12 Mar 2021 | Non categorizzato
In recent days, many people have tried to take stock of Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq. I think it is difficult, if not impossible, to attempt an exhaustive one. There are too many issues involved and, above all, we are too close to this global event made up of so many other details that can only be read in the course of time. Obviously some elements more than others struck the imagination of those who followed the various events in a context that, in some ways, in its stark reality risked appearing surreal. In fact, if we think of the model of papal journeys, inaugurated with Pope John Paul II from 1979 onwards, we were accustomed to quite different scenarios and backgrounds: oceanic crowds, choreographic preparation that often bordered on perfection and, above all, events that left the image, especially in the early years of the Polish pope’s era, of a strong faith, at the centre of history, in contrast to the atheistic world from which the Polish pope came. Pope Francis, who at the beginning of his pontificate had introduced the idea of another Church, the ‘accidental’ and ‘field hospital’ Church, in recent years has been committed to transmitting this image of the Church and has done so practically everywhere he has gone. He has done so practically everywhere he has gone. From his first official trip to Lampedusa, the port and cemetery of migrants, to Bangui, where he opened the door that inaugurated his unexpected and extraordinary Jubilee, to Mosul, where the stage had only rubble and walls still perforated by bullets of various calibers as a backdrop. And we cannot forget Tacloban where he braved an impending typhoon to stand by the survivors of another catastrophic event, Lesbos where he spent unhurriedly precious time listening to the unspeakable stories of refugees of various origins. The lesson of Francis is not just about showing that the most precious face of the Church is the ‘accidental’ one. Rather, it is the way in which he shows the ‘proximity’, the warmth that needs to be felt by those who suffer in the Christian community. Above all, he is committed to projecting these communities onto the world stage to say that this is the true Church, which we should all cherish and which bears real witness to Christ. As he said on his return flight, Bergoglio is breathing at these junctures, because this is his Petrine call, the one for which the conclave elected him, without knowing and imagining where he would lead Peter’s boat. We are all seeing and experiencing this in recent years. And the voyages are probably the truest reflection of this, leaving no room for misunderstandings. On the other hand, this is nothing new. Like his predecessors, the Argentine pope has shown that he is able to read and decode the ‘signs of the times’ and offers credible testimony to the fact that the Church is a witness to its time and intercepts its problems and key issues, offering answers that are almost always against the current with respect to those that the political, international and, today, financial world impose. Faced with the reality that Francis found himself living, including the unprecedented one (at least in these terms) of the pandemic, the essential category of the pontificate, confirmed also in Iraq, is fraternity. Bergoglio’s personal and ecclesial testimony, his Magisterium and his relations, especially but not only with the Muslim world, now make fraternity a geopolitical element. This was also demonstrated by his meeting with the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani. The implications of those forty-five minutes are fundamental. We all know, in fact, that the great knot that Islam must untie today is internal to its own world: the tension, never appeased but now dangerously acute, between the Sunni and Shiite spheres. It is here that the roots of many of the problems that Muslims experience and for which many also die must be sought. Bergoglio has shown great ‘political’ tact in wanting to meet al-Sistani, the most significant representative of Shiism, well distanced from the Iranian theocracy that since the Khomeinist revolution of the 1980s has pushed the Iranian world to be a champion of this fringe of the Muslim kaleidoscope. Al-Sistani has always distanced himself from the theocratic choice of the Iranian ayatollahs, and has been an acknowledged spiritual and religious leader for decades. Among other things, he was born in Iran. The meeting between the two leaders took place behind closed doors, but as Pope Francis described it on the return flight, it was a moment of spirituality, “a universal message. I felt the duty, […] to go and see a great, a wise man, a man of God. And only by listening to him do you perceive this. […] And he is a person who has that wisdom … and also prudence. […] And he was very respectful, very respectful in the meeting, and I felt honoured. Even in the greeting: he never gets up, and he got up, to greet me, twice. He is a humble and wise man. This meeting had a great positive impact on my soul”. Bergoglio ventured an appreciation that perhaps no pope had had the courage to say in the past: “And these wise men are everywhere, because God’s wisdom has been spread throughout the world. It is the same with the saints, who are not only those on the altars. They are the everyday saints, the ones I call ‘next door’, the saints – men and women – who live their faith, whatever it may be, with consistency, who live human values with consistency, fraternity with consistency”. All this did not go unnoticed. Positive comments poured down from many quarters, starting with the Muslim world itself. Sayyed Jawad Mohammed Taqi Al-Khoei, secretary general of the Al-Khoei Institute in Najaf, a prominent member of the Iraqi Shiite world and director of the Al-Khoei Institute which is part of the Hawza of Najaf, a religious seminary founded 1,000 years ago for Shiite Muslim scholars, was very clear in his appreciation. “Although this is the first meeting in history between the head of the Shia Islamic establishment and the head of the Catholic Church, this visit is the fruit of many years of exchanges between Najaf and the Vatican and will undoubtedly strengthen our interreligious relations. It was also a historic moment for Ira”. Al-Khoei affirmed the commitment to “continue strengthening our relations as institutions and individuals. We will soon travel to the Vatican to ensure that this dialogue continues, develops and does not stop here. The world faces common challenges and these challenges cannot be solved by any state, institution or person alone”.The AsiaNews agency also reports some of the positive comments that appeared in the Iranian press, which gave wide coverage and celebrated the historic meeting as an “opportunity for peace”. The news was the opening headline in the Islamic Republic’s newspapers and media outlets. Sazandegi, who is close to the reformist wing, emphasised that the two religious leaders are today “the standard-bearers of world peace”. He called their face-to-face meeting in the home of the Shiite spiritual leader ‘the most effective event [in the history of] dialogue between religions’.
