![Thousands of people pay homage to Chiara Lubich]()
15 Mar 2008 | Non categorizzato
In a very intense, serene and prayerful atmosphere, thousands of people of all ages continue to pay homage to Chiara Lubich. The funeral parlour is set up in the meeting hall of the Focolare International Centre at Rocca di Papa. Chiara lies in the middle of the hall surrounded by many flowers. Behind her, there is an icon of Mary with the child Jesus, which had been donated to her by Pope John Paul II.
Among the visiting dignitaries, there was Professor Salvatore Valente, Head of the Pneumology Department, who took care of Chiara in the last 30-40 days of her life at the Gemelli Hospital. He said: “During this period, Chiara has endured and borne all sufferings with serenity and cooperative attitude that was really moving. Usually, suffering is for many people just a painful burden. Instead, for her it was different: she maintained all the while a serene gaze that struck me very much, right up till the moment of her passing away.”
Cardinal. Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity came to Rocca di Papa: “I have had several meetings with Chiara: the latest one was during the Christmas festivities. However, every meeting with her has been an event in my life that has left a very deep impression. Her enthusiasm for the things of God has been contagious to every person she came in contact with.” The cardinal wrote a message to her spiritual children: “carry on the flame of her charisma with great courage: it is an event in the Church, which is not about to finish, rather, it has just begun.” The Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council, Guzmán Carriquiry, has also paid a visit to her personally.
Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio expressed with the following words both, his personal impression as well as the one of his community: “Chiara has taught me the dignity of the charisma, its value, which is the most precious thing we have” and added “Chiara belongs to everyone: she belongs to the Church and to the faithful of other Religions. Chiara belongs to the world, because she belongs to Jesus. Now that she is silent we must learn to listen to her more closely and we can do this only if we are united among ourselves.”
Salvatore Martinez, national coordinator of the Renewal in the Spirit said: “Chiara’s legacy is a legacy of love. This love is marked by a spiritual motherhood to which all of us lay people are grateful.” He dwelt further on Chiara’s testimony “who did not hesitate in front of secularization and of cultural, ideological and religious challenges of today’s society.”
Brother Alois, Prior of the Community of Taizé, successor of Frer Roger, together with two brothers also paused in prayer before Chiara. “At Taizé – Fr. Alois said – we give thanks to God for Chiara’s life. She has been a light for us and this light will remain among us.” He recalled “the great esteem and the great love that Fr. Roger had for Chiara.”
In the meantime messages from political and religious dignitaries keep on coming from all over the world:
The President of Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano defines Chiara Lubich as “one of the most representative figures in the inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue. She has been a powerful and clear voice in the contemporary debate. She succeeded to found – he wrote – one of the most widely spread Movements in the world, capable of confronting with an open spirit the secular world on the basis of the supremacy of human ideals of solidarity, justice and peace among peoples and nations.”
The telegram signed by the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Bagnasco and Secretary General, Msgr. Betori, speaks of Chiara’s experience as “an experience of communion which has enriched the life of the Church in Italy and in the world.” It also recalls “with gratitude her testimony’s particular strength that proposes a journey of faith founded on the principle of unity. This unity has been a source of life itineraries marked by the fullness of joy in the Church and in the world.”
Many are the testimonies coming from the founders and presidents of Movements with whom Chiara had been invited by John Paul II in 1998 to foster a spiritual communion among themselves. We would mention just two:
The community of Fr. Benzi in the words of his successor, Paul Ramonda, expresses gratitude “for the love to other movements, associations and new communities of which Chiara was a tireless leader in communion.”
Fr. Julian Carron, Fr. Giussani’s successor as head of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, in a letter “recalls the long years of friendship with Don Giussani.” He speaks of her charisma “born to give life to the Christian event as a light that gives hope.”
