Jun 19, 2021 | Focolare Worldwide
The testimony of the volunteers of the “Casa de los Niños” in Cochabamba (Bolivia), a project inspired by the spirituality of unity, committed to tirelessly caring for those infected by COVID-19 and bringing consolation to the dying. We returned to the streets of our city slightly reckless and very naive. This virus is frightening everyone and encouraging us to isolate ourselves from one another but we understand how important and necessary what is urgently required of us which is why we never back down especially as we are taking the necessary precautions. The tests we carry out every week continue to give us negative results. Perhaps someone is extending a merciful hand over our naivety. 
The cold season has now begun here and Covid-19 infections have increased dramatically reaching unprecedented figures. Public hospitals are collapsing under the strain. People are dying in cars, waiting for beds to become available… Even in the highly expensive private clinics admissions have been suspended. Oxygen is no longer available, and there are long queues for refills at the only two places able to provide this service, for a fee. A 6m3 cylinder lasts less than 5 hours! Specialist medicines are only available on the black market with each vial costing around 1,300 euros! This year those affected by the virus are much younger. We take oxygen and medicine to whoever needs it. We have permits to travel all day and every day. Our very spacious minibus has been turned into an ambulance and often, unfortunately, into a hearse at zero cost. Time is of the essence for those in need and struggling to breathe, so we too are rushing around and have no time to think about ourselves.
We are bringing oxygen and medicine but, to be honest, we are mainly engaged in sowing seeds of hope. We get to know those we visit for the first time but a kind of mutual complicity is immediately established that opens up possibilities for hope. Little by little, fear begins to melt away and we see people smile serenely. We also take rosary beads with us. It is not a magic charm. No. They are the prayer beads of those of us who wish to entrust the enormous afflictions and sufferings of these days, of so many of our brothers and sisters, to the heart of our Mother in Heaven. It is part of the oxygen treatment, giving air to the hearts of those who suffer! Every evening we meet for community prayers in our little town, outside on the lawn in front of the beautiful chapel which holds the stories of so many of our children who have already flown to heaven. We pray before the statue of the “Virgen de Urcupiña”, patron saint of Cochabamba, who carries Her Son in her arms. Ours is a prayer that goes straight to heaven wanting to fix the names of the many people we have visited during the day. We ask for the light from heaven that each one of them needs to illuminate the night of their pain.
The volunteers of the “Casa de los Niños” – Cochabamba (Bolivia)
Nov 20, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
With a simple language like that of Jesus who used common terms that anyone could understand, to explain his kingdom, Sándor began his account of how he tried to incarnate the Gospel in everything he did. A group of farmers was formed around him that met regularly to their each other’s joys, pains and progress… They felt they had a mission. Their relationship with nature, such a source of wisdom, was a gift they could share with people living in the city. This simple little spark led to meeting with city mayors. From the meetings between mayors and farmers the need arose for creating an alternative to the globalization that sanctions and extinguishes so many traditions and values. In September 2016, they held a meeting which included experiences and presentations by specialists, with the goal of finding a way to give a soul to the area, beginning from the countryside. Some 350 people took part in the gathering, including 20 mayors. The 2cnd meeting was held last September in the Hungarian Municipality of Újkígyós, in the South East of the country where, despite the freezing weather, 500 people attended. 27 stands were set up to sell cheese, handmade rugs, honey, small furniture and marmalade… With gratuitousness and much generosity the farmers from many communes, boroughs and villages, offered the best of their culinary and artisan products. They also brought horses and gave rides to the children. It was a real feast for the population. 