Roberto Catalano
Source: Blog Whydontwedialogue
11 Mar 2021 | Non categorizzato
Community microcredit and microfinance to support the growth of expanding projects. Rose’s testimony on the importance of the initiative supported by Amu. BIRASHOBOKA means “IT CAN BE DONE” in Kirundi. It is from this conviction that the Community Microcredit and Microfinance project was born in Burundi (Africa). In spite of the great difficulties in which the country still finds itself – it is the second most densely populated country in Africa and one of the five countries with the highest poverty index in the world – Amu, Azione per un Mondo Unito-Onlus, a non-governmental development organisation inspired by the spirituality of the Focolare Movement, has been supporting the capacities of local communities for some time. Since 2007, in fact, in full synergy with the non-profit organisation CASOBU (Cadre Associatif des Solidaires du Burundi), it has been helping local families in a process of training and of improving their living conditions. 
With the “It can be done!” project, it aims to create community microcredit groups whose members can support themselves to create jobs and, in a second phase, create a community microfinance group to support the growth of the expanding projects. Rose tells us: “We started our group 13 years ago. With the first loan I got, I remember very well that I didn’t do anything in particular, I bought clothes and goods that I needed, but the rest I wasted. At the beginning, I didn’t know how to start a business and what often happened was that I had difficulty paying back the loan I had received. Then I realised that I couldn’t keep taking out loans without a concrete project and I finally decided to start the restaurant project with the first 300,000 Fbu (150 €). I started buying pots and pans, dishes and gradually opened the restaurant. It was 2009, I didn’t have any workers yet. At that time, my children helped me in the kitchen and I went by bus to take the food to the city where I had my customers. As I became known, the number of customers increased and I was able to hire workers. I am proud that through the salary they receive I also participate in the fulfilment of their dreams.” Rose, who is happy to have embarked on this path, today manages to provide a salary for five other families besides her own. Now she would like to improve and expand her business, for example by renting a bigger premises, where she could cook and reduce the running costs of the restaurant and travel expenses. It is a very brave decision because there is a big investment involved and Rose does not have the collateral or the guarantees needed to access a loan from any bank. And it is for Rose and many other people who, like her, would like to expand their businesses that the AMU and CASOBU project was set up, supporting the start-up of a community microfinance institution to offer savings and credit services to people with big dreams but who still today cannot access banks. To support the project, click here
Lorenzo Russo
9 Mar 2021 | Non categorizzato
The Focolare Movement in Germany, together with other Catholic organisations, organised an online conference on the search for God in a world where He seems increasingly absent. This contributed also to the Catholic Church’s synodal process in Germany. “God disappears – and maybe, could this be necessary? God disappears – is it He perhaps who wants it this way?” These were the provocative questions that guided the programme of an online conference that was held in Germany on February 26-27. It was organized by the Focolare Movement in Germany together with the “Herder-Korrespondenz”, a monthly Catholic magazine, and the Catholic Academy of the Dresden-Meissen Diocese in the former GDR. It was meant to address one of the most urgent questions many Christians ask today: “What do we have to do and how do we have to move in a world where God seems to be no longer present?” 