20 May 2004 | Non categorizzato
I want to bear witness that death is Life !
The lives of the saints always offer a precious nourishment for the Christian community. Why choose Renata? Because she had discovered that God is Love and from that moment on, her life would have been inflamed by love until her death.” It was with these words that Bishop Luciano Giovannetti of Fiesole illustrated the motivations which had urged him to request that the cause of beatification be started for Renata Borlone (1930-1990), the focolarina who was co-director of Loppiano from 1967 to 1990. Her life, dedicated to God and neighbor, lived in the light of the spirituality of unity, continues to trace a luminous trail.
The San Benedetto Hall in Loppiano, the little town situated on the hills of Incisa Valdarno (Florence), was crowded with friends as Bishop Giovannetti officially inaugurated the process of Renata’s canonization on December 18, 2003.
Who was Renata
Renata Borlone was born on May 30, 1930 in Aurelia, in the suburbs of Rome. She grew up in a non-practicing Catholic family, and at around 14 years of age, the question of God’s existence surfaced in her mind and she started to frequent the church. She sought the truth, she chose fields of study that aided her search of God. When she was 19, she was struck by the lifestyle of a group of focolarine who had moved to Rome, and with them she experienced a joy and fullness she had never felt before. A certainty dawned: God exists and God is love! It was a dazzling discovery which trasformed her whole life. An extraordinary adventure had begun. For 40 years she contributed to building up a work of God in the Church. She was assigned to positions of responsibility both in Italy and abroad. In 1967 she moved to Loppiano to become co-director of the Movement’s little town there, and direct the spiritual formation of the women focolarine.
She died on February 7, 1990, leaving an example of life which continues to draw our attention.
5 May 2004 | Non categorizzato
Not a mosaic of congresses, but a gathering with a continental dimension in order to give hope to Europe.
In a moment in which Europe and the world are swept by the winds of violence and terrorism,
winds of fraternity will blow from Stuttgart and the 163 European cities linked to it.
This is its contribution towards “giving a soul” to the process of unification, so that Europe may
realize the project of its founding fathers: a family of united peoples and reconciled nations,
committed to building peace and the unity of the entire human family.
Significant date: 8 MAY 2004
Anniversary of the end of the second world war, which led to the dream of a new Europe
Eve of Europe day which recalls the historic declaration of Robert Schuman on May 9, 1950, origin of the European Union.
During the week of the extension of the European Union to 25 countries with the entrance of the first countries of Eastern Europe, Cyprus and Malta.
The protagonists
175 MOVEMENTS AND COMMUNITIES
Catholics, Evangelicals, Orthodox and Anglicans
This is not a well-known phenomenon. As in other crucial moments of European history, also
in our times new spiritual currents have emerged from the Gospel, spiritual currents which gave
rise to communities and movements of spiritual renewal and social commitment.
United by an increasing communion, for the first time in history, they weave a network of fraternal relationships among the various peoples and cultures of Europe, making visibile, albeit on a small scale, the unity already in act, of Europe in its multiplicity, from which can emerge new impulses to social, political and cultural life.
Jews, Muslims and members of other religions will be present as observers.
Where: STUTTGART, city of reconciliation
In this city, for the first time, in October 1945, representatives of the Evangelical Church officially recognized its share in the shortcoming towards nazism. The German people began to admit their fault.
Some statistics
10,000 people will partecipate in the “Together for Europe”day at the Hans Martin Schleyer of Stuttgart
100,000 people will be gathered together in sports stadiums, theatres, cultural centres, and universities and linked via satellite with Stuttgart in
163 cities of 30 European countries
34 cities of 15 countries of 4 continents, for a Europe open to all the world
100 political personalities belonging to different parties from 14 countries
16 satellites will transmit in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North, Central and South America, Australia, with audio in 8 languages (French, English, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, German and International).
Among the 175 Movements and communities: about 80 Catholics from different countries and over 80 Evangelicals of Germany. Representatives of Syndesmus, which gathers together 126 Orthodox movements, associations and theological faculties from all over the world and 4 other Orthodox movements; Alpha Courses, born in the Anglican Church and now spread to all the world in various Churches, various ecumenical communities and associations, among which the Taizè community and Initiatives e Changements, the former Moral Rearmament Foundation.
Personalities
High level representatives of European institutions: the European Commission, with the intervention of President Romano Prodi, the European Council, by the Secretary General, W. Schwimmer. Video message of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Irish Prime Minister, Ahern.
About 100 political personalities belonging to different parties from 14 countries, members of 10 Parliaments, and various mayors.
