Nov 7, 2018 | Non categorizzato
A learning community I’m the headteacher of a school in an impoverished and isolated town with high rates of both unemployment and school absenteeism. Over the years, I have tried to create strong and deep relationships with my pupils, their families, my colleagues and all school empoyees. And I’ve had the joy of seeing a real “learning community” spring up, joined together to promote the dignity of each person, in a spirit of openness towards others. In our attempts to help our pupils not to abandon school, we have welcomed the “adoption at a distance” of pupils with their families, but we’ve also made our own contribution: setting up a traditional handcrafts workshop. This project actually attracted presidential acknowledgement. Recently ill health has forced me to limit my activities, but as long as I have breath in my body I will fight for education to help people discover their own value and the love of God. (I. – Argentina) Take on another’s pain Our family was shaken to the core by the suicide of my brother. Life was never the same again for us. I myself began to doubt my faith. My days became emptier and lost their meaning, until one day I realised that my attitude was not helping my parents at all. I gathered up all my strength in order to take on their terrible pain, so that by sharing it with them, their tragic burden might be lightened. Gradually, in this way, I found that my own wounds began to heal. It was not easy, but it’s helping me too, now that I have myself become a mother. (O.M. – Germany) Making space for others I married Marcello when I was 24 years old. We had so much in common, including our faith and we dreamed of the beautiful family we would have together. 15 years later, Marcello was taken from me in an accident. For six years I remained trapped within the unanswerable “why me”? Until the day I accepted an invitation to a meeting, where they spoke of God Love. This disturbed me but gradually the words sank in and began to change something within me. When I heard how, out of love for us, Jesus on the cross experienced abandonment from the Father, crying out “My God, why have you forsaken me?”, my own forsaken cry began to make sense. My situation did not change, I was still a widow, but within me I was able to begin to love once more. Looking around, I noticed how many people were experiencing a void as great as my own. The more I was able to make space for them, the more God filled me with His peace. (A. – Italy) Thinking of those who come after me I’m a teacher. At the end of each lesson, I try to leave the classroom in good order for those who will use the room after me. I leave the desk tidy, the teaching board clean, the windows open to let in the fresh air. Each room has two baskets for waste: one for paper and one for all other discarded items. Often, when I find them mixed up, I try to sort the rubbish so it is all in the correct basket. This means I often lose a few minutes of my break time, which should be to regain strength for my next lessons, but I believe it is definitely time “lost” well! (A. – Switzerland) Keep the conversation going When our children entered adolescence, we found it harder and harder to understand one other. This led to tensions between me and my husband because we had very different approaches to their behaviour. When we realised that our relationships with our children were under threat, with one son in particular, we understood that we had to go beyond the limits of our own ideas and set ourselves to be the first to love, constantly keeping a conversation going between us and with our children. Now they have all grown up, but we know that our role in educating our children is far from over! (Mariolina – Italy)
Nov 3, 2018 | Non categorizzato
“In Jesus, God simply made himself our brother. He did not only stand beside us, but he entered into us, into our hearts, into our wounds. In doing so he made the wounds of man his own, and thus the wounds that burn in humanity became God’s in this man, Jesus of Nazareth. When he says, ‘I am the way,’ all we need to do is look to the open wound in his side, and there we will find the way. This is certainly not easy; it’s not obvious, either. Yet if we try, if we attempt it, if we risk it, we will realize that he is the way.” (from a homily in 1993) “In Jesus in shows how God, who up to now in the history of his people seemed to have been silent, had not fallen asleep, had not fallen mute. He comes, gathers his poor people and takes them in. He doesn’t do it, however, with lightning action produced by his omnipotence, but in a smaller way, the way of Jesus, the hidden way of service: the way of the cross.” (from a radio interview on September 17, 1978) “Jesus was accused of being a friend to sinners and tax collectors, for having kept ‘bad company.’ His behavior certainly left himself open to misunderstandings. You might say it was a simple criticism of the established order, simple likable eccentricity, or simple protest against the establishment and fixed values. But no: for Jesus, in whom God’s heart beat, he cared for everyone and everything. He didn’t care about those on fringes just in themselves, but rather in that they were part of the whole. “He too is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9) is how Jesus himself justified, to the so-called ‘gentlemen’ and those who pretended an external legality, his friendship with Zacchaeus the tax collector.” (from an article in December 1973)
