Where Chiara’s Beauty Lies

16 Jul 2012 | Non categorizzato

“Where does Chiara’s beauty lie? It lies in the simplicity with which she lived the Gospel. She took the Gospel literally and lived it. It’s all here. Because, as St. Paul told to the Greeks, Christianity is not found in a culture, but in life, in a few laws of life that are very simple. I’m always very struck by Chiara’s union with God.

I’ve never seen anything like it. She lives with God in each moment, no matter what she says, no matter what she’s doing, wherever she is. She’s managed to achieve that for which we have all been called, that is, to recuperate our unity with God, unity that has been broken by Original Sin.

She is a human creature in whom, whatever she says, whatever she does is in complete harmony with the will of God. Therefore, I can recall how we used to take hikes in the forests during the first Mariapolises. She would pluck a flower and offer the most beautiful interpretation of the blossom, more sublime than you could ever imagine, because she was able to see the work of God: why had God made that corolla, why God had made those petals, why God had made nature in that way, why God had made human beings in that way. . . She searched everywhere for this presence of God’s love.”

Igino Giordani, Loppiano 3 July 1974

Chiara Lubich: Health, Sport and Recreation

15 Jul 2012 | Non categorizzato

The new book, published by Città Nuova, contains an interview with Eli Folonari who was at Chiara Lubich’s side for more than fifty years. Eli discusses several parts of Chiara’s life, many of which were unknown to most people. Here are some excerpts.

What value did Chiara give to health, sport and recreation?

She always had a very busy life and not devoid of problems, because her spirituality was new even for the Church. And such an active and intense spiritual life couldn’t but have an affect on the physical. Through her own personal experience, she could see that health and well-being – this great gift given to us by God – should be safeguarded; the body needs rest, fun, relaxation. She encouraged everyone to eat properly, to sleep sufficiently, to look after their health.

Sometimes she would interrupt her work and say: “Let’s go take a short walk in the garden, for fifteen minutes, or for a half hour.” Then she would return to work.   

Did she like the mountains better than the sea?

Yes, even though at times, when we were in Rome, we would go to Torvanianica, Ostia, and Fregene. She didn’t find the seaside very relaxing. But one day – I think it was in Rimini – she observed: “The sea gives a sense of the infinite, whereas the mountains are restricting.” “But,” she went on, “they lift your spirits high.” So she did prefer the mountains. She often recalled the times she had climbed to the foot of Mount Paganella with her father, or when, once out of Trent, she and her first companions would stop under a pine tree on the slopes and have long conversations. 

Did she like walking?

She used to walk more than any of us, initially even very long walks. The she suffered from a disc hernia in 1973, because while taking a shortcut, she fell along a path that was too rugged and steep.

What about swimming?

No, she wasn’t one for the water, being a good Trentina. Although, during the vacations in Switzerland, the beautiful long boat rides on Lake Geneva or Lake Brienz were occasions to share beautiful things with her companions!

Did she find car trips restful?

Yes, she found them quite relaxing. But usually in the car she would be writing or working on something.

How did she relax in her daily life?

Occasionally she would listen to music or read a book. She rather preferred to watch films on TV, and not only religious films, but also murder mysteries! Sometimes she would follow sporting events. She didn’t cheer for a particular team, but she was always able to tell who was playing well and who wasn’t.

Did she ever organize any recreational activities?

Yes, since her life was so busy, she liked to invite her closest collaborators to spend some relaxing moments with her, which often turned out to be also quite demanding! She would say: “A few people are coming over for lunch and we need to entertain them for about two hours: try to put something together.” Someone would think up some jokes to tell whereas I would be looking through reports to see if I could find some amusing little anecdotes that could be shared…

Did she have a favorite dish?

She liked ham and she liked spaghetti. She didn’t care for meat or fish or for very elaborate dishes. She preferred simple things like potatoes. Her mother would tell us that when Chiara was still a toddler barely able to talk, she could already say “po-ta-to”. She also welcomed ice-cream.

In her diary we detect that from when she was still very young, Chiara always had the idea of death in mind. And this urged her to live more intensely the moment given to her as a preparation for the next life.

Yes, she lived it intensely. In all of her early letters we find the same recurring theme: everything passes away, life is short and we have little time. Chiara wrote to her mother: “Should I die, you must take ahead my Ideal.”

Taken from: “Lo spartito scritto in cielo. Cinquant’anni con Chiara Lubich”, Giulia Eli Folonari, Città Nuova, 2012.

