Oct 8, 2023 | Non categorizzato
The statement by the President of the Focolare Movement following the outbreak of serious violence in the Holy Land on 7 October 2023: “Justice, dialogue and reconciliation, indispensable tools for building peace”.
There are no words that can express the infinite suffering that I have in my heart for the peoples of Israel and Palestine, a suffering, brought about by this recent outburst of violence in my country. I am thinking of those who have died, the people who have been wounded, of those who are being held hostage, of those who are missing and their families. In deep faith and together with all the Focolare Movement, I am united to the appeal of Pope Francis and that of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and to the words of peace spoken both by those who are responsible for various Christian Churches and by the leaders of the Religions -especially those from the Israeli-Palestinian region – in asking for there to be an end to arms. And as Pope Francis said at the Angelus today -that people can understand that terrorism and war don’t solve anything, but every war is a defeat. In praying to the God of Peace and of Justice, I am also united to all the people throughout the world who are offering prayers, sufferings and actions, so that peace can be victorious over hatred and terror. I want to express a special thanks to those who have written to me from places that are in conflict, like Ukraine, expressing their offerings and closeness, in spite of the tragic situation in which they themselves have been living for over a year. Let us commit ourselves to building a world of fraternity and to do all that is possible so that these peoples and all the others who are in the same conditions of instability and violence, can rediscover the pathway of respect for human rights, where justice, dialogue and reconciliation are the indispensable instruments for building peace.
8 October 2023
Margaret Karram President of the Focolare Movement
Oct 6, 2023 | Non categorizzato
The 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops currently taking place in the Vatican opened, on 30 September 2023, with an ecumenical prayer vigil entitled “Together – Gathering of the People of God”. Promoted by the Taizé Community in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Vicariate of Rome, the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, the Assembly was conceived and realised by representatives of various Christian Churches. We asked to three of the Bishops present: Charles May – Anglican Church of South Africa; Bertram Meier – Catholic Bishop of Augsburg (Germany); Chrysostomos of Kyrenia, Orthodox Church of Cyprus. Activate English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va9sdPxfovI&list=PLKhiBjTNojHqtFwgi5TYI3T7zRvAuOZiD
Sep 29, 2023 | Non categorizzato
The Synod on Synodality will start on October 4th in the Vatican up to the end of the month. Among the special guests is Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement. We are on the threshold of the universal stage of the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality. On Saturday, September 30th 2023, St. Peter’s Square in Rome (Italy) will gather thousands of people from various Christian Churches for the Ecumenical Vigil, “Together – Gathering of the People of God”, promoted by the Taizé Community in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the Vicariate of Rome, the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. The protagonists of this event will be young people. At the end of this moment of prayer and celebration, the 464 participants in the synodal assembly will move to Sacrofano, near Rome, for a spiritual retreat until October 3rd. They will return to the Vatican for the solemn opening of the Synod with the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on Wednesday, October 4th. Immediately afterwards, the cardinals, bishops, religious and laity who will participate in the Synod will begin their work in the Paul VI Hall. For four weeks, the members will participate in plenary assemblies, minor circles, a pilgrimage and moments of prayer and liturgy until October 29th. The President of the Focolare Movement, Margaret Karram, who is among the 9 invited guests, sent a message to all the members of the Movement in the world, expressing what she was thinking about this historic milestone in the Catholic Church: “I cannot hide my feelings from you; above all, my happiness at being able to participate in person in this moment of grace. I am aware that I am taking with me each and every one of you from the Focolare Movement and this is also a great responsibility”. “I am sure – she continues – that many of you have already participated in a stage of the synodal journey in your local churches and have already experienced some of the fruits of the journey. You will have lived them as new opportunities for a dialogue that leads to deeper and broader communion and participation. (…) In this coming session of the Synod we are called even more to ‘walk together’ as the ‘people of God’, so that this may become a permanent and daily reality in our lives for the good of the Church and of humanity”. “This has put in my heart– she says – a great desire: that we should commit ourselves – as the Focolare Movement – to improve, to go one step further, to strengthen and refine our relationships of unity, and to be builders of fraternity in every environment in which we live or work”. And she concludes by inviting everyone to accompany “this new and promising season of the Church” with prayer: “Finally, I ask you for the most important thing: to pray! ‘Without prayer there will be no Synod, said Pope Francis, as does the Secretary General, Cardinal Grech, encouraging everyone to pray with faith and seriousness. It means listeninng to God with the kind of recollection that gives space to Him and allows our hearts and minds to be illuminated by His light. (…) also as part of all the people around the world who are praying and offering , so that the Synod – whose protagonist is the Holy Spirit – may bear the greatest fruit for humanity today and in the future”.
