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Together with Pope Francis for peace
Pope Francis’ invitation on 25 May to the presidents of the State of Palestine and the State of Israel to “raise together a heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace”, offering his home in the Vatican as a venue, has given hope to the world, and brought about a real leap forward in the belief that peace is something that needs to be built and needs to be prayed for. From that moment the prayers of all those who aspire to the ideal of unity of the Focolare Movement have intensified. People from different religions and cultures, who, with different words, with the redoubling of acts of peace by young and old and with a renewed commitment to the daily Timeout at midday in each time zone, offer everything for peace in the whole world. The news that the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew 1 will join Pope Francis and presidents Peres and Abu Mazen in this “plea for peace” in the Vatican on Sunday was also met with great joy. Another encouragement to quicken the pace towards the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer “that all may be one so that the world may believe”, more than ever relevant today. The Focolare Movement, therefore, responds to the heartfelt appeal of the Pope “not to leave us alone”; and people from all the continents, especially in the places of greatest suffering, will unite with the prayer in the Vatican “that the Lord may grant us peace in that blessed Land!”
“God is always with us”
The Lord is great! One day, as I was on my way to work, I met a lady on the train whom I knew by sight because she went to the same church as mine. We greeted one another and started a conversation. She said: “I see that you are married. Do you have children?”. “I answered yes, that I have two very beautiful girls of whom I am very proud of. When it was my turn to ask her about her children, she burst into tears in front of all the passengers, much to my great embarrassment. I asked for pardon, at which point she started to share her situation with me: “Yesterday, after examining the results of the analysis, my gynecologist told me that I could never become a mother. For me, being married for nine years already, this is a very great suffering”. I listened to her with great empathy, then I encouraged her not to lose hope but to continue to have faith in God. I said that I would pray for her too. Three weeks later, I saw the same lady after Mass: she was radiant, as she waited for me to share the beautiful news: “I am three weeks pregnant. The Lord is great!”. After nine months Emanuel was born, a beautiful baby boy. W.U. – Rome Translation work I needed money and I was able to find a job: doing translations. One day a friend confided in me that she was passing through a difficult moment financially. So I offered to share the work that I was doing with her. On the same day I was offered another job that would allow me to earn double of what I had shared with my friend. E. M. – Azores The classmate One day, my classmate started to throw his books and notebooks in the air, cursing God: “Why aren’t you there when I need you? What are you doing up there?”. I didn’t understand why he was doing this, until I learned that his mother had to undergo an operation for cancer. I stayed near him, sharing this great suffering of his, and finally, together, we asked Jesus that the operation would go well. Our other classmates prayed with us too. Our class was transformed: this episode made us more united. The operation went well and we all thanked God. J.S. – Germany
Unsung heroes of the Haiyan Typhoon remembered in Tacloban City
The event name WARAY ngaRUN is derived from a waray-waray dialect phrase “waray ngaran” meaning “nameless”. The marathon, which will be held on 28 June in Tacloban, the city in the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda in November 2013, aims not only to commemorate the lives of the many nameless victims who perished in the disaster but also to give courage to people to go ahead. One main objective is to involve the youth as protagonists in the reconstruction of the life of the town. The event will began with a solidarity run at 6.00am followed by a fair and several exhibitions during the day concluding with a “Solidarity Night”. There will be presentations of inspiring experiences from different personalities and groups who in one way or another have been heroes in their own right during and after the typhoon. Different stakeholders of the city are also expected to attend: local waray artists, bands and talented individuals, as well as students and teachers from private and government organizations. The proceeds of the event will be donated to the “Start Again Project”, promoted by Youth for a United World (Y4UW), which aims to help rebuild the spirits, lives and communities of the typhoon-struck areas in the Visayas regions with a 7-point plan:
- Roofing for schools
- School supplies drive
- Yolanda memorial
- Potable water systems
- Higher education programs
- Soup kitchen
- Medical mission
The idea for the event was a fruit of the experience of unity shared with members of the Gen Rosso band when they came to hold workshops and performances in Tacloban as part of their Philippines Solidarity Tour 2014. “When the Start Again Project was launched to bring help to different parts of Leyte, including our community in Tacloban,” the young people write, “we felt strongly the need to reciprocate this love by doing a concrete activity that will help continue fund the various projects. And with this WARAY ngaRUN, we feel that we are no longer recipients but active collaborators.” Facebook: WARAYngaRUN2014
Indonesia: Meeting for young men and women religious
“The spirituality of unity helps me to get to know myself better and to be more rooted as a Conventual Franciscan […]. I come from an order of fraternity and today I saw that ideal fulfilled here.” “The whole day reminded me to live brotherhood with commitment in my community. Living in a student house, we are often busy with all our tasks and we forget how important it is.” These are two impressions at the conclusion of the meeting for young men and women religious from different congregations, organized by the Focolare Movement on 3rd May, in Yogyakarta (Indonesia). Recently, the focolarini moved from wealthy Singaporeto assist the numerous and more modest Indonesian community .