14 Mar 2008 | Non categorizzato
“May they all be one” If you have had the adventure of travelling to the Holy Land in springtime, among the thousands of things that Jerusalem offers for your contemplation and meditation, there is one that strikes you in a unique way because of what it recalls in its utter simplicity. Having endured in time and cleansed by the inclement weather of two thousand years, a long stone stairway, dotted with bright red poppies – red like the blood of the Passion – unfolds almost like a crinkled ribbon, descending down limpid and solemn towards the Kidron Valley. Bare and in the open, with grass growing along its edges, one has the impression that no temple dome could replace the heavens that crown it. Jesus descended those steps – tradition recounts – on that last night, after the last supper, and “raising his eyes to heaven” filled with stars, he prayed: “Father, the hour has come….”. It is moving to place your feet where the feet of a God once stepped; your whole soul is mirrored in your eyes as you gaze on the heavenly vault looked upon by the eyes of a God. And you may be so struck that this meditation nails you in adoration. His was a unique prayer before dying. And the more God, this “Son of man” whom you adore, shines forth, the more you feel that he is man and you fall in love with him. His is a discourse which only the Father fully understood, and yet he prayed aloud, perhaps so that such a melodious echo would ring out to us. 1943. We do not know why, but it is certain that the first focolarine, gathered together in search of the love of God, read that passage almost every evening by the light of a candle – because often there was no electricity. It was the magna charta of a Christian. Those words, unfamiliar to them, shone forth like the sun in the night: the night of a time of war. For three years Jesus had often spoken to the throngs: he had pronounced Heavenly words, sowed among the hard-headed, announced a program of peace, but had offered his divine patrimony almost adapting it to the minds of his followers, and his parables bear witness to this. But now that he is not speaking to the earth, and his voice is directed to the Father, he no longer seems to hold back his ardour. That Man, who is God, is splendid as he pours out – like a flowing fountain of Eternal Life – Water that engulfs the soul of a Christian lost in him, in the boundless seas of the blessed Trinity. And that farewell discourse appeared to be beautiful like him: To be one as Jesus is one with the Father: but what did it mean? We didn’t understand very much, but we understood that it had to be something great. This is why one day we gathered around an altar, united in the name of Jesus, and we asked him to teach us to live this truth. He knew what it meant and he alone could disclose the secret to accomplishing it. “But now I am coming to you… so that they may share my joy completely.” Hadn’t we experienced a new joy in that brief experience of unity that we had lived? Was Jesus speaking perhaps of that? It is certain that a Christian must be clothed with joy, and Someone within us made us understand that for those who follow Christ, joy is a duty, because God loves a cheerful giver. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.” This life – at least for us – was fascinating and new: to live in the world, which everyone knows is in antithesis to God, and to live there for God in a heavenly adventure…. “Consecrate them in the truth. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one.” What kind of Christianity had we lived before, if we had passed each other with indifference, if not with contempt and judgement, when our destiny was to be fused in that unity invoked by Christ? With these words, it seemed to us that Jesus was throwing down a rope to us from heaven to tie us dispersed members in unity – through him – with the Father, and in unity among us. And the mystical Body was revealed to us in all of its reality, truth and beauty. “As you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.” As Jesus is one with the Father, so each one of us would have had to be one with Jesus and, consequently, one with the others: it was a way of living we had barely thought of before: a way of living “according to the Trinity”…. “So that the world may believe that you sent me.” The conversion of the world around us would have come as the consequence of our unity. This perhaps explains why, from the very dawning of the Movement, many people returned to God without our trying to convert them, but only by trying to keep unity among us and to love them in Christ. “I have given them the glory you gave me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me….” People would have believed in Christ if we were perfect in unity. Therefore, we had to perfect ourselves in this life. We would have to put aside everything for unity. 1943 was also the year of the Mystici Corporis: Christ in Pope Pius XII echoed His Testament. Could it be that Jesus, who lives in his Head and in his Body, urged us also to emphasize the need for unity and to give this gift to many? Unity, unity, all one! In times in which the fundamental idea of Christ was becoming deformed and depleted into the cornerstone of the atheist revolution, God wished perhaps to underline it for us in the Gospel. We do not know. We know only that the Focolare Movement had that unmistakable stamp and that nothing has more value for us than unity: – because it is the subject of the Testament of the One we want to love above all things; – because from the experience lived so far, it is very rich and very fruitful for the Kingdom of God, for his Church. “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.” After saying these things Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley…. Published by “Città Nuova”, 15 December 1959
13 Mar 2008 | Non categorizzato
Today, 14 March 2008, at 2 o’clock, Chiara Lubich at 88 years of age, has concluded her earthly journey in a serene and sacred atmosphere. She passed away in her home at Rocca di Papa (Rome), where she had returned after having been discharged from the Gemelli hospital the night before. This had been her desire during the last days of hospitalization. All day long, in the concluding hours of her life, hundreds of people – relatives, close collaborators and her spiritual sons and daughters – paid their last farewell in her room, and then stopped for a moment of meditation in the adjacent chapel. It was a constant and spontaneous prayerful procession. Afterwards, they lingered on around her house in recollection. Some of these people Chiara was able to recognize despite her extreme weakness. There is now an incoming flow of messages from all over the world expressing participation and sharing on behalf of religious, political, academic and civil leaders. These messages of love and unity are coming especially from her many spiritual children present in all continents.
