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Aug 1, 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
You have visited all the continents over the past few years, meeting with different cultures and social situations. You have had a close-up look at the Focolare communities spread throughout the world. In light of these rich experiences, could you tell us what you see as the main vocation of the Movement in the world? “It is a vocation to unity, a vocation to contribute at all latitudes, in different contexts and in different ways toward the realization of Jesus’ prayer to the Father: ut omnes unum sint (that all be one). This is the goal that each of us is called to, the imperative which is impressed upon each one of us who shares in the charism of unity (…).” Before arriving in Slovenia, you visited Russia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, three significant countries of the “ex-Soviet-bloc”. What was it that urged you to take these trips? “It is the same thing that urged me to visit Asia, Africa, North America and other European countries: the commitment to stay focused on relationships. My travels allow me to enter into a listening attitude and to grasp the problems and the riches of the peoples I meet, to appreciate their growth and to see where there is potential for development. What are the ones I’ve found in these lands that for years have been built upon a Communist ideology? Chiara Lubich always saw a special calling to unity in this area of the world, precisely in response to the forced unity that characterized these countries. In 1989, just after the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, Chiara saw those historic events as a great step toward unity. Within the process, however, the positive values that were present in that society up until then should be safeguarded: the yearning for unity, a global vision of the world, attention for the poorest classes, exaltation of the human person’s propensity to be social. Grand ideals, but often blatantly contradicted by the facts. She seemed to understand that the charism of unity, which the Holy Spirit had given to her, had a contribution to make in returning those ideas to their original source and rooting them there: in God. (…) Unity could really become the distinguishing mark of this region in particular. For if it is lived in God, the greater the diversity, the more extraordinary the experience of unity that is derived. I had an anticipation of it last summer during my voyage in Croazia, in which I met a group of the Movement’s members who came from different geographic and cultural regions: a single people comprised of many peoples, united in the name of God and living for unity (…).” 
IThese years we are witnessing growing polarization in Slovene society that undermines the relationship between the Church and the secular world. It sometimes erupts in a certain intolerance. How can this wound be healed and how can we help to restore true values to the world we live in? “I think that we must above all believe and bring forth all that is good and profound in every human soul. Believers and non-believers alike, hold to certain values that are within them. It’s a matter of highlighting what is positive in each person and find ways to build bridges with everyone. The charism of unity that we strive to practice has a force and light within it that goes beyond each one of us. (…). Then I believe that these values can be offered through personal witness and the witness of the community: the value of life, of the human being, of the family. . . These are values that God places within us and which should shine forth from our life, and be quite compelling. Finally, I believe in the importance of offering your own opinion, but freely, with detachment, with respect for others. In other words, as a gift of love.” Entire interview by Irena Santoro – Source: Novi Svet
![Novi svet Magazine’s interview with Maria Voce]()
Aug 1, 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
It is a land rich in history, faith, and suffering. Therefore it is sensitive to Gospel values like those that are highlighted in Focolare spirituality. This is witnessed to by the fact that a priest who attended the Mariapolis at Fiera di Primiero in 1958 was able, with the help of others, to silently spread its message on such a vast scale. The Focolari in Slovenia – Small communities were begun, whose life overflowed with the opening of the first focolare in a basement in 1966. A second focolare was opened in 1974. 
The fervent life was teeming in families, among youths, in parishes and the Movement grew to become a “small people”. The Communist Regime, of course, controlled the activities of its citizens, including the members of the Movement, but the life was never hindered and in 1986 the first Mariapolis-holidays were held in Bohinj, a bright spot in the lives of many people. For some it was their first encounter with God, and for others it was a return to Him after many years. In the 1970’s there was an unforgettable event: Gen Rosso’s tour. They held four performances at the indoor stadium which was packed with crowds. The highlight of the evening was the Slovenian song, “Maria” to the Mother of Jesus. It was the first time since 1945 that a religious song had been sung outside of a church building and broadcasted on television. The collapse of the Berlin Wall opened a new phase. Freedom meant that you could speak of the Movement, gather for meetings, organize musical tours for Gen Verde and Gen Rosso, republish the Focolare’s Novi Svet (New City) magazine, with a new look and a circulation of 2,300 copies. 
