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8 Jan 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
“For four years I’ve been enrolled at the Fine Arts Academy. It’s an environment with a little more than 200 students who in recent years have been suffering economic difficulties. Therefore, there have been protests and the atmosphere has become rather difficult and uncertain. Besides my studies, I also tried to love those who along with me have been going through these financially difficult times. I was offered a job at Student Consulting. On the one hand I wanted to continue helping out, but I was frightened of the commitment. It was a job that would involve a lot of hard work in order to be carried out. In the end I found myself president of Consulting.
Calling meetings and assemblies, preparing reports, drawing up the regulations, attending board directors meetings – this was all new to me. However, I felt that the only important thing was to put myself at the service of everyone.
It turned out to be quite a beautiful experience, a daily commitment that brought positive results each time I was able to go beyond difficulties, as I tried to live the Gospel.
For example: There wasn’t always a good relationship among the professors and the students were suffering because of it. At the request of the students I wrote a letter to our instructors in which I clearly stated the student’s position. Many people told me that I was taking a risk. But following an initial reaction the instructors began to act differently, and my examination results were never compromised.
A year ago the Director, President and Administrative Director changed. Building new relationships with people who are older and hold such positions has not been easy for me. However, there have been discussions that led to greater cooperation and very fruitful and positive confrontation. For my part, it was always a matter of being sincere, precise and listening to all that the others had to say. Trust among us has grown, despite the difficulties.
At the beginning of summer they intended to again raise the taxes and the students obviously disagreed. I understood that the economic situation was difficult, but it was also clear that this would put many in hard times. Thanks to the trust that has been established they called me to speak with them and after many hours of discussing all the options, they proposed reducing bi-annual registration fees by 200€!
Beside my relationship with the institution there is my relationship with the students who are always coming to me with new requests. With the students in my class there were particular difficulties due to a change in professors. In fact, because of his personality, and to force us to improve, every time we confronted him we came back destroyed and discouraged.
It was an effort to listen to everything he had to say and, at the same time, it seemed impossible to establish any kind of relationship with him. But in the end our efforts proved fruitful. In October, several students who knew that I would have to reorganize his office for the examinations, came to give me a hand with the work. It felt like we were preparing for a feast: some helped to move the heavy furniture, some decorated the bulletin boards, some prepared name tags and others painted the wall. . .
When the professor arrived everything was ready, not only the work but also many small details that weren’t really necessary but made everything look so special and beautiful! Before beginning the examination he thanked everyone for the year we had spent together and even confided that entering the room, he felt at home.
This was like an answer to my efforts at living the spirituality of unity of Chiara Lubich throughout the whole year!”
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6 Jan 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
‘Hi! I’m Jolanta, an Orthodox gen from Lithuania. I’ve only been a member of the Focolare Movement for a short time, but have always believed in God and since I was small I’ve lived as part my Church community. This was how it was until the ‘stormy’ period of my teenage years, when I was put off because there were no other young people in my group. I stopped being active and went off on my own way.
‘In Lithuania most people are Catholic, but I am Orthodox and Russian. A friend of mine, knowing that I wanted to give myself to others for God, invited me to get to know his ‘Catholic friends who I think you’ll like.’ I immediately felt at home with them and this feeling grew when I went to the Mariapolis, a meeting of several days with people of all ages, where I found a special atmosphere of unity and mutual love. When I told someone this, I was told: ‘You ought to live it in Church as well.’ I smiled. But it seemed impossible to me.
‘I helped organize a “Youth Café” with other girls, the gen, who share the spirituality of unity. We had theme evenings, ran projects and alternative amusements, which stimulated young people’s commitment, creativity and sociability. In one of the evenings we invited some young people from the Orthodox community and so we started rebuilding a relationship with them. It all went so well that some of them even took part in Run4Unity as well. After this I got a letter from the person in charge of the Orthodox community, inviting me to take part in their activities and share the what I’d done with the young people of the Focolare Movement, because they didn’t have this kind of experience. I was really moved by the letter and straight away said yes.
‘I started going to the youth meetings and I was asked to give a hand with the children’s summer camp. To be able to do this I stopped looking for work, and actually I even turned down several job offers. I set off feeling a bit nervous, because I didn’t have any organizational experience, but I did have an objective: to build bridges of unity. Now I thank God because among all the organizers it was like one big family. That was when I found I actually had three “families”: my physical family at home, the people in my Church and the Focolare Movement. I’m an only child and I was always a bit lonely, but now I have loads of true brothers and sisters.