The main theme was, “The role of the charism in consecrated life to make the Church more beautiful and the world more united”. It was introduced by Fr Piero Trabucco from the Consolata Order who came specially from the Focolare’s Centre for Religious in Rome. He facilitated an intense exchange of experiences and questions aimed primarily at clarifying the spiritual bond of members of religious orders with the Focolare Movement, which dates from the birth of the Movement. In fact, the wide diffusion of the Gospel spirit of unity contained in the charism of Chiara Lubich, is due in a large part to the work of religious men and women who, having met this spirit of communion in Italy, shared it wherever they were transferred in the world.
The positive and often enthusiastic impressions, of the 80 participants from 18 congregations, indicated the desire to rediscover the origins of the different charisms, as they were in the mind of their founders. And from this came the commitment to live these in a greater spirit of brotherhood and unity, each in their own communities.
Sary John, a Jesuit, said he was struck by the idea of “be the first to love” and highlighted the richness of the experience lived during the day, with others from the different religious congregations. Sister Valentina, said: “This meeting has prompted me to ‘go out’ from my congregation to get to know others and learn to love them as my own.” And Sister Novianti : “The example of Chiara Lubich, prophet of peace and love in the midst of the world touched me deeply.” Sister Pasifica (OFM) , wrote: “The Focolare responds to today’s challenges for consecrated life. I was very satisfied with this meeting because it has rekindled in me faith and love for the charism of my congregation.”
And other impressions: “A very nice meeting, especially when it placed importance on going back to the roots of the spirituality of one’s own congregation, the dream of the founder. This awareness leads me to want to have his very thoughts and his very feelings.” “I realized that up to now I haven’t been living in full love and I hope that this meeting will be a beginning to share love with others.” In the wake of this day dedicated to the spirituality of unity, many of the participants hope that they will have more opportunities to meet to grow together on this path of communion and brotherhood between the various charisms.
Turkey: united in suffering
© Foto: AFP
«For our small variegated community – they wrote us – made up of Christians of various Churches and Muslims, it is the moment of prayer, of solidarity, of sharing the suffering of these brothers and sisters. And of entrusting to God, once more, with faith, the future of this our Country. Pope Francis too prayed “for the mines in Turkey, and for those who are trapped in the galleries” and this was relayed to the Country, with heartfelt gratitude».
So far there are 282 victims officially accounted for, but the number may still rise (and maybe much higher). The overlapping of two shifts of workers precisely at the time of the incident has unfortunately doubled the number of men who have remained in the depths of the carbon mines of Soma, 120 km from Smirne, where the explosion took place two days ago. There are around eighty wounded, while several dozen workers are still unaccounted for. The government has declared three days of national mourning for the worst industrial tragedy that has happened on Turkey.
The images that come from the place of the disaster profoundly touch us, in particular the dignity of these people, whose men and boys, some very, very young, are used to doing extremely hard labour. A miner, just out of the tunnel is helped to climb onto a stretcher of the ambulance: “Should I remove my boots?”, he asked, afraid of dirtying the white bedsheet.
The Country is in protest: these disasters at work happen too often, and also this time the data, the outlines and the implications of what happened seem to be rather confusing, while the government is unable to convey the image of a reall preoccupation and solidarity with the people. The number of deaths at the workplace in Turkey have a sad record: according to the unions there have been 5,000 victims in the workplace in 2013, 19% of which happened in the mines. Turkey is the top country in Europe for accidents at work and the third throughout the world.
The disaster then has reached a moment that is extremely delicate in the social and political life in Turkey, after the last administrative elections wherein the party of Erdogan is once again leading and they are preparing for the presidential elections this coming August. The tension of that time in Taksim Square last June is latent and so protests have exploded once again. The labour unions have declared a day of general strike, that is quite rare in this Country, where the defense of worker’s rights still has a long way to go.
«The Bishop of the Latin-rite Catholic Church of Istambul – they concuded –, has expressed through a message sent to the authorities, the participation in the Nation’s suffering and the closeness to all the families of the victims».
Source: Focolare Movement