Crisis in Gaza

21 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Stuck for days under the shelling of the Catholic area of the Gaza Strip, three focolarini were liberated only as a result of intervention by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the French, Korean and Italian consulates. They managed to get way under escort by a United Nations convoy. This is an interview with two of them who are experiencing at first hand the start of the new crisis.

‘It’s not possible to understand much of what’s happening, nor what people want to achieve. Certainly things are really bad, and the impression is that we’re on the edge of an abyss,’ I was told in a phone call with two focolarine in Jerusalem who had been caught by surprise in the Israeli bombardment while visiting Focolare friends in the Gaza strip.

‘We left on the Wednesday, Corres from Korea, Gérard from France and I, to visit our community,’ says 35 year-old nurse Francesca, living for more than ten years in Jerusalem. ‘We wanted to go there at other times in the last few months, but various circumstances meant the trip was put off. As soon as we arrived, after hearing the deafening explosion, we were told of the death of Hamas’s military leader. From that moment on, except for very brief moments, it was effectively impossible to leave the tiny Christian quarter where we were staying.’

Corres took up the story, ‘We had brought aid collected by the Movement’s friends for our friends in Gaza: clothing, educational material, games for the children, food. We distributed these few things among our Christian friends, in a deeply serene atmosphere. We are witnesses of the generosity of these people, who often when about to receive gifts pointed out other families more in need than they. Despite hearing the bombardment, we can say we were all quite calm. We prayed together, met small groups who wanted news of our community in Israel, Palestine and the world. We played with the children and took tea with young people and adults.’

Francesca spoke again, ‘We stayed on the ground floor of the houses, without any shelter, without siren warnings: because shelters and sirens don’t exist in Gaza. People live in constant danger. We were struck by the faith of these people, their endless hope, so strong that it was they who encouraged us. They showed no fear and kept on saying to us: “We are in God’s hands.” Certainly we could hear the explosions (it was impossible not to!), but we carried on living the normality and simplicity of a life where we are brothers and sisters of one another. We prepared meals for parties, despite everything. One of our friends went as far as the harbour to buy fresh fish for us and one morning they cooked pizza in the oven for our breakfast.’ The most difficult moment was at night when, with each explosion, the windows and the ground shook, as the planes flew overhead of the people in Gaza City.

Of course all three focolarini had registered their presence with the UN who were preparing an expedition to withdraw foreigners from the Gaza Strip. For two days they went to the exit point, but each time there was a problem that stopped them leaving, until a UN convoy was able to escort people away.

Francesca concluded by saying, ‘I brought away with me a picture of those days: we had taken colouring books and paints with us. A boy painted a house under a tree. But at the centre of the house there was a missile. These children have grown up without peace, without calm.’

By Michele Zanzucchi (Source: Città Nuova online)

Syria: the young want peace

20 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

What is your country like, what situation have you left behind?

My only experience of war used to be from watching TV about Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq… I’d never have imagined that it would break out in Syria. We were a ‘rainbow nation’ with people of every sort, then suddenly war broke out and the colours disappeared: we became simply black and white. Neighbours looked at neighbours with suspicion, we lost our great tradition, peace, the ability to live together, our homes…We were forced to run away, losing our work and our friends… and people withdrew from one another. After living side by side we found ourselves on opposite banks. In every family there are people who have disappeared, kidnapped, orphans, killed…

Homs used to be a city full of life. We heard of gun battles elsewhere in the country and we thought that the TV was exaggerating. But sadly our city became a place where the warring parties clashed. Then we found ourselves in the midst of a gun battle. At that point I realized that Homs too had been engulfed by the war.

What is it like to experience war?