Carlos Mana
Sep 28, 2023 | Non categorizzato
Marseille (France), a city which is a mosaic of peoples and cultures, was the backdrop to the recent “Recontres Méditerranéennes”. It was an event that, through dialogue, traced new pathways of hope for the future. At the General Audience of 27th September 2023, Pope Francis focused his meditation on his recent Apostolic Journey to Marseille, for the conclusion of the “Rencontres Méditerranéennes” (Mediterranean Meetings) that took place from 17th-24th September 2023. He said:
Foto: © Chiara Barbaccia
Foto: © Chiara Barbaccia
Maria Grazia Berretta
Sep 25, 2023 | Non categorizzato
Looking at the gestures of love performed by others sometimes generates a pull, like magnets, attracts us, softens our hearts and awakens in us a desire to “join in,” to do the same. It is something that does not go unnoticed, capable of truly impacting many. Poems for mother With my mother, there had never been an easy relationship. She used to criticize my faith, calling me deluded. After leaving home, I maintained a relationship more with my father, who wisely knew how to balance the situation. One day he called me: my mother was in the hospital for a serious illness. As I went to visit her, I thought of what could give her joy. I knew she loved the poems of Attila József, so I got one of his audiobooks. My mother was no longer herself, transformed by her sorrow. But as soon as she began to listen to those poems, her eyes became as bright as if she was dreaming. My subsequent visits thus became a discovery or rediscovery of our national poet, but it was a great joy for me to see that she had involved other sick people in reading or listening to the poems. Because of this act of her charity toward them, I felt as if I was getting acquainted with another person: “You taught me that you have to love everyone,” she commented. And me? I was by her when she breathed her last serene and hopeful breath. (L.M.L. – Hungary) Three times a day In the usual expenditures of our family budget, we had included a sum to be made available to those in need. Only that a particular day we could not get it out because there were many expenses. It was a real disappointment for us. At this point our two little sons came with their wallets and, in front of us, poured the entire contents, all their savings, onto the table. The episode was followed up when Grandma came to visit us and the children told her what they had done. And she, looking at us puzzled, “But how, you help others when you are also in need?” Before we could react, clearing the air was the youngest who said, “But Grandma, we eat three times a day!” With that sentence, serenity returned, and a few days later Grandma also returned with an envelope in her hand: “This is my contribution that I put together with yours… After all, I too eat three times a day!” (L.R. – Italy)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from The Gospel of the Day, Città Nuova, Year IX – No. 1 September-October 2023)
Sep 22, 2023 | Non categorizzato
The 10th International Congress of Sportmeet for a United World was recently held in São Sebastião, Brazil – 20 years after its inception. It continues to promote a culture and practice of sport that can contribute to peace, development and universal fraternity. A worldwide network of sportspersons, sports operators and professionals, men and women of all ages, cultures, ethnicities, languages and religions who see physical and sports activities as important and positive realities for the integral growth of the human person and the community; people animated by the desire to contribute, through sport, to development, peace and building a more united world. This is the mission of Sportmeet for a United World, an expression in the world of sport of that spiritual and social renewal that the Focolare Movement wants to contribute to implementing. With a representation at the United Nations by New Humanity, an NGO accredited to UNESCO, this reality celebrated its 20th anniversary a month ago in São Sebastião, Brazil, where the 10th International Congress of Sportmeet for a United World was held. Federica Comazzi, president and international coordinator, told us all about it. Federica, who took part in this meeting and how were the activities divided out? What were the objectives and topics covered? The conference was built in collaboration with Ecoone, MPpU (the Political Movement for Unity) and the municipality of São Sebastião (Brazil) which provided the municipal theatre, accommodation and transport through its Department for Sport,. In collaborating with Ecoone and MPpU, Sportmeet felt supported by these realities that enriched the programme with their contributions, took care of relations with political and academic authorities, and offered an important contribution towards drafting the final manifesto signed at the end of the event. The objective was to initiate a process of rethinking sport with a socio-environmental perspective, starting from a reflection on the lights and shadows of contemporary sport, enlightened by a principle common to different peoples from different parts of the world, that of Well Being (Teko Porã in Guarani, the language of the indigenous peoples present in the territory of São Sebastião and other parts of South America). The congress was attended by around one hundred people from eight institutions that are active in the fields of education, recovery from addiction, and social integration in the suburbs of large metropolises and cities in Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. The programme was developed around the presentation of several papers. Each afternoon there was room for practical activities and an in-depth study of the local culture. “Can sport, which helps build fraternity between people, also contribute to improving human existence from a socio-environmental point of view?” was one of the questions at the centre of the congress. After looking at nature and the local reality in Brazil, what was the answer to this question? It became abundantly clear that the fight against poverty and a new economic paradigm not based exclusively on the quantitative parameters of growth stand out not only as a necessity, but also as an emergency. In this context it was made very clear how play and sport constitute an irreplaceable force with enormous potential in terms of human development and the spread of a culture of sharing resources, basic elements for an integral ecology that can save humanity from environmental disasters. The definition of Well-Being helps us understand how universal fraternity and respect for nature are connected. Although it is not a closed and well-defined principle, since it is enriched by the gaze of so many peoples of the earth, Well Being is defined starting from three harmonies: with oneself, with others and with nature. Sport today, the official sport promoted by the Olympic Movement, too often has an approach based on the exploitation of natural and human resources for a single purpose: money. There is an imbalance between these harmonies, and it is clear how this has led this great container to be emptied of its values. We need to return to a sense of play, as conceived prior to the Olympic Movement itself and experienced in indigenous communities. It carries with it a deeper, symbolic value that leads us to a deeper understanding of who we are. We need to rethink a game and a sport that does not have as its primary objective the interest of the individual and therefore does not exploit resources, but permits encounter between people, nature and souls. In celebrating these 20 years of Sportmeet’s journey, what are your hopes for the future? The event in Brazil was the first international meeting after the pandemic and it highlighted and confirmed two features of Sportmeet’s mission. Firstly, the academic dimension, to be carried out with a nucleus of professors from different Universities and Institutions scattered across the different continents who found resonance in the values and experiences of Sportmeet with respect to their work. Secondly, a sphere, which is not disconnected from the first, of action for socio-cultural change in sport and through sport, with the challenge of forming a network of people from the different organisations that have expressed an interest and recognise how useful it is to have a common space – also to avoid the risk of self-referential isolation. The story of Sportmeet has highlighted a fundamental element: that culture and life must go hand in hand and that they can enrich and nourish each other.
Maria Grazia Berretta
https://youtu.be/NtwiaVAYPdY