350 participants from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries were ready to discuss in depth the causes of an ever-increasing absence of God in society and in the lives of individuals. As Heinrich Timmerevers, the Bishop of Dresden said in his opening speech, they were even ready to ask the shocking question, “Is it perhaps the Church itself that is driving people away from God because of the crisis caused by abuse?” In a message sent to the participants, Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement said that the theme of God’s absence touches the core of the Movement’s spirituality, that springs from the figure of Jesus crucified and forsaken by men and God, “the hardest moment for Jesus and at the same time the most divine, the key to contribute towards fraternity wherever it is lacking […] and to reach out to those who suffer most because of this darkness”. During these two days, there were moments of critical and stimulating reflection on all that motivates a firm faith in God, despite a growing tendency towards secularism, and also on new forms of interest – especially in young people – in something transcendent that is passed on through authentic stories, experiences of deep attractiveness and a curiosity to explore new reflections on the meaning of life. During this conference, the awareness that Churches are often no longer able to meet the new religious needs of today’s men and women, was also present. The talk delivered by the German theologian Julia Knop was very strong; it was almost shocking. She started from the debate on the abuse of power and sexual violence by clerics and consecrated persons, and then continued to show that an erosion of trust in the Church is also being felt among its most faithful members. The professor of dogmatics claimed that the Church’s crisis is closely linked to the faith crisis. Stefan Tobler, the Reformed theologian stated that the absence of God could also prove to be an opportunity. While presenting traces of the mysticism in Madeleine Delbrêl, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Chiara Lubich, he pointed out that the experience of God that vanishes could become precisely the place where God reveals himself. “God is found precisely where he seems furthest away. It is therefore not a question of bringing him to the world, but of discovering him in the world”.
Joachim Schwind
8 Mar 2021 | Non categorizzato
On Saturday 6 March 2021, during Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Iraq, an interreligious meeting was held in the Plain of Ur of the Chaldees. At the end of the meeting, an oration was intoned inspired by the figure of the patriarch Abraham, a common father in the faith for Christians, Jews and Muslims. Here is the text. Almighty God, our Creator, you love our human family and every work of your hands: As children of Abraham, Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with other believers and all persons of good will, we thank you for having given us Abraham, a distinguished son of this noble and beloved country, to be our common father in faith. We thank you for his example as a man of faith, who obeyed you completely, left behind his family, his tribe and his native land, and set out for a land that he knew not. We thank you too, for the example of courage, resilience, strength of spirit, generosity and hospitality set for us by our common father in faith. We thank you in a special way for his heroic faith, shown by his readiness even to sacrifice his son in obedience to your command. We know that this was an extreme test, yet one from which he emerged victorious, since he trusted unreservedly in you, who are merciful and always offer the possibility of beginning anew. We thank you because, in blessing our father Abraham, you made him a blessing for all peoples. We ask you, the God of our father Abraham and our God, to grant us a strong faith, a faith that abounds in good works, a faith that opens our hearts to you and to all our brothers and sisters; and a boundless hope capable of discerning in every situation your fidelity to your promises. Make each of us a witness of your loving care for all, particularly refugees and the displaced, widows and orphans, the poor and the infirm. Open our hearts to mutual forgiveness and in this way make us instruments of reconciliation, builders of a more just and fraternal society. Welcome into your abode of peace and light all those who have died, particularly the victims of violence and war. Assist the authorities in the effort to seek and find the victims of kidnapping and in a special way to protect women and children. Help us to care for the earth, our common home, which in your goodness and generosity you have given to all of us. Guide our hands in the work of rebuilding this country, and grant us the strength needed to help those forced to leave behind their homes and lands, enabling them to return in security and dignity, and to embark upon a new, serene and prosperous life. Amen.
