10 Feb 2017 | Non categorizzato
“Fulfilling, happiness, courage, family, unique experience, listening, diversity…” These were some of the keywords left behind in their comments by the teenagers from Liceo Basile school. They were also the main actors in three shows and workshops that kept them involved from January 31st – February 5th in Palermo, Italy. “Now, it’s as if I’ve become one of them, someone with a great ideal, believing that love really can overcome everything and that our hearts don’t have borders,” Irene writes. Ernesto Basile Scientific High School is considered an institutional outpost in Brancaccio, which is the quarter where Father Pino Puglisi had worked. He was murdered by the mafia in 1993 and is now a Blessed. There are social problems in the region and the problem of education is always an open question: the school drop-out rates are far from the national average. For this reason the many projects that are carried out by the school often represent the only way out. They focus on cultivating an awareness in the younger generations that they belong to a community. They also intend to give witness to a better lifestyle that goes against the norm, and to provide the opportunity to reflect on personal choices that can lead in a wrong direction. 
The almost accidental encounter with Gen Verde last May ignited a desire in the young people to make the Start Now project happen in their own school, just as it had in several European and Asian cities. “Tons of enthusiasm” for this event. The workshops that involved hundreds of young people were places to experience their own creativity and discover their own talents. They did side by side with the band members as actors, sharing in the different artistic experiences with mutual listening and respect. PalaOreto, February 3. The young people stepped on stage with Gen Verde in front of a crowd of thousands of teenagers from the schools in the neighborhood. It happened again on the following Sunday at the Golden Theatre. 
Excited but secure in their performance, they gave the best of themselves in the choreographies, songs, dances and theatre in a way that drew in the audience. Above all, they lived an experience that was unique unto itself, an experience that doesn’t conceive of “walls” and that lifted up the differences and diversity, showing how marginalization can be overcome. “The day after had a sense of nostalgia, but now it was different: It had the sense of a challenge! Good Start to all off us, small warriors on the outskirts!” wrote a teacher on her Facebook page, who helped promote the event. That’s the dream of those who interact with these young people every day, standing against marginalization and uneasiness with creativity and positive stimulation, helping others to not remain closed in their own everyday environments, promoting an inclusive environment at school that embraces all the sides of a person.
7 Feb 2017 | Non categorizzato
Head of the Class Ever since I heard such new things about God-Love I can’t be disturbing at school, doodling at my desk. The teacher even noticed the change in me and appointed me head of the class. Now it’s difficult for me to point out my classmates bad conduct, because I try to see Jesus in them and feel bad when they are punished. One day, since I didn’t, another student went to report three of us. To avoid their punishment, I convinced the teacher to let them clean the classroom, and after class I went to help them. Since then, little by little, the atmosphere in class is beginning to improve. (Victoria – Uganda) Fundraising When I learned that the father of a large poor family needed emergency surgery and didn’t have the money for the operation, some friends and I began a fundraiser with our colleagues at work. When we had the money, I accompanied the father to hospital and paid for the medical treatment. The operation went well. I don’t know who was happier, the family or us! I think that small gestures such as these also help contribute to peace. ( N. Y.- Jordan) In the airport At the baggage control there was a passenger in front of me who was quite upset because he had to leave behind a jar of jam. “Well, at least don’t throw it out, because it’s special!” When I got through baggage control that same person told me that the jam had been made by his mother for her grandchildren. “All her love is in those bottles,” he added. After a silent pause: “Why does the world have to be goverened by fear? Yes, I understand, with all that’s going on . . . but even the social infrastructure itself instills fear and mistrust. Where has the beauty gone in life?” I didn’t have answers, only the same questions. Meanwhile, a little girl was smiling as she passed in front of us in a wheelchair. We looked at her and that happy little face completely silenced us. All you need is a smile and even an aiport gets lit up. (C. M. – Austria) Praying together I was in the oncology department for examinations and treatment. It was an opportunity to love others with small concrete gestures and sharing in their suffering. That day my roomate – a stocky farmer of rude appearance – was about to undergo chemo. Just then he received news from the doctor and nurse that his son had died and the man’s therapy was postponed so that he could return home. I watched as his body bent beneath the tremendous shock. When we were alone and he was preparing his bag and weeping, I gathered my courage and with gentleness and respect asked him if he ever prayed. When he said yes, I invited him to pray the Our Father together for his son. It struck me as I watched that 73 year-old man join his hands and pray. And I thanked God that I dared to ask him to pray together. (Pablo – Philippines)
4 Feb 2017 | Non categorizzato
“Economy and communion. These are two words that contemporary culture keeps separate and often considers opposites. Two words that you have instead joined, accepting the invitation that Chiara Lubich offered you 25 years ago in Brazil, when, in the face of the scandal of inequality in the city of Sao Paulo, she asked entrepreneurs to become agents of communion”. Pope Francis said these words in his welcoming speech to 1200 entrepreneurs, young people and scholars who came together to celebrate the 25 years of life of the Economy of Communion. In the opening sentence of his address he said that he was pleased to welcome representatives of a project “in which I have been genuinely interested for some time”. “With your life you demonstrate that economy and communion become more beautiful when they are beside each other. Certainly the economy becomes more beautiful, but communion is also more beautiful, because the spiritual commnuion of hearts is even fuller when it becomes communion of goods, of talents, of profits”. 