Today, Maria Voce will find a very developed Movement as it collaborates more and more actively with the local Catholic Church; enters into dialogue with other Christian churches; and opens toward society thanks also to some Economy of Communion businesses. The name of the Mariapolis Centre in Planina is “Spes”, “Hope”. There couldn’t be a better word for the trip of Maria Voce to a land in which hope has been proven and lived with such intensity in the past decades. Mario Dal Bello
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Jul 28, 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
Like all focolarine, Lina Velasquez lives in a focolare, the heart of the wider community. She lives with five others on the outskirts of Guatemala City. In her country too, people and ethnic groups have met serious conflict with much suffering, pain and, at times, discrimination. How is it living with other focolarine – a Guatemalteca ladina, which is another ethnic group, a Nicaraguan, a Mexican and a Salvadoran – a world in miniature. . . ? What helps inculturation among you? The love among us, with the measure that Jesus asks of us, that is, being to be ready to give our lives for each other, even in small everyday things. At times, out of love, it’s better to stay silent, at times it’s better to say what’s in our hearts. It helps me a lot to understand that the other person is different from me and so there is something for me to learn from everyone. I can be a person, someone who loves, not an “indigena” who wants everyone else to understand her. The inculturation among us is a witness to those who know us and a contribution to the elimination of discrimination. I feel fortunate to have a calling that unites us and that is mutually enriching. What work do you do? I’m a teacher at a school for “ladino” and indigenous children. This helps me to love everyone without distinctions, without prejudice, without the fear of being who I am. Each morning we toss the dice of love. It’s a very original toy that we use with the children: each side of the dice has a sentence, like: “Love everyone”, “Love your enemy”, “Love each other” , “Make yourself one”, “Be the first to love” “See Jesus in your neighbour”. We all try to live the sentence that comes up each day. It also helps me, because when I don’t take part, the children ask me: “Why do you say we have to do it, but you don’t live it?” One morning, we tossed the dice and the sentence that came up was: “Love your enemy”. Precisely on that day, the father of one of the students reprimanded me saying things that simply weren’t true. As I listened to him, I asked Jesus to help me forgive him and to see this “enemy” with new eyes, even if it cost me some effort to do so. The next morning that father came up to me and I greeted him with a nice smile. He was so surprised and he came closer to me and said: “Truly, I am heartily sorry and I ask you to forgive me. Today I realized that you are a real Christian person, and capable of understanding me.” From then on his attitude changed. Some of the parents don’t know me, especially when I’m wearing my traditional dress and, mistaking me for the cleaning lady, they don’t allow the children to greet me and embrace me. But the children are learning to love, even me, and they take this discovery home with them. It’s a freedom which I wish all indigenous people could experience, those who don’t wear their native dress and try to hide their origins. I’m glad to be working in this school, because I feel that I’m helping to form new people, that I’m able to love without prejudice, because they feel that they are children of God, and that each culture has great richness to offer to others. Your language is Kaqchikel. Is it still spoken today? My parents didn’t speak Kaqchikel, but my grandparents did, because they had never learned Spanish. The majority of the people in my community speak it among themselves, but never in the city because they are ashamed. Now with the Education reforms in Guatemala, the young people have begun to appreciate the language and also the precious indigenous culture. I’m doing my Master Degree on it, so that I can know it well and help my people to understand that the values I live can be a gift. I’ve realized that the spirituality of unity must reach my people in my language, so that they can understand it better.
SSA
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Jul 23, 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
“Love brought to a social level will make us credible.” Challenged by these words of Chiara Lubich in 1984, the Igino Giordani School of Social Learning (EDES) was begun in Argentina. Since then, twelve courses have been offered every two years allowing the charism of unity to enter into dialogue with various issues in the social field in the light of the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC). Vittorio Sabbione and Lia Brunet who were pioneers of the Focolare Movement in South America, were the principle supporters of this project, guided in the beginning by Bishop Jorge Novak. This year, EDES has begun a new phase in Mariapolis Lia (O’Higgins-Argentina) where the school is located. Between the 9th and 11th of July it examined a topic entitled: “The Social Dimension of Humankind’s Yes to God”. 
Methodology. The coordination team which was composed of experts, used a communitarian work approach. Topics and issues were chosen together by everyone. Texts were screened and chosen by the whole group as well. Then a final version was drawn up that was presented to the School. It was constantly a matter of thinking together enlightened by the words of the Gospel: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst” (cf. Mt 18:20). This same dynamic was applied by the students who participated in the seminar. Some of the topics that were discussed included: “Social life in the perspective of fraternity”, “Principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church”, “Humankind’s yes to God in its Trinitarian structure: Jesus Forsaken, the social question and the united world”, “Tools for implementing the SDC”. The presentations given by Bishop Agustín Radrizzani (Bishop of Mercedes-Lujan and current Rector of EDES), were much appreciated, because of how they were both deeply rooted in the teachings of the Church and steeped in the charism of unity. 
Experiences were important: the construction of housing in the Barrio Nueva Esperanza (Tucuman); efforts to integrate the work between the neighborhood parish of San Nicolás (Córdoba) and a community of gypsies; the preferential option for the poor of a teacher from Asunción (Paraguay), and the extensive work of “family listening groups” (San Martín, Buenos Aires); “Child Alert”, a citizen’s initiative born from the town’s painful loss of its dying children in Santa Fe, after which the provincial government enacted a law that was then adopted by other Argentine provinces; and the wonderful story of the Aurora School of Santa María of Catamarca, that with its craftsman training program has become a pioneer in the redemption of the culture of the native Calchaquí people “The training course was very important for evaluating our situation with new eyes,” says one Argentine youth. He adds: “It helped me to understand that change is within our reach and that we can accomplish it together.” The presence of the young brought a note of vivacity and hope to the EDES. 
