Jan 14, 2017 | Non categorizzato
[…] When God created humankind, he formed a family. When the Word of God came on earth, he chose to be born in a family. Jesus began his public life during the celebration of a new family. God had the family so much at heart; he considered it to be of such importance that he impressed on it his own image. In fact, the family reflects God’s very own life, the life of the Holy Trinity. […] So what was God’s plan for the family? God who is love, thought of the family as an intertwining of relationships of love: nuptial love between the couple, maternal and paternal love towards the children, filial love toward the parents, the love of grandparents for their grandchildren, of the grandchildren for their grandparents, for their uncles and aunts and vice versa. The family is therefore a treasure chest, a jewel, a mystery of love. This is how God thought of and created the family. Moreover, his Son, in redeeming the world, turned this natural love, which permeates the members of a family, into something sublime through the divine love he brought on earth, through the fire he wants to set alight everywhere. Through him, the family has become not only the primary cell of humanity created by God, but also the basic cell of the Church founded by his Son. Because of the supernatural love that the members of the family have for one another ‑ through baptism and the other sacraments, particularly the sacrament of matrimony ‑ they are called individually and collectively to the sublime heights of making the family a small church, an “ecclesiola”. […] Jesus wants the husband to see and love in his wife, not only the person with whom he shares his life, but to see and love Christ himself in her. In fact, Jesus considers done to him the way the husband treats his wife and vice versa. Furthermore, Jesus in the husband or wife must be loved in the measure that Jesus requires, as he expressed with the words, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). They must love one another to the point of being ready to give their lives for one another. If parents keep this in mind throughout the day, whether they are praying, working or sharing a meal, whether they are resting or studying, laughing or playing with their children… every moment will be an opportunity for bearing witness to God. Morer: The Family and Prayer From Chiara Lubich’s talk to the international congress “Family and Society: The Family Centred on God is Open to all Humanity”, Castel Gandolfo, 8 April 1989.
Jan 12, 2017 | Non categorizzato
https://vimeo.com/192602876 Copyright 2016 © CSC Audiovisivi – All rights reserved
Jan 10, 2017 | Non categorizzato
Piotr, what made you choose to enroll in Sophia? Many factors are involved. During high school I had the fortune to meet a philosopher from Turin by the name of Costanzo Preve, who introduced me to philosophical studies, an interest that arose from the attraction I felt for politics. His Hegelian-Marxist philosophical approach opened my eyes to social totality which likewise made the choice of my university studies very challenging; I could not make up my mind between economics, politics and philosophy. Towards the end of high school, a professor spoke to me about Sophia, even though it offered only Master’s courses. Finally, in order to have a diploma that would give me more job possibilities, I chose the three-year degree in economics in Genoa. But this choice was not really satisfactory… My dissatisfaction with the “mainstream” syllabus plans of many courses made me join the international network called “Rethinking Economics” to promote economic, methodological and interdisciplinary pluralism in the university methods of teaching economics, and the founding of a local seat for the network. Concurrently, and in an independent way, I continued my musical and philosophical studies. Besides, I had become a journalist and am part of the editorial staff of the paper “Termometro Politico” (Political Thermometre) and for some months now, direct the ecclesial debate magazine Grandsons of Maritain. In short, along the years I had read some essays of the Rector Piero Coda and had asked him if I could visit Sophia. I came twice, before enrolling. And every time my “Sophian” vocation became increasingly evident. What course have you decided to undertake and how have the first months in Sophia been? I chosen Trinitarian ontology, also because it gives me the chance to benefit from the agreement with Perugia University for the dual diploma, so as to achieve, besides that of the Vatican, also an Italian Master’s in philosophy specializing in didactics, which will, in the future give me the chance to teach in high schools. In these first months almost all of us have attended the same courses in philosophy, theology, politics and economics, which will enable us to start our studies on a common basis. This interdisciplinarity in my case, was not at all a surprise, but a conscious choice. From the academic viewpoint, Sophia’s level is very high and has given me the chance to deepen the course themes I am personally interested in. At the end of August I started to live in the residence, exactly two floors above the university facilities, together with 9 boys of all continents – from Argentina to China, from Germany to Tanzania, and across countries like the Lebanon. It is an excellent coexistence, well organized even in the housework: I immediately felt that we are brothers, in our little daily concerns. How about your projects? I can’t say much about this, since at this moment, new paths are opening out before me; the medium-term objective is to obtain my degree, but for my thesis I am considering various themes, and as oftentimes occurs, probably none of these will be the definitive one. Later, I may consider a Doctorate, but time will tell. I would like however to carry on with my journalistic activities, and, from the employment point of view, I would not really mind teaching, or find a job in the publishing sector. I don’t really want to set any limits to the Spirit who could inspire me to take other paths. Source: IUS online
Jan 9, 2017 | Non categorizzato
https://vimeo.com/192601012 Copyright 2016 © CSC Audiovisivi – All rights reserved
Jan 6, 2017 | Non categorizzato
“Lord, this Christmas we entrust to You all the ones who seem far from You, the many who were once close to you but no longer are because of all the evils in the world that have taken them away from You. They don’t know You, but search for You with pure and sincere hearts. They don’t know that one day, one sweet day, You appeared on this earth as a baby. This Christmas, Lord, we entrust to You especially the ones without faith. We entrust them to You so that a ray of your Light might make its way to them, that because of their sincerity and good will the star that leads to You might shine at least for a moment so that they too will know the joy of those who acknowledge and love You. We entrust to You those who seem far from You, Lord, because we know that it was especially for these that You became a child.” Chiara Lubich, E torna Natale …, (Rome: Città Nuova, 2007), p. 59-60.
