30 May 2003 | Focolare Worldwide
The Brandenburg Gate, monumental symbol of Berlin, was the site of the opening ceremonies of the first national ecumenical Kirchentag. The key liturgical celebration was presided over jointly by the Catholic Archbishop, Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky and the Lutheran Bishop of Brandenburg City and State, Wolfgang Huber.
It was indeed a historic event, for the following reasons: the venue chosen for the Kirchentag, its enormous implications, the ecumenical thrust from the grassroots which its participants – almost 200,000 in all – wanted to contribute. High-ranking authorities were present, including the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Johannes Rau, Grand Chancellor Gerard Schroeder, and Mayor Klaus Wowereit.
A significant fact happened just an hour before the liturgical celebration. The announcer opened the program with the words: “Finally, finally the long-awaited moment has come…”, but it was impossible for him to continue because of the jubilant cry from the audience, which was almost like an explosion of the yearnings, the hopes and the painful moments overcome…
Seeing the crowd and hearing this shout of joy, only one idea prevailed: “Yes, the time was ripe for this moment to happen.”
From the very beginning of the liturgy, those present lived through moments of joy, enthusiasm as well as deep spiritual recollection, in the awareness that Christ was the centre of all that was happening.
“The events that are taking place here during these days are important for the whole of society, and extend far beyond the Christian Churches”, said President Johannes Rau to underline the importance of such an event in the land where the Reformation began.
Pope John Paul II’s message, offered in a largely “evangelical” key, was interrupted many times by applause. He said, among other things, “The Kirchentag should become a great ecumenical sign, for our communion in the faith is much stronger and more important than whatever divides us still.”
The Holy Father continued by encouraging those present to raise their voices in unison to defend the values of family and life. He also spoke of residual sufferings due to the lack of unity among Christians.
“It is necessary for us to bring back our thoughts to the basis of our faith. It makes me happy to see that the Ecumenical Kirchentag has decided to re-declare this as the “Year of the Bible” (ecumenical project in Germany this year). I encourage you to pray with the Bible, to read and meditate on God’s word and to interpret your life according to the message which was revealed to us by God and was transmitted through the centuries by the community of the faithful.”
The Pope stressed that conversion is a necessary condition for ecumenism. “God wants us to be one so that the world may believe!” He encouraged all to continue their efforts in the ecumenical journey “with sensitivity and respect, with patience and courage, in respect for the truth and with authentic love.”
He concluded by saying: “If you submit yourselves together to God’s blessing, then you yourselves will become, ever more, a blessing one for the other and for the world, especially in those places where there is suffering and anguish.”
The next speaker was Gerard Schröder, Grand Chancellor of Germany:
“In spite of secularisation a signal shall rise up from Germany during these days, saying: ‘The Church is alive. It is full of vitality and especially young people are attracted to it.’”
As the crowd passed through the Brandenburg Gate, many participants expressed the hope that this might be a symbolic act which could tear down the invisible wall which still divides our Churches.
In the evening there was a festival on the streets in the centre of Berlin, organised by parishes as well as other groups, movements and associations. It seemed that Christians had taken over the city, Christians who were modern and youthful, joyful and open … the kind of Christianity which could really be in fashion again!
The motto and the four interest camps
The motto chosen for these days was “May you be a blessing”, and one could try to get a deeper understanding of it by joining one of the four “interest camps” of the Ecumenical Day of the Churches.
1. Showing one’s faith – living in dialogue
2. Searching for unity – meeting each other in our diversities
3. Respecting human dignity – safeguarding freedom
4. Life in the world – responsible action
Each of these “interest camps” was comprised by a large number of meetings, prayer sessions, round-table discussions, conferences and the most varied sorts of projects. It took a 720-page booklet to illustrate the program which took place during those days.