Nov 1, 2018 | Non categorizzato
The saints are great men and women who, having seen their greatness in the Lord, risk for God, as his children, everything that is theirs. They give, demanding nothing. They give their life, their soul, their joy, every earthly bond, every richness. Free and alone, launched into infinity, they wait for Love to bring them into the eternal kingdom; but, already in this life, they feel their hearts fill with love, true love, the only love that satisfies, that consoles, that love which shatters the eyelids of the soul and gives new tears. Ah, no one knows who a saint is! He or she has given and now receives, and an endless flow passes between heaven and earth, joins earth to heaven, and filters from the depths rare ecstasy, celestial sap that does not stop at the saint, but flows over the tired, the mortal, the blind and paralyzed in soul, and breaks through and refreshes, comforts and attracts and saves. If you want to know about love, ask a saint. Chiara Lubich, Essential Writings, New City Press, Hyde Park, NY, 2007, p. 116
Oct 31, 2018 | Non categorizzato
Maria Voce Emmaus and Jesús Morán respectively President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement will travel to Belgium for the 60th anniversary of the arrival of the Focolare in that country. Official Focolare website https://www.focolare.org/belgium/news/60-ans-du-mouvement-des-focolari-en-belgique/
Oct 31, 2018 | Non categorizzato
It’s called “TST” (tempi senza tensioni, “Time Without Tensions”), a program aimed at balancing work and family life. It was produced by the Il Sentiero di Arianna social cooperative (“Arianna’s way”), which is part of the Economy of Communion, and received first prize in the fourth edition of Family Friendly Businesses that is put on by a forum of family associations in Lazio, Italy. The cooperative, which is part of the Consorzio Tassano Servizi Territoriali network, primarily works in the field of home assistance, education, school services and career support. The TST program produces a series of specific services for employees (dispute resolution, family help, counseling services, working remotely, telecommuting, flexible banking hours, informative actions for management, being a Jack of all trades, and pathways that help employees returning to work after a period of reconciliation). These have shown themselves to be highly effective in creating a positive workplace culture that is based on authentic relationships of collaboration and cooperation. Started in 1996 by nine young women, who for a year pooled the resources that they had earned and reinvested them in training and development, today Il Sentiero di Arianna counts more than 130 members, 85% of whom are women. The tightly knit initial group and the pioneers of the local coop, inspired by the values of the Economy of Communion project that Chiara Lubich launched in 1991, became the foundations upon which the business was developed. Since its constitution, the Sentiero di Arianna cooperative has promoted a family friendly business culture, which in turn positively influenced other businesses it is connected to. It is an organization where the news of a pregnancy is always good news, where someone can become a mother and return to work without worry. Yet it is also a company where the women who are not mothers are the innovators, knowing how to fuse positive organizational improvement processes that harmonize work with caring for those closest to them. The needs of people and families are many. “If you go back to the origins of the word ‘economy,’ you find the word ‘house’. Those of us in business cannot feel separate from everyone else. You cannot be a worker and then, when you go home, be a parent. Each person is unique, and as such they have their work experience,” said the firm’s president, Simona Rizzi, as she received the prize on October 9 in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome. Among other things, the prize states: “This is an entity endowed with a vision that is particularly attentive to people. Starting with the needs of its employees, they developed an innovative organizational flexibility that set up tangible support both internally and throughout its territory, weaving a network of social and economic relationships to find appropriate solutions that meet the need of harmonizing work and family life.” “This award is the result of a long journey the cooperative has been on since its origins up to today. It is a journey that has developed through many important experiences these past years,” Rizzi added. “It is the women themselves who have won, with their ability to build a business that is fit for people and to build an economy that is fit for a community.” “Businesses that adopt best practices of reconciliation also demonstrate increases in productivity among other things. The women who work there reach management and high-profile leadership positions sooner,” was a comment from the Minister for Family and Disability, who was interviewed at the awards. Source: www.edc-online.org
