Gen3 from Romania: “God has a plan for us.”

Jan 21, 2017 | Non categorizzato

Accompanied by some of their assistants, thirteen Gen 3 were on their way to Focolare town in Krizevci, north Croatia. There was an atmosphere of serenity and great expectation during the trip. The theme of their congress would be challenging and demanding: Jesus Forsaken. The topic of suffering and pain is key to knowing how to live in a world of young people where so many seek well-being and false happiness. It was a long drive through Hungary. Towards evening some of the boys dozed off. Suddenly, the sound of horns and, in the midst of thick fog, a large truck just before the frightening crash. Teia, Adelin, Delia, Eve, Bea, Iulian and the other boys were still alive, but their shock was great. “The first car stopped just after the accident,” recounts one of the assistants. “It was an emergency vehicle. They had just finished their shift and were on their way back to the base. How could we not see God’s love in that? The police were excellent: they welcomed us in the largest room they had at police headquarters until another bus came to get us. They told us we were lucky to get out alive . . . then they brought us pizza and sweets.” Once we got to hospital, the boys were divided between wards. Bea: “At that moment we felt lost, we didn’t understand Hungarian, we were frightened and alone. We didn’t know what was happening and didn’t know how to answer the doctors’ questions. Some of us were comepletely isolated from the others, and alone like Jesus Forsaken. It was like meeting him and living him.” Eve: “Later on, people came and tranlsated for us. One focolarina from Romania was supposed to arrive in Hungary the previous day, but she had missed the bus. She was in a nearby city when she learned of the accident. The driver had proposed to the passengers not to make other stops and to take her directly to hospital to drop her off before helping us. She told us that understood why she had missed the bus the day before.” Rozi: “The doctors told us we had to stay in hospital for a few more examinations. I began to telelphone the boys’ parents. Many of them were 15 hours away from where we were. Moreover, the Gen3 were saying that they wanted to continue on to the congress. In the end we obtained permission to leave the hospital with the signature of their parents and without spending a cent.” Delia: “At that point we weren’t sure about continuing our journey, but we realized that such precious things always come with a cost.” Some days later seven boys arrived at Mariapolis Faro. The experience of fear and pain, but also of intense unity among them, showed that the theme of the congress had already become something real for them. Iulian recounts: “We all just knew that whatever happens to us in life, it’s worth it to abandon ourselves totallyto God. Jesus Forsaken unites us in an incredible way! We were allowed to live because God has a plan for us: a divine adventure awaits us.” Compiled by Chiara Favotti    

Earthquake in Italy: three hours under the rubble

Jan 20, 2017 | Non categorizzato

«In 142 seconds, the entire town of your childhood disappears.  All that was built through the centuries is razed to the ground like a paper castle in 142 unending, damned seconds, and 299 lives are taken away from their loved ones. “Everything crumbles, and all is vanity of vanities,” is the phrase that echoes in my head while I write». This is how Lorenzo, 18, from the Marche Region started to recount his experience of remaining under the ruins of his house for some hours on 24 August. «It was 3.36 in the morning, they said, when a roar, a quake and an infernal phenomenon of dust and piles of rubble woke me up. Then came what some defined using the words of a poet, as the “quiet after the tempest.” All stood still in profound silence and it was pitch black. I was suddenly trapped in a space the size of my body. And with every small quake, a cloud of dust rose around me. My life was dangling on a string. Then at dawn, the village rescuers took me out of what I once called home and which is now just a pile of bricks starting again to call out to me. I want to share with you the joy of that moment, but words are not enough. Rescued after three hours in that inferno, there was destruction everywhere but in all this I could see only one thing: love. All went out to help the other, even placing their own lives in danger. Heedless of the hazards, they were really ready to give their lives. Sadly, or luckily, humanity gives the best of itself in suffering. Suffering is precisely the theme of my experience. I felt that despite all the people around my house, nobody could help or understand me. While praying I asked, “Why me?” and I thought: “My God, why have you abandoned me?” In reality he had not abandoned me, and when I came out I discovered why this experience has become a sort of lens through which I could see a different world, giving me the strength to live my life at best.». From the night of 24 August, and after the quakes of the succeeding months, there are still so many displaced victims of the Central Italy earthquake. These are people who had to leave their own homes, their properties and some even their own village. We really ask ourselves what they were able to bring with them after that tragic and eternal night, and what is giving them the strength to go ahead and start again. We chose Lorenzo’s story because it relays not only the fear lived that day, but also the discovery of something greater. Italy is strong, and is demonstrating great unity. There are many associations that are helping the earthquake victims, immediately involved through AMU, AFN and others to respond to the various needs. They tell us how they are working in the areas of Central Italy.  «We are bringing animation activities ahead, and building a small meeting centre to allow the residents to keep up their community spirit. Then our efforts focused greatly on the support of the small agri-food enterprises of the territory, to allow them to continue operating in this emergency phase, and not to lose their jobs.» To support the small enterprises, they thought of creating a real project: «The progetto RimPRESA project. It consists of two lines: furnishing raw materials, machinery, and small infrastructure, and supporting the sales of products. Of course, at the base of all this, there must be human relationships with the people struck by the earthquake.» Source: Teens, work in progress 4 unity, New City editorial group, Rome 2016, n.6, pages 4-5 Info Progetto:www.focolaritalia.it rimpresa@focolare.org To collaborate:

