“A silent anthropological revolution”

25 Feb 1999 | Non categorizzato

“Chiara Lubich has started a silent revolution which I do not hesitate to define as ‘anthropological’, given the personal and social consequences it has brought about.” So said Professor Mark Borg when conferring the honorary degree in Literature and Psychology on Chiara Lubich at the University of Malta. The great hall of the university was filled to capacity and there was also an overflow hall linked by closed circuit TV. Among the audience of 1,500 there were many civic and religious dignitaries including 6 ministers of state, 17 MPs from the two main political parties, the President of the Court, judges, the secretary of the Nationalist Party, the ambassadors of Italy, China and Tunisia, the bishop and the papal nuncio. The island’s press, television and radio were also present. The Citation recognises “the significant contribution made by Chiara Lubich in the field of human thought” for two reasons: “she has translated the nucleus of the Christian message into both a practice and a research method and she has offered to humanistic disciplines, in particular, an original key for interpreting the essence of humanity. She has proposed a model for the spiritual life which respects the individuality of the person and the reciprocity of relationships with a positive valuation of suffering and of all that is negative in both personal and collective history. In this way she has helped cultivate an integral vision of the human person in the field of psychology.” Rector of the University, Professor. Peter Serracino Inglott, defined Chiara Lubich’s teaching as “The way of psychological development towards full humanity”, which for the first time had examined the contribution of the spirituality of unity to psychology. She had traced its origins back to “that first spark which shot out at the height of the war: the discovery of God-Love” and then point by point, she drew out the connections with psychology. For example, having noted that “in psychology it is known that the fundamental need of a person is to be recognised for their own unique and unrepeatable identity,” Chiara Lubich told her experience of the discovery that God loves us: “The discovery and the acquired certainty that God wanted us to exist and loves us, and therefore that we are not an object of pure chance or blind fate, is the basis for that psychological certainty which gives meaning to our life …Only the certainty that God is love, also for you, gives you the strength to continually go out of yourself in order to live and love and create a social communion.” “A great turning point: a psychology open to the Transcendent,” is how 70 professionals from the psychological sciences from various European countries expressed their feelings in a message to Chiara Lubich. And in order to cultivate the growth of the new seeds broadcast in this difficult field of psychological sciences, they held a convention the very next day. There were psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists from various schools of thought (Freudian, Jungian, Adlerian, cognitive-behaviourist, systematic etc). Through sharing their personal reflections on Chiara Lubich’s talk and their own experiences in the field, they could see the seeds of a new psychology. The impression of Herman Schweers, a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist, sums up the mood of the meeting: “I can see here a psycho-anthropological approach which could bear fruit not only in the various schools of psychology, but which could also enrich them, in the sense that they could be fully developed in order to serve the needs of men and women today: to live an interior unity with others, with society and with the Divine which each person carries within themselves.

