“Lo spettacolo della vita!”: il Gen Rosso nella penisola Iberica
Guatemala: in the heart of Latin America
Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti were welcomed by a colorful carpet of flowers from ancient religious tradition and by a festive atmosphere at the Our Lady of the Focolarini Mariapolis Center in the Guatemala capital. This is the first stop on an extended visit to Latin America. They have come to visit “the family of Chiara” that lives in this corner of the world. It has been an intense journey in which they have met civil and ecclesiastical authorities and representatives from various lay organizations who are members or friends of the Focolare. It has been a story of life and relationships that have been sown and nourished by Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity. Some have travelled from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Belize. The ancient cultures of the region are living on in them: Maya, Garifuna, Garifuna, the Incas and Mestizos. A set of dances is offered by children and teens who attend the Fiore Educational Centre in Guatemala City. One moment of the program is dedicated to Fiore Ungaro, a focolarina who first brought the spirituality of unity to these lands. Today the education center has 210 students with 28 teachers and staff. It is a concrete answer of love by the people of the focolare, because as in all Latin American countries, education is perhaps the decisive battlefront in which the wounds of this society will be defeated. The Bishop of Escuintla, Victor Hugo Palma Paúl was also present at a meeting with representatives from ten Movements who are members of the “Comisión de Movimientos Laicales y Nuevas Comunidades” (Commision of Lay Movements and New Communities), an agency of the Bishops Conference of Guatemala. He welcomed Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti: “The Focolare is one of the most vibrant schools that we have.” “Your charism is one that enflames, welcomes and warms the Christian life, placing the accent on unity.” Forty focolarini and focolarine live in this Central American country. They come from Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Italy. They are the “heart” of the Focolare Movement and a true reflection of it: different ethnic groups, professions, political, social and economic sensibilities. Maria Voce listens and, at the conclusion of the meeting, shares an idea: Unity should pass through a “culture of trust”. “It is a matter of having absolute trust in the other, in the sister or brother. The other wants what I want – unity. Let what you do not be done to be admired, to assert yourself or so that you may stand out. Let it be done for the sake of unity. Each of you works in a different way, but let each one work for unity. To trust in God and in the other, therefore, is an imperative. It means believing that God is at work. He doesn’t need perfect people, but only those people of whom he has need.” There was folkloristic costume and dance, engaging rhythms and sounds. Six hundred people gathered in the Mariapolis Centre hall. They were all members of the Focolare community living in these lands. This history of the Focolare in Central America goes back to 1954 and it is extraordinary because of the war, the economic difficulties, and the great distances. Yet it is a story that expresses gratitude to God. “Your peoples,” Maria Voce concluded, “seem to me to have a destiny: that of showing what the world would be if account were taken of the value of each human being. Everyone’s experience is necessary to others in order to construct a mosaic of unmatched beauty.” During a meeting with more than 200 youths between the ages of 15 and 25, a deep relationship was established in which, amid the exuberant joy of being together, there also emerged the difficulty of going against the current when it came to making certain choices: “You’re not alone,” Maria Voce told them, “each time that you find yourselves before a choice you must make, remember that you’re not alone, but that all the youths who have made the choice for a united world are with you.”
Guatemala: la comunità che testimonia
Guatemala: i Movimenti si incontrano
Mexico: A Guadalupe People
“But is it true that you lie here on earth? Not for always here! One moment on the earth, if it is jade, it breaks into pieces; if of gold it is destoryed; if feathers of quetzal, it is torn to peices. Not always here. One moment on the earth.” This was written by Netzahualcoyotl, King of Texcoco (1402-1472), and it reveals the great sense of the transcendent that characterized the early people of Mexico. The United States of Mexico, the country’s official name, is comprised of 31 federal states and a Federal District and extends over a vast area (1,972,550 Km2) to the south of USA and to the north of Guatemala. It is home to seventeen original ethnic groups representing 10% of teh total population: 112 million people. It is a country of contrasts. Modern metropolitan areas stand alongside marginalized regions (15 million of its citizens live in extreme poverty); vast expanses intended for cultivation, while thousands of peasants live on only a hectare of land. After 200 years of independence, Mexico is still in search of its identity, one that is an expression of the encounter of its ancestral cultural values with those values brought by Catholicism. The so-called “Guadalupe event” marked a decisive moment of reconciliation and merging between these two cultures, that forged a new people, the Mexican people. This unique event took place five centuries ago between the 9th and 12th of December 1531. According to tradition, a “sweet Lady” with a mestizo face, appeared to the indigenous Juan Diego and introduced herself as the “Mother of Everyone.” In his 1999 visit there, John Paul II would underscore the importance of that fact which “had determining repercussions for the new evangelization, an influence that goes beyond the Mexican nation and reaches the whole continent. America, which has been a crucible of peoples, has seen in this appearance of Our Lady a strong example of evangelization, perfectly inculturated.” 