8 Mar 2021 | Non categorizzato
Love for God and neighbour gains substance, depth and authenticity only if it passes through pain, if it is purified by the cross that Jesus invites us to welcome. But what cross are we talking about? Chiara Lubich’s answer in the following reflection is very precise: each of us has his or her own very particular and personal cross. […] “All things God works for good [but] for those who love Him.” (cf. Rom 8,28). To love God! We certainly do want to love Him. But, when are we sure that we are loving Him? It is not only when we give our hearts to Him in a moment when everything is going well, because that would be easy, and beautiful, but could also be just an enthusiastic reaction or one mixed with personal interest or love for ourselves, and not for Him. We can be certain we love Him if we do so also in adverse situations; furthermore, to guarantee true love for Him, we have decided to prefer Him, above all, in everything that hurts us. To love God in our obstacles and in our pains is always true, sure love. We express this kind of love with the words: to love Jesus crucified and forsaken. […] But which cross, which Jesus Forsaken, must we desire to love? Certainly not a vague cross, as if to say: I want to make my own, […] the sufferings of humanity. Not the cross which can be a product of our imagination; for example, dreams of a martyrdom that may never come about. To be His follower, Jesus said, “Whoever wants to come after me must take up his cross” (cf. Lk 9:23). His personal cross! Therefore, everyone must love their own cross, their own Jesus Forsaken. If, in fact, at a certain moment of our lives, Jesus had appeared before us and because of his great love for us had asked us to follow Him, to choose Him, to — as if to say— to take Him as our spouse, He didn’t intend to manifest Himself to us in just a vague way, but instead in a very precise way. He asked us to embrace Him in all those pains, worries, sicknesses, temptations, in those situations, persons and responsibilities that touch our very person, to the point of being able to say: “This is my cross,” or even better, “This is my Spouse!” All of us have our own personal Jesus Forsaken, which is not the one of our neighbour, nor of anyone else; but really our own. Therefore, if we learn to read beyond the trauma of our various personal sufferings, and see the love of God for each of us, life becomes magnificent, and draws us ever closer to our Jesus Forsaken, to embrace Him, as the saints have done, and to yearn to see Him transformed in us in our own personal resurrection. […] In order not to lose any time, each of us can make a brief examination of his or her own present situation, and then decide, with the help of God, to say yes to all those things to which we want to say no, but know are the will of God. […] Let’s get up in the morning with this proposal in our heart: “I will live today for the sole purpose of loving my Jesus Forsaken.” Everything else will fall into place. The Risen Lord will live in each of us and among us. […]
Chiara Lubich
(From a telephonic conference call, 16 August 1984)
5 Mar 2021 | Non categorizzato
The story of an “extended” family that is opening up to a love that is not taken for granted Bringing a child, a young person or an adult into the family is always a challenge. Complex, not obvious in any way, both in its development and in its outcome which is never concluded. Looking at these “extended families” from the outside, one feels a mixture of esteem and amazement, almost as if the serenity they show is the result of an indecipherable alchemy of love – an almost romantic vision. It is hard to imagine how complex it is to bring together different sensitivities, cultures and habits, as well as the practical considerations of needs, schedules and languages, in an alliance where the many ‘I’s’ merge into a ‘fluid We’ without friction or, better still, with well-oiled gears. To then feel like one single family is an achievement that is not without hardship, doubts and disappointments. “Welcoming Therese into our family,” said Sergio and Susanna from the focolare community in Vinovo, near Turin, Italy, “has not been easy”. Their story is straightforward, in no way sugar-coated which makes it all the more authentic. What kept them going in this decision was the desire to live their family life as a gift for others and feel the spiritual presence of Jesus as the fruit of mutual love. The decision to open their doors and hearts to a young African mother who arrived in Italy as a refugee was taken with the agreement of their daughters, Aurora and Beatrice, aged 20 and 17. The first difficulties arose when they tried to combine their various needs. “Beatrice likes to plan everything,” says Susanna. “In the mornings every minute is accounted for but sometimes Therese would get up earlier and use the bathroom. This was a problem for her, but gradually she learned to ‘create family’ with her, simply asking her to agree on the use of the bathroom. Aurora, on the other hand, immediately decided to share her wardrobe with Therese and helped her with her studies.” The main challenge is to overcome the silent, corrosive opposition between ‘us’ and ‘the other’ and welcome the other into the intimate dimension of our lives, enlarging the ‘we’. In “creating a family” there is the will to strive to “be family”: in fact, love is first and foremost a choice and this is no less demanding for adults. “In my desire to be welcoming to Therese, I often found myself talking to her until late into the night,” Susanna recalls, “but then I started to suffer from the situation. I found it difficult to explain that I had to get up early in the morning, I was afraid of hurting her. Sergio helped me to deal with it gently but firmly.” For Sergio, the difficulties arose when, rather than coming straight home from work in the evening, he had to go and pick up Therese who was studying in a neighbouring town. “Her classes finished late, and Therese didn’t know how to use public transport, so I often found myself having dinner after 9 p.m”. Here too, choosing to love meant accommodating Therese’s needs, but also looking after the family’s well-being: “We tried to teach her to be independent, as we do with our daughters, so that being available didn’t become too much of a burden for us or an obstacle to her growth. Little by little she has learned to use public transport”. They have discovered that being a family also defines the way we present ourselves to the outside world: “In the first few months that Therese was with us,” Sergio explained, “I put a photo of myself with Susanna and our daughters on my Whatsapp profile. Therese told me it wasn’t a family photo because she was missing! And this is what we discover every day: we are one family because we are children of the same Father, we care for each other and we rejoice in each other’s achievements. It is the ‘we’ which is extended and enriched by love.
Claudia Di Lorenzi