It means that the past instantly disappears – no more peace, no more freedom to go where you want without fear. Syria had been a safe country, where no one asked what your religion was. A friend of mine died, the first person I lost in the war. He loved peace. The people who die are just numbers: 30 dead today, 50 yesterday… But each one has a name, a father, a mother… When I found myself in church at my friend’s funeral, I cried as I have never cried before. When the priest asked: ‘What would Christ say now? Forgive!’, there was a stunned silence. All you could hear was the sound of people breathing. Everyone replied that we had to forgive, but I couldn’t manage it. I ran out in tears, I was burning with the wish to run over some of the killers with my car. But then I thought: what am I doing? I said to myself, should I also ill someone like my friend? I reversed the car and went back home. I prayed, God give me patience. I mustn’t kill, but avoid causing the evil I have suffered.

What do you hope for Syria in the future?

To see the country return to how it was, in peace. ‘Put away your sword and live in peace’, this ought to be the message of all religions. I hope that a media war like this would encourage young people to make peace and not war. Religious leaders should give a message of peace, so that the young can rebuild Syria.

Source: TV 2000, interview with Wael, 16 October 2012

Stories of Daily Heroism

19 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Castelgandolfo, Italy, 15-18 November 2012. Faces and stories came together like a puzzle composing a portrait of hope. This year’s congress for adherents of the Focolare Movement was attended by one thousand people and was based on their lived experiences throughout the year.

Tanino had taught in Hungary several years ago. He was warned of the “spies” that may have been planted among the students by the regime. He recounts: “I went to class trying not to think about spies, but about discovering the positive in each of the students. I noticed one student looking very serious. I approached him and asked what was wrong. He told me of a small child in poor health and living under very poor conditions. I was helped by my sister to find clothing and other things for the child, and we took care of him.” When Communism ended Tanino discovered that it was precisely that student that was the spy. “The important thing is to love,” Tanino concludes, “if I had searched for the spy, I would have been distracted from noticing the problems of the student whom I had shown more love.”

Then Grace from Catania in Italy spoke. Her story involved the whole city in reacting against the gambling that had also involved minors as young as thirteen, and produced a debt of 18,000 Euros. It becomes a burden that can lead a boy to contemplate suicide. Grace had become aware of this during her time in classrooms. She began a neighbourhood awareness project geared towards mothers and teachers. A signature campaign was begun in favour of a law that would forbid gambling halls within school areas and publicity for the game in newspapers and television.

Discovering that we are brothers and sisters was the overriding theme of all these experiences. They did not come from Europe only but also from the Philippines, for example, where there was a presentation by Bukas Palad (With Open Hands) Community Centres. These centres offer third level care for children suffering from malnutrition. They provide education, hygiene, medical care and distance adoption that helps people rise out of poverty. They have opened kindergartens for 500 children this year alone and professional training schools for teenagers. With their motto: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mt 10:8), Bukas Palad has assisted more than 90,000 people for twenty years, promoting a life based on reciprocity in which the one who receives assistance, offers assistance in return.

Graziella de Luca, one of the first companions of Chiara Lubich, came to greet the participants

Then there are the people who are waiting for a smile or for some concrete gesture. And so there were also the experiences of those who had used their own salaries to buy a stove for someone on Christmas day; to open the doors of their home to a gypsy, overcoming common prejudices and discovering a sister in the stranger’s face. “We met Pietro,” Luigino and Esterina recount, who have been married for forty years. “He is an elderly man without a home. We tried to reach out to him in his need, changing his clothes, welcoming him into our home. Easter morning he asked Luigino if he could bathe him and cut his fingernails. By saying yes, we experienced a profound joy at having loved and served Jesus in Pietro.” We could continue by recalling the thirty seven people who attended from Lebanon; the anti-conformist priest; the experiences of teenagers from Peru, Panama, and many more. As the curtains seemed to close on the congress, there was an artistic performance by the singers from the Arena in Verona, Italy. But the congress will go on in the choices of those who have constructed it if they take seriously the words of the Gospel where the message originates: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these brethren of mine, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40). Comfortable habits are overcome, the Golden Rule seems reasonable and, through love for others, conflicts are transformed into relationships.