In his message to the extremely attentive gathering, Pope Francis expressed hope and recommendations on three main points. The first concerns money. “It is very important that at the centre of the economy of communion there be the communion of your profits. The Economy of Communion is also the communion of profits, an expression of the communion of life”. “Money”, he said “becomes an idol when it becomes the aim (…). It was Jesus who defined money as a ‘master’: ‘No man can serve two masters”. And he continued: “Thus, one understands the ethical and spiritual value of your choice to pool profits. The best and most practical way to avoid making an idol of money is to share it with others, above all with the poor (…). When you share and donate your profits, you are performing an act of lofty spirituality, saying to money through your deeds: you are not God, you are not lord, you are not master!” The second concerns poverty. “The principal ethical dilemma of this capitalism is the creation of discarded people, then trying to hide them or make sure they are no longer seen (…). Aircraft pollute the atmosphere, but, with a small part of the cost of the ticket, they will plant trees to compensate for the damage created. Gambling companies finance campaigns to care for the pathological gamblers that they create. And the day that the weapons industry finances hospitals to care for the children mutilated by their bombs, the system will have reached its pinnacle. This is hypocrisy!”. Faced with this abominable situation “the Economy of Communion, if it wants to be faithful to its charism, must not only care for victims, but build a system where there are ever fewer victims, where, possibly, there may no longer be any. As long as the economy still produces one victim and there is still a single discarded person, communion has not yet been realized; the celebration of universal fraternity is not full”. 
The third point concerns the future. «These 25 years of your history say that communion and business can exist and grow together” , an experience limited to a small number of businesses when compared to the world’s great capital, “but the changes in the order of the spirit and therefore of life are not linked to big numbers. The small flock, the lamp, a coin, a lamb, a pearl, salt, leaven: these are the images of the Kingdom we encounter in the Gospels (…). It is not necessary to be in a large group to change our life: suffice it that the sale and the leaven do not deteriorate (…). Salt does not do its job by increasing in quantity – instead too much salt makes the meal salty – but by saving its ‘spirit’, its quality”. While recalling the time when there were no refrigerators and the mother dough was shared to make bread, the Pope encouraged the Economy of Communion entrepreneurs “not to lose the active ingredient, the ‘enzyme’ of communion”, by living “reciprocity”. “Communion is not only the sharing but also the multiplying goods, the creation of new bread, of new goods, of new Good with a capital ‘G’”. He invited those present to: “Give it to everyone, firstly to the poor and the young (…). Capitalism knows philanthropy, not communion”. At the end of his speech Pope Francis said: “You already do these things. But you can share more profits in order to combat idolatry, change structures in order to prevent the creation of victims ‘ and discarded people; give more of your leaven so as to leaven the bread of many. May the ‘no’ to an economy that kills, become a ‘yes’ to an economy that lets live, because it shares, includes the poor, uses profits to create communion». «I hope you continue on your path, with courage, humilty, and joy…, continue to be the seed, salt and leaven of another economy: the economy of the Kingdom, where the rich know how to share their wealth, and the poor are called “blessed”. This new awareness makes one look ahead with joy and a renewed commitment. Press Releases
4 Feb 2017 | Non categorizzato
“You know that the idea of the Economy of Communion has awakened latent energies in many of us (from the youngest to the oldest). It has prompted important and demanding decisions and shown ways of making what seemed unbelievable dreams come true. You also know it has triggered the mechanism of “giving” so that almost everyone, we can say, is committed in offering services, prayers, energy and money; in offering to move, to give land, homes and jewellery. You know too that seeds of promising business enterprises, aimed at sharing part of their profits with those in need, are already blossoming like a new springtime everywhere. You know that places in which “new people” will be trained are rising up as if by magic and that the little towns are multiplying. Now, in order for everything to grow and mature, we must strengthen this virtue of “giving”, so that it becomes a habit for us. The enthusiasm with which