Oct 30, 2018 | Non categorizzato
“It is often to the youngest that the Lord reveals better solutions.” These are words from Saint Benedict in his “Rule.” These were also the words chosen by Pope Francis when he announced the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops, on October 3-28 , which has just concluded. Preceded by a Preparatory Document (January 2017), a Questionnaire in several languges and by a Pre-Synodal Reunion (March 2018) with the participation of around three-hundred young people and several thousand others through social media, the Synod was the final step on a long and well organised walk. It was a walk of mutual listening, attentiveness, sharp and open dialogue ‘with’ and ‘about’ the new generations. Sixteen thousand responses arrived from Uganda alone. In line with previous Assemblies, the Synod had a common thread: renewal of the Church and society starting from their very foundations: the family and the youth who guarantee the future generations,” as Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri , Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, explained during his inaugural press conference. “Youth doesn’t last a lifetime,” remarked Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. The period of youth comes to an end at a certain point. But what remains is having lived it intensely. The most important thing is to give meaning to the great gift of life that has been placed in our hands.” On Sunday, a solemn celebration and the publication of a Final Document concluded the Assembly. More than 150 bishops attended the Synod, two of whom came for the first time from continental China. There were 40 young people under the age of 30 attending as auditors. They were a significant presence, exuberant and at times noisy, always active on the digital channels with the publication of posts and selfies with the Pope and the other bishops, whom they met informally in the corridors, moments of recreation or in more official settings like the small discussion groups. They were always ready for a conversation or for offering their contribution of positive criticisms and concrete proposals. Without any fear of the high-sounding titles or silver hair, they took to heart the Pope’s invitation to: “cling to the bark of the Church which, even through impestuous storms in the world, continues to offer refuge and hospitality to all.” It’s worth the trouble, he had said, “to place ourselves in a position of listening towards each other.” “A Synod of very particular significance,” affirmed Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Muchen und Freising, president of the German Bishops Conference, during one of the many briefings with journalists, “a place of learning about the youth,” whom the Synod of bishops wanted to know in depth, thanks to the input of the ones they were directly interested in knowing about. The relationship between the virtual world and the real world, immigration, the role of school and universities, parish life and the formation of catechists, friendships and relationships, were just a few of the topics they dealt with. “They also talked about digital pastoral ministry, how the Church can find its place in the world of social communications,” explained Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication. “We have the same problems,” insisted Bishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, Bishop of Mamfe, Cameroon, “but we face them from different points of view.” The churches in Cameroon are filled to the brim, but the youth are unhappy because of the many problems that spread across Africa. How are we to help them? We’re all in search of the same solution.” “A Synod on the youth with the youth,’ said Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev and president of the Bishops Conference of Bielorussia, “which makes it particularly dynamic, because the young are never static.” “Vibrant was the surprise over the closeness of the topics that were faced, in the challenges of today’s Church even in the diversity of circumstances,” said Pastor Marco Fornerone from the Evangelical Church in Rome, who was attending as one of the 8 fraternal representatives. In the course of the Assembly, on October 6, a special meeting was held between the young people, the Pope and other bishops, against the backdrop of Paul VI Hall, titled “WE FOR – Unique, Supportive, Creative” There were three main topics: the search for identity, relationships and life as service and giving. There were also many life testimonies , studies, work and the difficulty of making decisions for the future. The program was interspersed with music and artistic pieces. In conclusion, at the end of the Synod, there was still one last gift from the Pope to the young auditors: a copy of Docat, a source of the church’s social teaching, Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum”, and all the writings of Pope Francis, including the most recent. The handbook has a question and answer format and focuses on the role of the human being in the Church and in the society. Chiara Favotti
Letter from the Synod Fathers to Young People https://www.facebook.com/vaticannews/videos/298336587473577/
