Jun 30, 2022 | Non categorizzato
The life of Jesus brings us the wonderful message of God’s mercy, Love that envelops and forgives everything. Building peace means putting it into practice in everyday life, to discover the beauty of a gift that revives people and makes them free. And there was peace My sister had been fighting with a friend for months. I invited her to my house one day to try and help her make peace. Before she arrived, however, I told my granddaughter Sandra, aged eight, about the problem and asked her to help me. She gladly said yes. I went straight to the point with my sister, but there was nothing to be done, she did not intend to forgive. Before leaving, she approached Sandra who was playing, asked her about the school, if she had learned to write: “Yes, if you give me a page, I’ll show you.” She casually wrote something. When my sister read it, she immediately became thoughtful and her eyes filled with tears. Sandra had written this sentence: “To live the art of loving you have to love everyone, be the first to love, love your enemies…” My sister said “I needed her to tell me what I should have done a long time ago!” and immediately she went to make up with her friend. (N.G. – Cameroon) Forgiveness that heals When I was nineteen, my father abandoned us and the pain and resentment of this accompanied me for years. As if to make up for that emptiness, when I got married, Nat and I always tried to keep our family together. Our children absorbed this atmosphere of love to the point that, when my husband was anxious, lost his patience and raised his voice, it was touching to see how the children, not at all frightened, embraced him, almost to appease his agitation. Their tenderness towards their father helped to dissolve the anger I felt towards my father; the wound I still had because of the suffering of that abandonment began to heal. Then one day I strongly felt the urge to forgive my father. I did it deep in my heart, but that wasn’t enough. So I talked to Nat about it, and together we went to find him. We found him and even thought I was shaking, I was able to make peace with him, also on behalf of the others in my family. I will never forget the feeling of serenity and freedom experienced on that occasion. (N.M.A. – Philippines) Laundry I live in a neighbourhood of houses separated from each other only by a wall on which we usually hang out our clothes to dry. One day, realizing that my neighbour’s laundry was already dry, I asked her son to remove it because I had to clothes to dry too. They took offence and started cursing. There were two plants on that wall that I had grown with great care. In the evening I heard a thud. When I went to see what was happening, I realized that my neighbours were dropping the second vase. Inside I felt myself seething with indignation, but the words about the land belonging to the meek came to me so I said to myself: “It doesn’t matter”. When my mother-in-law saw that I was not reacting, she said to me: “Give me the cane, I’m going to teach them a lesson”. I had to persuade her to be patient too. The situation remained tense for some time. Then one day, to our surprise, the neighbour knocked on our door. There was no water in her house and she asked if she could do her washing in our house. It was an opportunity to reconnect and in welcoming it, I realized how much she had changed. (R. – Pakistan)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VIII, n.2, May-June 2022)
Jun 28, 2022 | Non categorizzato
The 10th World Meeting of Families just concluded. “Be the seed of a more fraternal world” was Pope Francis’ mandate to all those families present. “The Church is with you, indeed, the Church is in you!… May the Lord help you every day to remain in unity, peace, joy, and perseverance in difficult moments too.” With these wishes Pope Francis greeted participants at the 10th World Meeting of Families, during the concluding Mass on 25 June in St. Peter’s Square. It was presided over by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. The celebration was preceded by intense days that, touching on various themes, highlighted the witness of so many families from all over the world. They were days that many lived in their own dioceses, creating, as the pope called it, “a sort of immense constellation.” “They were moments full of beauty that touched us deeply, and we were truly able to experience God’s love for us, and for each family in the world,” says Keula, a member of the New Families Movement, an offshoot of the Focolare. She came to Rome with her husband Rogerio from Brazil. Forgiveness, openness to life, accompanying children, the role of the elderly, and hope in providence were just some of the themes discussed during this 10th World Meeting of Families. Held at the close of the Year of Amoris Laetitia Family, it had listening and consultation between family and marriage pastoral workers at its heart, with the goal of developing the theme chosen by the pope this year – “Family love: vocation and way to holiness”. Among the stages of this journey were discussion about the shared responsibility of spouses and priests in the pastoral care of particular churches, the concrete difficulties of families in today’s societies, the preparation of couples for married life, and training the trainers in family pastoral care, which is full of challenges. “We realized these past days how much the family can be a strength for the whole world today,” said Suse and Angelo from Korea. It is a force that must be defended and accompanied, and it can find a welcoming home in the Church and even become its expression. In line with the readings from the liturgy, the pope also spoke of the importance of freedom during his homily in St. Peter’s Square, “one of the most-valued goods sought after by modern and contemporary man.” It takes shape when lived in the family sphere. “All of you spouses, forming your family, with the grace of Christ have made this courageous choice: not to use freedom for yourselves, but to love the people God has placed beside you. Instead of living as ‘islands,’ you have put yourselves ‘at each other’s service.’ “This is how you live freedom in the family! There are no ‘planets’ or ‘satellites’, each traveling in its own orbit. The family is the first place where we learn to love.” It is precisely in service that the family responds to its calling and moves forward on the path of family love, an outgoing love that is “always open, extroverted, capable of touching the weakest… fragile in body and fragile in soul,” continued Pope Francis. “Love, in fact, even family love, is purified and strengthened when it is given.” Keeping our feet firmly planted on the ground, realising the challenges of our time, but with our eyes always fixed on heaven – all this could be found in the missionary mandate to families that the Holy Father read at the end of the celebration. It was a true mandate: the invitation to respond to this call toward holiness and walk together. “Be the seed of a more fraternal world. Be families with big hearts, be the welcoming face of the Church.”
