This is a commitment as deep as it is practical for the life of every person: “In Chiara Lubich’s message,” Maria Voce continued, “we are offered paths that are drawn from the Gospel: Love is the driving force of history, but we need to know ‘how to love’ according to that demanding art of loving everyone, being the first to love, loving with facts, making yourself one with the other, being capable of forgiving… This begins from the person next to us: at home, in the condominium, in the quarter, on the street, in the places we study, at work, gathering places, even in Parliament, even in the train station that is a continuous crossroad of people but also symbol of anonymity.”
It brings to mind one of the most meaningful pages left to us by Chiara: “This is the great attraction of modern times: to penetrate into the highest contemplation and remain mixed in among the people, a person alongside others, losing oneself in the crowd in order to infuse it with the Divine Life, as you would dunk a piece of bread into wine”, “to mark the crowd with embroideries of light” “sharing with others the shame, the hunger, the beatings of life, the brief joys” “because the great attraction of our time is the same as every other time. It is the most human and divine thing that you can imagine: Jesus and Mary: the Word of God a carpenter’s son; the Seat of Wisdom, the Mother at home.”
In thanking Mayor Alemanno, the Capital Administration and all those who worked on the beautiful project, Maria Voce expressed her hope that from their efforts would emerge “an inspiration to live everywhere the fully human and fully spiritual vocation of the beloved city of Rome, and to ignite small fires of light and hope for the good of all.”
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12 Mar 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
The Brazilian version of the Strong Without Violence project that in Europe has touched the lives of more than 500,000 young people, started in January 2013 in various places in South America. The aim is to make young people strong in their opposition to violence, sidelining others, harassing them and the many kinds of subtle but painful abuse that there are. Central to the project is the musical Streetlight performed by the international band Gen Rosso. It tells the true story of Charles Moats from the Chicago ghetto. He stayed faithful to his Gospel ideals despite the difficulties and the hatred he faced. He made a decision not to follow violence and stuck to his choice even to the point of sacrificing his life. The project has four weeks of modules that lead up to the final show. In them the students study the theme of violence and its negative effects. At the same time they learn how to recognize and develop their own talents. In the final show the young people take part in the musical itself, together with Gen Rosso – both on stage and behind the scenes. To create the project Gen Rosso worked with the Starkmacher association in Mannheim, which supports them in Germany, and the Brazilian Fazendas da Esperanza. These are rehabilitation centres, generally on farms, where the young people can get together and find a way out of the world of drugs and other forms of dependency. 
To get things ready to put Strong Without Violence into the Brazilian context, a group from Starkmacher made the trip to Brazil to share their own experience. They went to Fortaleza and Guaratinguetá in the North East and South of Brazil. They met about forty young and older adults (educators of various sorts), who came from a variety of Brazilian cities, and who will be able to multiply the project all over the country. They were trained in its methodology, its educational bases and the organizational structures that support it. In four and a half days, then, they worked together to produce the Brazilian version. A tremendous influence came from various people of influence, such as Eros Biondini, Secretary for Minas Gerais State. He said he too would spread the word about the project. It seems that Strong Without Violence comes at just the right moment for Brazil. There is a passionate public debate on a new law proposing enforced therapy for drug addicts. Requests for new places in the rehabilitation centres, the ‘fazendas’, are growing hugely. Strong Without Violence, in its Brazilian version, looks like it will become an instrument that can give hope that there will be new possibilities for Brazilian young people in tough situations. By Andrea Fleming
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11 Mar 2013 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
In Mumbai, India, there will be several events aiming at understanding more fully the contribution of the charism of unity to dialogue between religions. They will be like a journey that begins with Chiara Lubich’s visits to India in 2001 and 2003 and finishes with the present day. At the same time in Avellaneda, Argentina, the charism will be looked at in terms of its dialogue with contemporary culture. In Tanzania, on the other hand, at the Catholic University of Iringa the leading figures will be young people in commemorating the special relationship that linked them to Chiara. And it would be possible to outline many more events throughout the world that will commemorate Chiara Lubich (22 January 1920 to 14 March 2008) five years after her death.
There will be conferences of a cultural and academic nature, the launching of social initiatives, Eucharistic celebrations, moments of artistic expression. Across the world hundreds of events will be held to look at Chiara’s charismatic impact and to understand more of her thought. Of particular note is the international meeting that will take place in Rome, called Chiara Lubich: Life, Light and Culture. It will take place in the Great Hall of the Sapienza University of Rome on 14 March and in the hall of the Mariapolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo on 15 March.