12 Mar 2008 | Non categorizzato
For a few days already, Chiara Lubich had expressed her desire to “return home”. This decision was taken yesterday evening. She has returned to her home at Rocca di Papa after being discharged from the Gemelli Hospital where she had developed serious respiratory problems. Professor Salvatore Valente, Head of the Pneumology Department of the University Hospital has declared: “In accordance with Chiara’s expressed desire, she has been discharged home.” He assures: “She will continue receiving all the necessary medication including the respiratory support. Unfortunately – he adds – her present condition shows no response to the treatment.” Up until yesterday afternoon, Chiara was able to be informed by her personal secretary, Eli Folonari, on all her incoming correspondence. This morning, Chiara wanted to greet the focolarine and focolarini who had started the Movement with her. She continues to inspire great serenity. Two days ago, she confided that she felt Mary’s spiritual presence near her. Chiara has lived all her life in profound communion with Mary. The Opera which she has founded is in fact called Work (Opera) of Mary, the name by which the Focolare Movement has been approved by the Church. These last few days have been characterized by an intense unity and constant prayer throughout the Movement spread all over the world. Andrea Riccardi and Salvatore Martinez have assured of their respective prayers from the St. Egidio’s Community and the Renewal in the Spirit.
28 Feb 2008 | Non categorizzato, Word of
These wonderful words of Jesus can be repeated, in a sense, by every Christian and, if put into practice, they are capable of leading him or her far ahead in the Holy Journey of life.
Jesus, seated at Jacob’s well in Samaria, was concluding his conversation with the Samaritan woman. The disciples, having returned from the near-by city where they had gone for supplies, were surprised to find the Master speaking with a woman, but none of them asked him why. When the Samaritan woman left, they urged him to eat. Jesus intuited their thoughts and explained the reason behind his actions: “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
The disciples didn’t understand: they were thinking of material food and they asked one another if someone had brought food to the Master during their absence. So then Jesus said openly:
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.”
We need food every day to keep us alive. Jesus does not deny this. In fact, he is speaking here of food, something natural and necessary, but he does so in order to affirm the existence and need for another kind of food, a food that is more important and that he cannot do without.
Jesus came down from heaven in order “to do the will of the one who sent [him] and to finish his work.” He did not have thoughts or an agenda of his own, but only those of his Father. The words he spoke and works he did were those of the Father; he didn’t do his own will but that “of the one who sent” him. This was the life of Jesus. Doing this satisfied his hunger; doing this nourished him.
Complete adherence to the Father’s will was characteristic of his whole life, right up to his death on the cross, where he truly finished the work that the Father had entrusted to him.
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.”
Jesus considered doing the will of the Father as his food, because by carrying it out, “assimilating it,” “eating it,” identifying with it, he received Life.
And what was the will of the Father, his work, that Jesus had to finish?
It was to give salvation to all people, to give them the Life that does not die.
Shortly before, Jesus had communicated a seed of this Life to the Samaritan woman through his conversation with her and through his love. In fact, the disciples soon saw this Life spring forth and go out to others because the richness the Samaritan woman had discovered and received she communicated to other Samaritans: “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” (Jn 4:29).
In speaking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus revealed the plan of God who is Father: that all people receive the gift of his life. This is the work that Jesus urgently wanted to finish, in order to entrust it then to his disciples, to the Church.
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.”
Can we also live this sentence of the Gospel which is so typical of Jesus that it reflects his being, his mission, his zeal in an altogether special way?
Certainly! We also will have to live out our being sons and daughters of the Father through the Life that Christ shared with us, and in this way nourish our lives by doing his will.
We can do so by carrying out moment by moment what he wants from us, accomplishing it in a perfect way, as if we had nothing else to do. In fact, God wants nothing else.
Let us feed on what God wants from us moment after moment and we will experience that it satisfies us: it gives us peace, joy, happiness, it gives us—it’s no exaggeration to say—a foretaste of heaven.
