29 Apr 2015 | Non categorizzato, Word of
With the tenderness of mercy our love can give witness to the reality of God’s love. We experience what we share with others. When the Lord God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai he declared his identity as: ‘The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness’ (Ex 34:6). To indicate the nature of this merciful love, the Hebrew Bible uses a word (raḥămîm) that recalls a mother’s womb, the place where life begins. By making himself known as ‘merciful’, God shows that for each thing he has made he is concerned as a mother is for her child. He cares, is near, protects, looks after his creature. The Bible uses a further term (ḥesed) to express other aspects of this love which is mercy: faithfulness, benevolence, goodness, solidarity. Mary in her Magnificat too sings of the Almighty’s mercy that is from generation to generation (see Lk 1:50). Jesus himself spoke to us of God’s love, revealing him as a ‘Father’ close and attentive to our every necessity, keen to pardon, to give all we need: ‘he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous’ (Mt 5:45). His love is truly ‘rich’ and ‘great’, as is said in the letter to the Ephesians that give us our Word of Life: ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.’ What Paul says here is almost a cry of joy born of the contemplation of the extraordinary thing God has done for us. We were dead and he revived us, giving us a new life. The words begin with ‘but’, indicating a contrast with what Paul pointed out earlier. This was the tragic condition of humanity crushed beneath its wrongdoing and sins, prisoner of selfish and wicked desires, under the influence of the powers of evil, in open rebellion against God. In this situation it would have deserved God’s wrath (see Eph 2:1-3). In contrast God, instead of punishing – hence Paul’s utter amazement – gives humanity life again. God does not let himself be governed by wrath, but by mercy and by love. Jesus had already suggested that God acts like this when he told the parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger brother who was welcomed back by his father with open arms after he had sunk into an inhuman life. It was the same with the parable of the Good Shepherd who goes in search for the lost sheep and puts it on his shoulders to bring it back home. And the same can be seen in the Good Samaritan who cares for the wounds of the man who had fallen into the hands of robbers (see Lk 15:11-32; 3-7; 10:30-37). God, a merciful father, symbolized in the parables, has not only forgiven us, but he has given us life itself in his son Jesus, that is, given us the fullness of divine life. And this leads to a hymn of gratitude: ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.’ This Word of Life ought to make us feel the same joy and gratitude as Paul and the first Christian community. To each one of us, too, God shows himself ‘rich in mercy’ and of ‘great love’, ready to forgive and grant trust again. There is no situation of sin, of suffering, of solitude, where he does not make himself present, does not come alongside us to go with us on our way, does not grant us trust, the possibility of rising up and the strength to start again. At his first ‘Angelus’, on 17 March two years ago, Pope Francis started speaking about the mercy of God, a theme that has become characteristic for him. At that time he said, ‘God’s face is the face of a merciful father who is always patient… he understands us, he waits for us, he does not tire of forgiving us.’ He ended that first brief greeting with the words, ‘He is the loving Father who always pardons, who has that heart of mercy for us all. And let us too learn to be merciful to everyone.’ This points to a practical way to live the Word of Life. If God for us is rich in mercy and of great love, we too are called to be merciful towards others. If he loves those who are bad, who are his enemies, we too ought to learn how to love those who are not ‘lovable’, even our enemies. Did not Jesus tell us, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy’ (Mt 5:7)? Did he not ask us to be ‘merciful, just as your Father is merciful’ (Lk 6:36)? Paul too invites his communities, chosen and loved by God, to clothe themselves ‘with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience’ (Col 3:12). If we have believed in God’s love, we too can love in our turn with that love which makes us draw close to every situation of pain and need, that forgives all things, that protects, that knows how to look after the other person. Living in this way we will be able to give witness to God’s love and help those we meet discover that also for them God is rich in mercy and of great love. Fabio Ciardi
26 Apr 2015 | Non categorizzato
