Apr 22, 2020 | Non categorizzato
Regina Betz, a German focolarina, professor of sociology, pioneer of the Focolare Movement in Germany and Russia, who was passionate about ecumenism and fully commited to the Christian renewal of society, passed away on March 17, at the age of 99 years. Ever since I met her, I have always known her to be a very busy person, yet she never made you feel that she had no time for you. She rather gave one the impression that she had a goal to reach and was reluctant to waste time. When she stopped to have a word with you, she was fully present; her smart lively look and her broad mischievous smile brightened your day. Regina led a very full life. The elder of two children born into a Catholic family, who lived in Göttingen (Germany), she grew up in area where the majority of the people were Lutherans; so she practised natural ecumenism, strengthened further by the common resistance to Hitler’s nationalism. Having spent a few years in Italy during the Second World War, after finishing her studies in Social Economy, she settled in Rome where she worked at the Pontifical Council for the Laity for three years (1955-1958). During this time she met the Focolare Movement, and when speaking about this encounter in a book (1) she wrote later on, she revealed that she was struck by “a light and a force”. Being eager to discover the secret behind all this, she decided to participate in the Mariapolis of 1958. There she met “Christians, who freely chose to live unity” and the model of a “new and human society” and she remarked: “After a long time, I found what I have been looking for and my heart sang a song of great joy”. When Regina returned to Germany, where the Focolare Movement was not yet present, she continued to work for the Church and made important trips to Asia and South America. In 1966 she was among the volunteers of the Focolare Movement, and she was invited to teach sociology at the formation school in Loppiano (Italy). There, at the age of 46 she felt the call to be a consecrated member of the Focolare. From ’68 to ’90, Regina was a professor of sociology in Regensburg (Germany) and a collaborator of the “Institute for Eastern Churches”. She had the opportunity to meet Christians from Eastern Europe and to travel to various countries in the Balkans, to Bulgaria and Romania. She was particularly impressed by the enthusiastic behaviour of young communists and their concern for the lower class. In 1989 she was offered academic work in Moscow, and thus the first Focolare was opened there. She related: “Life in Moscow turned out to be a life of togetherness: together in the focolare, together with so many Russians who came to know our way of life. I discovered the great generosity and cordiality of the Russian people, and experienced great hospitality and sharing. No structures, but many friends”. Life around the Focolare flourished; however this happened at a price. Confiding to me personally, Regina expressed her wish that the “dark” part of her life would also be communicated after her death. In a diary of that period she wrote: “I have nothing more to give, but it is consoling to know that He is with me in this emptiness … I feel exhausted all the time, I am afraid and I feel that I cannot manage to conclude anything anymore”. When Regina returned to Germany in 2008, she went to the small Ecumenical town of Ottmaring. The years she spent there were marked by the relationships she established with so many different people; she kept these relationships alive through visits and through thousands of handwritten letters, full of wisdom. She followed the events of the Church and society with attention and participation. In spite of her fragility, she remained faithful to the personal Word of Life she recived from Chiara Lubich, which said: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25). “Many times I had to leave everything and go to start all over again somewhere else! But what a lot I have gained from this: so many experiences, so much knowledge about the life and culture of people in different countries, so many relationships with a countless number people!”. On March 17, Regina Betz ended her race; she definitely left everything. I’m sure she discovered an unimaginable life.
Joachim Schwind
1) Regina Betz, Immer im Aufbruch, immer getragen, Verlag Neue Stadt, München 2014.