Maria Grazia Berretta
Jun 27, 2022 | Non categorizzato
In October 1946, Chiara Lubich wrote to Sister Josefina and Sister Fidente who were trying to put into practice the spirit of the emerging Movement. This excerpt from the letter captures the enthusiasm and ardour of the early days and spurs us, even today, to put God first in our lives. “God of my soul, my Love, my All, You speak to these two little hearts. Speak with Your Divine Voice. Tell them that You alone are Everything and that YOU LIVE IN THEM! Tell them not to search for you outside of themselves, but to always find you there, in their heart! You know already, Jesus, how much I love them and always want to be with them. … GOD ALONE IS EVERYTHING! And this Truth must be lived out through a burning love for Poverty! When is it that we love You, Lord? When we find You When is it that we can be sure of having found You? When we trust only in You and madly turn our gaze on high and seek only You: God–Our-Father! And now that your Brides are stripped of everything and are convinced that you alone suffice: now speak to their hearts telling them that you also accept (as I also gratefully and joyfully accept) the burning love that I bear them and the heartfelt desire to make of them what my heart would like to be for You! … My little sisters, How much good your life could accomplish, similar as it is to the life of Jesus when He lived and worked and loved in the little house of Nazareth! But don’t you realize that a soul who lives in this way, living life as a couple (Jesus and the soul), does as much as if she were out preaching to the entire universe? Now that you are stripped of your misery, which you will daily give over to God, you are free to love LOVE! He wants to live with you. And there’s nothing He desires more than this life as a couple.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Early Letters: At the origins of a new spirituality New City Press, Hyde Park, New York 2012 pp. 69-70)
Jun 23, 2022 | Non categorizzato
Family love: vocation and way to holiness. This is the theme of the Tenth World Meeting of Families being held in Rome from 22 to 26 June 2022. The voice and witness of several couples from “New Families “, a branch of the Focolare Movement, taking part in the event. 
A moment of celebration and sharing to be embraced by the Church, “family of families” (Al 87) and to feel an integral part of this people on a journey. From 22 to 26 June 2022 Rome will host the Tenth World Meeting of Families, an event initiated by St John Paul II in 1994 and repeated every three years since then in different locations. The meeting, as announced by Pope Francis in a video message, is this year being held in a “multi-centred and widespread” form, responding to the needs dictated by the pandemic and the desire of so many to participate. In fact, many families around the world will be following the event from their respective dioceses, while others will have the joy of experiencing this moment in person. “This is the third time we have participated in the World Meeting of Families and each time we really bring home a load of gifts”.
Istavan and Dori Mezaros (Serbia)
Liliana and Ricardo Galli, Brazil
Joao and Soraia Giovani, Argentina
Maria Grazia Berretta
Jun 22, 2022 | Non categorizzato
“We are commited to verifying the ecological sustainability of our structures and activities … We are dedicated to the creation of greater environmental awareness that will lead to more sustainable lifestyles.” Ecological conversion was one of the goals set by the Focolare Movement in the 2021 General Assembly. In response to this urgent need, the Focolare EcoPlan was initiated. “The Focolare Movement is deeply committed to ecological conversion through concrete actions and by fostering dialogue with all for the protection of our planet,” said Margaret Karram, at the opening of the fifth Halki Summit a few days ago. “Stimulated by our General Assembly at the beginning of 2021, we have decided to take courageous action through the creation of an ecological plan within our communities to bring about change and make our lives and our activities more sustainable.” 
In fact, on 3 June 2022 in Stockholm, acting on behalf of all its communities, the Focolare Movement was able to present its own document – Focolare EcoPlan – which demonstrates its commitment to the environment. The presentation of EcoPlan was motivated by the spirituality that has given life to the Movement. It was officially handed over to Iyad Abu Moghli from Jordan, UNEP Senior Principal Advisor and director of the Faith for Earth Initiative, who said that the EcoPlan is “an ambitious and comprehensive ecological approach.”
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Carlos Mana
https://youtu.be/B9SSOE_yzxk
Jun 21, 2022 | Non categorizzato
On 20 June 2022 a conference was held in Rome on ‘The Identity of Movements and New Communities on the Synodal Path of the Church’ promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University and the Sophia University Institute. Increasing and deepening dialogue between hierarchical and charismatic gifts, between the institutional Church, Movements and New Communities. Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s wish is that these times, characterised by the synodal journey, may bring about a broader awareness of the charisms present in all the ecclesial communities. These words of the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America express the important stage in the conference “The Identity of Movements and New Communities on the Synodal Path of the Church” held yesterday at the Pontifical Lateran University and promoted jointly with the Sophia University Institute. At the centre of highly qualified speeches were the journey and open questions on these new expressions of the Spirit that require up-to-date answers which measure up to a continuously and rapidly changing world. Card. Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, identified four areas of challenge that this journey presents today: dynamic fidelity to the charism, unity, synodality and missionary spirit: “The new perspectives that the Holy Spirit opens up before us always present themselves as challenges, something that does not leave us in peace because the Spirit is dynamism, it is creativity, it is life”.
