Dec 29, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
“If it hadn’t been for a group of friends – teachers at a school for street children – I would never have known about this side of my city: the poor. And yet, Saigon – or as they now call it – Ho Chi Minh City, also has it: poverty, disadvantage and suffering. On Christmas and all the big holidays some people like to go out for walks, perhaps around some of the famous breweries, to look for some poor, or better, very poor families who live in stinking rat-infested slums. I thought I had seen all the poverty in Thailand among the Karen refugees and migrants from the mountains in the North, as well as along the dirty canals of Bangkok. But what I saw today in Saigon, in the ‘Milan of Vietnam,’ I had never even imagined. Small rooms with twelve people living inside them, along with three dogs perhaps. I become so nauseous in such places that I could hardly force myself to stay there. But then, the faces of the children lit up, the intense gazes of the mothers looked at us and seemed to say ‘thank you’ when we placed in front of them a sack with 5kg of rice in it. That gaze was all the thanks we needed, along with a will to live and the joy to dry ourselves off after such a drenching rain. And then there are Nativity Scenes in Saigon and Christmas stars over the homes of many families. Some alleyways are lit up, which gives a bit of warmth to the city which is by no means cold, impersonal and indifferent – nor even atheist. You notice the stars and Nativity Scenes, because they’re everywhere and appear on many street corners: they take you by surprise. The ones I found most striking were the ones in the public markets, at night, almost covered under the day’s trash; or else, the ones that were lost along the outskirts of the market, but illuminated by two huge Manger Scenes set up right on the road. Then, on the tops of the houses, at night, there are the fluorescent stars that blink off and on. Returning home tonight, after the visit to the poor, I looked at this scene that had filled me with such a feeling of gratitude: even though far from home, I wasn’t at all missing the real sense of Christmas. Last year Pope Francis said that ‘Christmas is the feast day of weakness, because it celebrates a child, the symbol of fragility, smallness, humility and love.’ Today I understood those words a little more. This night that I now leave behind because it’s already morning, was illumined by the love that I saw among the people that went to help, to lift up, to show their closeness with those who suffer. Once again, the cultural darkness in which we live is illuminated by these living Nativity Scenes, by people who have made that Boy the reason for their lives. And I realized that the real message of Christmas hasn’t died. It’s message of love, tenderness and understanding is alive and I saw it. It was all there in that gesture of taking a small disabled three-year-old and hugging him as close as possible. And that little boy let himself be raised up by that face that unknown face. All the technology of present and future robots, the commercial frontier that everyone is talking about in Asia, will never be able do this miracle: love. Because love is free. Love is never a duty, and nobody can program it or order it. It’s a gift that comes from inside. I saw faces brighten and believe that life, tomorrow morning, will go forward and be more beautiful than yesterday. I don’t miss my Europe this Christmas. Because wherever there is love, there is also my home. Saigon is also my home.”
Dec 20, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Towards Christmas “I knew that the company I was working for would soon close shop and I would soon be jobless. Despite this, as Christmas neared, my colleagues and I thought of setting aside a part of our salary for the poorer people. So we went to visit a family that lived in a shanty, deprived of all necessities. Besides the envelope with the money we also brought toys for the children. We departed happily: it seemed to us that it was best preparation for the birth of the Lord. But before the day ended, some good news arrived: we were ensured that we would work for another five months.” (J.L.V. – Mexico) Hunger «One day at school, I saw a little girl who was all alone in a corner. I immediately went and asked her, “Why are you crying?” She told me that she had stomach ache because she had not had breakfast and had nothing for lunch. I thought: “It is Jesus who is hungry” and gave her my sandwich. After a while that girl said to me: “Now my stomach is no longer aching.” I was so happy. (S.S – Philippines) I forgive! «I was playing with a friend of mine when a boy arrived and with no reason hit me on the head, and I had to go to the hospital to be treated. On returning home I had only one thought: revenge. The day after, that boy’s father came to ask forgiveness. And he added: “I give you my permission to do to my son what he did to you. Perhaps he will understand how badly he behaved!” At that point I remembered Jesus’s invitation to love one’s enemies and I answered him that I forgave him. Surprised, the father called his son, and so we made up and now live in peace.” (Dionisio – Angola) Stolen drillers While I was working in the office together with my colleague, Benda, who is Muslim, we heard a crash from outside. We went to look: someone had broken the glass of our van and had stolen three drillers. It was the first time a thing like that happened and we were inconsolable. Then the thought of forgiving the author of that act came to my mind, and who probably was pushed by necessity. Recalling a phrase of the Koran Benda added: “When a person forgives, what he was robbed of will be returned by someone else.” That evening, at home, while I was recounting the episode, one of my relatives offered me three drills which he wasn’t using anymore. The next day, he brought them, and one of them was similar to the more expensive drill that had been stolen. (A.G. – Italy)