Quite significant is the adhesion of personalities representing the leaders of different Churches: Catholic, Orthodox of Constantinople, Moscow, Greece, Albania, Romania, Anglican, Evangelical, and important Church organizations of Europe (CCEE, KEK) and the world (WCC). We are expecting messages from Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Costantinopole Bartolomew I.
Program
prepared for television with brief talks and artistic numbers
Interventions, among others, by founders and directors of Movements, Communities and groups, among whom: Chiara Lubich, Andrea Riccardi; the Evangelical pastors Friedrich Aschoff, Ulrich Parzany; Fr. Heikki Huttunen, Orthodox
Young people will say how they want Europe to be
A final message will be launched
Information service:
www.europ2004.org
The event will be transmitted via internet in Italian and English: www.europ2004.info
On the website:
program, photos, texts in 15 languages, music, news, press release, forum with e-mail messages
from various gatherings linked up with the event
Signal of the transmission from Stuttgart
thanks to TELESPAZIO, CRC/Canada and MEDIA SPACE Alliance
will be offered free to TV and radio stations, with audio in French, English, Italian, Dutch,
Polish, Spanish, German and International.
To obtain the signal contact: ianua.co@focolare.org cell. 39.338.394.8600
30 Apr 2004 | Non categorizzato, Word of
During the last supper, before leaving his friends and returning to the Father, Jesus wants to unite them closely to himself and among themselves with the most solid and lasting bond: love. He “loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1), with the greatest love, that is, “to lay down one’s life” (Jn 15:13). In return, he asks to be loved with the same love.
The love that Jesus asks for is not simply a feeling; it is doing his will as it is described in his commandments; above all, it is loving our brothers and sisters, and achieving reciprocal love. It is such an important truth for Jesus that in this last discourse to his disciples he forcefully repeats it three more times: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (Jn 14:21); “Whoever loves me will keep my word” (Jn 14:23); “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (Jn 14:24).
«If you love me, you will keep my commandments»
Why must we keep his commandments?
Since we human beings are created in his “image and likeness,” we stand before God as his “you,” capable of a direct, personal relationship with him, a relationship of knowledge, of love, of friendship and of communion.
I “am” to the degree that I say “yes” to the plan of love that God has for me.
The relationship with him is essential to human nature. The more it is actively pursued, deepened and enriched, the more men and women fully develop their true personalities.
Look at Abraham. Each time God asks him to do something, even when it seems to be absolutely absurd, like leaving his country to go off to an unknown land or like sacrificing his only son, he immediately holds fast to his trust in God, and a future he could never have imagined opens up for him.
The same is true for Moses. On Mount Sinai the Lord reveals his will to him in the Ten Commandments and the adherence to them gives birth to the people of God.
It is true for Jesus as well. His “yes” to the Father is the most complete: “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42).
To follow Jesus means to carry out the Father’s will in the best way possible, as Jesus taught us and as he was the first to do.
The commandments that Jesus left us help us to live according to our nature as sons and daughters of a God who is Love. They are not, therefore, arbitrary impositions or an artificial superstructure – much less something to alienate us. Nor are they like the commands that a master gives to his servants. Rather, they are the expression of his love and of his concern for the life of each one of us.
«If you love me, you will keep my commandments»
How can we live this Word of Life?
Let’s try to listen attentively to what Jesus tells us in the Gospel – his commandments – and let’s allow the Holy Spirit, throughout the day, to remind us of his words. He teaches us, for example, that it is not enough not to kill; we must avoid being angry with our brothers and sisters. We not only cannot commit adultery, but cannot even desire the wife of others. “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Mt 5:39). “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44).
Above all, let’s live what Jesus called “his” commandment, the one that sums up all the others: mutual love. “Love is the fulfillment of the law“ (Rm 13:10); it is the “more excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31), the way we are called to follow.
Someone who understood this very well was Father Dario Porta, a priest from Parma, Italy, who died on Holy Thursday, 1996. Even though he had a close relationship with God from the early years of his priesthood, he grew to understand ever more clearly that he needed to see Jesus in every neighbor, and then evangelical love became his passion. To remain faithful to this commitment, he tried to be more and more attentive to others, putting aside his own plans, to the point of writing in his diary one day: “Now I see that in the end the only thing we would like to have accomplished is to have loved every neighbor1.”
We can do the same: each night we can ask ourselves, “Did I always love every neighbor today?”
Chiara Lubich
1) Dario Porta,Testimone dell’Amore gratuito, a cura di Piero Viola, Parma 1996, p. 33.
