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Jul 29, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
July 21-22, 2014. An innovation for future generations of graduates in European and Italian Economics: Fifty students at the Lumsa University of Rome recite and undersign the Genovesian Oath committing themselves to exercise their profession according to a demanding ethical code. The initiative takes its name from the first professor of Economics in Italian history, Antonio Genovesi who, in 1754 was a voice for values such as trust, public happiness and mutual assistance. It is just a small parchment,” explains Professor Bruni of the department of Economic Sciences at Lumsa University, “but will have an impact on a symbolic and ritualistic level. Publicly reciting and undersigning the Genovesian Promise at such a significant moment as a doctoral hooding ceremony is not mere rhetoric or folklore.” The oath proposes an epochal challenge at a time of crisis and precarious values. In his Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis states that the present economy kills. Professor Bruni adds: “Nowadays people are dying not only because of causes linked to medicine, but also because of the omissions and mistakes committed by economists, financers and managers: nowadays people are dying as a result of decisions and the unethical behaviour of banks and businesses. For this reason a commitment to ethics in economics, an oath to abide by certain values and behaviours is not less weighty than that required of other professions that are ethically sensitive, and it can help trigger a virtuous cycle of economic and social change.” 
This could be an important step for Europe, as Rector of Lumsa University, Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre said: “We need to pay attention to the civilian economy, its ethics, and overcome the individualistic mind-set that characterises it now.” Text of the Genovesian Oath: “In receiving this Economics Degree today I promise that I will: 1) view the market as a set of opportunities for mutual benefit without, discrimination of language, gender, race or creed, and not as a competition or battleground wherein one wins at the expense of others; 2) never treat an employee as a commodity, capital, or resource of the company; 3) first of all recognise in my professional practice that employees, partners, colleagues, suppliers and clients are human beings, and because of that human dignity I must respect, value and honour them; 4) relate with my interlocutors with kindness, trust, fairness, justice, magnanimity, morality, and respect for every person, recognising this work ethic to as the best path to a good and sustainable economy; 5) see my career as the terrain for my personal growth and as a contribution to the common good.
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Jul 25, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
Despondency prevails among the people of Gaza. The only thing that helps are the words of the Pope and the support of prayers from around the world, as a young woman from the Focolare Movement recounts. She lives in the Gaza Strip and for safety reasons will remain anonymous. R. “There is no respite to the conflict, we only sees death, destruction and refugees on the road. It seems so inconceivable, you can’t believe it. Near to us there’s a UN school for refugees, some seventy people live there in 50 square metres, taking cover under the trees. How can you find peace in this situation? D. – How has your life changed since the conflict began? R. –Sincerely, we’re already a bit dead. Before and after this war nothing has changed. There’s no electricity, water or work. The young are psychologically dying. You speak with them and it’s like talking to a seventy-year-old who has no more expectations or hope in life. The only ambition is to have at least a bit of electricity for a couple of hours a day and to find a bit of fuel. D. –Until now both Hamas and Israel authorities have been saying that it cannot stop, that they must finish what has been begun. Do you also think so? R. –We don’t have any expectations. All we have is prayer. We turn to God and entrust ourselves to Him, because there is no government that can help us, neither Arab nor foreign, not even the UN can do anything. D. – Then how can this situation be changed? R. –If things were to change it would only be because those with the power and responsibility had remembered that God sees everything they are doing. Only God can make the difference, only God can change the hearts that are full of hate, only God can change this reality of death and suffering. D. – Is news getting to you about how the Pope is praying and making appeals for you? Does that news offer you some support? R. –We’ve been receiving all the messages and appeals by the Pope. We know that he is near to us and asking God for our safety with the intercession of Mary. And then all the Christian communities around us call us every day so we don’t feel alone, and they support us with their prayers. All of this helps us. D. – You belong to the Focolare Movement and therefore live a spirituality of unity that is built with mutual love, as the Gospel says. How do you put that into practice now? R. –Every day, in the morning and evening, I try to make contact with my relatives and friends to know how they’re doing. So many of them no longer have houses, because they’ve been destroyed by the bombings and we’re putting up two refugee families in our home right now. Just yesterday I was saying to them: ‘don’t think about the house, about material things. The important thing is that we’re alive and together. The important thing is that we’re here for each other’. Then, every day I give praise to God for the grace of another day to live. This is already a lot: we still exist and can still get busy doing something for each other. D. – If you could launch your own appeal, what would it be? R. –I’d like to speak to the whole world on behalf of my people, asking that everyone would return to God and remember that Muslims and Christians are a single people in Gaza, a single life and we’re all undergoing the same suffering and pain. Thanks.” Source: Vatican Radio Online 