In this way, even we can cooperate with Jesus, day by day, in finishing the work of the Father.
It will be the best way to live Easter.
Chiara Lubich
28 Feb 2008 | Non categorizzato
The gospel message can become a “transforming and humanizing force in crisis situations”. This was the witness of Bishops at the world-wide meeting at the Centro Mariapoli, Rocca di Papa, from Sunday February 24 until Friday February 29. Around 90 bishops and cardinals from 42 different countries took part in the thirty second international meeting of Bishops, Friends of the Focolare Movement, which had as its theme, “The Word is alive: people, environments and structures are transformed”. Last Wednesday, a widely representative group of Bishops spoke at a press conference at the headquarters of the Italian Press Association. In the words of Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, Archbishop of Florence, “we have seen in the many testimonies how the Word renews family life, young people, parishes, with a deep renewal in communion.” “We have been strengthened in our conviction that the witness of the Word of God, listened to, lived and incarnated in life, and the sharing of experiences based on the Word, is a very important method of evangelisation today.” “People do not want merely to hear about Jesus, they want to see him”, as John Paul II wrote in Novo Millennio Ineunte, “and the movements, in a way, enable people to see him, to come into contact with the presence of the Lord, and the power of his Word that creates new life”. The contribution of Mons Alberto Taveira Correa, Archbishop of Palmas (Brazil) emphasised the importance of dialogue and the sects, stressing that this, “requires a dual commitment: to form individual Christians in the life of the Gospel, and to build relationships with the people who belong to these groups, trying to start a dialogue”. The emeritus bishop of Bamenda (Cameroon), Mons Paul Verzekov, witnessed to the commitment of the Church in difficult reconciliation processes, where “in four countries (Togo, Benin, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo), at the request of the people, and with the approval of the Holy See, the national commissions for mediation and reconciliation are presided over by Catholic bishops, with no threat to the government’s role”. He mentioned the peacemaking actions of movements and communities, like the community of Saint Egidio in Mozambique, and the actions of the Focolare Movement throughout the continent, thanks to “their commitment to live the Gospel in daily life”. As an example he spoke about the huge evangelising action of the tribal chiefs in Fontem and other villages, the involvement of the people, and the fruits of reconciliation and peaceful life together that are evident in these parts of his country. Speaking about the serious political and religious situation in Lebanon, the Maronite bishop of Baalbek, Simon Atallah, said that “while previously young people believed that armed struggle was the only hope for our country, now both Christians and Muslims are finding strength above all in religion. They have seen that there is hope neither in arms nor in politics.”. “It is important”, he said, “to read events, with the people, in the light of the Word, and find in religion love for others, rather than hatred”. Then he spoke of the rediscovery of the Gospel and the Koran, of meetings of young people from both religions, and mentioned the “Expectations of youth” movement that brings Christians and Muslims together in gatherings of over 1000. “They read the words of the Gospel and the Koran about solidarity, fraternity, and love for others.” The Archbishop of Delhi, Mons Vincent Michael Concessao, spoke about the increasing persecution of Christians in India, particularly in Orissa, stating, “we must blame not the Hindus, but the violent factions that are present in all religions. Unfortunately the political parties are using religion and these groups for their own purposes”. “This is an obstacle to conversions, because people believe they result from force or from bribery”, he went on. ”We have discussed this problem in the Bishop’s conference and are studying how to respond”. “In this context, the participation in this meeting of Bishops has strengthened me in my belief that love is the answer to everything, it is the most powerful force, because it is a sharing in the life itself of God, which is love”. And “these atrocities committed against Christians are a new opportunity to witness Christian love, love for our enemies.” Cardinal Vlk, Arhbishop of Prague and moderator of the meeting, also spoke about hope. “For me, these meetings are a reinforcement of hope, they open up a world-wide vision where we can already glimpse the things spoken about in the book of Revelation, “Behold, I make all things new. The shoots are already appearing, can you not see them?” The Cardinal testified to this hope, by speaking of the years after 1952, when after secondary school all roads were closed to him because he did not belong to the Communist party. He was given light by the Word, “Submit to the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in good time”. After that, many doors opened for him. “The word of God is always fulfilled. This is my great hope, it is a certainty that has been with me all my life”, he concluded. (ZENIT February 28, 2008)
