For some time the date has been fixed: 31 August-2 September. The countdown on the sitewww.genfest.org reminds us that between now and then there are 25 weeks, 1 day, and… hours, minutes, seconds rush by. The programme is taking shape, and on planet earth (aka, in various parts of the globe) people are getting ready to arrive in Budapest. Here are a few examples of what has been going on lately.
Radio Warsaw
Two hours of broadcasting dedicated to young people, during which the Y4UW from Poland have spoken on one of the main national radio stations of their experiences and their invitation to all the young people of Poland to be united in walking together towards Budapest. They write: ‘It was our first chance of announcing the Genfest and enthusing the hearts of many young people!’
Café in Milan
In Italy, ‘Coffee Bridge’ is the initiative launched by Y4UW in Lombardy. Having got good price from a wholesaler and put the Genfest logo on bags of coffee, they have begun selling them. The aim of the initiative: to promote the ideals of Y4UW and to gather funds for the journey to Budapest. Email address: coffee@genfest.tk
Partying in Nazareth
40 young people from various regions have started up a day for teaching songs, playing games and … having great fun. It was impossible not possible to talk about the Genfest and give everyone an invitation, which was immediately accepted, to be ‘bridge builders’. The next appointment is in April for another weekend together.
In Yogjakarta, the Y4UW of the second city, of Java organized a concert for 500 people to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the largest Catholic publisher of the archipelago. ‘It was a fantastic chance to present ourselves and to tell of our commitment to build a more united world,’ they write, ‘by living the present moment, loving our neighbours and so overcoming every difficult moment.’
Chinese meal
From Macao they tell us: ‘We invited our friends to eat a “hotpot”.’ They presented their experiences and then spoke about the Genfest and ‘as a sign of gratitude to those who’d come, we gave a small present to each person with best wishes for a “prosperous Chinese New Year”!’
Experiences, activities, things of interest… and a new video on the history of Genfest are available of the sites of Genfest and of Youth for a United World.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Watch the videoMargarita Ramirez de Moreno is a volunteer of the Focolare Movement. She is an artisan and entrepreneur, the first to graduate from Santa Maria Aurora of Catamarca School in Argentina. After thirty-five years, the schoolwas recognized and financed by the government of Argentina because of the great educational contribution it has made in the study and recovery of symbols and techniques of Quechua cutlure.«I was born in Santa Maria, in a region at the foot of the Andes, rich with aboriginal culture, but very poor. I am a descendent of the “calchaquies” (calciachies) aboriginals. I’m married and have seven children. I studied for twelve years at the Aurora School. There, besides reading, writing and weaving, I learned to live the spirituality of unity. In 2003, faced with the widespread unemployment, I started a spinning mill to supply the school’s weaving workshop. It wasn’t easy to convince the women of my land, who have always been discriminated, to take up the work of weaving again. They had to cross rivers and walk many kilometers every day in order to reach the spinning mill. We had no means. Little by little each one offered what she had: a spindle, balls of wool or her ability in this traditional art. There was still the problem of expensive machinery. One day I had to ask for a ride and I confided my concern to the driver. He told me that he knew how to build weaving machines. “Can you make them for us?” I asked. He replied: “Yes, you can pay me when you can.” There were other obstacles as well: we lost the place where we were working and our most expert woman quit. “With all that is happening, maybe we should just give up!” said one of the girls, expressing the doubt we all had. While we were moving to a new location, we found an image of Our Lady. It seemed very significant to me and I proposed to the others that we make a pact: to work every day with love for one another. Shortly afterwards, we received a donation with which we were able to buy property and equipment. That was the beginning of the “TINKU KAMAYU” studio, which means “Working together.” In the beginning there were eight of us. Today, two years later, there are 18 craftswomen and a growing production. Now I feel that I am part of a large project and involved with many other calchaquies people. We have found our identity again, and with it, hope, cultural growth, the possibility of work for ourselves and for others, and all the wealth of our cultural roots and our people. Now we feel that we are useful, no longer humiliated, but appreciated and capable of expressing our thoughts».
