20 May 2020 | Non categorizzato
When we live the Word we are bound to go out of ourselves and meet our brothers and sisters with love. We start with the ones closest to us: in our cities, our families, wherever we are in everyday life. This friendship becomes a network of positive relationships, that aims at living the commandment of mutual love, which builds fraternity. Finding the right words My two children, seven and five years old respectively, were out playing without any thought of danger. I was not quick enough to reach them, when a grenade exploded and both were bleeding. We picked them up and ran off to hospital. I felt a great turmoil inside me: dismay, fear, pain ….. but I had to take care of the children and instil peace in their hearts. My son had splinters in his head and he had to be operated on immediately; my daughter was not in such a bad state. At night, I watched over their bedside. Every now and then they complained and had nightmares: “Why did they do this to us?” I looked for the right words to explain to them that the one who threw the grenade was someone who had suffered a lot, who might have no parents, and who just wanted to destroy the weapons on our side… When the children dozed off, I began to pray. I entrusted them to God while I prayed that they would be free from any hatred in their hearts. Decades passed since that painful episode, and today my son considers it as an incentive to contribute towards world peace. (R. S. – Lebanon) Change of apartment When we asked the owner of the apartment where we were staying for permission to make some renovations at our expense, she said nothing about her intention of selling the flat. Of course, when we finished the work and came to know about her decision, we felt bad and betrayed. Moreover, the new owner asked for a much higher rent. So, from one day to the next, we found ourselves on the street. But we trusted in providence; we were certain that God would not abandon us. In fact, shortly afterwards, we were offered a possibility that fitted our family needs even better. But the most important thing was to have no hard feelings and maintain a good relationship with the former landlady. We could feel that she was sorry about what happened, even though she did not express it outrightly. We were friends again and forgot all about the past. (E.V. – Turkey) Disorder I am enrolled in the Faculty of Psychology and I live with other colleagues in the students’ quarters. When we do not go to the canteen, we share the use of a common kitchen. One of us, who is quite messy, never bothers to clean the kitchen after making use of it. This morning when I went to the kitchen to make myself a coffee, I found that there was a big mess. He had guests the night before and he did not bother to clear up. I wasn’t the only one to notice the disorder in our kitchen. Someone, who was furious about it, suggested that we should leave everything until our colleague realizes it and does something about it. However, shortly after when I went back to my room to study, I was not at peace with myself; the thought of the mess in the kitchen kept coming back to me… What should I do? Should I teach a lesson or do an act of love? I wasted no time, I went back to the kitchen and started clearing up: I washed glasses and dishes, I took the garbage out ….. When I returned to my room, it seemed that I could understand better what I was reading. Life with others is a form of education that completes the lessons I listen to at university. (G. T. – France)
Edited by Stefania Tanesini
(see Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, anno VI, n.3, April–May 2020)
18 May 2020 | Non categorizzato
This reflection by Chiara Lubich reverses our usual way of interpreting the joyful or painful events that are woven together in the fabric of our life. She invites to see things in a completely different way, with new eyes, trusting in the fact that nothing escapes God’s love. This deep inner conviction fills us with hope and helps us be more courageous. … If we love God, our life and its many circumstances become a divine adventure in which we are astonished every moment by the newness it brings. This divine adventure is full of treasures to be discovered that enrich us all the time and are like little pieces added to the mosaic of our holiness. In fact, [Scripture] tells us. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28). All things… for those who love God. All things. Nothing — and we must believe this — happens by chance. No situation, whether joyful or indifferent or sorrowful; no meeting or situation, in the family, at work or at school; no state of physical or moral health, is without meaning. Instead, all things, events, situations, and people, are bearers of a message from God, which we should know how to read and accept with all our heart. All things work together for good for those who love God. God has his own design of love for each one of us. He loves us with a personal love, and—if we believe in this love and respond with our own love (that is the condition!) — He leads all things toward the fulfilment of his plan for us. It is enough to look at Jesus. We know how much he loved the Father. If we think of him even for a moment, we can see how he lived this Word to the full all his life. For Jesus, nothing happened by chance. Everything had a purpose. However, we see this Word personified in him in a unique way during the last days of his life; nothing in his passion and death happened by chance. For Jesus, even the extreme trial of feeling forsaken by the Father worked together for good, because by overcoming it he brought his Work to completion. His passion was caused unknowingly. Those who made him suffer and die did not know what they were doing. They didn’t know who it was they were torturing and crucifying; they did not know that they were conducting a sacrifice, the most perfect sacrifice that would bring about the salvation of humankind. Jesus suffered at the hands of people who did not have this end in mind. But since he loved the Father, he transformed all these things into means of redemption, seeing in those terrible moments the hour he had so long awaited and the fulfilment of his divine, earthly adventure. Jesus’ example enlightens our own life. We should understand that everything that comes to us, all that happens, all that is around us and all that causes us to suffer, is either the will of God who loves us, or has been allowed to happen by God, who loves us still. Then everything will take on new meaning, everything will have a purpose and it will all be extremely useful. Let’s take heart. We are still alive. We are still on the journey. Our life can still be transformed into a divine adventure. The plan of God for us can still be fulfilled. It’s enough to keep on loving and look out for his ever splendid will.