Seventy times seven

1 Jan 1999 | Non categorizzato

  A youth from Ivory Coast narrates how she succeeded, during her teens, in not giving way to grudge and hatred. I was born in Man, a little city built on green hills in the most picturesque area of the Ivory Coast. From my house, I have a clear view of Mount Toukoui, the highest peak in my country. I grew up here with my parents and nine brothers. I had a very serene childhood… at least until my father sought a relationship with another woman and began to neglect the family. From that moment, the atmosphere at home became intolerable, full of tension and ill feeling which often exploded in violent quarrels. My mother often cried. We children were disoriented in the face of this situation which was so unexpected and, for us, unacceptable. We all lived under the strain of a growing oppression. In this troubled period, when I was about thirteen years old, I made some new friends. They were my age and they wanted to put the Gospel into practice. They wanted to do this with simplicity, more with actions than with words. They tried to look at the events of their daily lives, and the people around them, in the light of the love of God. When I was with them, I really felt at home, valued, loved, and the load of bitterness that weighed on my heart became easier to carry. The situation in my family, however, worsened because my mother, exasperated by the difficult relationship with my father, decided to leave home. This was a traumatic moment in my life. I felt so alone and discouraged and I asked myself how I could possibly see God’s love in what was happening and how I could continue to love my father and help my mother. I knew that Jesus loved me and was close to me, but I wasn’t able to think a single thought that didn’t end up as a giant question mark. Something within me was crushed. The only word which hammered away in my head and in my heart was ‘Why?’. My father’s new wife came to live with us but neither myself nor my brothers were able, or willing, to build a relationship with her or accept her. The older ones among us, especially, rejected her and quarrelled constantly with her and with our father. In this situation of conflict, my father became more and more unhappy. He started to drink, neglecting little by little to look after himself and the rest of the family. He cut himself off from everyone. Sometimes we felt as though we were living in a nightmare. In order to give a bit of relief to our family, and allow us to continue with our schooling, some of our uncles invited us to take turns to stay with them. As the years passed, two separate clans were formed within my family. On the one hand there was my father, his wife and their children, and on the other, my brothers. I tried very hard not to take sides with either of these groups or to be involved in their arguments. The only thing I really wanted was to have a family and to live in an atmosphere of real affection. Instead, I was always alone, powerless, asking myself over and over again, the same question, ‘Why?’ In the very darkest moments, it was my relationship with my friends with whom I tried to live the Gospel which gave me the strength to keep on loving both of these clans. Whenever we met together, and shared the steps we made in living the words of the Gospel, that atmosphere of unity gave new light and strength to all of us. One evening, when I felt really at rock bottom, completely blocked by the suffering caused by my family problems, I rediscovered with the help of my friends, how close Jesus was to me when, on the cross, he cried out to the Father, “My God, why have you abandoned me?” That was the moment of his greatest suffering. Through this new understanding, every ‘why’ I uttered, acquired a much deeper meaning for me, since I too felt torn within. United to the cry of Jesus, my ‘why’ became a precious pearl to be transformed into love for others, through a greater and more practical love. During the year I lived with my uncles and I worked as hard as possible at school. Every holidays I went back home and I tried to do all I could to help, starting from the humblest domestic jobs. Often in the evenings, I found my father drunk, asleep on the doorstep of our house. It used to break my heart to see him in this condition, so I used to take him to his room, put him to bed and do everything possible for him so that he might feel loved, even in those moments in which he himself wasn’t loving. When I finished secondary school, I enrolled in the University of Abidjan situated on the coast, a modern city almost 500 kilometres from Man. The relationship with my father deteriorated. I no longer managed to find an opening to talk to him or to rebuild our communication and affection. I blamed him and his wife for all the suffering of my adolescence. I felt hurt and betrayed, robbed of the affection of a family, forced to grow up alone in those years when I most needed the support of my parents. Finally, I decided that I never wanted to see my father again. The next time I met with my friends, I couldn’t contain myself any longer and all my anger flared up: “I want to take revenge for all the pain that he and his wife have caused me. I’m going to go home and destroy everything she owns, because she’s the one who broke up my family and forced my mother out “. I was out of my mind with the pain I had endured for so long in silence. I had lost the truest part of myself, my relationship with Jesus who in so many moments had given me the joy and strength to react with love to the difficulties and misunderstandings I encountered. My friends listened to my outburst with profound attention. While participating in what I was saying, they did not judge me in any way. This was a very strong moment for me. I suddenly discovered that the weight, previously unbearable, was now being carried together with them. The fire of love which had gone out in my heart was lit up again in me more strongly than before. I thought again of that phrase of Jesus to “forgive seventy times seven”. It was much more difficult to live these words than to take revenge, but I wanted with all my strength to truly forgive my father. It wasn’t easy. I made many efforts and had many failures, but it was all worthwhile. When I got my degree I couldn’t bring myself to tell my father. I still lacked the courage to face him. I found a good job in a business. That was when my mother, with whom I had a beautiful relationship, urged me to call my father to let him know. I hesitated, but then I understood that the moment had finally come to take a real step towards him. I rang him up. He was happy to hear my voice and proud of my exam results. He sent me a jar of honey and from that moment on he began to give me a weekly update of himself and his life. I felt very moved by the experience of finally gathering the unexpected fruits of my suffering, through my small gesture of true forgiveness. When I finally set aside the yoke of bitterness, everything, even the smallest things became full of light, more beautiful and easier. I understood that when Jesus comes into our life, he transforms it and never leaves us on our own. Then my father came to visit me. We spoke at length and he confided his problems and his efforts to free himself from the slavery of alcohol. He entrusted to me a large sum of money to support my brothers during their studies. By the time he left I couldn’t say which of us was more uplifted, my father or myself; we had re-established our relationship and our hearts were filled with warmth. With the excuse of the money I was administering, I was able to reunite my brothers. Together, we decided to bury the past. We planned a big surprise for my father and all of us went to visit him at his home. From that moment we all started to look at him with new eyes so that through us he could find the strength and the affection that he lacked. Now I am truly peaceful and I have rediscovered the will to live. S. F. (Ivory Coast)

[:it]Siamo entrati come Chiese diverse. Dovremmo uscire come unico popolo cristiano

8 Dec 1998 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Preghiera ecumenica di inizio Avvento nella chiesa evangelico-luterana di S. Anna di Augsburg

3 Dec 1998 | Non categorizzato