Chiara Lubich and the Family 2017

Jan 19, 2017 | Non categorizzato

Download brochure with program Live streaming event 11 Mach 2017 16:00-18:30  (CET, UTC+1): http://live.focolare.org/FamilyHighlights/

A series of events are to be held around the world in 2017 that will highlight the value of the family from the perspective of “universal brotherhood” and will bear witness to the richness of cultural diversity, through the ideal of unity incarnated in family life. The main event will be held in Loppiano from 10-12 March 2017, where about 800 participants from all over the world are expected. The families will be able to delve into the life of the international town of the Focolare and testify to the dream of Chiara Lubich which has reached all the continents. In the morning, there will be workshops for adults, young teenagers and children, in collaboration with the Parish Movement, the Gen3 and Gen4 centres, the New Families Association  (AFNonlus) and the New Humanity Movement (AMU). In the afternoon there will be larger gatherings in the hall, with direct streaming. Presentations will be given by experts in family life, who are involved in the Cultural Seminar to be held at Sophia University Institute on March 10-11. The seminar will mark the opening of the Centre of Family Studies whose objective is to examine the contribution of the spirituality of unity to the family in today’s world. Three topics will be examined: Family, a story of relationships that evolve  from ‘me’ to ‘us’ (relationships between the couple, with the children, among generations) Love as the appropriate measure for responding to critical problems in the family (wounds, challenges, sufferings: the reality of life and the sharing process). The family as a creative resource within  the social fabric of any nation (life, family networks, solidarity and hospitality, social involvement and work) New logo. Fifty years after its founding, the New Families Movement changes its image with a new logo. It represents a tree, a sign of the growth of the tiny plant that over the years has produced many fruits of life that have been offered to families, to the Church and to the world. The plant is strong, which grew from the first seed that was welcomed by the good soil. Opening itself to others, the family has contributed to the birth and development of many seeds of brotherhood and peace that are sprouting a new society. Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) always paid particular attention to the family and, with the precious contribution of Igino Giordani, writer, Italian politician and first married focolarino, she lifted up his “bold, beautiful and demanding example” as a shining model for the construction of a peace in our world. In 1967 Chiara founded the New Families Movement that it might always keep love enkindled in the home, along with those family values that are so needed by today’s world. She saw the family has the best channel for reaching young people who will one day enter into married life; for broken families, widows and widowers, abandoned children – and every other form of marginalization.  For more information: www.famiglienuove.org famiglienuove@focolare.org tel. 069411565  

A light in the slums

Jan 19, 2017 | Non categorizzato

https://vimeo.com/171535556 Copyright 2016 © CSC Audiovisivi – All rights reserved

Ecumenism and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Jan 18, 2017 | Non categorizzato

