27 May 2018 | Non categorizzato
Holding my position I’m Albanian. After searching long and hard, I found a job as a hospital nurse in Macedonia. One day, trying to stay true to my religious principles, I refused to take part in an abortion procedure. My colleagues were quite surprised, since in doing so I risked being fired. Despite knowing that our family, which depends on my salary, would have hurt because of this, I held my position. After a few days, the head of the hospital privately declared his admiration for what I did. He too wanted to challenge the practice of abortion, but dared not risk his position. S. E. – Macedonia Raising chickens We wanted to start a business to meet the needs of the poor. Putting together some of our resources, we started to raise chickens for their eggs. Our first employee was a 20 year old who I later discovered was dishonest. One time, in fact, he disappeared with a large number of eggs. He had been the only one absent that day. Each time I decided to fire him, however, I stopped myself. “Firing him is easy,” I told myself. “Wouldn’t be better to help him?” I asked God’s help, and I tried to put trust in that young person. A few months ago, many of the chickens were dying, and the veterinarian couldn’t understand why. That young man, observing them, noticed it was because the nests were placed wrong: the chickens who went to lay were not protected from the others’ pecking. We changed things, and there haven’t been problems since. P. L. – Cameroon Night shift A colleague of mine covers the night shift at the digital center of a bank where I work. In the latest of many setbacks, he telephoned me in a panic and asked me to run over to help. Even if it took a lot to leave home and my family, I decided to go and give him a hand. Before anything I tried to take in and absorb his anger, and little by little he calmed down. Together we tried to gather all the data that had gone missing. At that point my job was done, but I thought of Jesus’ words, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” I proposed that he go home for the night, telling him that I’d cover the rest of the shift. When he responded that he preferred to stay, I stayed with him until midnight. Beyond my tiredness, I also felt a great joy. F. S. – Switzerland Communication breakdown After years of marriage, my wife and I got to the point of not being able to communicate. Anything we tried to say to each other in order to clarify how we felt, or why we did things, seemed to pour gas on the fire, to the point that we threw in each other’s face that we had really never shared anything. Our life was filled with days of hell. So much so that our children, even if they had already left home, noticed this intense awkwardness as well. One day, when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed inside, I asked God for help. A short while later, as I was looking through a magazine on the tram, an article caught my attention about the importance of trusting each other. That was exactly what I needed! I understood that, instead of analyzing actions and words, I needed to restore faith in my wife, showing that I believed in her. I tried this, and my change in attitude bore fruit. After days of silence, my wife and I have begun a new dialogue. F. T. – Hungary
25 May 2018 | Non categorizzato
Next June, the Sophia University Institute will inaugurate the first module of the course “Europe and the global transformations.” The 18-hour course, conducted by Léonce Bekemans, Jean Monnet Chair Ad Personam of “Globalization, Europeanisation and Human Development,” proposes the study of the role of cities as workshops of integration and citizens as the foremost actors in the process of the European project relaunch. The lessons will present the state of the integration process, reflecting on concepts such as independence, inclusion and European citizenship. Particular focus will be set on the revolt against governance systems and their local and regional dimensions. The course will be opened with an introductory paper of Romano Prodi entitled: “Europe today. What Europe in the future? The course module addresses professionals, primary and secondary school teachers, scholars, administrators and communication operators. Professors and school directors may make use of the Teacher’s Card (MIUR 170/2016). 15 scholarships are at the disposal of young people up to 30 years of age. For information and registration www.sophiauniversity.org, globalstudies@iu-sophia.org.
24 May 2018 | Non categorizzato
https://vimeo.com/271706391 (2403M) Copyright 2018 © CSC – P.A.F.O.M. – All rights reserved
“Two weeks ago we were with the Pope in Loppiano. Two weeks have gone by and we ask ourselves, “Did it really happen?” It really did! It did not only happen, but now we have something to do. So at the moment I am asking myself, “Have we fully understood what actually happened?” Maybe we are discovering it a little at a time, as we understand his wonderful talk better, because the Pope challenged us. He said we are at the beginning of our journey, at the start of Loppiano, at the start of everything, we might say. This being at the start means that we must look ahead, that we must do something to move forward. And the Pope told us what to do: we must transform society – he said some very strong things – we must not content ourselves with fostering relationships between individuals, in families, between different groups and peoples, but we must even get together to beat the challenge of this society which is going wrong and needs the Gospel, which is in extreme need of seeds of Gospel life that then grow and transform it. We really feel we are at the start, and we truly are at the start, but we cannot stop, precisely because in saying this the Pope gave us this challenge and said, “You can do it”. He also told us how to do it, because he said, “… by handing on to others the spirituality of ‘we’, this ‘culture of we’”, which can foster a global alliance, a universal alliance, a new civilisation, a civilisation born from this ‘we’. He also said that the charism is a powerful help and encouragement for us. The charism is a gift of God, so we mustn’t feel proud about having received this charism, but with the humility he reminded us about, we must be aware of the charism and do all we can to hand it on to society around us. This is a long and tough path, but the Pope said, “We need women and men who are fit for this”. So, do we want to respond to the Pope’s appeal? I think we do, and that we will give the whole of ourselves as we discover, there where we are, how to transform society around us. I think this is the commitment we are taking up today and that will last our whole lives.”
