Argentina: Annual Course For Young People at Mariapolis Lia

Mar 19, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

On this sunny afternoon in the end of the austral summer, the atmosphere at Mariapolis Lia was serenely festive. This was the fourth anniversary of Chiara Lubich’s birth to Heaven and this year the focus was on the relationship of the Movement’s founder with youth. It was also the opportune moment for the academic opening of the Gen School’s annual course on the Culture of Unity, for the youths who had arrived from seventeen different countries. Eighty young people from the American continent and a few Europeans have interrupted their studies for a year and gone to the Argentine pampa to be part of this training course in becoming builders of brotherhood in their home environments. “All the moments of the day, from workshops to sport, from moments of study to the liturgy, from welcoming visitors to the Mariapolis – all of it is part of the training,” explains Adriana Otero who specializes in microbiology and the environment and is in charge of the Gen School. “In practice,” adds Omar Diaz, Education graduate and in charge of the Gen School for the young men, “as Chiara had suggested, the daily life of this school revolves around four daily “communions” – the Eucharist, the moment by moment living of the Word, the neighbor and Jesus in the midst of the community, a presence that becomes palpable when there is mutual love.” Most of the students have just finished high school and are having their first work experience here. They live in small groups of seven to ten young people, with all that community life implies: preparing meals, caring for the house, being attentive to one another’s needs. . . all flavoured, naturally, with that typical flavour that internationality brings. “It’s beautiful to then see how each year they arrive as adolescents, but leave as adults with their minds and souls expanded toward all of humanity,” explains Silvana Verdun, a Bolivian psychologist and instructor at the school. What are the expectations of these young people? Luce, a seventeen year-old from Argentina, wants to grow more as a person, and he thinks that living with other guys from different places will prove to be an enriching opportunity. Andres, a nineteen year-old from Venezuela hopes to learn to grow more integrally. Thomas, a twenty one year-old is looking forward to deepening his relationship with God and with his brothers and sisters. They have a whole year to be lived. A journey filled with straight paths, curves, climbs and chasms. A path, although well defined, will still present many surprises. It is a goal they shall reach together by their daily efforts to translate into life, into concrete facts, all that they will discover day by day.

Guatemala: “A place of many trees”

Mar 18, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

The name Guatemala comes from náhuatl Quauhtemallan, ‘place of many trees’ and its location is on the extreme north-west of Central America. The indigenous culture derives from a Mayan legacy and from the Spanish influence of the colonial period. The country has tremendous natural beauty. Its official language is Spanish and there are also 23 Mayan dialects, and the languages of the xinca and the garifuna peoples. It covers an area of 108,889 square kms and it has about 14 million inhabitants, a third of whom come from indigenous peoples. We will deal here briefly also with the countries close to Guatemala that will be involved with the trip of the president and co-president of the Focolare. The idea of a united Central America has caught on in many parts of society, in the political arena, and led to an attempt to have open borders and to discover a Central American identity.  Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua are the countries of this region which is rich in its ethnic diversity. Its peoples have suffered a great deal, with more than 40 years of military dictatorship resulting in the civil wars of the 70s and 80s and of ‘internal armed conflict’, which in Nicaragua began at about the same time as the cold war in Europe. There were more the 36 years of armed struggle, with thousands of victims, genocide, persecution of the Church, summary executions, assassination of priests and catechists, among them Mgr Romero and Mgr Gerardi, devastated lands and the violation of human rights. In the 80s about 90% of the populace in Guatemala was made up of indigenous people, now it is estimated at 51%. In the 90s peace was consolidated and a new stage began. The postwar conditions meant that this was not easy as there was an ongoing lack of security, family breakdown and emigration by many in search of work. These difficulties have since been caught up in new problems such as drug trafficking, gang warfare and extortion. These countries are among those with the world’s lowest Human Development Index (HDI) but, despite this, their peoples maintain hope born of their faith in God, are tremendously generous and they never give up. The Ideal of unity came to these lands in the 80s and, in the midst of the remaining challenges faced by all, it contributes to dialogue among cultures and different ethnic groups and encourages a deep mutual acceptance. A small Focolare community was started in Guatamala by an Italian priest, Fr Vitale Traina. Some of its members, a short while later, went to a Mariapolis in Mexico, and when they got back they were full of enthusiasm and wished to bring this life to others. In 1981 they held two Mariapolises in Guatemala. 1986 was an important year: a focolare house was opened. Valeria Ronchetti, one of Chiara Lubich’s first companions, during a visit laid the basis for the establishment of a Mariapolis Centre and two married focolarini, Paolo and Pinella Maciotta, moved from Italy. The Ideal of unity also began to spread beyond the capital to an indigenous region near Patzun. In February 1992 the Mariapolis Centre St Mary of the Focolarini was opened.  It was to become a formation centre for all the different nations of the region. With the help of AMU (Azione per un Mondo Unito, meaning Action for a United World), an NGO set up by Focolare Members, there was established a ‘School for Human Development’ close to the Mariapolis Centre. The school has helped large numbers of people learn a trade to live by. Later on the Fiore Educational Centre (an early learning centre and primary school) was established. There are at present about 3,100 members of the Movement. El Salvador had its first Mariapolis in 1982, with about 600 people. It was a real miracle given the extremely difficult conditions caused by the country’s civil war that had broken out two years before. It could be said that that Mariapolis marked the Movement’s consolidation as it included many people who would become core members. Today in the nation’s capital, the city of San Salvador, there are centres that coordinate the Movement’s life in the five countries of Central America. In Honduras apparently by a luck. Someone went to Mexico to study Catholic literature and by chance met the focolare. In June of the same year, 1981, the same person went back to Mexico together with two others in order to go to the Mariapolis. In 1982 the focolarine in Mexico started going to Honduras and, in the capital city, a decisive event for the small community living the Word of Life took place with the arrival from Italy of the Turatti family, who stayed 10 years. An key moment was in 1995, when the first Mariapolis, of about 250 people, was held. The bishop Mgr Oscar Andrés Rodríguez, now a cardinal, was present and he encouraged everyone to take the spirituality of unity everywhere. He asked Chiara Lubich several times for a centre of the Movement to be opened and his dream became real in February 2010 when the focolarine set up house in Tegucigalpa. There are now about 900 members of the Movement in Honduras. In December this year Maria Voce, in conversation with the focolarini from Guatemala, during a conference in Castelgandolfo, considering the difficult situation of the peoples where they were living, encouraged them to behave as Jesus did: ‘Jesus did not despair, because he looked within himself. That is, he looked to his relationship with God and knew that God would carry out his plan even in this situation… A plan that passes, perhaps, via the cross, via persecution, that passes today via these catechists who have been killed, via these priests who have been killed, that passes via drug traffickers, but it is part of God’s story that, despite everything, builds up humanity. It is a story with pages of light, pages of pain, beautiful moments, difficult moments, but they are God’s story.’ What needs to be done then? ‘Into this story of God we too enter, as Jesus entered in his time. What do I do in Salvador with such an immense Ideal in the face of these situations? What do I do in Guatemala with this power of Jesus within me, among us, in this situation? I do what he did. I pass though the streets, I look, but my looking is full of God and of what God is doing. So, it seems to me that it is here that our strength lies.’

