![Jesús Morán: Relationship and Relationality]()
Aug 6, 2016 | Non categorizzato
“In the beginning is the relation.” Thus wrote Martin Buber, that great exponent of Jewish thought in the first half of the last century. Since then, and thanks to the developments that have been achieved by the philosophy of dialogue, this theory has been accepted as authoriative on the philosophical scene, with consequences for social life and for the very meaning of life. The human sciences in particular have made fruitful use of it. More and more we are thinking that relationship is what defines the human person. The ability to relate has therefore become important in every sphere of human activity. The failure of many noble undertakings, for example, could be traced back to relationship problems. Having a good relationship also garuntees a positive start and subsequent continuity. Relationship is truly necessary. And yet, from my point of view, I would modify the statement made by that great Austrian-Israeli philosopher in this way: “In the beginning is the relationality.” What I mean is that the relationship is always secondary, because there is something deeper: relationality. It is the rational structure of the human person that allows him to enter into relationship, but it does not necessarily require a relationship with each other in order to be. Relationality involves being, relating and doing. Relationality and relationship do not oppose one another, but go distinctly because they touch upon two different dimensions of a person. The conclusion seems paradoxical: There are people that are poor in relationships but rich in relationality, and vice versa. Having many relationships is not necessarily an indicator of relationality. I give an extreme example: a cloistered nun can be more rich in relationality than a film star, even though she is numerically poorer in relationships. You can be open to the infinite without ever leaving your room, just as you can be closed in yourself while moving about in the midst of the world. Is it a matter of quantity and quality therefore? Yes and no. What is decisive for the quality of relationships is the measure to which they originate in the rational structure of a person. So it is not a matter of quantity or quality, but of depth and reciprocity. Relationality comes from the depth of the human person and it is always open. It is open to reciprocity, whereas relationships do not always dodge the individual-entric temptations.Starting from the rational structure of the person therefore means being aware that there is something in our relationships that preceeds them and something that exceeds them. It means giving up controlling relationships, directly building them as if it depended on us. Relationships are not built; they are sought. This means that we must be attentive above all to what surprises us, to what is unexpected. The “will to power” that often characterises modern man tends to impose relationships, even for good reasons. This can happen, for example, in the father-son relationship, or between a couple. If we want relationships that are filled with relationality, we have to cultivate the attitude of expectation, listening, patience and absence. Relationality requires love along with a sort of passivity which, if well lived, is the only attitude that is really open to novelty. The ethical implications of this distinction, which can appear purely academic, can be decisivc in certain cases. An example: If the person were primarily relationship, meaning the capacity to build relationships, then abortion would be legitimate because the embryo is not capable of building them. A comatose person would not have the right to live because of not being able to have relationships with others. But if what is at the root of a person is relationality, which does not need relationships in order to exist because it comes before them, then that changes things substantially. Source: Città Nuova, (January 2016).
Aug 4, 2016 | Non categorizzato
After participating in the memorable World Youth Day celebrations at Krakow, 67 bishops and cardinals, friends of the Focolare Movement meet in Braga, in the north of Portugal, from the 2-10 August 2016. Such conferences have been taking place since 1977, but it is the first time that these bishops meet in Portugal. They have been invited by Msgr Jorge Ortiga, Archbishop of Braga to hold this conference at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sameiro. Moderated by Cardinal Francis Kriengsak, Archbishop of Bangkok, Thailand, this conference aims at deepening fraternal communion among bishops, in line with the spirituality of unity that animates the Focolare Movement. The mystery of Jesus on the cross, who cries “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15,34) will be the main theme of this conference. During 2016/2017 all Focolare members will focus their attention on this subject, a key to meet and embrace the wounds of today’s society. Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement will deliver points on this subject. Jesús Morán, the co-president and other central council members will share views on the life of the Focolare Movement today. The current world situation, the Church’s reform according to Pope Francis and ecumenism are other topics to be discussed and reflected upon through the specific contributions offered by theologians, politicians and other experts members of the Movement. The Portugese Episcopal Conference has been invited to participate in the programme held on August 9. The bishops who attend will have the opportunity to share in a fraternal exchange of experiences and encounter, enriched by the presence of bishops from dioceses in many parts of the world. This meeting will be sealed by a pilgrimage to Fatima, the land of Holy Mary, where the bishops will entrust their life and mission to Our Lady. The meetings for Bshops, friends of the Focolare Movement started in 1977 on the initiative of Msgr. Klaus Hemmerle, Bishop of Aachen, Germany. Since their very beginning, they were approved and supported by the Holy See to promote the “effective and affective” collegiality among bishops in a spirit of communion and fraternity. Source: Press release – Focolare Information Service
Jul 28, 2016 | Non categorizzato, Word of