the Economy of Communion began has to remain alive within us and grow. We must not disappoint the great hopes and expectations of the needy, as well as the explicit and often enlightened words of encouragement from religious leaders, economists, business people and other experts. We must keep the Economy of Communion alive in all its aspects, until there is no longer anyone in need among us. Then, there will be a surprising reality that is both human and divine: a whole “body of people” will proclaim God to the world and reveal his presence in history to many, as someone said referring to our project. … So “giving”. … Let’s give always, giving a smile, understanding, forgiveness or a listening ear; let’s give our intelligence, our will and availability; let’s give our time, talents and ideas (every idea is a responsibility); let’s give our actions, experiences and skills; let’s give our goods which we review periodically so that nothing accumulates and everything circulates. Giving: let this be the Word that allows us no respite. We want to live it for the glory of God and to bring back the spirit and practice of the early Christians, who “were of one heart and soul … there was not a needy person among them”. (Acts 4:32-34)” Chiara Lubich (Taken from a telephone conference call with the focolare communities in different parts of the world, 23rd April 1992).
2 Feb 2017 | Non categorizzato
In Slovenia, the Christmas atmosphere is felt already in the first days of December. Many in the Focolare community have learned to make advent wreaths which they sell and then allocate the revenues to social purposes. The feast of St. Nicholas is on 6 December and he goes around with sacks full of gifts on this day. It is an occasion in which families in need are able to experience the fantasy of Divine Providence, through the collection and redistribution of all the surpluses of many families. In the exchange, some detach themselves from objects they are attached to sentimentally, which become gifts for the others, and everyone experiences the typical joy that arises from ”giving.” And while some members of the various communities deliver the proceeds of the wreaths to humanitarian actions in the territory, as they do every year, the Youth for a United World gather at the Arche (the Movement of Jean Vanier) for a unique sharing experience. In other districts, they visit the centre for single mums, bringing joy and warmth to all. The dates of these initiatives are first published on Facebook, extending the invitation to other youths to go out together to gather and distribute gifts. The smaller ones instead organise themselves in the streets to offer the little statues of Baby Jesus, that they have handcrafted themselves. It is not a sale, but an awareness campaign to bring the focus to the real protagonist of Christmas. But many leave offerings which they devolve to poor children. This is why they choose the big malls as the location for their campaign, as well as the homes for the aged, of relatives and next-door neighbours, and the midnight masses. In one of the towns, also the mayor went to visit. In a shopping centre, the Gen 4, and bigger kids (Kids for Unity) held a Christmas flashmob, giving a hand to the smaller ones who were thus able to distribute their 125 statuettes. In 18 Slovenian districts, there was also a fixed date for Christmas preparations. The entire community gathered together, with the participation of around 1,300 people, among whom was also a bishop. One of the communities wanted to pass the Epiphany together, and went to visit Baby Jesus in an old church on the hill. The group was accompanied along the trails in the woods by the Magi who also wanted to follow the star. Along the way they came across Herod who begged the Magi to return to him once they had found the Child. But suddenly an angel appeared to invite them to take another route home. This was exactly what the whole group did, choosing an alternative path. After this real-life staging, nobody would ever forget how Baby Jesus was saved from the anger of Herod. Of great significance were the Christmas stage plays held in the two Slovenian kindergartens, which drew inspiration from the educational games of unity: “Sun Ray” of Škofja Loka and “Jurček” in Grosuplje. The latter was held in the city’s Cultural Centre. Though many of those present declared to be agnostics, the intense atmosphere engaged them all. They followed the stage play of the Nativity of Jesus with great attention and in the end many joined in the children’s songs, and no longer wanted to leave.
1 Feb 2017 | Non categorizzato
Theme of the Meeting of Bishops, Friends of the Focolare Movement: «If the world knew Him …» Jesus abandoned on the cross: fundament of the spirituality of communion key to a “culture of encounter” For info: segves@focolare.org – and tel.. 06 947 98150