Chiara Lubich
(From a telephone conference call, Rocca di Papa, 2nd August 1984)
16 May 2020 | Non categorizzato
The testimony of those who face social challenges by rediscovering the potential of the Internet. Some initiatives supporting those who are alone or in situations of poverty. https://vimeo.com/402903671
13 May 2020 | Non categorizzato
On the occasion of the day of prayer and fasting for humanity on 14th May, the prayer of Maria Voce, President of the Focolare Movement In this time of trial, loneliness, anguish and dismay, we feel the need to re-discover the meaning of life and of death, of what does not pass and will remain forever. Our hearts, purified and disarmed by suffering, unite in prayer to You, Almighty, Compassionate, Merciful God and Father of us all. Strengthen in us the faith that everything You allow to happen is for a greater good, and that nothing of all that happens is outside Your infinite goodness. Help us continue this journey of life with renewed trust and hope, rooted in Your divine will in every present moment. Comfort those suffering the loss of family and friends; grant them strength to go ahead, and patience in adversity. Grant that in the face of anxiety about the future, the loss of work and the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, we are able to discover in them opportunities to practice solidarity and greater justice. Forge in us, more and more, a spirit of concrete love, to share the pain of those who are weeping and rejoice with those who are glad. Grant that we may consider others as ourselves and want for them what we want for ourselves. Help us experience, Most High and Almighty God, that the more we love our neighbor, forgetful of ourselves, the more our burden of pain lightens and in our hearts remains the ineffable and tangible sweetness of Your presence. Grant strength, health, safety and wisdom to the doctors, nurses, health personnel and all those doing their utmost for their brothers and sisters who are sick or in need, so that they can be Your instruments in accompanying those entrusted to their care. O God, Light of the world, grant that scientists may be illuminated by Your Wisdom and make their knowledge available for the good of all humanity. Sustain the leaders of nations and all those who decide the fate of peoples, so that they know how to make forward-looking decisions and find social and economic solutions in favor of the weakest. Enlighten their minds, so that they may find every possible means to avoid conflicts and promote peace. Make each one feel that they are responsible not only for their own people, but for all humanity. May Mary, who is loved and venerated by many, help us to stand firm in faith and bring consolation and hope to all. Amen. Download the prayer
13 May 2020 | Non categorizzato
The exhibition dedicated to Chiara Lubich in her hometown in Italy is enriched with a multilingual virtual tour that will allow visitors from all over the world to visit the exhibition composed of images and documents. May 13th marks the launching on the web , a significant date for Trento and Lubich. “Chiara Lubich Città Mondo“, the exhibition set up at the Gallerie in Trento, the birthplace of the Focolare Foundress, is now transformed and enriched with a virtual tour. The exhibition, closed for a period due to the pandemic and now extended until the beginning of 2021, can also be visited online. (http://mostre.legallerietrento.it/chiaralubich) The exhibition in Trent, which is part of the events linked to the Centenary of Chiara Lubich’s birth, continues in this way to implement the motto of the centenary: “Celebrate to meet with this extension on the web, “. Winding its way through history, life, images and color, it offers an opportunity to ‘meet’ with Lubich, and now the tour extends beyond the Galleries’ exhibition venue , to offer access to visitors from all over the world. Moreover, the date chosen for this launch on the web is no coincidence: on May 13th , 1944 Chiara Lubich’s story intertwined significantly with that of her city. That day when Trent suffered the second heavy bombardment also marked a turning point for the emerging Focolare Movement. Chiara Lubich was among the people displaced from the city towards the Gocciadoro woodland, after the family home was damaged. “I remember that night,” she would write years later, “on the outskirts of the city, lying with the others on the ground, just two words: stars and tears. Stars, because, throughout the night, I saw them all passing over my head; tears, because I was crying, realizing that I could not leave Trento with my loved ones. By then I saw with my companions the movement coming to life: I could not abandon them. And it seemed to me that the Holy Spirit, in order to make me understand His will, suggested words to me that I had studied at school: “Omnia vincit amor[1], Love conquers all”[2] .The next morning, Chiara Lubich informed her parents of her decision to stay in Trento, and soon afterwards, with her first companions, she set up the first focolare. The little house that housed the first focolare is one of the stages on the virtual tour that the visitor takes “Chiara Lubich city world” from the birth of the founder of the Focolare Movement in 1920 to the current worldwide expansion of the Movement. Even in the virtual setting, it is Chiara herself, through images and documents, who “tells