The enthusiasm that was expressed at the conclusion of the seminar foretold a future that would be rich in developments and proposals. “The climate of simplicity, seriousness, research and inviting to live a new kind of society, permitted me to profit from the topics that were discussed, and instilled in me a desire to lose nothing of what I experienced here,” said a young professional career woman with a lot of experience behind her. She concluded: “It seemed beautiful to me and well done. The topics discussed were well inculturated in the Latin American reality and in tune with the DSC, especially the “Aparecida Document”. I learned so much!”
Jul 22, 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
I was parish priest at the Farim Mission, in Guinea Bissau, a city to the north of the capital, Bissau, on the border with Senegal. I would go to a village for catechism classes, preparing for Baptism. What was being taught was important, but I personally had the impression that it was all too theoretical. In past years, during my stay in Fonjumetaw, Cameroon, I had seen how the Word of Life helped in the work of evangelization. And so I began to take the monthly Word of Life and, following a brief explanation, I would invite everyone to put it into practice in order to then share with each other the fruits of doing so in the coming weeks. To make it easier, I handed everyone a piece of paper on which I had written the Gospel sentence and I invited them to hang it by their bed and read it in the morning when they rose from their beds, and at night, when they went to sleep. If they didn’t know how to read, I suggested that they ask their children to help them. Over the next few weeks, more and more people had something to say. One afternoon, in the village of Sandjal, some twenty km from Farim, when the time came to share experiences, a man told what happened to him during the previous week. The Word of Life was “Love your enemies” (Mt. 5:44). “One night the my neighbour’s cows entered into my bean plantation and destroyed it. This wasn’t the first time. This is why we hadn’t spoken to each other for months. But this time I was determined to make him pay. It was high time for him to see the damage he was doing. Me, my wife and children each took up a big piece of wood and set out for our neighbor’s house. But after taking only a few short steps i recalled the the Word of Life and said: ‘Stop! We can’t go. Last week I received a small paper which said to forgive our enemies, and in a few days I have to go back to the catechism class. What will I tell them if I go now to punish my neighbour? But then he will carry on doing as he has always done!’ Let’s go home and sit down. Letting it go as if nothing had happened didn’t seem correct. We decided to go to the man, not with a threatening air, but to dialogue. We explained to our enemy what had happened and we asked him to pay more attention to his cows. Our neighbour was speechless. He fell at my feet and asked me to forgive him over and over again. From that moment we began to greet each other, and I would say that we have become friends. It was months that we hadn’t spoken! And a new joy has entered my home.” In another village, Sarioba, 5 km from Farim, the same scene, a student stands up and says: “Every Monday we have to go on foot to Farim for school. There’s a seller who lives in a village not far away, who also goes to Farim with his truck. Normally, he doesn’t carry anything on the truck. Only that this time, after we had already travelled a distance of almost one kilometre, he stopped. He was having mechanical problems with the truck and he wasn’t able to move. When we reached him, we asked him if he needed a push to get the truck running. My friends said to me: ‘Let it go, let him take care of it himself. He never helped us.’ I was thinking the same thing, but then I remembered the Word of Life. And so we decided to give hi a hand to get the truck started. The engine started and the gentleman invited us to jump on, but we told him there was no need, and we continued on foot.” Fr. Celso Corbioli, OMI
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Jul 20, 2011 | Focolare Worldwide
After a trip of nearly thrity-two hours, Franco Pizzorno and Pierangelo Tassano from the New Humanity Movement arrived in Singida, Tanzania. The object of their trip was to attend a formation course for seventy leaders of the ‘volunteers of God’ coming from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Ruanda, Congo and Tanzania, who are invovled in enlivening different sections fo society with Gospel values. 
The five days of meetings proved to be very fruitful, highlighting the importance giving a life witness to the efficacious words of the Gospel. The cultural and spiritual research, presented by the volunteers themselves, and the deep sharing of experiences, made some guidelines emerge for seeking peace and the common good of society and its different ethnic groups, particularly in the field of education. “The peoples of these nations,” say Franco and Pierangelo, “have in communion and creativity in their DNA, perhaps more than people of other continents.” “Ubuntu, a typical African term means “I am what I am because of what we are,” and this is the natural root of this culture of relationships that makes you see problems in a different light, opening a space for new intuitioins from which valid solutions can be found not only for African society, but beyond.” 
John Bosco from Uganda states: “M. lives in my city. She has AIDS and other related illnesses. She’s old and poor. I called a meeting of the executive committee from my parish to see how we could help her, and with my wife cared for her. We brought her food, medicine, we washed her clothes. . . and other friends helped us in assisting her. Now M. is a part of our community. These actions did not go unnoticed and our testimony has stimulated many others to look better upon those who are in need.” Franco e Pierangelo conclude: “We left well aware that the peoples of this continent have so much to offer to the world, and so we listened and tried to understand not so much their most compelling needs, but mostly the talents of this culture which is so different and rich. As always, we recevied much more than we gave.”