“The theme chosen for the 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is: “Reconciliation: The love of Christ compels us” (2 Cor 5:14).  The Week was called for and organized by up to the most important organizations involved in ecumenism, including the Ecumenical Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity: It was a propitious choice, especially after the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reform when many leading representatives of the Lutheran World Federation and Pope Francis gathered around the same altar in prayer at the Cathedral of Lund in Sweden. Alongside such highly significant ecumenical gestures another ecumenism has been spreading that could be called the ecumenism of the people. It is comprised of initiatives by the faithful of different confessions who want to recognize one another more and more as brothers and sisters. It is made up of small gestures that, thanks to the Holy Spirit, are already spreading in many places of the world. They show how far the irresistible journey of unity has come. We present a few examples from Latin America. “Many of us from the Focolare Movement in Peru had established friendships with the faithful of other Churches. Now, ever since an ecumenical group was begun in the Diocese of Arequipa, we have been collaborating with them in organizing the Week of Prayer. There will be daily events in several of the different Churches that visit the focolare regularly. Our centre was chosen for the final event of the Week of Prayer, which will include Catholic bishops, Lutheran pastors, Anglicans, Evangelicals and Pentecostals. Every month we attend an ecumenical breakfast at the YMCA, and a young Evangelical from a city in the north, with the permission of his Pastor, is attending a course of formation in the Focolare town of Loppiano, Italy.” The focolare community in Brazil reports: “We have relationships with Anglicans, Methodists,  Presbyterians and Seventh Day Adventists that are truly significant. Sometimes we meet to dialogue about specific topics as we did at a conference held last August at Mariapolis Ginetta in san Paolo where we discussed the topic of peace.” “Because of our friendship with Methodists and Waldensians in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we set up on the square an ecumenical Nativity Scene that had been created by the children. It was visited by over a hundred and fifty people. It concluded with a moment of prayer with lit candles as a sign that each one of us can bring the light of Christmas into our own world.” From Venezuela: “Our sharing in the various celebrations of the Week of Prayer is an opportunity to deepen friendships that have existed for many years and to make new contacts. These friendships do not end when the celebration ends – on the contrary! The acquaintances most often lead to concrete assistance projects that we do together.” In conclusion, from Lima, Peru: “Following the ruinous floods on the outskirts, several young people from the Focolare and Methodist Church went to shovel away the mud that had covered the homes of so many humble folk. It was hard work, but we were all so happy to bring our love concretely to those families, to recognize that they are our brothers and sisters, and that we are also brothers and sisters.” Compiled by Anna Friso

Seminarians in Loppiano

Jan 16, 2017 | Non categorizzato

Over 40 seminarians and several priests from 17 countries on the 5 continents took an end-of-the-year holiday trip to Loppiano. “We chose the Focolare’s international town to have an experience of God in the communion among us,” they write, “and to go deeper into that radical choice of the Gospel that our heart burns for.” It was precisely the Gospel that they wanted to have as the basis of their stay in Loppiano, starting from the Golden Rule, that mandate which can also be found in the sacred writings of all the Great Religions: “So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you” (Mt 7:12). The group stayed at Vinea Mea, the permanent residence of the School for Priests from different parts of the world who wish to be formed in the Focolare’s Spirituality of Unity and to experience a Church that St. John Paul II described as “Home and school of communion” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 43). The seminarians were accompanied in their experience by the priests at Vinea Mea and by experts from Loppiano. The method used in presenting the topics – including some that were theologically quite dense – was dynamic and experiential and even included personal examples from their own lives, which helped the young men to come to terms with where they stood personally with Jesus’s message One of the seminarians writes: “I was very struck by one of the main points of the spirituality of Chiara Lubich, which was presented in the talk on ‘Jesus Forsaken, God’s window on the world and the world’s window on God’. I realized that his gaze of love opens the way for humankind toward God, but also opens God’s path toward humankind in a way that is ever new.” Another writes: “I understood that the Jesus who became a man out of love and expressed the culmination of that love in the abandonment on the cross, is not only a beautiful theological concept, but should become life in me, in love and service for whoever is near to me.” Their interaction with the citizens of Loppiano enhanced their understanding of how to build unity among themselves in spite of the many differences. Some impressions from at the concluding session: “In these days I discovered that even in our interpersonal relationships the key is being able to make myself nothing in front of the other person, as Jesus Forsaken did, burning the difficulties involved in the life of unity in Him.” “What struck me the most was the joy with which the inhabitants of the Mariapolis [Loppiano] face weariness and service, and transmit God to everyone else.” Compiled by the Gens Centre