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Jul 24, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
“Don’t forget us!” We cannot. As Christians and as men and women of this planet we cannot remain passive in front of the grave situations that are unfolding in many parts of the world. Therefore, let us unite ourselves to the heartfelt prayer of Pope Francis asking for peace especially in the land of Jesus. Let us ask that every possible path will be taken that excludes the use of arms so that the innocent deaths of so many innocent people may be avoided. We wish to assure our Christian brothers and sisters, but also those of other faiths, that we have not forgotten them. That we assume the daily commitment of offering and praying to the Almighty that the violence may stop and dialogue begin between the parties, and that they may have the courage needed for peace. For those wishing to help: Associazione “Azione per un Mondo Unito – Onlus” Via Frascati, 342 – 00040 Rocca di Papa (Roma, Italy) c/c bancario n. 120434 Banca Popolare Etica – Filiale di Roma codice IBAN: IT16 G050 1803 2000 0000 0120 434 codice SWIFT/BIC: CCRTIT2184D Reason: Emergency Middle East For European donors there is a possibility of deduction / tax deductibility. For those wishing to help the Christians of Iraq: IBAN JO09 ARAB 1110 0000 0011 1210 9985 98 Account: 0111 210998 0 598 Swiftcode: ARABJOAX100 Reason: Help Christians in Iraq ARAB Bank – Amman branch Amman – Jordan
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Jul 18, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
Pregnant and Working Despite the promises it had made, the company I work for was unable to provide maternity leave, compensation or future guarantees when I found out I was pregnant. So I had to resign. Then a friend offered me a position at his professional firm. It would have been a fictional employment; I wouldn’t have to work but my rights as a working mother would be honoured. I had already begun to prepare my documents when my conscience rebelled. By stepping outside the law, I would actually be performing a theft against the state, even though I wanted to be a model of honesty for the child I was awaiting. So I declined the job offer, against the wishes of my relatives. But a few days later they were also shocked by how God had answered in such a providential way: a new professional career for my husband, a crib, stroller and baby clothes for my son, as well as a new job for me.
M. L. – Sicily
The Ironing Board For a short time my son has been living on his own. He often comes to visit me, and one day when he saw me ironing, he said: “You know what? I’m missing an ironing board.” I didn’t think about it very long, and I gave him mine. He went away happy, but I was feeling happier because I had given him something he truly needed. A couple of days later a friend of mine asked: “Could you use an ironing board? I have one in the cellar that I’m no longer using.” I was stunned. It was also more comfortable than the one I had given away.
R. B. – Switzerland
The Classmate One day, one of my classmates began throwing books in the air and cursing against God: “Why aren’t you ever there when I need you? What are you doing up there?” I didn’t understand why he was acting like that, until I learnt that his mother had to have cancer surgery. I tried to be close to him, sharing this great suffering, and we prayed together to Jesus that the surgery would go well. Then my other classmates also prayed. The class seemed transformed: this event had made us become more united. The surgery went well, and we all thanked God.
J.S. – Germany
Translation Work 
I was in need of money and was able to find work translating. One day my friend confided to me that she was going through difficult times economically. I offered to let her share the translation work I was doing. That same day I received an offer for another job that would earn me double the amount I had shared with my friend.
E. M. – Azores
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Jul 15, 2014 | Senza categoria
“Why were we asked for this contribution? The first reaction of my people was surprise, Patience Lobe of Cameroon shared. But then this dimension of our culture kicked in: when it is the community who asks, one must give an answer, tackling the questions first of all within the family. That is why the answers sent to the commission were the fruit of a common reflection, not so much the expressions of the individual.” Patience is one of the 20 members of the commission that has gathered and organized reflections, analyses and balance sheets of the Focolare community in the world. Some 3050 interventions arrived, and more thane 600 were documents which came from the youth of the Focolare Movement. They represent a precious treasure and show the great involvement and participation in the process of the General Assembly of which they are a part and which is convened every 6 years. What emerged is a “photograph” of the Focolare Movement in its different vocational, geographical and generational expressions, with its challenges, hopes, criticisms, gratitude, joy for the journey that has been accomplished and with aspirations and proposal made in the light of the charism of unity. “At the beginning of this task, people thought of the Assembly as a moment to elect the new persons responsible for the Movement», explained Bill Neu, of the United States. «But then we grasped the importance of welcoming the requests that were coming from the entire Movement and to face them”. 