‘I came to a college of hotel management as a supply teacher after the year had begun and I was catapulted into endless meetings of the class council, without anything to help me sort out names, faces and backgrounds. What I found in the college was not very encouraging. It was difficult, my colleagues said, to motivate and teach the students, especially in the younger classes. I had to forget the rich and fascinating experience I’d had the previous year with High School students and change my whole approach and teaching methods. I began an exciting adventure that immediately forced me to put myself on the line and accept the challenge. ‘I am a nun. This not only shocked my students, but it made them ask thousands of questions. I didn’t let tough comments or jokes put me off my stride. So, I found myself sharing with them something about my life, my vocation, my reason for going into teaching. The first step was to begin forming a relationship, to start doing things together. Bit by bit, we became more open with one another and I began to put questions to the young people. I didn’t start with philosophical issues, but with everyday things that demand some kind of meaning: why should I get up in the morning, why should I study, be realistic, love, suffer…? Are we aware of what we’re living? This question struck the students like lightning and made them all pull a face somewhere between laughter and pain. Having punctured a hole in their apathy, I pressed on: what is the value of the human person, individual responsibility, the search for God in people and in history? One of them, surprised that the class was listening, joked that ‘Some of us have started thinking!’ Then, with one of my colleagues, we began to build up mutual respect and she and I worked together on the basis of our subjects. We looked out bits of literature or poetry that talk about the longing for real happiness… The students responded. They felt they were being taken seriously. They got involved with the lessons. To explain the religious sense, I suggested pieces of music that express how people feel in front of the question of meaning. Following the lyrics, the young people were faced with Bob Dylan’s ‘suspension of disbelief’, Guccini’s ‘scepticism’, Bono from U2’s ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’, and I asked them: ‘Where are you in all this?’ One of them put up his hand: ‘I write poetry. Would you like to hear something I’ve written?’ A friend of his accompanied him and, doing a rap, he told the painful story of the death of a school friend. It was heartfelt: what is the human response to suffering, to finitude, to death? Recalling John Paul II, I suggested looking at his reflections during the Jubilee Celebrations for Artists. Replying to Dylan he had said that the answer was not blowing in the wind. Someone had claimed to be the answer: Jesus Christ. And this was the beginning of an understanding of Christ. We are always finding that it’s not true that young people are indifferent to beauty and to truth. Many have first hand experience of tough times and possibly for this very reason they are more sensitive to the search for truth, for what is right, for the good, and to someone who cares about what will happen to them. One thing I’ve learnt from those who have shown me their passion for education (among them is my founder, Nicola Barrè) is this: you educate to extent that you let the other educate you. But I feel it is necessary everyday to preserve one’s initial wonder, not losing a sense of curiosity and the desire for fresh adventure every morning we begin in class. Preparing my lessons I’m strive not to leave anything untried in the attempt to meet the each person as a person and to transmit this message: ‘I’m happy you exist! Thanks for joining me on the way!’ Sr Marina Motta
«At this time when universities are affected by an economic, social and cultural crisis, what made you start up this project and what is new about Sophia?» Giorgia, an Italian, the students’ representative, asked the theologian Piero Coda, President of Sophia. She was putting into words the questions of numerous students, interested young people and those about to enrol, all present on 1 March this year in Loppianofor an internet conference call covering the four corners of the earth during the first Sophia Open Day. So, what is new? Bringing together rigorous academic discipline and wisdom – hence the name Sophia – understood as a ‘transdisciplinary’ approach that draws from the roots Christian revelation: this is what is new. Sophia’s mission is to produce men and woman capable of revisioning human destiny, as Piero Coda pointed out in livea video interview. Up to this point 150 students have studied or are currently studying at Sophia, and about 30 of them have already achieved their degrees. «Sophia began years ago with our summer schools, Prof. Coda recalled, and the purpose of these was to relate various disciplines to the charism of Chiara Lubich so as to overcome the fragmentation that can be observed among them. Today the Institute has reached its fourth year and it offers a formation programme that aims at going beyond the ‘schizophrenia’ that can be experienced between academic development and the social, political and economic challenges of the world today».There are several new approaches in the educational programme, as presented by some of the Institute’s teaching staff: Judith Povilus, vice-president and provost, Antonio Maria Baggio, professor of Political Philosophy, the theologian Alessandro Clemenza and the economist Giuseppe Argiolas. From next September the master’s degree in ‘Foundations and prospects for a Cultural of Unity’ will have four specialist areas: political studies, trinitarian ontology, economy and management and, in conclusion, the ‘culture of unity’. This last is aimed at students coming from any area of specialization, open to building a new world and willing to highlight the dimension of human relationships. After this presentation several of Sophia’s students spoke. They came from various countries across the continents. Metta, a Buddhist from Thailand, grappling with studying in an environment that has a Christian inspiration, said: «For me studying here is mainly about a relationship of fraternity and these relationships are the language we all, students and teachers, have in common even in the midst of our differences. It’s a dimension I find also in my own religion». Marco, an Italian whose first degree was in Motor Sciences, attends Sophia’s first year: «Looking to the future, the choice to go to Sophia has made me feel that I don’t wish so much to deepen my understanding of a specific discipline. Rather I need a formation that, as much as possible, will open up my cultural horizons and my awareness and make me better placed to face the world of work. At the moment, it doesn’t offer much certainty and so I have to be a self-starter».