Photos: © Chiara Lubich Centre (Photographic Archives)

Two Women and Two Castles

5 Jul 2012 | Non categorizzato

“Two women, on closer acquaintance, prove to be in special harmony with the objective of reform of Benedict XVI – who is more convinced than ever that everything, both in the Church and in society, must start afresh from God as the best guarantee for surmounting the present cultural, economic and religious crisis. They are Teresa of Avila and Chiara Lubich. In different epochs they both devoted their lives to this common ideal and contributed with their writings to a more genuine understanding of Christian life. Both these women found a wide audience in the Catholic Church. Keeping them in mind today, when people are becoming aware of the urgent need to make the faith reach people’s hearts, is particularly helpful.

Among other things, their timeliness stems from their both being champions of a spiritual renewal which originated in the climate of two important reforming Councils: Teresa, following in the tracks of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) in the century of the Renaissance; and Chiara, whose intention was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), in the mid-20th century. In the wake of these Councils the holy Carmelite and the foundress of the Focolare Movement founded experiences of Christian life that have been beneficial to large numbers of faithful and to the entire Church.

The most reliable teachers of spirituality converge increasingly in recognizing both the timeliness of Teresa’s and Chiara’s thought and the complementarity of the ways they suggest for the imitation of Christ and the sanctification of daily life. The force of this thinking consists in faith lived for love and with boundless love for God and for our neighbour, the only truly effective sign if the Gospel is to be credible in the eyes of our contemporaries.

For the discovery of this spiritual affinity between Teresa and Chiara we are indebted in particular to Fr Jesús Castellano Cervera, a Carmelite. He died at the beginning of the Pontificate of Benedict XVI, the Pope-theologian driven by an equal passion for the primacy of God’s love in the Church. It should now be no mystery that in his reforming action the Pope insistently asks the Catholic Church to let herself be guided and shaped by love, as embodied in Jesus, to restore efficacy to the work of evangelization.

Teresa, as is well known, is famous for her The Interior Castle, the work considered a classical path to personal sanctification. Chiara responded to the signs of our time, adding to Teresa’s platform her own spirituality of the exterior castle, that is, of holiness sought in a community form as Church: two women, two castles; not in opposition but complementary.”

(Source: Osservatore Romano, 04/07 2012)

Full text: A Spirituality That Is Always Current  by Bruno Moriconi

Athenagoras I and Chiara Lubich

4 Jul 2012 | Non categorizzato

The Focolare Movement remembers Patriarch Athenagoras I with special gratitude because of privileged rapport he had with Chiara Lubich, whom he met twenty five times. On the fortieth anniversary of his passing, the Movement held ceremonies in Istanbul to remember him – during which His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I welcomed a numerous delegation of Focolare members – and in Padua, Italy where the Metropolitan of Italy and Malta, Gennadios, welcomed the participants with a written message. On 13 January 1972 Chiara Lubich had written in the Italian newpaper, Avvenire: “Athenagoras could be called the prototype of the Eastern Church and looking at him as one of the highest current examples of Christian leadership, he could also be seen as a symbol for all Christianity suffering for the centuries of divisions by which it has been transfixed: and he was anxious for its complete unification. He is one of the leading figures of the time, already part of the story of the Church (. . .). It was this common interest that spurred him to call me one day to Istanbul, having come to know that I worked together with the Focolare Movement for ecumenism. It was 13 June 1967. He welcomed me like someone he had always known. ‘’I’ve been waiting for you!’ he exclaimed, and he wanted me to tell him about the Movement’s contacts with Lutherans and Anglicans. ‘It’s such a great thing to know one another,’ he remarked, ‘we’ve lived isolated, without having any brothers, without having any sisters, and for so many centuries, like orphans! The first ten centuries of Christianity were for the dogmas and for the ordering of the Church. In the following centuries we had schisms: the divisions. The third era, the present one, is the era of love.’ He asked me to keep in touch with him. I recall that I wasn’t so struck by his words at that first meeting as I was by his figure and the supernatural atmosphere that surrounded him, which many have noticed. And above all, his heart: such a great heart, so deeply human that it made me ask myself how many other such people I had ever met in my life who were like that (. . .)”

Genfest 2012: Are you ready to go?

3 Jul 2012 | Non categorizzato

Máté

Paola

Leandro

The Genfest 2012 project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.