For Father Egidio Canil, conventual Franciscan of Assisi, moreover, «having experienced other chapters, assemblies, ecclesial and religious synods, I can say that the “method” of Jesus in the midst (Mt 18:20 “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst”) is an original and new, very new method in the Church and also in society. This means: to make Jesus present among the members of an assembly before going ahead. In this way, then, it will be God, presen among them, united in the name of Jesus, who makes the Holy Spirit present, to guide the works and also to produce for the whole Opera fruits on the level of the design of God. This thing of unity is the charism on which the Focolare Movement rests, and without which it cannot function otherwise». Giuliana, a focolarina in India, said: “To carry out this task we met with the various communities and immediately there was a great agreement and support in sharing one’s own idea. I saw the love that there is for this Opera, a call once again to authenticity so as to live better – recalling our roots – the aim for which it was born, for the world.” Pablo Loyola, volunteer from Argentina, confided: “There were doubts, in the beginning as to how we should proceed. How would this work be perceived? By making a summary, we saw that the results went beyond all our expectations. I can say that we listened to all the voices. I tried to bring the voice of Hispanic America whom I represent. The challenge now is to see to it that this work of involving everyone continues.” Objective and wish for whoever will participate in the work: listen to everything that has emerged so far so as to understand together how to go ahead in the journey as the “people of the Focolare” in the succeeding years to come. In the meantime, as the Assembly approaches, last July 7 the president Maria Voce wrote in a letter: “As I return the mandate completely to the Holy Spirit, as we wait to discover what He would like to show to us, I want to share with you three sentiments that dominate my soul in this moment: gratitude, joy, a new momentum” she wrote in a letter to all the members of the Focolare Movement. A profound “communion” with the expressed desire to “multiply such sentiments of gratitude, joy and a new momentum so as to make us all start again all together, with no one excluded, in this extraordinary adventure”.
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Jun 16, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
“After a year of intense collaboration and mutual understanding with our Muslim friends of the mosque in Harlem – some members of the Focolare community in New York write – on 29th May last, we held a meeting called: ‘Our Journey towards the Excellence of the Human Family’.” Before telling the 200 participants about the journey travelled together all these years, the young Muslims and members of the Focolare Movement recited the covenant of respect, brotherhood and mutual love, which is the basis of this walking together. “It was very powerful – Lumi tells us – to see the conviction of these young people who took the assignment to build universal brotherhood with responsibility and seriousness, referring to the pact made by Chiara Lubich and WD Mohammed.” In fact, a new page in relations between Christians and Muslims was opened in May 1997 in the United States. Chiara Lubich, a Christian woman, had been invited by Imam WD Mohammed, the charismatic leader of African-American Muslims, to address her message to the faithful gathered in the Historic Malcolm Shabazz Mosque, in Harlem. At the end of that special day, the Imam said: “Today, here in Harlem, New York, a page of history has been written.” That was when the two leaders had made that pact of fraternity. 
Watching the images showing the history of the path followed up to today, for someone it was like “reliving the power of that extraordinary meeting of ’97 in my mosque; my hope is that together we can keep this flame burning and give light to many … “. For many, on the other hand, it was a discovery to get to know the origins, but also the development of this unique experience of fraternity among African-American Muslims and American Christians. The comments of the participants speak for themselves: “I was struck by the atmosphere of family and reconciliation among some Muslims of different communities.” “We must continue to work together, because this is not a superficial relationship and leads to hope.” “We had the distinct impression that the words of Chiara and the Imam were more alive than ever, the prophecy of a miracle that continues!” Father McWeeney, Director of Interreligious Dialogue of the Archdiocese of New York, bringing the greeting of Cardinal Dolan pointed out that Chiara and the Imam WD had made that covenant “forever”, inviting us to pass on this experience to young people. Today in the U.S., there are more than 40 mosques and Focolare communities involved holding regular meetings of Christian and Muslim communities, whites and blacks, which aim to build fraternity; a spirit of brotherhood that has a practical expression in various initiatives for the benefit of their own cities and neighbourhoods.