The conference speakers included specialists in the fields of ecology, agriculture, noise pollution, farming, as well as researchers and university faculty who were all joined in strong and genuine friendship. This was not only the secret to the success of the project, but also the realizable path for making a contribution towards authentic fraternity. Even the local Mayor, who brought folkloristic groups, confided that he was seeing a “new soul” in the community. The parish priest underscored the efficacy of evangelizing in this way, which he experienced there. One of the organisers told me: “We didn’t have any political or institutional support: it was all a gift. The whole event didn’t cost a single penny: from the chairs, to the tents, to the tables. Here, as you can see, we’re all like brothers and sisters, because out in the villages, human relationships are the winning force. There is another kind of relationship between people in the city. They form circles, common interest groups, entertainment spots…but the people are isolated. They don’t know the people in their own condominium building. The farmers, because of their contact with nature, nurture a religious soul that knows the value and the cost of everything around them, and they acknowledge the sacredness of every human being, which is what Pope Francis continually calls us to do. This meeting seems like a small step, not only for the Church itself, but also for the society.” Franciscan Friar, Csaba Böjte, OFM, from Transylvania, Romania, also spoke at the event. He is famous beyond his homeland in Hungary and Eastern Europe where he and his volunteers provide a home for 1992 children and teenagers in difficult family problems. Currently there are 82 homes, and they welcome 2500 children. Sándor’s work is a pebble dropped into the ocean, but the circle is widening. Tanino Minuta
Nov 19, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
Nov 16, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
On October 20, just a few days before the date of Chiara Luce Badano’s feast day, which has now been set as October 29, there were 300 children and teens who lined the streets of Acatzingo, in the Mexican state of Puebla. They were there early in the morning to honor Chiara Luce, who they call “blessed for our times.” The celebration began with music and dance marked by joy and more than a few decibels, organized by the Focolare community and including five local school groups. In 2012 a chapel had been dedicated to the young Badano at “El Diamante”, the Focolare’s little town that is the beating heart of the community there. Since then there has been a contagious call to a full and joyful following of the will of God – “a splendid design that, little by little, reveals itself,” according to Chiara Luce’s words. It is a call that reaches many young people each year, engaging “heads, hearts, hands.” Inspired by the words of Pope Francis, who during the recent synod held up many young people as models of holiness, these children displayed thoughts and moments from Chiara Badano’s life in an atmosphere of friendship and celebration. 
Just a few miles from El Diamante in the city of Acatzingo, which has suffered a wave of violence in past months, those watching were invited to roll the Cube of Love. Like in many countries of the world, this highly symbolic act is an invitation to individuals and society to take on initiatives of peace. The celebrations then continued at El Diamante, with dance, music, theatre, the sharing of experiences and games, with more than 500 attending. It had been put together by the young people from the school of formation there. “Chiara Luce is for us a beacon that urges us to live for a great ideal.” Other schools and colleges in Acatzingo have already signed up for future celebrations. Mariapoli El Diamante, 20 ottobre 2018
Nov 15, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
According to the latest estimates more than 440 thousand, of the more than 2 million and 300 thousand people, who fled Venezuela from 2014 until now, have crossed the Peru border. They arrive after a very exhausting journey, uncertain about their future and surrounded by many dangers, including the recent need to cross a river by boat. “If the water is too high, and they can’t manage it, they’re loaded onto the shoulders of a man who naturally wants to be paid.” Once again Silvano from the focolare community in Lima writes: “Right from the start of this forced exodus “we have been accompanying an ever increasing number of people. Up until now, there are sixty whom we follow closely, not only spiritually, but also professionally and on a purely human level.” The situation is extremely difficult for those who arrive: “They only have the clothes on their backs. They’re cold because spring has begun and the temperatures are falling. We see the emotion in their eyes when they see the clothing that has been collected for them through a communion of goods.” The Focolare has two welcome centers in Lima, along with the Centro Fiore at Magdalena del Mar in the province of the capital. “Three family units are being hosted here, including the family of Ofelia who many Venezuelans in Peru call “the mother.” In the first quarter of this year,” Silvan recounts, “we came into contact with a psychologist, Irene, who has already been here a few months. She was invited to our operating centre, which is the focolare house, along with her parents and a few friends. She got to know the spirit behind the Focolare and, aware of the needs of her many fellow-countrymen, offered her services as a professional psychologist. A small project was immediately begun in response to the Gospel promise: “Give, and it will be given to you.” After a workshop on the topic of feelings, which was given by Irene at the end of July and a second one a few weeks later, we opened a consultancy service at Centro Fiore of Magdalena del Mar. “The “Project of Emotional Growth for Vulnerable Populations” was begun, to respond to the massive migratory situation that we are facing. In the presentation of the project, which is geared towards the most fragile members of the group such as women, children, youth and elderly, it is written that ‘providing tools for facing the situation and integrating’ into the Peruvian community is imperative. Therefore, this Project enters into the objectives of the Focolare, to “collaborate in the building of a more united world under the guidance of Jesus’ prayer to the Father that all may be one (Jn17:21), respecting and appreciating diversity, using dialogue as the method, and the constant effort of building bridges and relationships of fraternity among individuals, peoples and cultural groups.” The most common cases that have already been treated include anxiety and depression over the precarious situations, the constant concern for survival, mistreatment and developmental problems. The project provides support, information, education, and training courses, workshops on feelings and emotions, self-esteem, love of others and of oneself.” Several of the people have found employment, others are still searching, and others are planning to return to their own or to another country. “Up until now 35 sessions of psychological care have been recorded. This service continues to be offered for free to Venezuelan immigrants.”
