He gave up his life for his brother
“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.
“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.”
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.
“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.” 
The need for spirituality is emerging forcefully in ecumenical environments. Rumanian Orthodox theologian Ioan Sauca, director of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, made mention of this fact as he introduced Focolare foundress Chiara Lubich to her audience of professors and students, future theologians and ministers who are sent there by their Churches all over the world to pursue their respective specialties in what has come to be called “an ecumenical laboratory.” “Without an ecumenical spirituality,” continued Professor Sauca, “our ecumenism risks being reduced to a series of nice slogans. If we do not put love into practice, ecumenism will not grow.” When her turn came to speak, Chiara bore witness to the action of the Holy Spirit who, through the gift of the charism of unity, gave life to a new spirituality. The heart of this charism which, at the onset of the Movement brought about a “qualitative leap forward in our life,” is the vital presence of Jesus who comes with his gifts of joy, peace and abundance of light, promised to those “two or more gathered in his name” – that is, in his love- a demanding love the measure of which is to be ready even to give one’s life. 
“The fact is,” continued Chiara, “that the Holy Spirit, during this time of transition, offers to every level of ecumenical dialogue, the chance to be more ‘one’ even now in Jesus, to experience being one Christian family because Christ is our bond.” It is an experience of that “dialogue of the people” that activates “a new life, thanks to the full, visible communion that we want to contribute to building.” Together in the hall of the Institute were bishops of different Churches, friends of the Focolare Movement, who were also holding their annual convention in Geneva, promoted by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk of Prague. Their presence was a visible witness to her words. The ecumenical experience of the Focolare Movement began in 1960 when some Lutheran pastors in Germany remained impressed by just such a testimony of evangelical life. And this witness of life offered last year at an ecumenical encounter in the German part of Switzerland paved the way for the events of these days in Geneva.