Chiara Lubich, when visiting Mexico in 1997, took up the theme of this encounter between the two cultures, which was brought about by the Guadalupe event. “Inculturation,” she said during that visit, “is not merely making yourself spiritually one with another culture, perhaps uncovering and strengthening the seeds of the Word that are present in it, but it is also humbly and gratefully assuming that something true that is offered by the culture of our brothers and sisters. Inculturation involves an exchange of gifts. This is what Our Lady of Guadalupe wants to tell us.” The Focolare Movement has been present in Mexico since 1980, even though it was visited in 1975 by focolarini from Colombia. Today there are centers of the Movement in Mexico City, Netzahualocoyotl, Guadalajara and Acatzingo (Puebla) where there is a Mariapois Center and a Mariapolis town, El Diamante, which was founded in 1990. The Mariapolis is the heart fo the Movement in Mexico and is a place of Christian witness for the more than 20,000 visitors who go to it each year, showing that in a nation so rich in cultural, social and ethnic contrasts, inculturation of the Gospel life is possible if founded on dialogue and mutual giving and receiving of the gifts of the various cultures. The communities of the Movement, including some 15,000 people who have embraced the spirituality of unity, are scattered throughout the Mexican territory, from Mexicali (on the border with the USA) to Merida (in the southeast). They pursue an open dialogue with several sectors of society, trying to bring a contribution of unity. They have already been involved for years in building relationships among ecclesial movements and new associations in the Catholic Church. In August 2011 the first “Juntos por México” (Together for Mexico) gathering was held, which involved 350 leaders and representatives of the some 8 million lay Catholics in the whole country. And many foresee this to herald the opening of new paths of communion in the Mexican Church that could lead to major involvement by lay people in the various fields of society. In the civil society, in collaboration with the Mora Institute of the City of Mexico, one highlight has been the monthly lecture series on “Brotherhood in Politics” with the involvement of politicians who adhere to the Spirituality of Communion, and people engaged in civil service. This was an important event in the formation of a civic conscience. Finally there were the Bioethic Seminara (Seminar on bioethics) held in several cities, which were the initiative of the “Netemachilizpan AC” Association of Bioethics and Human Rights together with the “New Humanity Movement” of the Focolare. Hundreds of people attended, drawn by the topics that were discussed. The presentations that were given in line with the thinking of the Church and supported from a medical and scientific point of view, were a light for all who attended. There was a large crowd of young people from the La Salle di Neza University who say that the seminar helped them find answers to their uncertainties. The group of experts who run the bioethic courses, work at the Chamber of Deputies to support and write laws that favor life. Focolare Mexico website: www.focolaremex.org Visit Mexico in Focolare Worldwide!
Mexico: keeping in mind those most in need
In the field of education, in 1992 the Santa Maria School was born, within the “El Diamante” citadel (Puebla). Its objective was to respond to the needs of the surrounding population. It currently welcomes 500 students, from kindergarten to lyceum. In order to take the project forward, many children are helped through the Support from a Distance project of the New Families. Collaboration between teaching personnel, parents and state agencies, makes it possible to give a more complete formation, and the students acquire the necessary skills to act positively in their socio-cultural context. Many initiatives come about, to respond in a concrete way to the needs of the population. These initiatives bear witness to how fraternal relationships can generate solutions that were previously unthinkable. These are some examples of actions that are taken forward with the contribution of AMU (Action for a United World), that is an international agency of the Focolari and is active in the social sphere: 
The mobile medical-dental clinic “Igino Giordani” situated in the large and poor periphery of the city of Mexico, in the commune of Netzahualcoyotl. It emerged in 1989, to respond concretely to the health needs of the region, at the request of the local Church. The clinic offers free medical services, including dental service. Also included are the medicines, dietary advice, to improve the level of nutrition and the distribution of clothes and toys. Social Centre Hallelujah (Hornos, Las Aguilas). The work here started 26 years ago, at the foot of a large residential zone in the City of Mexico. It is a neighbourhood permanently at risk, also owing to the high incidence of alcoholism, drugs and prostitution. The work is taken forward in close collaboration with the Commune, the Parish, and the private schools of the richer zone that recognise in the Centre a strong means of resolving the conflicts of the region. !4 persons currently work within this structure; some of them are locals, who are indispensable to build a society that is transformed from within. They offer their services in various areas: psychological, medical-social, educational, dental, etc. It is possible to take this initiative forward also thanks to the collaboration with the German association Mexicogruppe. Moreover, groups of doctors, dentists, social workers, nurses, youths and other volunteers move sporadically for some time to the commune of Huejutla ( in the State of Hidalgo), to offer help, free of charge to 32 native communities.