3 May 2005 | Non categorizzato
“Flying high is possible”
A group of young people experienced this when they met together to exchange ideas with seasoned entrepreneurs in several fruitful workshops. The entrepreneurs shared their past experiences in the business world, even the painful ones, and the youth with enthusiasm and curiosity encouraged them to live the ideals of the Economy of Communion (EoC) in an even more radical way. “From the youth we received more than what we gave,” was the comment of one of the entrepreneurs.
Fraternity is the “plus” of the EoC manager
The workshops were based on the talks delivered by Cecilia Cantone Manzo, president of EoC s.p.a., the society that manages the Lionello Business Park, and by Prof. Luigino Bruni, who described the ideal EoC manager, pointing out that fostering fraternity should be one of his or her positive traits along with all the other qualities required of an entrepreneur, namely the ability to risk, to innovate, and to carry out a project.
A push to do business innovatively
A group of experts presented the typical problems that can arise, considering them from the point of view of the “culture of giving.” The subject proved to be of great interest to the young participants, who were struck by the novelty of such an entrepreneurship. A student from Naples remarked, “Coming here reinforced our will to do business, to do something new.” The youth expressed the request that a similar appointment at Loppiano be repeated every 6 months.
Unexpected progress in business management
On April 24, the meeting opened its doors to other entrepreneurs. One of them, a native of Piedmont, Italy [a province known for its business-minded population] shared his experience saying, “In spite of the difficulties and the general economic crisis, we have seen a continuous and notable increase in sales. It’s been my experience that the Gospel’s ‘hundredfold’ never comes in a big, cumbersome package (the kind that winning a lottery would mean, for example), which can also ruin the harmony of normal daily life. The ‘hundredfold’ arrives in a very discreet way. Many times our financial officer – at about mid-year, for example – would warn us of a borderline situation. We would just go on working, with renewed sprint, and at year-end, to our real surprise, he would announce that beyond our every expectation, our business had made progress.”
1 May 2005 | Non categorizzato, Word of
It was the evening of Easter Sunday. The risen Jesus had already appeared to Mary of Magdala; Peter and John had seen the empty tomb. And yet, the disciples continued to remain shut up in the house, paralyzed by fear. Then, even though the doors were locked, the Risen Lord appeared in their midst, for no barrier could separate him from his friends any longer.
Jesus had left but, as he had promised, he was returning to stay with them forever: “He came and stood in their midst” (Jn 20:19). It was not a fleeting apparition, but a permanent presence! From that moment on, the disciples would no longer be alone and their fear would be replaced by a deep joy: “The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord”(Jn 20:20). The Risen Lord opened wide their hearts and the doors of their homes onto the whole world, saying to them:
«As the Father has sent me, so I send you»
Jesus had been sent by the Father to reconcile everyone with God and reunite humanity. Now it was up to his disciples to build up the Church. As Jesus had been able to fulfill the Father’s plan because he was one with him, so too would they be empowered to bring ahead this lofty mission because the Risen Lord was in them. “I in them”(Jn 17:23), Jesus had asked the Father.
From the Father to Jesus, from Jesus to the apostles, from the apostles to their successors, this mandate never waned.
But every Christian needs to hear these words of Jesus resonating in his or her heart. In fact, “there is a diversity of ministries in the Church, but unity of mission” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2).
«As the Father has sent me, so I send you»
To fulfill this mandate of the Lord, we have to act in such a way that he may live in us. How? By being living members of the Church, by being one with the word of God, and by evangelizing ourselves first of all.
It is one of the duties that John Paul II called “a new evangelization.” “To nourish ourselves with the word,” he wrote, “in order to be ‘servants of the word’ in the work of evangelization: this is surely a priority for the Church at the dawn of the new millennium” (Novo Millennium Ineunte, n. 40), because “only a person who has been renewed” by the “law of love of Christ and the light of the Holy Spirit can bring about a true metánoia [conversion] in the minds and hearts of other people, in the fabric of a society, in a nation or in the world” (To the pilgrims of the diocese of Torun, Poland, February 19, 1998).