24 May 2018 | Non categorizzato
Next June, the Sophia University Institute will inaugurate the course. The 18-hour course, conducted by Léonce Bekemans, Jean Monnet Chair Ad Personam of “Globalization, Europeanisation and Human Development,” proposes the study of the role of cities as workshops of integration and citizens as the foremost actors in the process of the European project relaunch. The lessons will present the state of the integration process, reflecting on concepts such as independence, inclusion and European citizenship. Particular focus will be set on the revolt against governance systems and their local and regional dimensions. The course will be opened with an introductory paper of Romano Prodi entitled: “Europe today. What Europe in the future? The course module addresses professionals, primary and secondary school teachers, scholars, administrators and communication operators. Professors and school directors may make use of the Teacher’s Card (MIUR 170/2016). 15 scholarships are at the disposal of young people up to 30 years of age. For information and registration www.sophiauniversity.org, globalstudies@iu-sophia.org.
21 May 2018 | Non categorizzato
“I went to Budapest because my aunt suggested it and I trusted her. She was special, and had always been there for me throughout my most difficult years. My problems flared up when I started high school. This new phase of my life was very demanding. I started to experience the problems of adolescence, some of my friends were going off track and I didn’t feel understood by my family. Maybe I tried to grow up too quickly. I got to know a boy who I felt was my only real friend. And even so, inside I seemed to be always on the brink of anguish. I became more and more isolated, except for the rare moments when someone would listen to my silences and, without posing many questions, simply share in something of what I was going through. By the time the school year ended, I had very few friends and was always arguing with my family. I was also losing weight. I had been trying to hide my eating disorder but it was taking hold of me more and more. It was making my life joyless, draining it of all colour, light and love. I had turned inwards and imposed a state of near total solitude on myself. This was the moment when my aunt, who is a member of the Focolare Movement, invited me to go with her to Loppiano, the Focolare town in Tuscany. I thought to myself, “three days staying who knows where, without school or studying, far from the confines of my normal life; three days in which I can just concentrate on hiding food! Why not?” Actually, it proved to be a kind of caress which reached through my defences. Everywhere we went, I was included and welcomed with respect and delicacy. Someone, after listening to me for a long time, told me about Chiara Lubich. Afterwards I realised that I had somehow stopped thinking about myself and my problems, and – most amazingly – I’d stopped thinking about food! I felt free. As I travelled back home, I ardently wished I could always live like this, like being part of one big family. But the complexities of daily life soon threatened to bring me down again. 
In fact, I hid behind my books while continuing to fill my head with calculations and ways to deceive those around me. I lost even more weight. My family didn’t know what to do with me. But I knew someone was praying for me. I began to go to Sunday Mass, with the excuse of taking a walk or just to get out of the house. I had always believed in God but for the first time I began to consider the possibility that Jesus could understand me and welcome me without condemning me. However, during the next two years at school, things continued to get worse. I became more and more intolerant of my family and other people. I did not respond well to the psychological therapy I was receiving. I continued to weave a web of lies and go my own way. The only time I felt any relief was during the summer holidays when I went far away from home with friends. But the summer was short and I couldn’t go on just feeling fine one month in the year. So at the end of the summer of 2012, my aunt made a new suggestion: to go to the Genfest in Budapest. I agreed and set off with five other young people from my city, including a girl from my class. It was an emotional roller-coaster for me. All those thousands of young people expressing themselves as one. It really was a bridge, not only between countries and cultures, but also a bridge between me and a new life I could embrace. I saw this sea of faces – 12,000 of them – of people ready with me to share in the beginning of a new life. I was part of the “flashmob” on the bridge over the River Danube, each of us writing a personal message on a scarf to exchange with someone from another country. I took part in the peace march. I even took part in the lunch queues. I felt part of an experience of unity, I could go anywhere because anywhere I would be at home. This time when I went back I was with my classmate and together we got in touch with the Focolare community in our home town. By now I knew that I wanted to walk the path of Jesus. It wasn’t going to be easy, my problem with food had very deep roots and the tensions within my family would not just disappear. But I felt I too was a bearer of a new light. Living the words of the Gospel one by one, I found I could begin to take control of my life. Giving of myself wholeheartedly to others, I began to discover how God loves me immensely and has a great plan on my life.”
19 May 2018 | Non categorizzato
The Christian celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the disciples of Jesus is celebrated at Pentecost, that is, on the fiftieth day of Easter. We read in the Acts of the Apostles: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4). Chiara Lubich wrote when referring to the charism of unity: “The Holy Spirit is the gift that Jesus gave to us so that we might be one as He and the Father are one. Of course, the Holy Spirit was in us to begin with, since we were Christians; but here there was a new illumination, a new manifestation of the Spirit among us, which made us participants and actors in a new Pentecost, along with those ecclesial Movements renew the face of the Church.”