Humour to spread the Gospel

16 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Cesare’s dream has always been to give God to others as the ideal of life. When he realized that schools were a privileged place for doing this, he thought he would add his specialism to the curriculum: humour. He first tried his method in Cagliari, Sardinia, in a primary school in a run-down area where, out of a class of 25 children, 12 fathers were in prison. He said, ‘With the head teacher’s agreement I visited classes and offered to teach them a method: humour applied to school subjects, building dialogue, maintaining discipline, bodily care, social behaviour, world awareness, coping with difficulty, appreciating beauty and building peace.’ After that Cesare visited a large number of schools, offering his innovative teaching to many regions of Italy.

Following that he carried on his mission when he went to live in the focolare in Albania where in the space of ten years he met and inspired with his message about 25,000 people, in courses of catechists, groups of young people, professional schools, kindergartens and parents’ groups. His brilliance and the effectiveness of his applied humour were such that he even ran a course on street evangelization for the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Cesare has a profound knowledge of the Bible, and he even offers a Master’s course in the Song of Songs which has been a great success among both seminarians and young married couples. Some of the feedback: ‘Behind your apparent improvisation there is tremendous research, tremendous work, tremendous passion, tremendous attention for each person,’ ‘You have a deep love for the Bible, (you quote it from memory) every artistic expression of yours is drawn from a relationship with the Word.’

Besides working with schools and running training courses, Cesare has created a theatrical show where his ‘applied humour for extreme evangelization’ aims at honouring inner beauty and the priceless value of each person. In the show he observes life with care and sympathy, picking up on educational points so as to learn how to face things, whether happy or sad, in a balanced way and with Gospel wisdom. Cesare likes to call himself an ‘Actor-Soul’ who, using the instruments of art, humour and culture, as well as a wide range of deeply human life-experiences, produces a two-hour show characterized by fun and contemplation.

Email: gattocex@yahoo.it

Cuba, the dignity of a people

14 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

‘Havana, 5 November 2012. I came back yesterday from Santiago, Palma Soriano and Banes. It was a very painful experience but, at the same time, good for me. We left on a bus bulging with food and clothing: a drop in the ocean in comparison with people’s needs. We arrived at the very moment when food had run out for many families. Youth for a United World and Teens for Unity were waiting for us to help unloading and distributing what we had brought. It was a shock to see the city’s devastation: rubble everywhere, most of the streets blocked, 80% of the trees uprooted, many houses in ruins and thousands of people injured and homeless. It was like a war zone. People’s dignity, despite their pain, as they thanked God for being alive, was impressive. And, above all, it was striking to see the willingness to help others rebuild, for example, putting back a roof on a house. ‘David, who is 15 years old, told me, “A huge tree fell on my house, but the roof is made of cement and so it was all right. But my uncle’s house was destroyed. My aunt and he managed to save their 5 month old child by smashing a neighbour’s window. They came to stay with us and later on other children from the area arrived. There was no electricity and, by candlelight, my sister and I began getting an evening meal ready for the little ones and looking for blankets so they would not get cold. When we heard that the church had fallen down, I rushed out to help the parish priest. He was not injured, the building was in ruins. Only one wall was left standing. On it were the crucifix and Jesus Eucharist in the tabernacle. With other Gen and our friends from the parish we cleared away the mess, cleaned the priest’s house and salvaged a few pews and other things. Then we organized shifts to keep a watch over the parish buildings. Even the nun’s convent had been damaged. And so, every day after my morning shift, I went to their place to help them, without going home to sleep.” ‘Then we left Santiago to go to Palma Soriano (42km from Santiago). The houses were not badly damaged, but people had nothing to eat. We arrived just in time to bring them something. ‘After that I went to Banes (300km from Santiago). There I discovered how generous those amazing people are. With one of the Gen 3 I went to several shops to get food and clothing of the best quality at the lowest price, so as to be able to help the most people possible. At one point I realized I didn’t have the money I needed because I’d already spend half of it in Santiago. I was not going to be able to get what was necessary: rice, sugar and so on. My Gen 3 friend gave me 10 dollars; I was surprised and moved because it was all he had apart from his fare home. When I came to another town, another Gen 3 gave me 25 dollars that he had been given to buy food and clothing. Like that I could get some 50kg bags of rice, sugar, wheat and cornflour. When I got to Banes, the local priest embraced me and wept because what I was bringing in the name of the Movement, fruit of sharing among many people, came just at the moment that they were at the end of all the aid the bishop had sent. ‘What has emerged in this natural disaster is the dignity, strength, faith, goodness and heroismof these young people of all ages (and the adults too) who went beyond their own needs and problems to think of the needs of others and throw themselves without stinting into loving and serving.’ A. C. ______________________________________ To find our more or give to the project: AMU – http://www.amu-it.eu Associazione Azione per un Mondo Unito c/o Banca Popolare Etica, Rome Branch. IBAN: IT16G0501803200000000120434 SWIFT/BIC CCRTIT2184D Payments made to: Progetto: La mia casa è la tua casa