« March 14, the anniversary of Chiara Lubich’s birth to new life in Heaven is approaching. This year we would like to dedicate the celebrations in a special way to the impact of her charism on the new generations: today’s and yesterday’s youth will witness in various regions of the world what meeting Chiara stirred up in them. Chiara trusted the young people and each one of us. Together, all one, we would like to look at a future full of hope because God gave us a great Ideal. This will be another occasion to express our gratitude to her who, corresponding fully to the light of the charism that God put in her heart, opened up the way to many to be bearers of a new spirit. Let’s make this date a starting point: grateful for such a gift, let’s communicate it in turn to all those around us in order to contribute towards building universal brotherhood: the fulfilment of her dream, Jesus’ longing: “That all may be one.”» Maria Voce, 5 March 2012
Burundi is a small country, situated between two giant nations: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Republic of Tanzania. It is endowed with a landscape of extraordinary richness and beauty, and yet it is one of the poorest countries on the planet. It is home to three peoples: Hutu, Tutsi and Pigmies who share the same language and culture. It’s green hills hide the suffering cries of many how came to know violence and death during long decades of conflict and dictatorship. It was only in 2002 that Burundi emerged from a political and ethnic conflict that displaced a million and brought death to 300 thousand others. The Ideal of the Focolare Movement has also reached this place in the heart of Africa, only a few kilometers south of the Equator. Its roots go back to 1968, when a Belgian family moved to Bujumbura to find work and through the witness of their life, shed new light on the Christian message. Almost contemporaneously, another cell was formed around Fr Alberton from the African Missionaries, at the parish church in Mubimbi. 1979 was an important year in the history of the Focolare in this nation. At the request of the local bishops, a focolare was opened in Gitega, but following the first persecutions, the focolare made an emergency move to Bujumbura. This was the beginning of a particularly difficult period for the Movement and for the entire Church: total prohibition on holding any type of activities; churches closed during the week; the impossibility of spreading the Word of Life. In September 1987, with the coup, freedom was returned and it was possible to come out into the open. Little by little, people were contacted again, finding with emotion that some faraway communities, the people continued to meet regularly to share their experiences of the one copy of the Word of Life that they had preserved for years. They carried ahead for years with only one Word of the Gospel. Today the Movement is comprised of more than 24 thousand people in 290 groups spread throughout the country. Today the ideal of unity holds genuine hope for the people of Burundi. In a climate of tension following the war, the members of the Movement got involved in contributing along with the local Church in the process of reconciliation. There have been some interesting achievements in the economic field and some innovative things are happening in the fields of health and education. In 1999 a group of volunteers of the Focolare Movement founded the CASOBU Association (Cadre Associatif des Solidaires du Burundi), with the goal of seeking durable solutions to the problems of poverty, through the process of participation and mutual support. The “Chiara Luce Badano Social Center” was also begun, which cares for orphan children or children in extreme conditions of poverty in the Kinama quarter (outskirts of bujumbura), an area that was completely destroyed by the war. The words that Chiara Lubich addressed to them on 7 October 1996 remain impressed in the hearts of these Focolare members in Burundi: “Always concentrate on our “Only Treasure.” You’ll be happy and have peace, even amid the difficulties that surround you. Jesus will always be with you in your midst, to touch people’s hearts, to reawaken faith in His love, and to bring unity. I am also with you in this constantly renewed commitment, moment by moment. . .”
