My name was on the blacklist
No Burundi national will ever forget the year 1993. The assassination of the newly-elected President had unleashed tribal hatred, anger, and thirst for revenge, much greater than that which already gnawed the hearts of the youth. Like everybody else – men, women and children – I too had to learn how to handle a gun. And yet a question kept surfacing in my mind: how can I change this situation? One day, a conflict occurred right in my village between the rebels and the government forces. Fifty people were killed. These were my friends, people I used to see everyday on the street. I could not swallow this, so I decided to take up arms and defend my people. One Sunday, I took refuge in a church during a heavy rainfall. I found myself in a hall where a “Word of Life” meeting was going on. Since I was invited to stay, while waiting I started observing the people around me. They were sharing stories of their life interwoven with the Gospel. They talked of unity and brotherhood, but more than anything else, I saw it being lived among them. I was overwhelmed. I wanted to give it a try, to take up the challenge of love. I chose the university as my training ground. In those rooms which I entered everyday, there was an even more acute feeling of division because of the presence of youth from different tribes. Many of them have lost relatives in war, and they still had hatred and revenge in their hearts. It was certainly not easy to study in these conditions … In spite of all this, I entered class each morning greeting everybody, even if some of my classmates considered me a fool. I withstood accusations and criticisms from people of my own tribe. I knew I was walking on quicksand, but I did not change my behaviour. I wanted to prove that dialogue was more powerful than arms, that the solution to our problems was love. Jesus, too, had passed through these same things, and like him, I wanted to give my life for a more united world. Outside the university, my new friends and I certainly did not waste time. We did everything to love, to spread the idea of a culture of peace. We collected food and clothing for the poor; we organised meetings parties, and sportsfests, all to encourage dialogue and to show that it is possible for us to live as brothers and sisters. It was only after two years that one of my schoolmates found the courage to confess to me that he had put my name on the list of enemies to be eliminated. It was my way of acting that made him change his mind. He threw away the gun which he always used to carry with him because now he has decided to live a new life. Jovin from Burundi
It was an unpublished account revealing Mary’s strength of peace, in action in the history of peoples, in moments of grave suffering, that Prof. Tommaso Sorgi, Director of the Igino Giordani Centre in Rome, presented to the Marian Congress. He showed that the “Rosary is an effective weapon even in the political arena”. To give an example, he spoke of what happened just a few years ago. Half way through the 1980s, the bishops in the Philippines launched a prayer campaign for their own conversion, that seemed necessary to obtain from heaven the liberation from the Marcos’ dictatorship. Five million Filipinos adhered to the campaign and the world saw a complete turnaround of events: “The dictator fled into exile and the revolution of the Rosary liberated the people without bloodshed”. It was the Magnificat in action: Mary magnified the Lord who “scattered the proud and brought down the powerful from their thrones…”. The Magnificat, therefore, “can be assumed as the model for political action”. This was the perspective opened up by prof. Sorgi in these times when there is an urgency to “bring down the fundamental categories of power”. He proposed “the Magnificat as the social ‘magna charta’” But the regality of Mary, he underlined, is a “regality of love”, a “maternal regality”. Politics can therefore assume “the warmth of a service of love … the soul it so badly needs”. Following the talk given by prof. Sorgi, prof. Adam Biela, an academic and politician, shared in his testimony how prayer is a source of inspiration and strength in his political commitment to go against the current in favour of a true development of his country 