Dec 15, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
“For as much as Africa is rich, the others seem to benefit more from its riches. In granting contracts to multinationals for the extraction of minerals, for example, there is a play of interests, in which ’compensations’ and ‘compromises,’ ‘agreements’ and ‘thanks’ have as a consequence the exploitation of the producing country, without a real improvement in raising the population’s living conditions.” Raphael Takougang, a Cameroon lawyer of Communion and Law, harshly portrays a picture of the reality of life in Africa today: “Corruption in Africa is not only the work of single citizens, but is above all a consolidated method with which the economic powers “create” and support tyrants as long as these protect their interests, with the silent complicity of the international community.” And it is always the poor who pay for this. Takougang does not limit himself to mere denunciations, but rather, despite everything, shows his optimism ‘because there is a new generation of political leaders in Africa rising up, and has realised that mainly the citizens will have to control the actions of those governing them… to ensure the defense of the African people’s fundamental rights to life, education, health, and spiritual and material wellbeing.” Patience Lobé, an engineer – world head who together with the volunteers are the driving force of New Humanity – during her entire mandates as an officer of the Ministry of Public Works in Cameroon had been seriously threatened: «For the African concept of solidarity anyone who is in need has to be satisfied. For this reason people continually came to my office, to ask for work, or to request a subsidy. During my permanence as head of the office, not one day passed in which I was not subject to temptations or threats. Corruption is a widespread, contaminative virus, difficult to eliminate. Like all viruses, a vaccine is needed in order to eradicate it. The vaccine may be represented by a real change in mentality: education in a culture other than consumerism which considers the owning of goods and possession as the only road to happiness.” 
In the same way, it isn’t easy to launch good procedures and practices in the field of the battle against illegal management of public funds. Françoise, French officer in the Ministry of Finance, recounts: “Due to the variety of situations, public services and issues which I have to deal with, it is not always easy to maintain one’s discernment, define the law, sustain good management practices or simply coherence with the principles of honesty (also intellectual), rectitude, cooperation and solidarity with colleagues. But the work experience over the years has confirmed that every time I was faithful to these values, I discovered new horizons, new ways of acting, the situations got solved and unity between institutions and people was possible.” Paolo, director at the Municipality of a big Italian city added: “We mustn’t forget that as public administration employees our primary task is to dedicate ourselves to the good of the community under all aspects, taking on the weight of the related responsibility. Every action must conform to the principles and values without which we couldn’t live together, enhancing human wellbeing and progress of all the citizens.” It is the battle against corruption, therefore, but not only that. The diffusion of good practices, respect for the rights of citizens and their needs, and also reception, and the capacity to create a link with other institutions: these are the great challenges for those working in the Public Administration. The participants of the congress are all convinced of this, and have made it their commitment to continue cultivating these principles daily. The seeds of a culture of lawfulness will silently bring about results in their countries.
Dec 14, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
I was born in Bergamo,(Italy), the first of four children in a beautiful family with solid Christian roots. At seventeen I was in high school and involved in the parish. I loved school, helping others and going on trips to the mountains. I had a lot of friends and a rich faith experience. As they used to say back then, I was “good kid,” but … I always felt something was missing. I wanted something beautiful, great and true. Italy was going through hard times with assassination attempts by the Red Brigades and a job crisis. My father who was in metalworking, was laid off and later lost his job. The injustice of it all bothered me, as did the social conflict, but I also could feel being made to renew society. I spent hours talking with friends, debating, but it only left me empty inside. 