CASOBU (Cadre Associatif des Solidaires du Burundi) was founded by a group of volunteers from the Focolare Movement in Burundi, one of the poorest countries on the planet. The country has emerged from a twelve-year political and ethnic conflict, with the displacement of a million people and 300,000 dead. The purpose of the Association is to seek for lasting solutions to the problems of poverty through solidarity and mutual support. Its activity cannot be assessed only in terms of infrastructure development and improved socio-economic conditions, but in the spreading of certain values: solidarity, unity and fraternity. CASOBU’s first focus is in rural contexts. They have taken up several projects, with the support also of AMU, the NGO inspired by the Movement for co-operation in development. For several years CASOBU has been involved with community microcredit projects. These have helped several hundred people, mostly women who are family breadwinners, achieve economy autonomy. In 2008 CASOBU’s social action concentrated upon Ruyigi. The town of Butezi has 6,700 families who live by subsistence farming. During the civil war most of the population fled to refugee camps in Tanzania and now, on returning to their own country, there are numerous problems of readjustment. This initiative takes a three-pronged approach:
ñ nutrition and agriculture: after an initial distribution of emergency foodstuffs to 800 families, the aim is to develop independent food sources, with the distribution cassava cuttings, cows and goats to displaced people and refugees;
ñ aid for orphans and widows;
ñ schemes for the prevention of Aids, run in collaboration with public bodies, and schemes for the prevention malaria, which is responsible for the deaths of numerous children under 5.
The members of CASOBU are trained and skilled people, filled with the gospel spirit of service. Their main aim is to listen attentively to those they meet: ‘We often find ourselves behaving like mothers and fathers of people who more than anything have a burden of pain to share with others.’ In Butezi there is an area where nearly three thousand families live. Only about a hundred of them have clean water, the others draw water from unsafe sources or directly from streams and pools and are exposed to serious illnesses. This means there is need of a new project to bring drinking water to the area, and the first of five has already begun. The strong points of this initiative are: the involvement of local people in the work and in implementation committees to conserve springs and maintain the infrastructure already set in place. The local people accept that they must give the necessary land and accept the difficulties that arise from works being carried out in their fields. All cooperate to rebuild social bonds. The way the members of CASOBU live and how they work strike many people: ‘Often,’ said Innocent from Kayanza, ‘to have a job you have to pay, but here we have noticed a difference. They look in the register of those have already given a voluntarily contribution to the project and they enrol you without any kind of corruption…. Whether you are a simple labourer or a skilled worker, all are on the same level.’ Certainly, not everyone understands immediately what is being done, and patient work by CASOBU is fundamental for helping people realize that these projects are aimed at the common good. Three years after the first project, it is possible to note a significant improvement in the health of families and especially of the children. The latest initiative for access to clean water was in Kibingo (in the province of Kayanza), and it benefited 600 families and 1,200 pupils at the local primary school. Anyone who wishes to participate in the work of CASOBU on behalf of people of Burundi, even with just a one-off gift, can use the following bank details: Account name: Associazione Azione per un Mondo UnitoBank: Banca Popolare Etica, Rome branch.IBAN: IT16G0501803200000000120434SWIFT/BIC: CCRTIT2184DPayments should be marked for: ‘Progetti in Burundi’. Burundi is a small country in Africa with enormous lakes, and it is one of the poorest places on earth. In the 2011 report by the United Nations Development Programme it was ranked in the third last place (185th) in the league table of Human development. The most vulnerable groups in the population are Aids sufferers, widows, teenage mothers, orphans and people with disabilities. There is also a need to achieve national reconciliation and to rebuild the nation’s economy and social fabric.