28 May 2003 | Focolare Worldwide
“He gave up his life for his brother”. This was the title given by the newspapers to the tragic death of Fr. Nelson, and so it was indeed. He was the parish priest, the spiritual director of the seminary and chaplain of the hospital of Armenia, Colombia. His niece – who worked as his secretary – said, “He died putting into practice the phrase of the Gospel: to give up one’s life for one’s brothers. He always used to tell us that we had to live for others and not for ourselves.” The thieves broke into Fr. Nelson’s residence and locked him up in the bathroom so they could work undisturbed. A call was made to his married brother, saying that there was something strange happening at the parish. Upon arriving, Fr. Nelson’s brother entered through a side door, but all at once he found himself right in front of one of the thieves’ gun. When Nelson heard his brother’s voice, taking advantage of the confusion, he forced the bathroom door open and put himself between his brother and the thieves, saying, “Don’t hurt him!”. A thief pulled the trigger and hit Fr. Nelson right in the chest. This occurred in the morning of March 22. The day after, in spite of a very violent storm, the cathedral was packed with people mourning the death of the priest from whom each and everyone had received so much love. It was the kind of love which was the fruit of a profound maturity and constancy of will. The significant moments of Fr. Nelson’s life can be gleaned from the memories he himself referred to in an interview with Città Nuova (the Italian edition of New City), which took place when he was in Italy studying pastoral health care. He recounts, “We were seven in the family and our means of support came from father’s work as a farmer. We lived in extreme poverty, but our trust was in God. For this reason, we were happy to share whatever we had with others whose need was even greater. I will always remember the apple tree we had in our garden, whose delicious fruits we were forbidden to pick because they were reserved exclusively for the sick people in our parish.“ For Nelson, poverty lived in this evangelical way became a school of life. What proved to be more difficult, though, was how to face illness, which he was forced to face even as a child. “I was six years old when my limbs were paralysed for several months, due to a virus that had infected my central nervous system. Due to this illness I have been forced to undergo continuing therapy. Through the years, I was stricken with other illnesses and had gone through no less than four eye operations, so I’m quite familiar with medications, therapy, and hospital stays. But I was very young then, and did not understand the meaning of this suffering which would not allow me to live like other young people of my age, and I was quite scared.” Nelson got engaged, and was planning to have a family of his own, when he felt the calling to a more universal way of self-giving. At 21 years of age, he decided to become a priest. During his first years in the seminary, his health problems seemed to have disappeared, but when he began his first year of pastoral experience, his sickness reappeared, and he found himself in the hospital once again, paralysed. “The doctors assured me that I would recover,” Fr. Nelson explained, “but I felt immersed in a dark crisis; I saw my future collapsing.” It was right in this period of his life that, thanks to a priest-friend who lived putting the spirituality of the Focolare into practice, he was able to acquire a deeper understanding of Christ’s Passion. He experienced a true inner rebirth in recognising Him in each suffering – his own as well as that of others – and embracing it with love. “Every physical and moral suffering took on new meaning for me. It became a wellspring of unusual inner strength, of peace and even of joy! I had discovered the most precious of treasures, and even if I would not have become a priest, nothing was lacking to my becoming a fulfilled Christian.” From 1983 to 1993 he gave of himself generously for the spiritual life of the diocese: he was assistant parish priest in a large parish with 10,000 parishioners, he was hospital chaplain, and a professor of spiritual formation in the Major Seminary of Armenia. A major step in his life was when Nelson decided to take a course in pastoral health care at the Camillianum Institute in Rome. It was a choice made also in the desire of finding an answer to one basic question he had: how can one live through illness in a spiritually “healthy” way, and through death as a passage from this life to the next? “In our country the priests who had a preparation in this field were not many, and in my condition, my desire to serve my sick neighbours better helped me to face the unpredictable aspects that a two-year stay overseas implied.” In August 1993, Nelson was relatively better, so he started his studies in Rome. But that was not all: life together with an Argentinian and a Dutch priest was a chance for him to put the spirituality of unity – which had so attracted him in Colombia – into practice. It was a “refining” experience which particularly helped him in his work with AIDS patients. Fr. Nelson came to know many of them in this period, and with each one he built a rapport, sharing a word, an experience, sharing their suffering, offering a hand in helping to reach reconciliation with God. When Nelson returned to Colombia, according to his Bishop’s wishes, he occupied himself with pastoral health care on the diocesan level, but he also gave generously of himself beyond his job description. “Giving up one’s life” is something one cannot improvise, and just as Nelson was accustomed to doing in his many years of experience with the most varied kinds of people, he bade us good-bye with his last heroic act of love.