‘After the summer camp I became more involved with the life of the Orthodox community, and now I go to lots of things, and I even help running some of them. I’ll tell you a secret: we plan to organize a Christmas party, which ought to be in the middle of January (because in our Church we celebrate Christmas on 7 January). This will be a great chance for Orthodox young people and the youth of the Focolare Movement to unite their forces and get an excellent party going.
‘Having come to know this spirituality has given me back my trust in God’s will and when you have this trust, miracles happen every single day. Chiara Lubich used to say: “Life is made up of present moments, and these alone matter for whoever wants to get something done.” ’
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3 Jan 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
“I was my father’s favourite daughter,” Mary recounts, “since I was the firstborn. When I was eight years old, I watched my parents argue and fight. One day my father forced my brothers and me to get into his car and leave our mother behind. But she stopped us. I helplessly watched so many terrible things that he did to my mother. Then he left. From that day that I saw my mother and father together, I completely rejected my father.
I tried to convince myself that he didn’t exist anymore. It was a dramatic choice that haunted me during the years of my adolescence. Growing up without a father had an influence on the way I treated other people, especially men. For several years I studied at an exclusive school for girls. When I went to university, it wasn’t easy for me to be with the boys.
Coming to know the Focolare Movement, I was invited to go to the little town of Loppiano, Italy, where there are people who try to live mutual love and have respect and trust for one another.
It was the month when everyone there was trying to live that Gospel sentence: “Forgive seventy times seven times” (Mt. 18:21). Reading the commentary by Chiara Lubich, I suddenly realized that my heart was filled with hostility towards my father. But it was only when I decided to also begin living it, that in my heart I felt the “bitterness” slowly transforming into pardon and I felt a strong desire to see my father.
When I returned to Manila, even though there was still an open wound, I found the strength to telephone my father and to arrange a meeting. We spoke for several hours, just the two of us, in a restaurant. I was happy and at peace, even though my mother didn’t agree with our meeting. But she left me free to meet him.
I continue to communicate with Dad, even if it’s not so often. But any time I have an opportunity to meet him, I try to make him feel my merciful love.
Always aware that Mum and Dad will never be able to get together again because he already has another family, I feel that, through my forgiveness, we all remain united. And this fills me with peace.”
Official Genfest website: www.genfest.org
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2 Jan 2013 | Focolare Worldwide
A chain of text messages containing Scripture quotes to end the day together, this was the idea of a small group of volunteers at the Word Youth Day. Among them was Nard, a young Dutch Focolare member, who wanted to have a moment of communion during the day so as to enter deeply into God. All the things to be done and the work for the World Youth Day seemed to get in the way. A combination of the desire to be united and of using the means of communication well meant that the group started a chain of text messages to share something valuable from the day they had just lived. The text chain did not stay in Madrid; it is still going on and increasing numbers of young people are part of it.
This is one of the stories told in a lively and enthusiastic way at the Katholike Jongeren Dag (‘s-Hertogenbosch, 4 November 2012), the annual gathering of Dutch Youth where for many years the Focolare Movement has been actively present both in the crowds and among the organizers.
Many of the Dutch young people still remember when Chiara Luce’s parents spoke in 2010 and Maria Voce’s talk the following year. This year the Gen were present in the organizing committee, as helpers and stewards during the day itself, and with a stand both promoting the United World Project launched at the Genfest and presenting the life of Chiara Luce.
The stand was visited by many of the young people circulating in 2012’s ‘Square of the New Movements’ where the various stands were all grouped together in their own areas. It was a chance to strengthen contacts among the different Catholic groups in the Netherlands.
During the lunch break, a moment when participants had time to go to the stands, the members of the various movements put on a programme to show passers-by how they live and witness to the Gospel in daily life. Of course this included music and performances, and there was also the presentation of the testimony of Eric Mwangi, a focolarino recently arrived in the Netherlands after a period in the international performing arts group, Gen Rosso.
The next appointment with the Katholike Jongeren Dag is at the end of 2013, but everyone wants to see each other again so much that they will also meet at the various gatherings for young people who want to build a better future, from the 35th European Meeting of Taizé youth (Rome, 28 December 2012 to 2 January 2013) to the World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro.
