In the footsteps of St Francis
In the eartly Paradise, God conversed with man: the father who dialogues with the son. Sin cut off the dialogue. To restore it, speech (the Word) came into the world and was made flesh: he became the mediator between men and God, and, through Him, dialogue was restored.
He gave rise to a new order, the law of which was love. And love is primarily expressed through words: love is not a monologue, it is dialogue: it does not close up within itself, but seeks the other and serves him.
(…) Christ breaks through all the barriers and restores contact with all. He talks also with lost women, also with thieves, forgives the crucifiers (…) he has come for the sinners, not for the just, that do not exist. Saint Paul, changed from a Pharisee to a Christian, risks being killed by his ex party companions, because he talks with the impure, with pagans; those pagans, with whom the zelot israelis did not talk, and from whom he was about to draw the big Church. For him, there were no jews, no greeks, no servants, no masters, no men, no women: but souls, all sons of God.
(…) Already in the second century ,there was a powerful push towards the evangelisation of the world, and therefore to the expansion of christian civilisation, with the dialogue of the greek apologists- Justin at the head-with the pagan thinkers. The former sought in the wisdom of Socrate and Plato and the sages of roman and other race, the seeds of divine Reason, and therefore the elements of solidarity, communion, and equality. Grounds were thus discovered of understanding and they engaged in dialogue,which drew closer gentiles and christians, after they had been further separated by imperial persecutions and teological controversies.
The ills of division and silence came about when religion was stirred up- and mixed- with politics: and so instead of conversing with the moslems, on the example of St. Francis, they battled them losing time, money, souls for generations(…) During all these forms of regression, dialogue was maintained alive by a group of saints.
(…) And dialogue is what, through the push of Pope John XX111 and Paul V1, has drawn closer ortodox and protestants and catholics in a few years, more than the controversies and subtleties, forgetfulness and silence of many centuries.
(…) Religion has no other preclusion but hatred, because it is love. It seeks unity and peace.
Iginio Giordani – Extract from “Ut unum sint”, 1967, n.7, pp.28-30.
They lived a sentence from the Gospel and the novelty, for that time, was that Chiara and her first companions, to help one another and to grow together, told one another of the fruits they had experienced through living the Word. Chiara wrote: ‘The War was still raging. Every time the air-raid siren sounded, all we could take into the shelter with us was one small book: the Gospel. We opened it and the words, even though we already knew them quite well, because of the new charism , were lit up as if they had a candle beneath them, they enflamed our hearts and pushed us to put them into practise straightaway. We were attracted to them all and tried to live them one after another. I read for example; “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 19,19). Our neighbour. Where was our neighbour? There, next to us in the all the people who had been hurt by the War, wounded, without clothes, without houses, hungry and thirsty. We immediately dedicated ourselves to them in many ways. ‘The Gospel assured us: “Ask and you shall receive.” (Mt 7,7). We asked for the needs of the poor – and, extraordinarily for war-time – we received everything we needed from God! One day, and this story is one of the first experiences we had and is often told, a poor person asked us for a pair of shoes size 42. Knowing that Jesus was in the poor person, I turned to the Lord, in the church of St Clare near to a hospital of the same name, with this prayer: “Give me a pair of shoes size 42 for you in that poor person”. I came out and a lady came up and gave me a parcel. I opened it and it was a pair of shoes size 42. ‘We read in the Gospel: “Give and you will be given” (Lk 6,38). We gave and gave and each time we received in return. We had just one apple left in the house. We gave it to the poor person who asked. And we saw the next morning, maybe from a relative, a dozen apples arrive. We gave those to others who were in need, and in the evening a whole suitcases of apples arrived. That’s how it was, all the time. ‘These events, one after the other, amazed and enchanted us. We had great joy and that joy spread. Jesus had promised and still now he keeps His promise. He is not, therefore, a reality of the past, but of the present. And the Gospel is true. This discovery gave wings to our steps on the journey we had just begun. When we explained this to people who were curious about our happiness in such sad and troubled times; they understood that they hadn’t simply found a few girls in a young Movement but Jesus alive.”
Home for the elderly. We were united with a common objective: to love. This was our only desire as we went to work. It was hard work in the middle of the summer heat: cleaning rooms for the elderly, serving at table, brightening up their evenings. But Love was flowing and you could feel it in the air. We were particularly focused on doing things together, not leaving anyone out, and being willing to lose our own ideas when necessary. Everything was done with a smile, and this made it all exceptional. The elderly trusted and encouraged us. When a paper Mache flower that adorned a bedroom wall was not perfect, or a bingo card was missing one of its buttons, everyone was able to turn a blind eye. From our side, here is what Salim from Kenya writes: “I’m happy to be at this home for the elderly. I feel at home because this kind of activity has made me want to be happy. There’s no sadness when we love like this!” Caritas (1-14 August). In order to permit the volunteers of this association to have some holiday time, we offered to bring ahead the many activities that they carry out with such dedication in our region. This time the work consisted of preparing a menu and distributing the meals to the many marginalized people of our city, and discovering their world. It was also surprising for us to discover that every day, in spite of the difficulties, our smiles never disappeared. This was an added gift, aside from the meals that we distributed to the many persons who came each day. 