23 Apr 2003 | Focolare Worldwide
27 Oct 2002 | Focolare Worldwide
The mystery of Jesus crucified and forsaken key to unity among the Churches
Ecumenism – Switzerland
28/10/2002
“The spirit that animates the Focolare Movement is, in a certain sense, the same spirit that animates our Council which was created for the purpose of forming a fraternity of Churches.” This, according to Lutheran pastor Konrad Raiser, Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC), explains why Focolare Movement founder Chiara Lubich was invited to address the Plenary Assembly of the members of the Council. “Chiara Lubich and her collaborators,” he continued, “are committed to finding ways to translate the spirituality of unity into new forms of harmonious living that connect us together particularly in this moment when the Council is searching for new ways to express itself.” The meeting took place in the auditorium of the modern Council building in Geneva that houses this 50-year-old organisation, the largest of its kind, bringing together persons of 342 Churches in 157 countries. Chiara Lubich had been asked to speak from the heart of her charism about the “key” to unity: Jesus crucified and forsaken. Her words helped the audience penetrate the mystery of love of a God who suffers the abandonment on the part of the Father in order to unite humanity to God and human beings with one another. Jesus forsaken, who assumes all the countenances of suffering and the pain of divisions so as to “give sight to the blind, hope to the desperate, victory to the fallen, unity to those who are separated.” Chiara explains that “in Jesus forsaken one finds the light to recompose the full visible communion of the one Church of Christ.” “We can see him,” she continues, “as ‘the ecumenical crucified one.’” Dr. Raiser commented immediately after Chiara’s address, “I sensed in her words the echo back to the intuition that was at the basis of the search for unity and that has been its program since 1925: ‘the closer we get to the cross of Christ the closer we get to one another. Beneath the cross we can reach out our arms towards the other.’” Catholic Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel, Switzerland, vice president of the Swiss bishops conference, gave a positive interpretation of the crisis being felt in the ecumenical movement. “We can use the word crisis in the sense that it’s time now to find new pathways. Only if we recognise Jesus forsaken in this lacerated body of Christ and we head right in to this suffering we can find new ways to reach unity.” Vatican Radio News Service “The spirit that animates the Focolare Movement is, in a certain sense, the same spirit that animates our Council which was created for the purpose of forming a fraternity of Churches.” This, according to Lutheran pastor Konrad Raiser, Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC), explains why Focolare Movement founder Chiara Lubich was invited to address the Plenary Assembly of the members of the Council. “Chiara Lubich and her collaborators,” he continued, “are committed to finding ways to translate the spirituality of unity into new forms of harmonious living that connect us together particularly in this moment when the Council is searching for new ways to express itself.” The meeting took place in the auditorium of the modern Council building in Geneva that houses this 50-year-old organisation, the largest of its kind, bringing together persons of 342 Churches in 157 countries. Chiara Lubich had been asked to speak from the heart of her charism about the “key” to unity: Jesus crucified and forsaken. Her words helped the audience penetrate the mystery of love of a God who suffers the abandonment on the part of the Father in order to unite humanity to God and human beings with one another. Jesus forsaken, who assumes all the countenances of suffering and the pain of divisions so as to “give sight to the blind, hope to the desperate, victory to the fallen, unity to those who are separated.” Chiara explains that “in Jesus forsaken one finds the light to recompose the full visible communion of the one Church of Christ.” “We can see him,” she continues, “as ‘the ecumenical crucified one.’” Dr. Raiser commented immediately after Chiara’s address, “I sensed in her words the echo back to the intuition that was at the basis of the search for unity and that has been its program since 1925: ‘the closer we get to the cross of Christ the closer we get to one another. Beneath the cross we can reach out our arms towards the other.’” Catholic Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel, Switzerland, vice president of the Swiss bishops conference, gave a positive interpretation of the crisis being felt in the ecumenical movement. “We can use the word crisis in the sense that it’s time now to find new pathways. Only if we recognise Jesus forsaken in this lacerated body of Christ and we head right in to this suffering we can find new ways to reach unity.” Vatican Radio News Service
27 Oct 2002 | Focolare Worldwide
Dr Chiara Lubich, the founder and president of the Focolare movement for spiritual and social renewal, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on October 28 for worship and discussions on the “spirituality for unity” in all areas of life and humanity.
After a rich exchange, Dr Lubich and Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary, issued a joint reflection on the theme to emphasize the “renewed hope for our common ecumenical journey”.