“This event, like all things of God, began from a humble seed. Silvia Lubich was the daughter of a wine merchant who the economic crisis of the Second World War had reduced to being a modest city worker. He was the husband of a housewife from Trent who, as a young woman, had worked in the print shop of Cesare Battisti. They were a Catholic couple like many others from Trent: simple and direct, without a lot of pretensions. They brought four children into the world, a boy, the firstborn, and three girls. The eldest daughter, Silvia, was born on January 22, 1920. They raised them all in the Catholic faith which since her infancy had shaped Silvia in a straightforward piety. It was straightforward in the sense that it did not allow any compromises: it didn’t allow her to divide her desire between God and the world; to think about good and evil; to show one thing while hiding another. There was God, and God was everything: so one had to belong totally to Him; to do His will like a ray of sun that leaped down from heaven to rest upon earth.” So begins the Story of Light, the story of Chiara Lubich written by one of the main protagonists of the events it describes: Igino Giordani, an eminent figure in Italian politics and culture, and also co-founder of the Focolare Movement. “It is never easy for a work to become a masterpiece,” Director of the Igino Giordani Centre, Alberto Lo Presti writes in the introduction to the first installment. “What then of a book that would contend for this position with a hundred other books written by Giordani? But Story of Light never saw the light. Not only that: it remained unknown even to those who have preserved it over the years. Giordani himself had asked them to wait – whereas most authors would have preferred the opposite; that is, to be recognized especially for their best works.” “Story of Light is not based on historiographic research. It could be described as a recounting of the miraculous intervention brought about by the Holy Spirit – visible in the person and actions of Chiara Lubich – in twentieth century history. In other words, it is comprised of a series of narrative portraits in which Chiara’s biographical sketch is intertwined with God’s plan for humankind, whose ideals had been afflicted and social systems divided and devastated by world wars. This is why, in the subtle interweaving of events in Story of Light, we recognize some of the basic elements in Giordani’s own complex personality. He experienced first-hand all the main dramatic events of the twentieth century, having been wounded in the war, having undergone exclusion because of his ideas, and having had to accept exclusion from civil society. He was a man of faith who worked both in Church and culture, aware that the radical evil would be defeated by a new Christian spirit that he set out to discover. He met Chiara Lubich in September 1948 and found in her the light he had been looking for. He followed her, placing at the disposal of the Focolare founder all of his intelligence and will. He never had doubts about the strength and pre-eminence of the figure of Chiara for the Church, society, current history, and the future. Therefore, even had he have wanted to, Giordani could never have written a complete, objective, methodologically flawless story of Chiara Lubich. His human and spiritual involvement could not allow him that.” “The author had written many volumes on great spiritual figures: Catherine of Siena, Ignatius of Loyola, Magdalene of Canossa, Contardo Ferrini, Francis of Paola, Vincent de Paul, Francis de Sales, Francis of Assisi, to mention a few of his works. They formed a gallery of extraordinary people from diverse times and backgrounds. The place of honor in this rich array was assigned to Chiara Lubich, whose story Giordani called his “masterpiece.” At the age of fifty four when history called him to meet Chiara, he did not enter into the relationship without a spiritual preparation. He knew how to measure the religious greatness of an ideal, just as he had the tools for testing the spiritual size and strength of a mystical intuition. For this reason . . .it is likely that Giordani felt a paramount duty of attesting to who Chiara really was. Moreover, he took on this particular role from the first moments of his visits with Chiara and the first small group of focolarine. With his learning, he was well able to reveal the importance and newness of the figure of Chiara to the young men and women who were her followers.” “Giordani lived through difficult moments during which Chiara Lubich and the Focolare were under the magnifying glass of the Congregation of the Holy Office. From that period – the 1950s – and for many years to come, a widespread attitude of prudent discretion was maintained around the figure of Chiara. It may have been necessary to hold back any sentiments of esteem and affection for Chiara, but for Giordani there was never any doubt that the truth about her had to be put in writing and handed on. Hence, Story of Light, his masterpiece.” Introduction to Story of Light (complete text) – Published by Nuova Umanità, gennaio-marzo 2015
25 Apr 2015 | Non categorizzato
Photo: Francesco Pecoraro/AP
18 Apr 2015 | Non categorizzato
“It is nearly impossible to put into words what Igino Giordani was for the Focolare Movement. He was a co-founder of the Movement. Being co-founder of a Work that the Church recognises as its own involves a multiple and complex activity of grace, true and varied impulses from the Holy Spirit, as well as actions on the part of the individual that are determining for the Work. These graces often come in the form of penetrating and prolonged suffering, often as light, graces and love that are not ordinary. It is better left to the history of the Church and the spiritual movements that embellish it through the centuries, to speak about such people.