her story “: her life as a young teacher, her consecration to God on December 7th, 1943, the growth of the first Focolare community. And then the summer of 1949, the beginning of a period of light for Chiara Lubich from which will flow the charismatic novelty that would give life to a new Work in the Church. Light and colours are the protagonists of the last part of the tour which, through words and images, allows us to know experiences of unity, spaces of fraternity born of the Charism of Lubich which continue to grow and develop in the present day in order to contribute to the fulfillment of what she considered the “testament” of Jesus: “That all may be one” (Jn 17:21). “For that page of the Gospel we were born,” Lubich wrote, “to bring unity in the world, unity with God and unity among all our brothers and sisters”.
”Even though we were aware” – she explained –“ of the divine audaciousness of the program that only God could carry out, kneeling around an altar, we asked Jesus to make his dream come true using us too if it was part of his plans”[3]. A dream also formed on that night of May 13th 1944 when, faced with the collapse of everything, bewilderment, the anguish of the unexpected drama of the moment, among stars and tears, she chose to believe that “Omnia vincit amor, love conquers everything”.
Anna Lisa Innocenti
[1] Virgil, Ecloghe, X, 69 [2] Chiara Lubich, Nascita di una spiritualità, in Michele Zanzucchi, Enzo Maria Fondi, Un popolo nato dal Vangelo, San Paolo, 2003, pp. 9-10. [3] Ibid., p.17
12 May 2020 | Non categorizzato
What effects has this pandemic had on life in society and in the Church? What did it bring about in the Focolare Movement? How can we live these new and as yet unknown times that await us? An open dialogue with Maria Voce. From an interview with Radio Inblu (Italy). From 18th May, Mass can be celebrated again [with a congregation], by taking all necessary precautions of course. Could you comment briefly on this? Maria Voce: We have always followed the Pope’s Mass and there have been very many opportunities to pray together online. But we cannot hide the fact that Christianity is an embodied religion. We feel the need to be physically present at the liturgy, to participate more directly and actively in the sacraments of Christianity. So we certainly missed participating in the Eucharist in a real way and this gift is now being given back to us. So we are ready to do all that is required, to take precautions in order not to miss this opportunity. Q: Of course, many things have happened during this time. We have had to review our behaviour and what we buy. What do you think the pandemic is bringing out in social life and therefore also in church life? Maria Voce: It is bringing out beautiful things but there can also be bad things. A first thing worth emphasizing is equality among all. The pandemic has shown that faced with this small virus that we have been hit by, we are all the same. It has affected the powerful as well as the poor, the rich and those who have nothing, children as well as adults, those in prison and those outside. So in this sense we are all truly equal. At the same time the pandemic has also revealed many inequalities that are not created by the fact of being human, but are created by different cultures, by prejudices and by lifestyles. So some people can afford treatment and others cannot; some people have homes where they can isolate themselves and others are forced to live with several people in a very small space. Some people have lost their jobs and can draw on savings set aside in a bank account; others don’t have anything to draw on and when they lose their jobs, they and their families are in danger of going hungry. So, unfortunately, inequalities have become even more obvious. And this should make us reflect, because it’s clear that these inequalities are not wanted by God, nor are they willed by human nature. They are due to the ill will of people who have not been able to manage correctly the gifts that God has given us all. We need to make up for these inequalities so as not to find ourselves, when the pandemic is over, in a worse state than we were before. Instead, we want to come out of this having gained from realising the need for equality and make programs that respect the equal dignity of all. Q: What about the church community? Maria Voce: For the church community, I feel this period has highlighted what is essential, because so many things have fallen by the wayside. We have seen that church walls are not essential but that living the Church as communion is essential. We’ve seen that going every day to visit Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist is not essential, but it is essential to love our neighbour; it is essential to answer with love to the people near us; it is essential to seek out inspiration for our lives from Jesus’ words in the Gospel. Many things have fallen away even on an ecclesial level. However, this has done us nothing but good, because it spurs us towards the rebirth of which Pope Francis continually speaks, to the resurrection and the completely new start we can make in truly reforming the Church in a vital way, not in an institutional or formal way. Q: Which of these essentials is most essential? Maria Voce: The most essential thing is to keep in mind that we are one human family. Being part of one human family must push us all