Un’economia per un nuovo modello sociale
Fraternity with Africa
No translation
[:it]Testimonianza dei giovani da New York
Una risposta testimoniata proprio dai giovani più colpiti, quelli di New York: da loro innanzitutto un grazie, perché attraverso e-mails e fax hanno sentito condiviso con i coetanei di tutto il mondo "il grande dolore di questo tragico momento per il nostro Paese". Toccante la loro esperienza: “Mentre guardavamo il World Trade Centre cadere in fiamme e cenere, abbiamo subito pensato agli inizi del Movimento a quelle parole della nostra storia: “Erano i tempi di guerra e tutto crollava. Solo Dio e il Suo amore rimangono”.
Questo e’ apparso chiaro non solo a noi Giovani per un Mondo Unito, ma anche a tanta altra gente nel nostro Paese che si sono unite in questo momento di dolore. Infatti, subito dopo abbiamo visto come l’amore è più forte dell’odio, l’amore sta già vincendo perché le barriere dell’indifferenza crollano e ci si aiuta l’un l’altro concretamente sostenendosi a vicenda. Molti gli atti concreti per le squadre di soccorso, i sopravvissuti, le famiglie in lutto. Gli aiuti e le offerte di volontariato hanno superato la domanda.
Che cosa possiamo fare noi di concreto, ci siamo chiesti, che non sia già stato dato? Abbiamo capito che abbiamo un dono unico, immenso da offrire in questo momento di shock e smarrimento: quella comprensione di questo grande dolore illuminata dal mistero di Gesù che sulla croce giunge a gridare l’abbandono del Padre. Siamo certi più che mai dell’amore di Dio e che questa sofferenza porterà frutti."
Una certezza che si imprime in tanti: "Tutto crolla… Oggi ho sentito in modo più forte che anche se tutto crolla… l’amore di Dio resta" (Francesca 17 a. Scicli). Da Los Angeles: "Ci impegniamo ad amare tutti, specialmente quelli che soffrono per questa tragedia. Vediamo, nonostante tutto, segni di quel mondo nuovo per cui vogliamo vivere".
Chiara Luce Badano was held today at the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love.
Audio mp3 – Ringraziamento finale di Maria Voce alla Cerimonia per la Beatificazione, Santuario del Divino Amore, 25 settembre 2010 
The Beatification Ceremony for Chiara Luce Badano was held today at the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love. The profound and joyous celebration was presided by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Monsignor Angelo Amato, representing Pope Benedict XVI. Around 25,000 people participated in the Solemn Mass, mainly young people from 57 countries. Because of large screens put up around the shrine, many were able to follow the proceedings seated on the grass area outside. Maria Voce, President of the Focolare Movement, gave a message of thanksgiving at the conclusion of the ceremony (reported below): The celebrations, however, didn’t end here because the weekend-long program includes events particularly geared towards young people with the participation also of Chiara’s parents, Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano, something quite rare and unique, and possible only because of Chiara’s young age and the brief duration of the cause for beatification. On Saturday night, the Vatican hosted a festival of music and personal experiences at Paul VI Audience Hall. Thousands participated, not just inside the audience hall, but also outside in St Peter’s Square where the evening’s program could be followed through large screens. On Sunday morning, at 10.30, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will celebrate a Thanksgiving Mass in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. At the midday Angelus, the Pope will greet the participants through a linkup from his residence in Castelgandolfo. The entire weekend events have been transmitted via television and Internet in many countries around the world. Maria Voce’s address at the Solemn Mass, 25 September: 
“First of all, on behalf of the Focolare Movement, represented here by people from all over the world, I thank Bishop Amato who has presided over this solemn and moving Mass in the Pope’s name. I thank and greet all religious and civil authorities, all the people present in this shrine and the field surrounding it, and also all those who are following this moment through the media. A special thanks to the technicians who made it possible to give this event a planetary dimension. I am deeply moved to see the splendid, luminous plan of God fulfilled by this 18-year-old girl, revealed gradually to her and then to all of us; to see it recognized today by the Church, as the first mature fruit of our Movement. It is a historical moment, a confirmation by the Church that the spirituality of unity lived out can bring us to holiness. 
We have such a gratitude to God for the Charism that he sent down on earth through Chiara Lubich, and we have such a joy in our hearts for this gift that the Church is giving us today! They must be celebrating in heaven too! This moment signifies a new commitment. Chiara Luce is urging us to go forward, in fact, to ‘run’ on the road to holiness. May her shining example be of light for as many people as possible, and may it touch many, many others.” Comunicato Stampa Servizio Informazione – Celebrazione al Santuario del Divino Amore 25.9.2010 
Comunicato Stampa Servizio Informazione – Serata di Festa in Aula Paolo VI (Vaticano) 25.9.2010
Making History
“I hope that many ideas will emerge from Loppiano-Lab with strong a spiritual impetus that will set in motion those qualities that have made great Italians: creativity, industriousness, openness and solidarity, culture and art”. These words were spoken by Maria Voce, President of the Focolare, at the opening of the event which has just ended in the Focolare town of Loppiano, near Florence..
Her invitation was welcomed by a packed auditorium of over 1500 people and by many others who were connected via Internet. They were attracted and drawn to this event which was organized according to topics that dealt with many different types of issues. In her message, President Voce anticipates that “the novelty emerges from the very promoters of the event: the networking of ideas and of experiences in different fields such as economics, culture, education, who, as allies, wish to promote in the country a cultural project that is respectful of the dignity and greatness of the human being, the communion between various entities that carry out their actions in these fields, such as Lionello Bonfanti Industrial Park from the Economy of Communion, Sophia University Institute, Citta Nuova Press Group, and the town of Loppiano itself which want to help in exploring and walking new avenues together. ““
Those who attended the many events that have taken place during the intense four days of this enriching “experimental laboratory of fraternity,” can agree with Maria Voice that it was an “original and qualified contribution to Italy’s common good – 150 years after the unification of the country – in line with Chiara Lubich’s charism “which has precisely unity at its heart.”
“And perhaps it was precisely this interaction between people who were so different from one another, the power of unity put into action, which created a living seed that – we dare to hope – will be able to “make history”.
Maria Voce stated, “is in need of a boost of idealism and of concreteness to revitalize its social body.” And it was enough to visit the various stands at Lionello Bonfanti Industrial Park to come across entrepreneurs who had so much idealism that they could be giving it away! In fact, this permanent Expo site featured in addition to the twenty companies in Lionello Bonfanti Park itself, another 72 companies representing more than 200 businesses that belong to the Economy of Communion throughout the country. But wandering through the streets of the little town surrounded by green, chatting with some of its 900 residents who come from all over the world, or listening to the new graduates of the Sophia Institute (already in its third year of existence), a conviction made its way into people’s minds, a certainty that Maria Emmaus Voce expressed in her concluding remarks: “Sustained by the love of God among us and by the love between us, this event can be a demonstration that when the Gospel of Jesus is read in the light of unity, it is capable of ‘making history’ still today. “