Stories of Daily Heroism

Nov 19, 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

Nov 16, 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

Nov 14, 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

Nov 12, 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

Brazil, Priests and the Focolare

Nov 10, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

“Just as the stars become brighter in the darkness of a desert, so too in our heavenly path Mary shines with Heavenly strength as the Star of the New Evangelization. . . It is she who guides us along the way.” And this message that was given by the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization was the experience of the more than eighty priests and deacons who gathered from different regions of Brazil at the Focolare’s Mariapolis town near to Sao Paulo.

“Mary, “transparency of God, model of pastoral fruitfulness, light for the mission” was the central theme of the congress promoted by the priests sector of the Focolare Movement in Brazil, as a contribution from the charism of unity to the ‘marian priesthood’ that embodies the priestly lifestyle that was inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council for the times in which the Church now lives.

Outlining Mary’s influence on the priesthood, Bishop Francesco Biasin of Barra do Pirai-Volta Redondo, Brazil, spoke of service as “the main promoter” of Gospel brotherhood as a way of life that “does not create relationships of submission but of collaboration and co-responsibility.” This is a lifestyle that aims at laying bridges everywhere, one that is also characterized by personal experiences: “The people have wisdom. We must together listen to the Spirit and not remain closed in our own programming.”

Theologian Sandra Ferreira Ribeiro recalled the new Marialogical formulation given by the Council, and she outlined a few sections from the story of the Focolare Movement, “born with the Gospel in hand, from which a spirituality of unity has blossomed bringing new and original elements to Mariaology, opening a new passageway in ecumenical dialogue as well.” “People today want to see and experience Jesus, to touch the mystery of God, to feel his presence with the senses of the soul. Jesus who makes himself present in fraternal communion makes the fruits of the Spirit to be experienced by those who encounter him: peace, light, love, strength,” affirmed Father Antonio Capelesso who is in charge of the school for priests and seminarians at Mariapolis, during his rich presentation on the connection between “this presence of Jesus in the community and the ecclesiology of Second Vatican Council.”

This experience became tangible during the congress for seminarians and priests, because of the intense communion between priests and laity. It was the dominant note that also enlivened theological understanding, the sharing of experiences between priests, families and youths, artistic pieces, a visit to some concretizations of this spirituality in the fields of economy and cultural workshops that are part of the Mariapolis.

Mary, “all clothed with the Word” appeared as the model of the priestly life. Her life in many of its aspects, as it was deepened and shared in during course of the congress prepared them for a better understanding of that vision of the Church which was outlined by theologian Urs von Balthasar and often recalled by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI: the co-essentiality that exists between the Marian and Petrine-institutional profiles of the Church, and it also uncovered some of its concrete implications.

Sources:

Radio Vaticana – RG from 1 November 2012

New Office, Mariapoli Ginetta

Ecumenical Day in Switzerland

Nov 9, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

On 8 November 2012, members of  Reformed and Free Churches, Methodists and Catholics, ecumenical personalities, pastors, priests, pastoral assistants and members of several movements from the different linguistic regions of Switzerland – 250  people beyond what was expected – crowded into a hall at the Kreuz Hotel in Berne. They had come to attend an ecumenical symposium organized by the Focolare Movement entitled “Ecumenism: Where is it going?” The speakers were three special guests: a Cardinal, a lay woman and a Reformed pastor. They were Swiss Cardinal Koch who came from the Vatican and is now president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; the president of the Federation of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland, Gottfried Locher and, to do the honours, Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement. In their presentations the speakers explored various aspects of the ecumenical process with a strong common belief that the ecumenical process is by now irreversable indispensable despite the signs of fatigue that sometimes characterize it and make it seem like a mission impossible. “As long as we fight for unity,” the future president of the work Community of Christian Churches in Switzerland, Rita Famos, affirmed, “we are on the right path. It means that we haven’t laid down our arms. Today we want to stimulate dialogue between those who dream with hope and those who struggle for unity.” In fact, one of the “dangers” in the ecumenical journey is that of “getting used to the differences in thinking, and imagining that we are just fine without the other Church,” Locher warned. Maybe “we got comfortable,” we no longer find the “division to be scandalous.” Hence his call to “construct unity wherever it is now possible,” to step out of the Cantonal Reformed Churches that are often very independant from one another, in order to find more communion and a common voice, a common message of the Swiss Reformed Church in these important times. He gave strong and constant reminders of the transforming power of the Word. Many were involved in this process that saw moments of enthusiasm and moments of stalling. Among them the Pope, as Cardinal Koch recalled when he pointed to the ecumenical passion that led the John XXIII to create the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity in 1960. This institutite over which Koch presides also witnessed how close Paul VI was to the Orthodox world of Constantinople and the cancellation of the mutual anathemas that had “expelled the poison of excommunication” after 900 years. It also also brought Paul VI to meet with Anglican Primate Ramsey. Then there was John Paul II with his concrete acts of ecumenism, until Benedict XVI who in his first message stated his desire to work with all of his strength for the unity of Christians. But there is not only the ecumenism promoted by Church leaders, nor even the ecumenism that is brought forward by theologians. There is also a vital ecumenism based on an ecumenism of life, an ecumenism of people. And this is the ecumenism that Maria Voce spoke about. She recounted the experience of adults and children from different countries who have discovered the main points of Focolare spirituality to be very ecumenical when they lived it, especially for the accent it places on the Word, faith in Jesus’ promise to be there “wherever two or more are united” in His Name (Mt. 18:20), love for Jesus Crucified and Abandoned, who is the symbol of every disunity. And this spirituality has opened fields of dialogue among Christians of different Churches (350 at the moment) who find in one point after another reflections of their own creeds. “It is an ecumenism from below that is not opposed to the one above. It is a kind of dialogue that can serve as the humus, upon which the other dialogues can blossom and develop,” the president of the Focolare affirmed.       There are already many types of dialogue that already exist among Churches,on different levels and reaching different levels. And the difficulties that are never lacking often make the goal of Jesus’ Testament seem a faraway dream. At times lose the trail, we drift apart rather than draw closer together. It was recalled in the hall that in his prayer, Jesus did not command unity. He asked it of the Father. What we Christians are called to do, therefore, is to collaborate with patience and fervour, but unity is a gift of God that we must pray for together. Just as we must feel the pain of our division together, acknowledge the fault of our disunity together, so too must we work together so that “all may be one.” An evermore secularized society requires the witness and the commitment of a united Christianity. This is also something we all agree on. By Aurora Nicosia (Source: Città Nuova online)