Nov 14, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
How does the Holy Spirit work in today’s Church? Does it still make sense to talk about an ecumenical journey at a time marked by fragmentation, complexity, scandals and humanitarian challenges even for Christians? Two years after the Lund event, that gave a new impetus to the ecumenical dialogue, 40 Bishops of various Churches, from 18 different countries, met in Sigtuna, Sweden. This conference, promoted by the Focolare Movement, was held from 6 to 9 November and its theme was “The Breath of the Spirit, the Church in today’s world”. Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement, Jesús Morán co-president and representatives of the Focolare Community in Sweden also attended this conference. Maria Voce spoke about “The Breath of the Spirit, soul of the Church, in the experience and thought of Chiara Lubich”, while Jesús Morán presented present-day challenges from the perspective of the spirituality of unity. This conference, which has come to its 37th edition, owes its origin to an experience of synodality and communion, which John Paul II had proposed to Klaus Hemmerle, Bishop of Aachen. 
“In addition to our different recounts, we wanted to give ample space to dialogue and sharing about the ecumenical challenges we live in our countries and continents”, said Cardinal Francis Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok and moderator of the conference. Mons. Brendan Leahy, the Catholic Bishop of the diocese of Limerick, Ireland dealt with the important theme of reconciliation. While speaking about the power of forgiveness in the context of the scandals that hit the Irish Church, he said: “The Spirit urges us not to be robbed of hope (see Rom 8). Discouragement is a great temptations, but the Spirit keeps our hope alive and helps us restart to live a new committment in the Christian adventure of unity and reconciliation”. The Anglican Bishop Trevor Williams, an Irish man, spoke about his experience as a pastor. For several years he has been having under his care the ecumenical community of Corrymeela, in Northern Ireland, who has contributed much towards the path of reconciliation between the different factions in conflict. “Reconciliation is not an option; it is a necessity if we want peace to last. We live in a world of “they” and “we”. But in truth there is only “we”. Revealing this truth is work of reconciliation, work of the Holy Spirit”. The German Evangelical-Lutheran pastor Jens-Martin Kruse shared his pastoral experience in Rome, an ecumenical laboratory that functions also thanks to Pope Francis. The Archbishop Antje Jackelén, Primate of the Church of Sweden, Cardinal Anders Arborelius, the Catholic Bishop of Stockholm, and Bishop Munib Younan, former president of the Lutheran World Federation, who presided over the historical ecumenical liturgy in Lund together with Pope Francis in 2016, spoke about the journey of common reflection that continues after the 500 years commemoration of the Reformation. “I assure you the Holy Spirit guided us and continues to guide us towards an ecumenical springtime. It is up to us now to reap the fruits of unity. Today we say: let us journey together as living witnesses in our fragmented world so that the world will believe.” One of the highlights of this conference was the ecumenical prayer in the ancient Church of Sigtuna and the signing of the “Pact of Unity”. With the signing of this Pact, the Bishops committed themselves to journey along the path of effective and affective communion, “to love the Church of the other as one’s own”. This commitment was sealed with one’s own signature and a fraternal embrace. Stefania Tanesini