A focolarino prays, works, and suffers in order to reach a goal: the perfection of love. Therefore, we feel it is our duty to confirm that Giordani reached this goal. In our judgement he reached the perfection of love.
He personified the name by which he was known in the Movement: “Fire” (Foco), that is, love towards God and towards neighbour, the supernatural and natural love which lies at the roots and is the summit of Christian life. He contributed in a unique way to keeping alive in our midst the reality of the Word of Life given to him when he entered the Movement: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Those who knew Igino Giordani well are all in agreement that he had lived the Beatitudes. Exceptionally ‘pure of heart,’ he offered married people from around the world the possibility of a unique consecration to God while remaining in the matrimonial state, through spiritual virginity, the effect of burning charity. This purity refined and heightened his holiest sentiments.
He was ‘poor in spirit’ with complete detachment from his possessions, but above all from himself. He was full of mercy. In his company even the most miserable sinner felt forgiven, and the poorest pauper felt like a king. One of the most remarkable characteristics was that of being a ‘peacemaker,’ especially in his life as a politician.
He came to possess that meekness that leads to possessing the earth. He won over everyone who drew near to him. Everyone felt at ease with him, even the young were able to establish a relationship with him. Especially during his last years he seemed to radiate something supernatural when he spoke.
He “hungered and thirsted for justice” and fought for it all his life. Almost immediately he was persecuted for the sake of God’s name. So many sentences of the Gospel make us think of him.
From Giordani one learns the significance of that conversion which Jesus asks for when he says that we must become like little children. He was a fine Christian apologist and apostle. When it seemed to him that he had found a font of clear water flowing from the Church, he “sold everything’ to follow Jesus and to satisfy his thirst with that water.
He suffered because of the marginalization of the laity, and he aspired with that big heart of his to bring down the dividing walls between the people living in the state of perfection and the others – whom he would jokingly add – were living in the state of imperfection. In other words, he was very sensitive to the signs of the times; indeed, he himself was a sign of the times, of these times in which the Holy Spirit calls the entire People of God to holiness.”
(Taken from: Chiara Lubich, Igino Giordani focolarino, «Città Nuova»n. 9-10 – May 1980)
16 Apr 2015 | Non categorizzato
In carrying out his extraordinary mission, the Apostle Paul conducted his life in a particular way: he strove to become all things to all people. In fact, he tried to understand everyone, enter into the mentality of each person: to be a Jew with the Jews, and with the non-Jews – those without a law revealed by God – to be as one without the law.
Paul followed the Jewish customs whenever this served to remove barriers or to reconcile souls; but when he worked in the Gre¬ek-Roman world, he adopted the culture and way of life of that world. He wrote:
“To the weak I became weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some”
He saw before him the unlimited horizon of freedom from sin, from death, from the law, from the reign of Satan, from the barriers imposed by nationality, class and sex, from every form of domination by others, from the taboos of food and customs, and so on.
Paul himself lived this freedom, and with the Gospel he offered it to the communities he founded.
And yet in the liberating reality of Christianity that he announced, Paul recognized the need – or rather, the imperative – to become the slave of someone: of his brothers and sisters, of each neighbor.
He understood this essential duty from the example of Christ, who let himself be crucified in order to reach every person whatever his or her situation, in order to become the servant of everyone.
By becoming man, God drew close to every human being, but on the cross, he proved his solidarity with each of us sinners, with our weaknesses, our sufferings, our anguish, our ignorance, our questions, our burdens, our moments of feeling abandoned.
Paul, too, wanted to live this way, and he declared:
“To the weak I became weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some”
The purpose of your life and of each new day is to reach God – and not alone, but with your brothers and sisters. In fact, you also, as a Christian, have received a call from God similar to the one received by Paul. Like the Apostle, you too must “save” someone, must “save some at any cost.”
There are those who are next to you all day long, and those you meet on the street; those with whom you speak on the phone, and those for whom you work. They may be rich or poor, men or women, fellow citizens or foreigners.
Love them all.
But this time, prefer the weakest. Make yourself weak with those who are weak in order to save them. Reach out to those who are weak in faith, indifferent or far from God, to those who profess to be atheists or who belittle religion.