This year the anniversary of Chiara Lubich’s death takes place in a historic moment of particular significance for the Roman Catholic Church, which is focused upon the important task of choosing a successor to Benedict XVI. The Movement’s members are very aware of it and they will take this opportunity to witness still more to the vitality and effectiveness of the Ideal of Unity in every aspect of human life, in every point of the earth. It is a treasure that can be offered to the whole Church, possibly with greater decisiveness now more than ever, to put into practice what two popes, first John Paul II and later Benedict XVI, have wished for the Movement, namely to make “the Church always more the home and the school of communion.”
There will also be events of a particularly ecumenical character, for instance, in Geneva, Swizterland, where the event has the full backing of the city’s Ecumenical Centre, and in Oslo, Norway, where participants representing the various churches will come together in a spirit of communion. And, to give another example, in San Antonio, Texas (USA), on 23 February there has already been conference looking specifically at the spirituality of communion. Furthermore, in Thailand, Korea, Melbourne in Australia, and in the whole of Europe there will special occasions where it will possible to say ‘thank you’ and speak about a person who is recognized as one of the leading figures of the twentieth century, one who opened previously unexplored ways of dialogue to promote cohesion among individuals and peoples of different religions and cultures, and so promote peace and universal brotherhood.
To find out more about these initiatives across the world, click here: https://www.focolare.org/anniversary
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10 Mar 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
Organized by the Sophia University Institute and another 8 European universities, the international seminar ‘Fraternity: Relational Principle in Politics & Law’ will take place on 11-13 March in Loppiano. There will be 61 speakers, among whom are 25 professors and lecturers from Brazil, 6 from Argentina, and a significant group from Africa. Academic interest in the theme of fraternity, understood not so much within the sphere of the family or as a bond within the community, but as a principle of thought and action in the public arena, has grown tremendously in the last few years at an international level, as witnessed by the growing literature on the topic. It is not a recent discovery, of course, with its long history – a story of many parts since it touches upon civilizations in all the continents which have left many and influential signs upon contemporary cultures. Moments of fraternity, for example, have characterized recent important and historic turning points (for instance, post Marcos Philippines, the peace process in Mozambique, South Africa following the end of Apartheid). But until only a few years ago there was little awareness of the fact, and its historical, social and cultural impact was not fully understood. Things are beginning to change and there is growing interest in the notion of fraternity in academic circles as a result of significant published research and scholarly conferences such as the seminar to take place in Loppiano. This seminar will consider a range of themes to do with fraternity, going from democracy (especially intelligent and participatory democracy) to international relations, from law to philosophy, from education to the world’s major cultural traditions. The international seminar ‘Fraternity, relational principle in politics and law’ is, first of all, a meeting point and an opportunity to explore more deeply for scholars already working in this field, but it is of similar interest to scholars of other disciplines and to the wider public who are also invited to attend. To book click on the following sites: www.principiofraternita.it www.fraternityprinciple.it www.iu-sophia.org
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6 Mar 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
Economy of communion, political commitment, fighting poverty. These were just a few of the “insights” that were offered by the Gen4 Congress that was held at Mariapolis Santa Maria (Brasil) on the 9th to the 12th of last February. The smallest youngest members of the Focolare Movement had a chance to experiment with some rather demanding topics, but also necessary for facing the future with hope.
The majority of the children were from poor families. The Santa Maria Mariapolis of the Focolare Movement is located in quite a degraded area. Two of the surrounding quarters have risen from “misery” to a state of dignified poverty, a change that was also officially recognized by the police in a document stating that criminal activity has decreased over the past three years. Here in the area of the Mariapolis there is a school whose teaching method is based on the “Art of Loving” that is elaborated by Chiara Lubich’s spirituality of unity. One of the students at this school, a Gen 4 whose family is now working in collaboration with the Brazilian government, shared her own experience that gave them courage and strength.
They also talked about the Economy of Communion (EoC) and the fight against poverty. The EoC businesses at Mariapolis Santa Maria were presented to the Gen4 and the girls met entrepreneurs who try to put an economic model into practice in their businesses that focuses on the human person and shares the business profits with the most needy. Using an educational method that directly joins theory and experimentation, the Gen4 worked in the small “multi-national” business “Scintilla d’amore” and they were pleased to be working for the poor.
All were involved with planning the programme: children, teenagers and adults. On carnival night, the small Mariapolis was set up as a large game park where the Gen 4 could experience daily life in a real city, but a ‘city with love” – from shopping at a supermarket to drawing up laws for the common good.
Four days of intense recreation and deepening, lived in a profound relationship with Jesus: “You are all ours,” one child wrote, “You were a great King and a great Child. Remain with the angels and protect me always day and night.”