How, then, is it possible to carry out an updating that has to be done in multiple environments: formation of members, evangelisation activities, activities to help and heal society’s deepest wounds? The variety and complementarity of responses and contributions offered by representatives of the Movements and New Communities provided a panorama on the current status of these ecclesial realities. Margaret Karram, president of the Focolare Movement, stressed how “In these times when the whole Church is moving towards a synodal approach, we are called to take a step further: to walk together, united, not just within our own realities, but together with everyone”. It is only by networking, by being a gift for the Church and humanity that the Movements will also discover their own identity in a new way. Mary Healy, professor of Sacred Scripture (Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, USA) highlighted formation, evangelisation and the primacy of the charismatic dimension as the three main fruits that Movements and New Communities have been bearing since the Second Vatican Council: gifts brought to the Church and humanity, founded on a personal and communitarian encounter with Christ. Speaking about “The Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in the current kairos of the synodal process”, Mons. Piero Coda, theologian and Secretary General of the International Theological Commission and lecturer at Sophia University Institute, highlighted a challenge that is still open: the provisional nature of the configuration of these ecclesial realities with regard to their recognition in the canonical order. The care of the Church in this phase provides a foretaste, in the current dynamic ecclesiological context, to new and more mature arrangements’. The session on “Foundation, Development and Incarnation of the Charism” was then entrusted with providing a representation of the Movements and New Communities. Moysés Louro de Azevedo Filho, Founder and General Moderator of the Shalom Catholic Community, presented the spirit and aims of this ecclesial expression that is “the bearer of a charism summed up in the word spoken by Jesus when he met the disciples in the Upper Room: “Shalom”, towards communitarian holiness”. Daniela Martucci, vice-president of the Comunità Nuovi Orizzonti highlighted the heart of its charism: listening to the cry of Jesus Crucified and forsaken in the poor, the least and the discarded as well as the cry of love of the God-Man who continues to repeat: “love one another as I have loved you”. Iraci Silva Leite emphasised the centrality of the Word of God that guides the experience of the “Fazenda da Esperança”, a Word that “unites us, particularly in our efforts to live love among ourselves and to give those who suffer the presence of Jesus”. Michel-Bernard De Vregille of the Emmanuel Community touched on the theme of crises that ecclesial realities have encountered and continue to encounter: “There is often the risk of wanting to set charism and institution against each other,” he said. “However, the torch of the hierarchical and institutional Church and the torch of the charism are made to meet together and become a bright and beautiful flame illuminating the world with the presence of the Risen Lord”. For the aspect of incarnation, Prof. Luigino Bruni, an economist, focused on the ‘narrative’ challenge of charisms born in a historical period often recounted in ways that are typical of the founding period. “Updating is needed together with the charism,” he said, “without losing touch with the charism’s fundamental core. A new narrative potential will come from the pluralism of languages, from various experiences, from the dialogue between people with different sensitivities: young people and adults, academics and ordinary people, Church and movements, etc.” In the afternoon, work focused on how charisms can and should develop all aspects of the life of members and communities, from the spiritual to the organisational, by including members of different vocations, to formation, to the administration of assets and all forms of responsibility and governance. Prof. Elena Di Bernardo, Professor of Canon Law (Institutum Utriusque luris, Pontifical Lateran University) offered a highly qualified excursus on the relations between theology and canon law, as they have been realised and evolved over time. ‘It must be assumed that the identity in itself of a Movement or ecclesial reality,’ she observed, ‘is fully acquired when all the charismatic aspects constituting it have received adequate juridical configuration’. At the close of the proceedings, the report by Dr Linda Ghisoni, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, entitled “Laity today in the ecclesiology of communion”, highlighted two polarities to which attention must be given: person-institution and praxis-statutes. With regard to the former, she observed that ‘the institution, Movement or new community, will be preserved if its original charism, its proper purposes in which prayer and apostolate are combined, and, above all, will be preserved if the good of the persons who make it up is safeguarded. The latter can never be an alternative to the good of the institution!” Stressing how experience painfully teaches us that whenever the ‘good name’ of the community has been preserved by sacrificing individual persons and their rights, aberrations have been committed that are detrimental to the institution as a whole. He concluded: ‘The person at the centre, always, constitutes an investment in the community or movement. The other polarity instead concerns practice and statutes: if it is true that ‘life undoubtedly anticipates every normative definition’, it is also true that any legalism or demonisation of law must be avoided, which ‘far from being a necessary evil to be endured by drawing up a list of articles, constitutes a path of freedom for all: for all members and for those who are personally called upon to be its guarantors, particularly for those who hold positions of government, at all levels’.
Stefania Tanesini