Nowadays, words are not enough. “Humanity today would rather hear witnesses than teachers,” noted Paul VI, “and if teachers are heard, it is because they themselves are the example of what they teach” (General Audience, October 2, 1974). The proclamation of the Gospel will be effective if it is based on a witness of life, such as that given by the first Christians who could say that they preached “what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes” (1 Jn 1:1). The Gospel would be effective if what was said of them could be said of us: “Look at how they love one another, and how they are ready to lay down their lives for each other” (Tertullian, Apology, 39,7). It will be effective if we make our love concrete by giving and responding to those in need, and if we feed, clothe, and give lodging to those who are homeless, offer friendship to those who are alone and desperate, and provide support to those undergoing a time of trial.
Living in this way we will allow others to experience what a captivating figure Jesus is and, by becoming like Christ, we will give our contribution to the continuation of his work.
«As the Father has sent me, so I send you»
This was the experience of some of our doctors and nurses after they learned in 1996 about the situation in Cameroon, Africa of the noble Bangwa people, whose illnesses, with their 90% infant mortality rate, threatened their very extinction.
Our doctors and nurses went to live with those people and felt that their first duty was to maintain their mutual love so as to bear witness to the Gospel. They loved one person at a time without making any distinctions. They offered their professional expertise and opened up a medical clinic that soon grew into a hospital. The infant mortality was reduced to 2%. In the middle of the forest an electrical power plant was built. Then came a school for elementary and high school levels. Over time and with the help of the Bangwa people, twelve roads were constructed that connected them with other villages.
Concrete love is contagious: a considerable portion of the population began to live this new Gospel-based life. Villages that were often in conflict with each other were reconciled. Land disputes were resolved in harmony. A number of tribal leaders formulated a pact of mutual love between them and began to live in brotherhood, offering in their exchange of gifts a wonderful witness, an example that was both original and authentic.
Chiara Lubich
(more…)
26 Apr 2005 | Non categorizzato
This experience began around 40 years ago in Tlemcen, Algeria, where the focolarini received the gift of an abbey built in Arabian style by the Benedictine fathers with the intention of making it into a center of dialogue with the Muslim world. From the initial contacts, both Christians and Muslims were impressed by the affinity between the two religions which have their origins in Abraham, for example on such points as believing in only one God, most clement and merciful, total dedication to the will of God, high esteem for Jesus and for Mary, his mother.
In close contact with the focolare centers are over a thousand Muslims in many countries of the world. Among them are Imams, practicing believers and other Muslims who, due to their meeting with the Movement and in sharing its spirit of unity, have gone back to the practice of the five pillars of Islam. In fact, the effect of dialogue is not syncretism, but the rediscovery of one’s own religious roots, of that which unites us.
Pope John Paul II once said at Madras in 1986: “Through dialogue, we let God be present in our midst, because while we open ourselves to dialogue with each other, we also open ourselves to God. The fruit of union among human beings is union with God.” Dialogue also strengthens the commitment to bring unity and peace especially wherever violence and racial and religious intolerance try to create a breach among the components of society.
![[:it]Familyfest 2005… al Papa della famiglia[:es]Familyfest 2005… al Papa de la familia[:pt]Mensagem de Chiara Lubich às famílias](https://10.0.0.128/2010focolare/img/hr.gif)
25 Apr 2005 | Non categorizzato
Familyfest 2005 … to the Pope for the family Family 11/05/2005 
Dearest families gathered in Rome and in many parts of the world for FAMILYFEST! After a long absence, through this brief message I want to be present with you all today. Thank you for your generosity and your active participation in this event, which you want to be a tribute to our unforgettable Pope John Paul II, who, in our mind, is already a saint. Our meeting today is also an opportunity, among other things, to give maximum visibility to the model of the family that John Paul II envisioned and taught us to live, that is, a family based on values drawn from the Christian faith. The source of these values is authentic love, which comes from the very heart of God. It is therefore a love that never ends, is the first to love everyone, knows how to forgive, is fruitful and is open to life, to those who are the weakest, to the full sharing of goods and to solidarity with all. These values can also be found in the major world religions and cultures, and therefore, reflect the deepest aspirations of every man and woman on earth. Thus the family, which is called to live mutual love in all cultures and in every environment, becomes the source of social relationships, promoting basic human values and universal brotherhood. My hope is that you may all be like this, that you may always and everywhere be witnesses to the love that builds peace. In this way, we will draw closer to the day when “all will be one” on earth. Let’s live for this great Ideal together! Dearest families all over the world, I hope to see you very soon