Apr 20, 2020 | Non categorizzato
The following text by Chiara Lubich touches on a subject that the current pandemic has brought much into evidence: suffering. It helps us to perceive a mysterious presence of God in suffering, since nothing escapes his love. This genuinely Christian approach instils hope and encourages us to make every suffering our own, those that affect us directly or that of the people around us. … Suffering! The suffering which at times affects our whole being and the suffering which crops up and blends bitterness with sweetness in daily life. Suffering: an illness, a misfortune, a trial, a painful circumstance… Suffering! How should we … consider the suffering which is always ready to appear in all our lives? How can we define it, how identify it? What name can we give it? Whose voice is it? If we consider suffering from a human point of view, we are tempted to look for its cause either within us or outside of us, in human wickedness for example, or in nature or other things. And all this might actually be true. But if we think only in these terms, we forget what matters most. We forget that behind the story of our lives there is the love of God who wills or permits everything for a higher purpose, which is our own good. That is why the saints take every painful circumstance they encounter directly from the hands of God. It is impressive how they never go wrong in this regard. For them, suffering is the voice of God and nothing else. Immersed as they are in the Scripture, they understand what suffering is and must be for a Christian; they grasp the transformation that Jesus worked in suffering, seeing how he changed it from a negative factor into a positive one. Jesus himself is the explanation of their suffering: Jesus crucified. For this reason it even becomes lovable, it even becomes something good. That is why they do not curse suffering, but bear it, accept and embrace it. If we too open the New Testament, we will find this attitude confirmed. Didn’t St James say in his letter, “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy” (Jas 1:2)? So suffering can even be a cause for joy. After having invited us to take up our cross and follow Him, doesn’t Jesus then affirm, “Those who lose their life” (and this is the height of suffering) “will find it” (Mt 10:39)? Suffering therefore is hope of salvation. For St Paul, suffering is even something to boast of, indeed the only thing to boast of: “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). Yes, for those who consider it from a Christian viewpoint, suffering is something great: it even makes it possible for us to complete in ourselves the passion of Christ, for our own purification and for the redemption of many. So then, what can we say to those who are struggling with suffering? What can we wish for them? How can we relate to them? First of all, let’s approach them with the greatest respect. Even though they may not think so, at this time they are being visited by God. … Let’s assure them of our continual thoughts and prayers, so that they may be able to take all that distresses and causes them suffering directly from the hands of God, and unite it to Jesus’ passion so that it can bear the greatest fruit. Let’s help them to always have the value of suffering present before them. And let’s remind them of that marvellous Christian principle of our spirituality, in which suffering, when loved as a countenance of Jesus crucified and forsaken, can be changed into joy.
Chiara Lubich
Taken from a telephone conference call, Rocca di Papa, 25th December 1986) Published in C. Lubich, On the Holy Journey, New City Press, New York 1988, pp. 162-164
Apr 18, 2020 | Non categorizzato
In Italy the “Villaggio per la Terra” (Village for the Earth) event is transformed into a multimedia marathon. 
Everything is connected. The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated on 22 April, cannot be viewed in isolation from the coronavirus pandemic challenging humanity. At the time of this year’s Earth Day, the current health emergency is giving rise to a global community demanding different economic and social models which are fairer than before. This Earth Day coincides with the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si on the theme of integral ecology. Events in 193 countries will be hosted online. In Italy, the Villaggio per la Terra, traditionally held at Villa Borghese in Rome, is being transformed into a multimedia marathon live on Rai Play and reports on other broadcast platforms. We spoke with President of Earth Day Italy, Pierluigi Sassi. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day is taking place as humanity faces the coronavirus challenge which is forcing us to review our priorities, values and objectives … Today, more than ever, we feel the urgent need to change the economic and social model which has governed development for decades. We want to give a message of hope, to offer a perspective which focuses on the person and the need to respect the planet. We’ve raised awareness about these subjects in the world, reinforced by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si expounding the principle of integral ecology. There is a new sensitivity to this topic in the world, but it has to transfer into action. The coronavirus makes the need for this change even stronger.
VILLAGGIO PER LA TERRA, Earth Day Italia, Villa Borghese, Roma 21 April 2018
© Lorenzo Gobbi/Smile Vision Srls
Claudia Di Lorenzi
Apr 16, 2020 | Non categorizzato
How the idea of creating the Sophia University Institute came about, and how it has developed to date, showing the cultural scope of Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity The Sophia University Institute was born from a Christian spiritual heritage that is in constant dialogue with the principles upon which various civilizations flourished and developed. It is located in Loppiano, Italy, a Focolare little city that since its founding in 1964 has trained families, young people and adults in a Gospel-based lifestyle. 
