A time set aside for Life

I don’t know what the word “possible” brings to your mind but for me it means one thing: these 40 girls in front of me, these “possible focolarine”.

We can make lots of choices in life, wonderful choices. These girls decided to come and spend some time together- “a time for life” as we called it with a precise slogan: “Here I am”, meaning ‘I am ready for anything’.

I have to say that they were invigorating days for me too. The Lord God has a great imagination and each of these girls’ life stories is more beautiful than the other; unfledged and with room for development but budding signs for a promising future.

Micarla from Recife, in the North East of Brazil came not only to look for the truth but to find it; it’s always been the bee in her bonnet. Today she is happy!

Grisel, 27 years old, from Mendoza (Argentina), loves revolution and discovered that Mary of Nazareth is the greatest revolutionary of all time. “I wanted to be like her”, she told us. “What fascinates me about the vocation to the focolare? I see men and women who are completely fulfilled, people who give God to those they meet. Giving my whole life to God was a logical consequence: if He loves me immensely how can I not give him everything?”

Vida, a 24 year old from Lithuania: “I have had a lot of doubts, common doubts: can I manage to follow God completely for my whole life or should I start a family? What gave me peace and assurance was the freedom I felt every time I said my yes to Him: freedom to love the whole world.”

Emma is Mexican: “It’s not easy to follow Jesus”; she confides, “It seems that everything goes against a life given to God: from the world of communications to some aspects of education and the values proposed to us. We think that if we don’t have “extreme” experiences we get bored. This led me to think that I had to give more to God because nothing quenched my thirst, nothing satiated me.” She considers life in a focolare to be like a rollercoaster ride: a breathtaking, fascinating and at times tortuous journey, but a journey where your gaze is set on a goal : being face to face with God. “This is what I want more than anything.”

Priscilia from Geneva, is 23 and studies French literature. She is here to understand if God is really calling her. She wants to give everything to Him so as to live an adventure that “is, in my eyes, beyond compare: contributing to building a united world,” and she then concludes, “I want to have God as my Spouse as of right now”:

Nuam comes from a small village in South East Asia. She was fascinated when she saw the simple yet extremely deep life of a focolare house. Then in 2005 during a Genrosso concert “those songs, though sung in another language that I didn’t know, transmitted God and His love to me. I felt that I had to respond in some way. Now I want to give Him everything so as to be able to bring Jesus to everyone; I want to do my part so that humanity may become more and more like one family. The Ideal of Unity has helped me open my heart to the whole world”.

What comes to mind is an excerpt from Chiara’s commentary to March’s “Word of Life” that helped us do the Will of God. Chiara Lubich wrote: “Let’s say before every action, ‘May your will be done.’ By doing so, we will accomplish — one moment at a time, one piece at a time — the wonderful, unique and unrepeatable mosaic of our life that the Lord has always had in mind for each one of us”.

Now, in the meeting hall beside us there are about 40 boys who also want to give everything to God and who have wonderful things to tell us. Keep your eyes open for their upcoming article.

But now it’s time to catch up with the groups who are off to visit the little town of Loppiano.

All the best to these wonderful girls!

Sharry S.