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31 Dec 2012 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
From Aleppo, Syria. “Gasoline continues to be lacking, and what little can be found is sold at exorbidant prices. The same is true for oven gas tanks (5,500 LS compared to 400 LS in March). The electricity has been cut for days and days, leaving the city in a threatening darkness after sunset. Bread is also scarce and it can only be purchased after spending long hours in line, in front of baker’s shops and paying 250 LS for one package (compared to the March price of 20 LS). The army is trying to provide bread, but isn’t able to keep up with the need of the people. School buildings that have not been transformed into havens for refugees are continuing to hold classes. But the lack of electricity makes studying toilsome and difficult (there aren’t even candles anymore). Some have begun to fall ill because of the cold and lack of medicines. Nearly 70% of the pharmacies are on the outskirts of the city and it is quite difficult to obtain medicines from other regions of the country beacuse of road blocks. It is feared that hospitals will soon be unable to continue providing care because oxygen begins to be lacking. Telephone communications are often interrupted. In spite of it all the population is giving quite a great witness of solidarity. The Focolare community and others are bringing ahead support activities: a small school for the deaf has begun to work again in a safer quarter, in some locations that hae been provided by the Franciscan Fathers. The families that we are visiting one by one, ask us before agreeing to receiving any assistance from us: ‘But isn’t there some other family that is more in need than we are?’ Rim, who has a two year old boy, was quite concerned that the boy’s cold would worsen, and he was very touched by the help that we were able to provide! It was exactly the same amount of money that her husband had given away a week earlier to a colleague who was in need. It had taken the couple a long time to save up that amount of money, but they had said to each other: ‘God will take care of us!’”
From Santiago, Cuba. “The destruction caused by hurricane Sandy has caused much damage especially in Santiago. Reconstruction has not yet begun because the Government had also been taken by surprise. Indeed because of the geographical landscape of Santiago which is encircled by mountains, hurricanes usually arrive from the sea and, blocked by the natural barrier formed by the mountains, generally move away without leaving any damage. In this case the hurricane managed to enter and remained inside for three hours (a great length of time), spinning like a kitchen blending machine. The damages suffered by sixteen families who are near to us amount to some 42,000 Euros. The monies gathered through the United World Project, though insufficient, have been handed over to them. The timing for the reconstruction is difficult to estimate because it is linked to finding the matarials and the embargo that has afflicted the island for many years. They are usually available for short periods only and not all at once. Only some cement, some wood or some iron has arrived. When the required materials do arrive, it is necessary to have the required funds on hand in order to be able to purchase them before the supply runs out. We are grateful for the assistance we’ve already received as we continue to hope in everyone’s future support.” To know more or to support the project:
Associazione Azione per un Mondo Unito
presso Banca Popolare Etica, filiale di Roma.
Codice IBAN: IT16G0501803200000000120434
Codice SWIFT/BIC CCRTIT2184D
Causale: Progetto: La mia casa è la tua casa
Causale: Emergenza Siria
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30 Dec 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
Thomas Klann in Tokyo,
November 1985
“November 1985. I was in Japan covering Chiara Lubich’s visit there. As the cameraman, it was my job to document the entire journey that was so important because of the dialogues with personalities from the non-Christian religions.
The elderly Venerable Etai Yamada, a great figure in Tendai Buddhism and personal friend of Chiara, had agreed to an interview with my film crew. On the day of the interview we learned that he was not well and had been admitted to hospital. We thought the interview would have been called off, but it hadn’t been. He wanted to leave the hospital, and he met us dressed in full regalia and solemnly seated on his throne.
That day I had left the video footage to a friend so that he could take care of the audio. I used a shotgun mic, so that I could keep my distance and not interfere with the videotaping. I knelt at the feet of the venerable monk and held the microphone from there. We put all we had into listening to him with love. We were only going to need a few minutes of his talking for insertion in the documentary. But in spite of his poor health he continued to speak, always looking at me, seemingly unmindful of the fact that I didn’t understand a word of Japanese. He spoke non-stop for more than an hour, and during that time I kept on giving him my full attention.
A screenshot of the video-interview with the Venerable Etai Yamada
A few years later Etai Yamada died. His followers asked if they could have copies of the interview he had granted to us. We got to work on it right away, because, since the Japanese video system is different than Europe’s, we had to first send this first shooting to Britain where it could be properly recoded. When it arrived in Japan we received a big thank you, because in the interview Etai Yamada had recounted his whole spiritual life, with details that no one knew. It turned out to be a very precious document for his followers!
I’ve never forgotten this event. It’s always there to remind me that for good communication, it’s not as important to talk, as it is to love.”
Thomas Klann
(Centro Santa Chiara Audiovisual Centre, Italy)
Source: Una Buona Notizia: gente che crede gente che muove (Rome: Ed. Città Nuova, 2012).