Philippines: Youth URL

Mar 16, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

URL. This time it is not Unique Resource Location that allows you to locate the address of an internet site, but United in the Revolution of Love, love that is inspired by the Gospel, the love that thousands of young people throughout the world have drawn from the life and teachings of Chiara Lubich whose fourth anniversary of the departure for Heaven is being remembered during these days.

URL was the title chosen by young people from the Philippines for a gathering on 10 March, the day chosen to pay tribute to Chiara and to the impact of her charism on the young people of today and of yesterday. The venue was also symbolic. The event was held in the 400 year-old pavillion of St Thomas University, the royal pontifical university that had conferred a doctorate of Theology on Chiara in 1997.

During his welcoming remarks, Fr Rolando De La Rosa, ninety-fifth Rector of the university, shared of his personal encounter with Chiara in 1977. He described her as a person worthy of imitation, because she proposes holiness as a goal that is within the reach of everyone.

The Gen – youth people committed members of the Focolare Movement – along with adult members of the Movement witnessed to the “constellation of stars” that Chiara had once intuited would come to exist in the heart of the Movement as a “second generation” that would come after those who had begun. They would be true protagonists of the “revolution of love”.

Among the 2000 young people who filled the pavillion was a group of Buddhists who offered a song about unity. There were also many men and women religious from several congregations and some seminarians who were struck by Chiara’s message to the young. One girl writes: “This is the most beautiful moment I ever lived in my life. Knowing Chiara Lubich is the greatest chance that has ever been given to me becuase, like many others who’ve met her, she made me able to discover God . . . who is Love.”

One young man summarized the two-hour programme in this way: “Celebrating the 4th anniversary of Chiara’s birth to Heaven – the presentations and video-clips about her – evrything spoke of the possibility of giving your life for a revolution capable of changing the lives of thousands of people. The interviews with people of different ages, professional and cultural backgrounds underscored the revolutionary effects of the Gospel when it is put in practice. All the songs, the dances and expriences focused on Chiara’s impact on society, the Church and the world, they gave you an idea of the impact of her Ideal on the lives of so many people of diverse cultures, on interpersonal relationships, vocations, the arts, politics and business. . . on every aspect of life.”     

The day concluded with the solemn celebration of the Mass, presided over by Bishop Gerard Alminaza and concelebrated by Bishop Antonio Tobias, in charge of ecumenical affairs at the Bishops Conference of the Philippines. In their closing remarks, the directors of the Focolare in the Philippines offered the words that Chiara used as she imagined what her encounter with God would be like: “If You asked me who I was, I wouldn’t say my name. I’d say THANK YOU for everything and forever!” It was with these words in their hearts that everyone left the pavillion that afternoon.

EleggiAmo l’Italia

Mar 16, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide