14 Sep 2006 | Non categorizzato
The new way of life and thought that are emerging in the fields of economy, law, communication and politics will be presented during this open day, held at Budapest. This life is first of all rooted in God, in the radicality of the Gospel, lived in everyday life by thousands of people, who come from different cultural backgrounds and who have encountered the charism of unity of the Focolare Movement. In the forefront, there are the “volunteers of God”, members of a branch of the Focolare Movement, who commit themselves to live for the renewal of society. Their two days meeting on the 14th and 15th of September, with the title “50 years at the service of humanity”, has begun in a very festive mood. 9000 volunteers from all over the world are gathered in the most modern Sports Arena of the capital city of Budapest, and they want to go back to the roots of their history and to re-launch their commitment to live for the renewal of society. Budapest 1956 – Their stems are rooted in a dramatic historical moment, that has been emotionally relived during the opening of this meeting: it was November 1956 when the invasion of the Russian troops suppressed the freedom of the Hungarian people. In the Sports Arena there resounded the voice of Pope Pius XII who, at that time, launched an appeal in a radio message. 
He appealed that the name of God, “the source of law, justice and freedom, to be brought back to our parliaments, our homes, our offices”. Those present were also reminded of what Chiara Lubich said to start the adventure of the volunteers: “There is a society capable of putting aside the name of God, (. . .) of eredicating it from the hearts of men. So there must be a society who is able to give Him his place. There must be authentic disciples of Jesus, an army of volunteers, because love is free”. Budapest 2006 – In her message, while speaking of these beginnings, Chiara Lubich traced the identikit of the volunteer today. And one could see that what she said was in perfect harmony with what Pope Benedict XVI said during his very recent visit to Munich, when he spoke about the challenges of this present historical moment, which more than ever needs God. He said that God should “determine our own will and in this way reign in the world”; “justice and love may become the decisive forces affecting our world”. Chiara reminded everyone of the goal proposed by herself 50 years ago, when she said: “Let there be a block of people of all ages, of all races, from all walks of life, who are bound together by the most powerful bond that can exist: reciprocal love, love that unites Christians in a divine way”. This still holds today “in our disturbed societies and yet full of yearnings and potentialities”. While claiming that being lay people, the volunteers live “the normality of family, work and social life”, Chiara underlines the “totality, the freedom and the essentiality” of their vocation, which calls them “to imitate the first Christians” today, in the 21st century and “to be like the leaven in the bread, building ‘new heavens and new earth’, renewed by the light of the Gospel”. Then, all the important stages of the life story of the volunteers and of their specific vocation were traced. They were reminded of the very first signs that date back to the 40’s, when the Movement began and when Chiara started her spiritual adventure together with her first companions helping the poor. They aimed to solve the social problem of Trent, while sure of the fact that the “the revolution of the Gospel was the most powerful social revolution”. Then, the pioneers, among “the volunteers of God”, were presented. They gave witness of their great love for humanity and of their ability to build authentic spots of “fraternity in the social field” at the various places where each one has lived. During these days there will be various witnesses that emerge from different situations. These will show the effects on social life where the Gospel is lived in everyday life and in different cultural backgrounds. This meeting is held before the Convention of the 16th September, where participants will reach the number of 11,700, coming from 92 countries in the five continents. More than 3,800 come from Italy, about 600 from Asia, 170 from the Middle East, more than 1,300 from North and South America, 130 from Africa, 40 from Australia. There will be representatives from: 13 Ecclesial movements and New Communities, – christians from various Churches, – followers of Islam and of other religions. Among the state and religious personalities expected to take part there are: Cardinal Péter Erdõ, the Primate of Hungary, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, President of the Episcopal Conference, Péter Harrach, Vice-president of the Hungarian Parliament, Paolo Guido Spinelli, Italian Ambassador in Hungary, Zoltan Tarr, the general secretary for the Reformed Church, Bishop Janos Ittzes, the President of the Evangelical Church in Hungary.
4 Sep 2006 | Non categorizzato
I was born with a visual and auditory handicap resulting from an illness that my mother contracted during the pregnancy. As I was growing up I realised little by little that I was different. I felt marginalised and suffered a lot. I wanted to join in with others and help others but people around me often excluded me saying that I wasn’t capable and would never manage. I started to get more involved in my studies, thinking that through this I would be accepted, but there was still something missing and I often used to cry, asking myself “Why did this happen? Why did God want to do this to me?” When I was 25 years old I was invited to a meeting led by a priest for people with hearing difficulties like me. I remember how he was holding a page of the Gospel in his hand which he had great difficulty in explaining because he couldn’t communicate in sign language. I offered to help him and in sign language I spelt out the words of the Gospel that say “Love one another as I have loved you”. When the meeting had finished I started to reflect on those words and realised I too had to start to love and forgive as Jesus did. Little by little I got to know other people in the Focolare Movement and started going to more meetings with other young people and trying to put the Gospel into practice. I finally had the response to that “Why, God?” I had often asked myself. I realised that I could be His instrument of love in the world so as to love God better. I understood how much more important it was to look and listen with one’s heart. At school I am a teacher and from that moment I felt I had to start working in a different way. I was working in a school for people with hearing difficulties and together with others we introduced a method which centred on the culture of the deaf person, using sign language with the support of the Portuguese language. Parallel to this, I tried to adopt another method based on the “art of loving”, that suggested me ‘to love everyone’, ‘to love first’, ‘to make myself one’ with everybody, so that each student could feel special. One day the headmistress called all the teachers together and asked me to talk about the method I was using. I spoke about how I tried to identify with the life of the students to the point of making myself one with each one of them. My colleagues were so struck that immediately after the meeting they decided to changed their way of working. At catechism classes Some years ago I went to a Mass during which a number of young people with hearing difficulties received the Sacrament of the Eucharist. I realised that they didn’t really understand what they were doing because they hadn’t been properly prepared. After doing a course in Italy at an institute for deaf people, I decided to give catechism classes to deaf people in my own parish. The results were immediate. I used the Brazilian sign language, focussing the lessons on the Sunday mass readings. Immediately afterwards I was invited to coordinate all the activities of this type in the province of Paraná ( Brazil) which is composed of 16 dioceses and started to meet periodically with other catechists. I feel fulfilled and happy because I realise how the spirituality of unity has opened the way for me to help God to build a humanity renewed by love. (R. A. – Brazil)
4 Sep 2006 | Non categorizzato
“We have just been to Vienna where we met groups of refugees from Hungary. The world has been deeply touched by the tragedy of that nation and rushed to its aid. The refugees have been given many things: food, clothing, a friendly hand and above all the taste of freedom. One of us spoke to a sixteen-year-old youth. He still had his pistol on him. He had been wounded in a fight and boasted of having killed sixteen opponents but when we showed a deeper interest in him tears came to his eyes and he said he wanted to go back and see his mother. We asked him if he knew God. His answer was a clear and definite no. He had heard his mother and father blaspheme God, he said. That was how he had been brought up, so he had been surprised to hear his mother call on God when the trouble broke out in Hungary. But all the same God meant nothing to him. That’s the way it was with him and that’s the way it was with many, many others we met. Seeing how the name of God had been annihilated in these people, we understood better why the Holy Father had cried out “God, God, God!”. “God will help you. God will be your strength. God! God! God! Let this glorious name, the source of all law, justice and freedom, ring out in our parliaments, in our streets and squares, in our homes and places of work …” (Radio message of Pope Pius XII on 10.11.1956). So a society has succeeded in eradicating the name of God, the reality of God, His providence and His love from the hearts of men. Then there must be another society able to put Him back in the place that is His. For there is a God, there is! Not just because we believe so but, I would say, because we can see Him. Who made this beautiful earth? Who placed the stars in the sky? Who gave us a soul that senses and distinguishes between good and bad? Who created us? God wants to save Him in humanity and to save humanity for Him! People are needed who will follow Jesus the way He wants to be followed, denying themselves and taking up their cross; people who believe that this weapon, the cross, is more powerful than the most powerful atomic bomb because the cross opens up a breach in souls; by it God enters the hearts of His children and makes them into His athletes. We must build up a body of men and women of all ages, races, conditions, bound together by the strongest bond that exists: that mutual love bequeathed us as His testament by a God dying in His human nature, the highest ideal and an invincible force. That mutual love that welds Christians into a divine unity which is invulnerable to the attacks of men or the devil and which alone is capable of opposing that other unity founded on personal and group interests, worldly motives and hate. Mutual love, which means practical deeds, making our brothers the object of all our love out of our love for God. What are needed then are real disciples of Jesus in the world, not just in convents. Disciples who follow Him voluntarily, driven only by an enlightened love of Him. People who are ready for anything. An army of volunteers, because love is voluntary. It means building a new society, one renovated by the Good News forever old and forever new, in which justice and truth shine forth with love. A society to surpass in beauty and structure every society conjured up in men’s dreams by other men, God’s gift to His children who recognise and adore Him as their Father! A society that bears one name only: God! Freedom and bread were not enough for that young Hungarian refugee. He needed his mother too (and this is the return to nature’s purest gift – the first step back to the Creator). In the same way people all over the world, who believe in the triumph of ideas that seem good on the surface but are undermined by atheism beneath, need to be given God. Only God can fill the void hollowed out over so many years.”
Chiara Lubich
From an article published in Città Nuova