“The great civilised and democratic countries have opted for war as the means for resolving conflict.” This was the strong message given by prof. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St Egidio Community, in his address on the second day of the International Marian Congress. In his talk he poses a question which “makes everyone uneasy”: “Will war once again be the future of the world?” And here, prof. Riccardi highlights the strength of peace emanating from femininity, illustrating that Mary, at the foot of the cross, is the one who, though “overcome” by the violence of the death of her Son, “conceals in her tears the strength of life and hope” and is “unbending in the face of the logic of conquered and conqueror, friend and foe.” “The mystery of faith that we see in Mary,” prof. Riccardi continues, “is that strength can be found in weakness, lowliness can be found in greatness, life can be present in a body destined to die.” Today, “Mary represents the strength of peace in the midst of war”. “A mother’s concern” for the needs of others, “even though unspoken”, as shown by Mary at the “Marriage Feast of Cana”, was the focus of a talk given by Anna Pelli. It was a reflection on this Gospel episode, one of the Mysteries of Light that was deepened during the Marian Congress. This Gospel episode was reflected in an experience recounted by Carmen and her daughter, Maricel, from the Philippines. Their family had undergone many sufferings: financial difficulties, alcohol, drugs, constant arguments and the repercussions all this had on each of the eight children. They lived in a shack on the outskirts of Manila. Theirs was a story of resurrection starting from the discovery of God’s love and of Mary as a model to imitate. Carmen, the mother, shared how her life changed when she came into contact with the Bukas Palad Social Centre, run by the Focolare Movement. She was able to start again with her husband, who for years had been drinking and gambling. Maricel shared her experience of giving up the life of drugs she had led for seven years, finding the strength to forgive her father who, during their estrangement, had changed so dramatically. Maricel looked after him in the last days of his life. It was a miracle of love which flowed on to other poor families in their district through the Bukas Palad centre where Carmen and Maricel now dedicate their time as social workers.
The artistic contribution of today’s program was truly extraordinary. It was focussed on this Mystery of Light, the “Marriage Feast of Cana”, leading everyone into the very heart of the Gospel. The choreography “Do Whatever He Tells You” by Marinel Stefanescu illustrated not so much the wedding feast but rather the profound meaning of the miracle of the water changing into wine, symbol of the blood which Jesus himself would shed in order to work the greatest miracle of all: the Resurrection. Another moment in the intense program of the Marian Congress was the contribution given by the new charisms on the vital understanding of Mary and the Rosary. There was a round table session composed of representatives of various movements and ecclesial communities including: Catholic Charismatic Renewal, St Egidio Community, Cursillos, Schoenstatt and the Legionaires of Christ. “I enjoyed the sharing of testimonies by representatives of the different charisms; it was as if we could see Mary alive and present in each one in the heart of the Church,” wrote a person from Paraguay who had followed the congress through the Internet. And a participant from Argentina commented: “The series of testimonies shared by exponents of various movements was a witness to the variety of gifts which make the Church beautiful.”
“I don’t agree with suicide bombers.” “And I don’t agree with the bombardments over your cities.” This conversation, between a young Palestinian girl and an Israeli soldier, took place at a check-point in an occupied Palestine territory. Comments like these are the opposite to what you hear elsewhere, but they reflect the type of experiences that are being shared on the stage at the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo, where the International Marian Congress is being held to promote the Year of the Rosary nominated by Pope John Paul II. His intention was to relaunch this Marian prayer, defined by him as a “compendium of the Gospel”, in order to encourage today’s men and women to search for peace and a new dimension of the Spirit, to “contemplate Christ with the eyes of Mary” and to be like him “builders of peace and of a world more in accordance with the plans of God”. The experiences shared during the congress demonstrate the power of the Gospel which is capable of crushing hatred through love for one’s enemies. It is a way we’re obliged to undertake “following the 11th of September which placed us at a crossroad. It’s up to us to follow the right road”, as Mgr. Piero Coda said in his talk. Dieudonné from Burundi shared his experience: 12 members of his family were massacred during bombardments in his city, but this isn’t what made him change his way of life. He decided to put into practice the art of evangelical love even in his encounters with the military who, though often quite merciless, were in need of assistance. He recounted, for example, the episode when he saved the life of a drunken soldier who was about to fall off a bridge. This is just a glimpse of the many testimonies inserted in the sections of