If you make yourself one with them, even in their “weaknesses,” you will find that Paul’s apostolic method always works: you will conquer them!
Do you have a spouse who does not like the Church at all, and who enjoys spending hours watch¬ing TV? Keep him or her company whenever you can, as much as you can, taking a lively interest in what he or she likes to watch most.
Do you have a son who has made sports the center of his life, so much so that he is not interested in anything else, and has even forgotten how to pray? Be¬come a more avid sports fan than he is himself.
Do you have friends who love to travel, to read, to study and who have thrown to the wind all religious principles? Try to understand them by understanding their preferences and their needs and if you can, help them to find what they are seeking.
Make yourself one – with everyone, in everything, as much as you can, except in sin. In the case of anything sinful, dissociate yourself.
You will see that making yourself one with your neighbors is not time lost; it is all time gained.
One day, in the not-too-distant future, they will want to know what interests you.
And then, gratefully, they will discover, adore and love that God who has been the impetus for your Chris¬tian behavior.
Chiara Lubich
Audio in italian
Source: www.centrochiaralubich.org
16 Apr 2015 | Non categorizzato
Antonette, a young woman who volunteers for an NGO, in a village named Rosanda
More days of quarantine in Sierra Leone. From March 27-29 several regions of the capital Freetown and other points in the north of the country were once again isolated, following more registered cases of Ebola in previous days. Trained groups went house to house in the most at risk areas, educating and identifying the infected and possibly infected people.
“There was hope of arriving at zero cases by the end of February,” writes Father Carlo from Sierra Leone, “The schools were ready to open, but that was then postponed to the middle of April. So there is uncertainty, the people want to begin normal life, but the virus is still lurking.”
“At the beginning of the epidemic I was in Makeni for my studies,” says Antonette, a young woman who volunteers for an NGO. “The crisis appeared serious from the start, and that’s how I thought of returning to my home town where I would be safe from the virus. But then I decided to stay on as a volunteer helping the people who were infected. I was assigned to a village named Rosanda,” where there are 54 registered cases and 42 deceased. “It was sad during that first period. Around 15 people died every day. I had to inform the families and, even though I tried to put as much love into it as I could, it wasn’t an easy experience. Two children continued to ask me when their parents would return. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them the truth. I tried my best to console them with my presence and some small gifts.” “Every day, for one month, I went all the way to that village,” Antonette continues, “learning to expand my heart to those who were in need, even if they were not members of my family or circle of friends. Now Rosanda has finished its 21 days of quarantine. There have been no new cases and I am thankful to God that I was able to be an instrument of His love which I received each day in the Eucharist, for all those people.
Like Antonette others have also given of themselves to fight this great cause of so much suffering and pain. Families have adopted children who were left orphaned, priests and religious held nothing back. Amongst these is Father Peter who worked in several villages. Thanks to his stormy intervention it was possible to block the contagion and reduce the number of victims.
His story is connected to Small Bumbuna, a village in the Diocese of Makeni, 200 miles from Kailahum where the epidemic began. “The illness spread like the fire in dry season, in Sierra Leone. With the first victims we thought of cholera, evil spirits or other superstitions. The response from the medical team was slow: it took weeks to confirm that we were dealing with Ebola. We would have wanted to visit the people from our parish in another village, but the fear was too strong. The district medical team was not able to monitor the situation and send supplies. It was difficult to access roads.” Faced with so many difficulties, Father Peter, followed by his parishioners, made: “a radical decision that brought us face to face with the Ebola,” he recounts. “We found the city deserted when we arrived. The village chief described the terrible situation. The loss of hope was clear on his face, along with impossibility of doing anything.” From there we stepped into non-stop action that involved the highest levels of authority. Father Peter was invited as “guide” to deal with the population, explaining how to stem the spreading and allow themselves to receive medical treatment. “I took on these risks,” Father Peter concluded, “because these people are my community. How could I desert them in such a moment of painful suffering? This question helped me to identify with them, to bring the problem before the authorities, and to offer myself as a guide. I learned that nothing is too small to be offered, nor too heavy to be taken up. Let us continue to pray that the epidemic may be totally eradicated and we can return to normal life.” In the course of two weeks, the danger came under control and people were able to return to their farming activities.