Switzerland: Crossing the Borders

12 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

The visit Focolare president Maria Voce to Switzerland, concluded with a glance to the future. She was accompanied by Giancarlo Faletti for nine days in this land of the Swiss (2-11 November 2012) and met with people from the Movement and ecumenical personalities from this country. Her last appointment was with 120 Gen 3, teenage boys who live the spirituality of the Movement and animate the Teens for Unity Movement. Their lively vitality of their experience in engaging numerous teenagers in Switzerland, and the concrete projects that one group carried out during a week-long stay in Croazia where coming into close contact with the most needy families, taught them to value what they have, “being more attentive about eating everything on their plates, even old bread,” as one of them recounted.

The boys’ questions provided an opportunity for Maria Voce and Giancarlo t share their own personal experiences, along with a few “tricks” for becoming “great in love”. “Whenever we find ourselves in front of people who are difficult to love, that is the moment to make the life of Jesus grow within us; these are the moments in which Jesus makes us love with his own Heart. My love grows stronger not when the others have given me a compliment, but when I’ve felt wounded inside and I’ve carried on loving,” said Giancarlo. Maria Voce encouraged the boys to “take the initiative and not expect anything in return.” And she also explained that it’s not enough to tell a boy that he was wrong in stealing, but also that his action “diminished the communion among all, igniting fear and suspicion in the relationship.”

There was the same intensity in the dialogue with the young people on 10 November 2012, in which Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti launched that challenge of “living for a united world” with a blazing love in order to be a new generation, always ready to offer the world a supplement of the spirit it so much needs.

The adults were also drawn into the “revolution of love” and they left committed to build fraternity everywhere. “One day, passing in front of a kiosk,” one of the recounts, “I noticed that among the games there were some pornographic videos. I mustered up my courage and spoke to the seller, then with the director, and finally with the owner of the kiosk. It wasn’t easy. But a few days later when I passed by the kiosk again, the seller told me that the owner of the kiosk had told her to ‘remove those DVDs from the shelf‘.”

The ideal of unity arrived in Switzerland in the 1950’s, and so it has a long history in this country. Many were the pioneers of fraternity and not only in the Catholic Church. In fact, the first person to know the focolarini in Italy was an architect from the Reformed Church. Over the years there have been many ecumenical projects, in which Chiara Lubich was directly involved. She loved Switzerland and spent her holidays here, calling it her second homeland. Among those whom the spirituality has reached were also people of other faiths, and others who have arrived from countries in difficulty. This has given witness to how much the Ideal of unity has favoured an integration that must not be taken for granted.

During the open discussion with Maria Voce, Giancarlo Faletti and the thousand people who came from all Switzerland, a few proposals emerged: to make the current of love increase in the world; staying inside one’s own group makes the united world a utopia, so if we want to bring it forward, we should move beyond the borders, responding to this urging from God who is asking for more than what has been done up until now. We should be more passionately engaged in working for the unity among the Churches, active in the building of a better society, aiming for great things because God is in our midst, who can do all things.

By Aurora Nicosia