The words of the Gospel shape our lives and give us God’s own life, if we live them. If we share what we experience with others, it does not only nourish them, it gives us life too. By now we have been living the Word of Life for seventy years. The text comes to us and we read the commentary. But what we hope will remain is the sentence that is offered, a word of Scripture, often from Jesus. The ‘Word of Life’ is not simply a meditation, but Jesus speaks in it. He invites us to live, always bringing us to love, to make a gift of our lives. It was an ‘invention’ of Chiara Lubich, who speaks of its origins like this: ‘I was hungry for truth, and I studied philosophy. Indeed, more than that: like many other young people I sought truth and I believed I would find it in study. But then came one of those great ideas from the early times of the Movement, which I immediately communicated to my companions, “What point is there in looking for truth when it lives incarnate in Jesus, the God-man? If the truth attracts us, let’s leave everything, let’s look for Him, and let’s follow Him.” And that is what we did.’ They took the Gospel into their hands and began reading it word by word. They found it completely new. ‘Each word of Jesus was a burst of brightly shining light, all divine! … His words were unique, eternal … fascinating, fashioned with a divine form … they were words of life, to be translated into life, universal words in the midst of space and time.’ They discovered them not to be stuck in the past, not a mere memory, but words that He continuously speaks to us, as He does to each person in every time and place.[1] Yet is Jesus truly our Teacher? We are surrounded by many proposals for our lives, by many teachers of thought, some of them twisted that even lead to violence, while others are straight and enlightening. And yet the words of Jesus have a depth and an ability to attract and move us that other words, whether they be of philosophers, politicians, or poets, do not have. They are ‘words of life’; they can be lived, and they give us the fullness of life; they communicate God’s own life. Each month we focus on one, so that, bit by bit the Gospel penetrates our spirit, transforms us, makes us acquire Jesus’s very own thought, so that we are able to respond to the most widely different situations. Jesus shows himself to be our Teacher. At times we can read the Gospel together. We would like Jesus himself, the Risen Lord, living in the midst of those who are gathered in his name, to explain it, to make it current for us, to suggest how we can put it into practice. The really new thing about the ‘Word of Life’, however, is that we can share our experiences, the graces given when we live it, just as Chiara explained when speaking of what happened in the early times which are still with us now: ‘We felt we had a duty to communicate to others what we had experienced, also because we were aware that by giving it an experience remained and built up our inner life, while, if we did not give it, bit by bit our soul was impoverished. The word was therefore lived intensely all day long and the results were communicated not only among us, but with those who joined the first group…. When it was lived, it was no longer I or we who lived, but the word lived in me, the word lived in the group. And this was the Christian revolution with all of its consequences.’[2] It can be like this today for us too. Fabio Ciardi ______________________ [1] Scritti spirituali, vol. 3 (Rome: Città Nuova, 1979), p. 124. [2] Ibid. pp. 128, 130.
Jul 23, 2016 | Non categorizzato
(C) CSC Audiovisivi
Jul 20, 2016 | Non categorizzato
«What a great support for the Way Carmen has been. What a strong woman! I have never met any other person like her». With these words Kiko Argüello announced the death of Carmen Hernández in a letter to all the wayfarers, those who have adhered to the Neocatechumenal spirit, He furthermore wrote that Carmen represented a «marvellous event» and reflected the ideal «woman, her great genius, her charism, and her love for the Pope, and above all, the Church.» Together with Kiko Argüello and Fr. Mario Pezzi, Carmen Hernández was a leader of the Way worldwide. The funeral will be held on 21 July, in the Madrid Cathedral, to be presided by Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra. Over 30,000 neocatechumenal communities in 120 countries will commemorate her, in the presence of Bishops and Cardinals who are close to the Neocatechumenal movement. Born in Olvega, Spain, Carmen lived a long life, always in communion with the Spirit which had led her, after her studies in chemistry, to discover the missionary vocation she had felt in her youth.. Then came the stint in a missionary institute, studies on the liturgy within the context of the profound council renewal, and a two-year experience in the Holy Land. Lastly, in 1964 her encounter with Kiko amid the slums of Palomeras Altas, at the outskirts of Madrid: it was there that she felt the evangelical spirit was leading her towards a new form of commitment with the Christian community that was starting amongst the poor. The presence of Carmen offered a solid theological and liturgical basis to Kiko’s forceful catechesis, and their action became a real post-baptismal formation. She played a fundamental role in the drafting of the Statutes of the Way, which was approved by the Holy See in 2011. In 2015 she received the Honoris Causa Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, as an acknowledgement of her great contribution to Christian formation throughout the world. «You have received a great charism, for the baptismal renewal of life,» she had said to Pope Francis in her speech before the followers of the Neocatechumenal Way last 18 March, the last time she appeared in public. But the Holy Father spoke to her personally on the phone last 1 July during a private audience granted to Kiko Argüello and Fr. Mario Pezzi. The Focolare Movement joins the prayers and thanksgiving, in keeping alive the communion between the ecclesiastical movements ratified in the Pentecost of 1998 when Pope John Paul II met the Movements and New communities for the first time, each of which is the particular fruit of a charism endowed by the Holy Spirit to the Church and humanity, to respond to the needs of our time. Maria Chiara De Lorenzo
Jul 18, 2016 | Non categorizzato
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