to take care of each other and take care of creation, which is the only house this one human family is living in. We must care responsibly, attentively, precisely because Christianity makes us look at this reality also in a responsible way. We are all members of a family but we are all responsible for this family. Therefore, every person in this family is important; everyone has rights but they also have duties. There is a collective responsibility. I think this must push us to make proposals, to put forward programs, to see what can be done to truly include everyone. We must propose ways forward both in the economy and in politics, ways that can truly look to the common good, not to the good of one group or another, not to the interests of one side or the other but to the good of all. So proposals should be put forward that aim towards a communion of goods on a more universal level. Then the Church itself – and we too, in fact, as Focolare Movement – is universal, it has no boundaries. In a certain sense, the Church competes on equal terms with the virus. The virus is not afraid of borders but neither is the Church; the Church is universal because it is God’s family on earth. We must look to this, God’s family, to see how to make it truly be one family. We must see how to create structures that enable the integral development of all, which respect the history, culture and way of life of each people, without coercing them into developing according to our models or our plans. At the same time, we should make available to each other all the talents with which God has endowed every people, every culture and every person. We can make them available to each other so that all together we can make the world become a common home that is ever more beautiful and ever more worthy of being inhabited by the children of God. Q: Maria Voce, what reactions has this time brought about in Focolare Movement? How have you been reflecting on this? Maria Voce: The same reactions as everyone, in the sense that we too, from one day to the next, found ourselves not being able to organise our lives, neither personally nor as a Movement. So we had to change all our programs. It is an important year for us because it is the centenary year of Chiara Lubich’s birth. We have the General Assembly of the Movement planned for the month of September and several preparatory meetings for the Assembly were scheduled. All this ground to a halt from one moment to the next, from one day to the next, so we found ourselves completely unable to foresee, plan and think what could be done. Naturally, this was a shock. At the same time, Chiara Lubich taught us to live the present moment, wanting to do only what God asks us to do. Therefore we want nothing other than His will and to seek together – precisely by listening to each other and trying to understand the needs of all – to hear together what God wanted to tell us through this circumstance. In doing this, first of all we changed all the programs, thinking always not only of the needs of the people who were supposed to participate in the programs, but also of the needs of those who would perhaps suffer economic losses from the changes, who would experience upheavals; there were many things of this kind. We did this and did it joyfully, without letting ourselves be overwhelmed by the situation. And now we are seeing that it was all in God’s plan, because it has led us to greater simplicity in life, to reviewing our lifestyles, to a greater sense of moderation when deciding whether to buy something now or not. We have put off acquiring something we had planned to buy, delaying or deciding against it entirely in order to make that sum of money available for more immediate needs. It led us to seeing how all our families are and how they are coping at the moment. Many of our people, like others, have lost their jobs and don’t know how to manage. This has brought about a more complete, open and transparent communion of goods among all. So we have communicated more about the various needs but also about what Providence has sent us. Truly we can say that Providence has shown us once again that it is true, that it is a reality, that the Father sends what is needed to his children if his children want to live for him and in mutual love. So, in a way, he has given us the light to see the driving force that moves us, this love which is the love that God has placed in our hearts, not as focolarini but as people, as human beings. For us focolarini, this light takes on many colours because it becomes love that leads to unity, a love that enables us to give our lives for one another and risk everything. This really is something that has energised the Movement throughout the world. The Movement, like the Church, is also universal, so we suffered what our people in China were suffering, what those in America, the Middle East, everywhere, or in Italy were suffering. And we lived all these things together so that people who had more gave to those who had less. Aid has come from China, Korea, Japan, the Middle East and Syria. Maybe it was aid in terms of encouragement and good wishes, but everyone said that this great family that lives the Ideal left to us by our founder, Chiara Lubich, wants to be one. Through unity we want to help the world become one. From an interview with Alessandra Giacomucci for the Ecclesia (Radio InBlu) column, 8 May 2020