One day, Anita, a girl from the parish, invited me and my sister to the Genfest that was going to be held in Rome. She told me we’d meet thousands of young people from other countries and also the Pope. There was something special about Anita, a special joy and sincerity that shone in her eyes and, like others at the parish – the priest, two catechists and a seminarian – she seemed to have a secret: they were always open to everyone, willing and really able to listen. With a good dose of unawareness my sister and I took off on a bus with a hundred young people from the parish and headed for the Genfest in Rome. We arrived late at the Flaminio Stadium because of an accident and wound up sitting in the last rows on the highest seats where there was no roof – and we were very far from the stage that had a sign that read: For A United World. It was pouring rain, and I was drenched. I began to ask myself why I had ever agreed to such an excursion. But just then some young people from Switzerland who were sitting just below us, offered us some plastic sheeting to cover ourselves with; they offered us some food and binoculars, so we could follow the show more easily. We spoke in different languages, but understood one another right away. I experienced the liberty of love freely given, and a great sense of welcome and acceptance. Despite all the rain, colorful dances took turns on stage. It seemed like I had stepped into another dimension. Forty-thousand young people filled with enthusiasm were flowing in from every corner of the world – all of them giving witness to the Gospel they were really living. 
Then a small woman with white hair got on stage. It was Chiara Lubich. I looked at her through binoculars. As soon as she began to speak a deep silence fell over the crowd. I was enraptured more by the sound of her voice than by what she said, by the conviction that emanated from her words, by their power that stood in contrast to her fragile appearance. She spoke of a “moment of God,” and, even though she presented several lists of divisions, breakups and the overall disunity of the human race – she was proclaiming a great ideal: a united world, Jesus’s own ideal. She invited us to bring the divine into the life of society, into the world – through love. Her talk only lasted a few minutes while I found myself being crushed by a feeling I had never had before, which – afterwards – no sorrowful nor difficult event could ever dent in: a united world is possible and I have the amazing possibility of building it with my own life! I had found it! I wanted to live like Chiara, like those young people I was among that afternoon, to have their faith, their push, their joy. 
The next day there was a rousing encounter with John Paul II at Saint Peter’s Square. During the return trip home, me – timid as I am – I bombarded the Gen with questions: I wanted to know everything about them! I began to visit them in my city, and the Gen talked to me about their secret: love for Jesus Forsaken in all the large and small sufferings in us and around us. I somehow realized that this was a radical experience of God I was dealing with here, one without half-measures. Jesus Forsaken was calling me to give Him everything, to follow Him. I was filled with an enormous fear: for me it me it was ALL or NOTHING. Strong suffering and pain were never lacking in the months following the Genfest. But the life I had begun with the Gen, the possibility of giving a meaning to pain, the unity among us that was made of concrete love and sharing, helped me to carry on, in spite of every obstacle – in an amazing adventure that widened my heart. I was experiencing that with God among us, all is possible and that the possibility of the unity of the human family was really doable.
Patrizia Bertoncello
Dec 13, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Every beginning of the year, nothing is the same as it was at Loreto School. It’s been that way ever since 1982 when the school was found, because of the different places the families come from each year. Their reasons for going to Loppiano are also different. They rhythm of the course and the work are also adapted to their languages and cultures. Celebrations are enriched by their sounds and colours. The course focuses on topics related to the family within the context of the spirituality of unity and coincide with the children’s scholastic year in the local public schools. Eight families that are currently attending the school come from Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Argentina and Vietnam. They have one thing in common: the desire to grow in Gospel mutual love. This is the only law that reigns in the Focolare town where the families have come to have a full immersion in the spirituality of unity. “Why did we come here?”, Indian Henke and Emilio di Pelotas try to explain. “To seek the essential in life. We didn’t want to get stuck in the vicious circle of profit, so we inserted our business in the Economy of Communion project (EoC). We sold the car, gave away half of our clothing to the poor along with a few electrical gadgets for the house. It was a drastic move and, as a consequence, we felt the irresistible urge to be formed as a family together with our children in the spirituality of unity.” 
“In order to come here,” says Bao Chau, Vitenamese and father of two boys, “we had to wait four years because of family reasons. We were about to withdraw our enrolment when the obstacles were overcome and we strongly felt that God was waiting for us in Loppiano. We’ve been here since 2016, but because of the language we weren’t able to understand everything that was discussed in the course, so we decided to stay on for another year. I asked me employer; I asked my brothers to help me with the home loan and I asked the school director. Two months later, all the answers came back affirmative.” “We’re glad to stay on,” his wife Bao Vy adds, “to enter more deeply into the life of the Gospel and, when we return home, to share it with other families in Vietnam, so that we can continue to grow together in love.” “We come from Korea, and this is our daughter, 13 year old Maria Grazia. Irema and Michele are the owners of an institute that Michele founded fifteen years ago, to answer to the widespread need for better university preparation. “From the first ten students,” they recount, “in three years there a thousand units. We were overtaken by the work and our plan of building a harmonious and united family began to feel the effects.” After a deep communion among them, in the first days of June the decision was made to look for another kind of work. Then Michele had an idea: “If we sell the Institute we can go to Loppiano for a year!” It was an idea that Irema had right after their wedding, but back then it wasn’t possible. “We had to get sold before vacations. We prayed a lot and, on the last Saturday of June, the Institute was sold. God really wanted us to be here!” 