the program dedicated to the five “Mysteries of Light” which, together with theological reflections, penetrated in depth the various stages of the life of Jesus and Mary. The first mystery, the Baptism of Jesus, was presented by Fr Fabio Ciardi who commented, “It is an invitation to recognise Jesus as the Son of God so as to submerge our old self in the waters of baptism and so be reborn to new life in order to find ourselves brothers and sisters in the heart of the one Father.” As Mgr Domenico Sorrentino, Archbishop of Pompei, underlined in tracing the history of the Rosary, the Holy Father invites us to take a step further, “He does not limit himself to entrusting peace to the intercession of Mary, but he presents it as the fruit of this prayer, which is a ‘prayer for peace’, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ.” “It has a peaceful effect.” The participants of the Congress at Castelgandolfo have been living an experience of contemplation, and this hasn’t been limited to the 1500 participants from 70 countries present in the hall. The proceedings have also been followed through 11 satellite linkups generously donated by ESA, Telepace, EWTN and the CRC (Canada) which have made it possible for local and national television channels to transmit the entire event. On the first day of the conference there were 7000 live Internet connection points with an audience of 20,000. Messages were received from all over the world, and here is an example of some of the feedback: “It’s amazing to see how sublime spirituality and down-to-earth living can go together,” wrote someone from Amersfoot in Holland. “We’re watching the transmission. It’s full of light and we feel part of the event,” a message from Edinburgh said. 
The profound spiritual dimension of the Marian conference was announced right from the beginning: “We will be focussing on the Rosary which is a constant song of love to Mary,” said Professor Giuseppe Zanghi, Director of the New Humanity theological journal, “It will be above all an opening of the eyes of our soul on the mysteries of the life of the Son of Mary. And while we will be opening our minds and hearts to Jesus, Jesus himself will speak of Mary to our hearts and minds – in the way that He speaks, a way which does not end in poor words but in a new creation.” One of the many novel aspects of this event was the charismatic dimension in the understanding of Mary and the Rosary. The Marian Congress offered this contribution in response to letter that Pope John Paul II consigned to Chiara Lubich on 16 October 2002, the same day on which he had relaunched the prayer of the Rosary. The culminating moment of the day was the talk given by Chiara Lubich who communicated the gifts of light from the origins of the Focolare Movement, which is recognised by the Church as the “Work of Mary”. Chiara recounted a dramatic moment of the beginnings of the Movement: “One day, beneath an atrocious bombing, face-down on the ground and covered with the thick dust that filled the air, I picked myself up almost as if miraculously preserved. Calm and filled with peace in the midst of the cries of the people around me, I realised that in those moments I had experienced a deep suffering: that of never again being able to say the ‘Hail Mary’”. Later on she understood that this “‘Hail Mary’ had to be made up of living words, of people who, almost like other little Marys, would give Love to the world.” It has to be that Love which is Jesus himself, that Jesus who, as Chiara added, “we can spiritually generate today as the Gospel promises when it says: ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name (in my love, as the Fathers of the Church explain), I am in their midst” (Mt 18:20). This is a task which, as Cardinal Vlk, Archbishop of Prague, said during his homily, has been defined as the “primary task awaiting today’s secularised society”. Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare Movement, spoke of her discovery of the new countenance of Mary who is of “an incomparable beauty. She is all Word of God, all clothed in the Word of God”. She also spoke of “the call of every Christian to repeat, like Mary, Christ, the Truth, the Word, expressed in the personality that God has given to each one”. This is a vision “rich in consequences, for example, in the ecumenical field”. On Wednesday there will be testimonies shared by members of the Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Reformed Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church and Coptic Orthodox Church. An ulterior novelty which will permeate the whole conference is the ample space given to artistic items: songs, music, dances from various cultures and literary works (Dante, Sartre), because, as the words of Chiara Lubich’s meditation sung by Gen Verde say, “of Mary we cannot speak, but sing. Love flourishes in poetry”.