The full text of the joint message issued on October 28, 2002 follows:
We write with deep gratitude for the new confidence that has sprung up in our hearts today at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, whose task it is to work towards Christian unity. Our meetings and conversations here have opened new horizons for us, and allow us to look to the future with greater serenity. The conference at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, the worship service at St Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva, and today’s meeting together constitute an important event in which the participants – bishops of various churches attending an ecumenical meeting near Geneva, representatives of the Focolare movement and staff of the World Council of Churches – shared prayers, thoughts and experiences that inspire us and our churches to live more deeply our common calling and goal. We are very aware of how, for decades, WCC member churches have untiringly dedicated themselves to a strenuous search for unity, and we value their achievements. We are also conscious of recent difficulties which have led people to speak of stagnation, or a winter period, in ecumenism. Both of these realities were present in our hearts throughout the day. We believe that, with the Lord’s help and through a spirituality to be lived that we can call a “spirituality of unity” leading to conversion of the heart, we have found renewed hope for our common ecumenical journey. As churches come together to manifest a sincerely sought unity, attitudes towards God and to each other must be changed. They are called to metanoia and kenosis as the way to practise genuine penitence and to live authentic humility. The importance of prayer should not be underestimated. As we strip ourselves of false securities, finding in God our true and only identity, daring to be open and vulnerable to each other, we will begin to live as pilgrims on a journey. We will discover the God of surprises, who leads us along roads that are new to us. In one another, we will find true companions on the way. This spirituality requires us to empty ourselves as Christ did (Philippians ch 2:7). It leads to the conversion of the heart of individual Christians so that they stand alongside, learn from and are influenced by the spirituality, theology and traditions of others who seek to be faithful to Christ. It is He who helps us to love each others’ church as our own – a requisite for visible unity. It is this spirituality that must pervade our churches as they seek to manifest the prayer of our Lord “that all may be one”. Such a spirituality is possible through the Holy Spirit who, in our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus, empowers us to live beyond ourselves into the reality of the other. With these thoughts, hopes and proposals, and through the presence of the Risen One among us, we – lay people, pastors, priests, bishops, church leaders – have experienced in some small measure what it means to be a single Christian People (“Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst” Matt. 18 :20). We have lived a “new dialogue” – a dialogue of life, of the people – that needs to be widely promoted. It is a dialogue that complements the theological one and the traditional dialogue of individual churches, and thus contributes to and accelerates the complete fulfilment of Christ’s last testament: “that they all may be one so that the world may believe” (see John 17:21). With the desire to continue this journey with you, we assure you of our prayers and trust in yours, to the One who can do all things. Konrad Raiser General Secretary World Council of Churches Chiara Lubich President & Founder Focolari Movement
26 Oct 2002 | Focolare Worldwide
“A surprising ecumenical and hope-filled witness of life offered today in Calvin’s city.” Geneva’s most important daily newspaper used these very headlines to introduce its article on the ecumenical celebration that took place in the solemn and austere atmosphere of the ancient cathedral of St. Peter’s in Geneva, the centre of the expansion of the Protestant Reform. And that’s what it was. One thousand five hundred people crowded into the cathedral to be part of this event. At the centre of the Holy Supper table, next to the president of the Protestant Church in Geneva stood a Catholic woman: Chiara Lubich. “Today,” said Protestant pastor Joel Stroudinsky to the bishops of various Churches coming from different countries and representing ecumenical organisations, including Roman Catholic Cardinal Miloslav Vlk of Prague, “we need to be witnesses of the passion of the Gospel, of the power of the Word that transforms the world in all its varied aspects: social, economic and political.” And here, introducing Chiara Lubich, he spoke of her vigorous witness of life, of the action of the Spirit of God in today’s world. “We welcome her today,” he continued, “in this particular communion that is born from our common passion for the Gospel.” Chiara’s address was part of the Sunday worship service and was given in an atmosphere of deep prayer. The ministry of love, the characteristic vocation of womanhood, came out dynamically. Chiara made reference to an important occasion marked by this Church which falls on November 3rd and celebrates the Reformation. “It is a reminder to all the Churches,” she said, “that there is urgent need for that continual reform called for by the Second Vatican Council.” She spoke of the action of the Spirit who, throughout history, and today too through the flowering of new charisms, has brought to life new spiritual currents intended to spark a radical, Gospel-based lifestyle. She touched on such burning current issues as the oppression of peoples, poverty, and terrorism, and she appealed for a return to the fundamentals of a love that is ready to lay down its life for the other and is capable of making this love mutual. “This alone is the witness among the Churches that makes us visible,” she said. “Only this makes us carriers of that love that the world needs. And this,” she concluded emphatically, “is the reform of all reforms that heaven asks of us. Heaven repeats it and it cries for it in the present circumstances that have been permitted.”