Francesca, 34 years old from Italy, and Roberto, 37 years old from Argentina are also a part of the mosaic. After several experiences in other countries,” they recount, “we are now residents of Italy, in Loreto. In our journey as a family, which has been brief but intense, we were never spared from problems: the different family contexts, several external affairs that were foreign to us and our way of doing things that blocked us a bit, but love and the will to build a healthy open family are strong. So we nurtured the decision to come to Loreto School with three year old Isabel, to learn how to prioritize and grow as parents and people. By living and sharing and being confronted by others, who knows? Maybe one day we will be able to testify to the Gospel out in the world.” Watch Video
Dec 12, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Ongoing emergencies, but also much solidarity and desire to get things going again. It is a difficult socio-political scene in Venezuela: soaring inflation, the persistent increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty, the lack of basic human necessities, and violent clashes. In Cuba and Puerto Rico, recontstruction has been hard because of the exodus of thousands of people, and the lack of electricity and drinking water. Yet, in the midst of it all, the vitality of the Caribbean people and the will to begin again has never faded. María Augusta and José Juan, from the Focolare community in the Carribean region report: “The general situation in Venezuela is quite painful, because of the lack of food and medicines, and also because of the growing uncertainty and helplessness and the continuing exodus of the people who are leaving the country. The list of our friends who have already left and of others who are attempting to leave, is long. In spite of this we have to “stay” at the foot of the cross, in the midst of much suffering, in the hope of a resurrection. But we can already see the Resurrection happening in many people, in their depth and in the Christian solidarity that animates them.” 
Ofelia from the Venezuelan community recounts: “It’s not easy to find answers to the problems we’re facing, like the lack of food, clothing and medicines. But we have Jesus’s words alive in our hearts: ‘Give and there will be gifts for you’, which we can live one day at a time. If someone doesn’t have food to eat, we can share a package of rice or medicine and all the things that we receive in thousands of ways. Each of us thinks of the other, life circulates and the community grows. In the midst of the violence and uncertainty, the presence of Jesus among us is like a flame that attracts and gives hope.” María Augusta e José Juan are always the ones to report on Cuba: “Last weekend a Mariapolis was held in Santiago with around 200 people, a sign of hope that continues to rise in the midst of the many difficulties that everyone has to face.” And from the community in Puerto Rico: “As you know, they have been living through truly tragic months due to the devastating effects of the hurricaine which destroyed the island. Very touching testimonies of Gospel love continue to arrive.” Here are a few: “Fifty six days without water, and electricity for only 30 minutes a day. It’s not easy to work in the office with the intense heat, but we do it! The flashlight provides a bit of light, the water bottles can be left in the afternoon sun, so that one has a bit of warm water to bathe with. For the heat, a hand fan or spray bottle of water and alcohol can provide some refreshment…” “Some young people from the Movement and the Inmaculado Corazón de María Parish in Patillas, along with some students from Saint Ignatius College have distributed rations to the needy – 237 sacks of food in all.” “My experience at Palma Sola was quite hard because of the destruction and lack of everything. Offering my service, with my entire family, was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done in my life.” “We always have something to give, evaluating what we really need and offering the rest to the people who are more in need.” “We went to the Recio community in the Guardarraya di Patillas barrio. It was hard to get there because of the condition of the roads after the hurricaine. Beginning from the outskirts where there was total devastation, we found elderly people with tired and discouraged expressions, people with asthma problems, ulcers on their legs, diabetics (and the problem of finding a way to conserve the insulin without electricity), people suffering from high blood pressure… One boy had a skin allergy. We made an attempt to use the old community aquaduct to make up for the lack of water.” “In Gurabo we were able to know our neighbours better by helping them in their need.” “Carrying on and getting on our feet again doesn’t only depend on the government, nor the military, nor help from abroad. It also depends on us, on me, on you. Together, we’ll get it done!”