Jan 5, 2017 | Non categorizzato
“A long stint as a primary school teacher – book curator, Patrizia Bertoncello, starts – soon led me to perceive those typical signs of distress which are more present in the peripheries than elsewhere. Often the children themselves talked about it. “Once upon a time there was a flower – Cristina, seven years old, wrote in class – her daddy-flower had left them and also mother-flower was not with him since she had so much to do and was very worried. She didn’t have time to listen to him. The flower was a rose with a thousand thorns. There were so many and pricked so much. The flower wanted to befriend the insects of the woods and the other flowers. But when they came close they got pricked so hard and ran away quickly, since she stung so much. And nothing could be done about it. In the end the rose was always alone and very sad.”(1) This is the lucid explanation she herself gave for those repeated pranks in class which isolated her from everyone. Like her, but with different problems, were the numerous children in distress, even in a world like ours that seems to be livable and protective, but not without contradictions and ambivalences weighing on the weaker sections of humanity. At times those institutions which in words advocate the rights of children, in fact, do little about it. Especially those children who cannot count on effective parents or long-lasting family relations are thus left in a sort of shadow zone, affective instability and often lacerating poverty. The lack of protection and real growth opportunities are conditions that certainly are not worthy of a society like ours. This is why I often asked myself how I could give a voice to these “invisible children,” and contribute to the building of a culture of protection and total respect for infancy. 
I started by trying to welcome some of my students with love, and slowly I saw that their tears dried up. I realised that to really “encounter” the world of the little ones, we have to approach each child with attention, and learn to see things through their eyes, making use of all our energies and skills to create important relationships. With other operators and professionals driven by the same educative style, I then tried to start up procedures in which the children and their families experience really educational relationships. From this cooperation the idea of a book came up, to narrate not only the stories of the “invisible children,” but also about good practices and redemptive pathways. “Children in Trouble,” said an oncologist, a social worker, a paediatrician and me, who curated the book, wants to bring out those seeds of hope and positive relations that become in some way, generators of resilience. Through that resource, many children when suitably aided are able to concretise and reach good recovery levels. The same happened to Emma. When she was eight years of age, overwhelmed by the split up of the family she had tried to commit suicide. Recently, after contacting me on Facebook, she wrote: “Dear teacher, how I miss you and the many moments we spent together! Do you remember when you read stories to us, taking on the voice of the characters? And the school trip to the sea? These will certainly never be erased from my heart and the love you showed me when all was dark around me. When I was in the hospital after the tragic event, you were there and didn’t ask me why I had done it. You were there, and that’s all. Then I returned to school with those wounds and you made everyone make those bracelets with coloured threads… but I knew that it was to help me hide those scars I didn’t want others to see…”(2) At the presentation of the book in universities and seminars, it was really surprising to see the attention and seriousness of the audience who started to take notice of that child next door, or the one who is begging in the subway or in a hospital ward. They were children who were invisible and now can return to being protagonists of their own future. By Anna Friso 1) – 2) – Patrizia Bertoncello – Bambini nei guai (Children in trouble) – Città Nuova Ed. 2015, p. 11 and p. 66