Professor Piero Coda, Dean of Sophia from its birth until last February, explains how the project has developed over the years. How did Chiara Lubich come up with the idea of creating a university? The idea has been there since the beginning. This was confirmed in 2008 at Sophia, when Fr. Casimiro Bonetti, the Capuchin who was with Chiara in the early 1940s, inaugurated the university. It is in the DNA of the charism of unity, because it is a charism that unleashes a culture: a tangible vision of the human person and the world. In concrete terms, its start came after the Abbà School’s breakthrough in the 1990s, when together with Chiara they began to study the cultural scope of the charism by drawing from the heritage of light from Paradise ’49. When did Sophia start? How did it develop? The initial stage of the university was the Superior Institute of Culture, which was aimed at the youth of the Focolare Movement (Gen). It was inaugurated on 15 August 2001 by Chiara with a speech that constitutes its Magna Carta. In 2005, given the success of the experiment and at the urging of cultural critics such as Stefano Zamagni, President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the planning of a true and proper university institute began. It was true to original form, according to the concept that sprang from the charism, and completed by the Holy See on 7 December 2007. What is the link with the Holy See? It was Chiara’s premeditated choice to build a university that was not formally recognized by a country, but rather by the universality of the Catholic Church. This also meant, for Chiara, recognising the fact that the charism of unity, like the great charisms of Christian history (from Benedict to Dominic and Francis, to Ignatius of Loyola and Don Bosco), is a charism in which the Church recognizes a project in action of human and social formation that expresses the Gospel. With the extension of the Bologna Process (the bilateral recognition of degrees at the European level and beyond, in which the Church participates), we could see viable scenarios for the institution that was being born. How has it changed over the years? Sophia began and developed on three pillars: academic-level teaching and research; formative experiences shared in community life between teachers and students of various cultures; and a relationship with the tangible expressions that embody the values inherent in the charism of unity in the various areas of social, political and economic life. In all these respects, great strides have been taken forward. Suffice it to say, for example, that we started with a single degree course and now there are four. The original program in the “culture of unity” blossomed into the theological and philosophical, economic and political fields, as well as education, dialogue and communication. What is Sophia today? It is an important confirmation, a certain hope, a strategic investment. It is a confirmation of the value and relevance of Chiara’s intuition. It is a hope that the search for the new cultural paradigm that our change of era asks of us is not a utopia. Finally, it is an investment to promote with seriousness and vision the development (not only cultural) of the charism of unity and its historical impact. In the past there has always been a dean, but today there is a rector; what does this mean for the university? The fact that the Vatican department for studies and the university wanted this change underscores the validity of the path taken. It is also recognition of the institute rising to the status of university. One can also see an echo of what Pope Francis told us in our audience with him last 14 November: “I am happy with the journey you have made in these 12 years of life. Forward! The journey has just begun.”
Lorenzo Russo
Apr 11, 2020 | Non categorizzato
Maria Voce, President of the Focolare Movement, sends her Easter greetings: to experience a continuous passing from death to resurrection through love of neighbour. Only in this way will we overcome this painful time of pandemic and any other suffering. Easter 2020 Dear All, This year, Jesus’ passing from death to a completely new life challenges us and puts us in an attitude of listening. And it is here that faith and our charism come to our aid: we find the answer in Jesus crucified and forsaken, the God of these present times that are so hard to understand. Even the loneliness we are now perhaps forced to experience, if lived with him, can be inhabited and filled by His Kingdom.[1] Only by choosing him, embracing him in all that is painful, and loving him in an exclusive way, will we and the whole of humanity find the path towards the light, towards a new birth. JESUS IS RISEN! Let us have this experience of passing continually from death to resurrection and share it with many, with everyone. This is how we can prepare for tomorrow and lay solid foundations for the world of the future, when we will go back to meeting one another and embracing one another once more. HAPPY EASTER! [1] Vedi Chiara Lubich, “Dov’è la schiavitù?”, [Where is slavery] Fermenti di unità, pg. 130, ed. 1963.
Apr 11, 2020 | Non categorizzato
The Coronavirus crisis has caused a range of restrictions in many countries and people cannot leave their homes. Isolation can be a real problem. But the power of solidarity and the desire to remain united and linked through social media are even stronger. Here are just some of the Easter greetings circulating the globe. https://vimeo.com/406318544