Vaikalpalayam is a small village with humble homes and asphalt roads punctuated with potholes. At the entrance to the village stands a small brick building that is bursting with the shouts of a dozen happy children. It houses one of the ten kindergartens or Bala Shanti Kendra which the Gandhian institution Shanti Ashram opened over the years in the region of Coimbatore, in Tamil Nadu, South India, close to the borders with Kerala. This Bala Shanti Kendra is one of the ten kindergartens which are part of a project named Bala Shanti. When it began twenty years ago the kindergarten had a precise goal: to begin an educational process among dalit, the outcaste whom Mahatma Gandhi named Harijans, children of God, in order to give them a chance at a more dignified life. What happened then has been called by some a veritable revolution. In India, the dalit live on the edge of the towns, they may not draw water from the same well as the other villagers and, until only a few decades ago, it was unthinkable that they should enter the same temples. In Vaikalpalayam today, dalit children and those of the superior caste study, eat and pray side by side. Their mothers sit beside those of the other students at meetings for the parents of the 220 children who attend kindergartens founded and run by this Gandhian organization that was begun twenty-five years ago by Dr Aram, a nominated member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, pacifist and top level Indian educator. The goals of the Bala Shanti project as a whole include:
Develop a holistic development initiative in the 3-18 age group
Provide children in the pre-school age with education, nutrition & health services through the Bala Shanti Kendras
Create a child-centered platform for advancing Peace & Inter-religious cooperation
Coordinate a monthly Children’s Parliament : ‘Ondru Seruvom’ forrural boys & girls who graduated from the pre-school program
Ensure the Rights & Responsibilities of Children in partnership with children, families, communities & institutions working for children
The balashanti provide an educational experience that combines early reading and writing skills together with playing, singing, religious and human values, along with daily dietary assistance. Today nearly 1500 children who graduated from the Bala Shanti Kendras participate in the ‘Ondru Seruvom’ or Monthly Children’s Parliament, contributing their commitment and service for the welfare of their village. A dedicated team of teachers, social workers, and child development experts have worked hard for two decades to realize the vision of the program. The local families can only afford one meal a day with a monthly salary of more or less sixty dollars. In recent years, with the great industrial development that is taking place in Coimbatore, new settlements of temporary workers have arisen. Many of the migrant workers are also economically very vulnerable and belong to all religious traditions, the Muslim, the Hindu and the Christian traditions. Many social problems including alcoholism and domestic violence affect the families, requiring thus not only education of the child, but also of the families. Bala Shanti Program serves the community in three ways, Assistance to Children, Assistance to family and Assistance to Community. A group of mothers have been integrated in a micro-credit project. But also throughout their educational experience, the children participate in lessons aimed at teaching them how to save Last year, four year-old Karuna was able to save three thousand rupees in her piggy bank, the same amount as her father’s monthly salary. In the balashanti they learn the rules of hygiene care, which helps to prevent those illnesses that are often caused by poverty. Dr Aram and his wife Minoti are clear on the fact that in order to build a lasting peace it was necessary to start with the little ones. This is where the idea of the kindergartens came from. “The children are often the ones who are able to break the mechanism of family violence and create peace,” recounts Mrs Murthy who has followed the project for more than twenty years. Recently, Divya, a kindergartner at the balashanti went to sit in her father’s arms during a family quarrel. She said to him: “Daddy, violence is like the devil!”Moreover, the children are taught respect for each faith. The morning starts with a Hindu, Muslim and Christian prayer and so the children begin to grow without the barriers and prejudices that have separated groups and communities from this part of India for centuries, and created social tension that often erupted into violent and bloody clashes. The Focolare have been working in this project since the late nineties, when Minoti Aram felt the need to ensure food and nutritional supplements to the children of the balashanti. At that time the New Families and the Gandhian Shanti Ashram joined together on this project, and this gave birth to a brotherhood between the two movements that has opened to religious dialogue and to peace education for the new generations. Gandhi had said: “If you want to teach real peace (…) you should begin with the children.” In its 20th year, the program will deepen and expand its service to vulnerable children, train and improved capacities of community workers and document experience and findings for policy change, says Shri. A. Devaraj, the current Head of the Bala Shanti Program. Roberto Catalano (From an insert in Città Nuova (5) – 2012)
My name is Maria and I work for my country’s government in the health sector. Each day I experience that the words of the Gospel help me to serve my neighbor better and even to resolve the problems of society. By putting the Gospel in practice, relationships at the office have radically changed: they’ve become more familiar, open and free. I share this ideal of life with three of my colleagues, and together we try to perform our jobs as a service to people, to our city which faces many great challenges. There are two levels of government in South Africa: one is the traditional, which sees the Kgosi (chief) as the head. Each chief has specific expectations about the territory and a level of government with elected representatives who have others. Our challenge is to compose an agreement between these two levels, so that every decision can truly be for the good of the entire community, and so that it can always be more involved in the projects that are proposed. For example, we built six clinics in our district. All the work was done in full agreement with the two levels of government, so that each clinic was fully recognized throughout the territory. Several authorities spoke at the inauguration ceremony, also members from the executive committee of the government. A few days before the event, one of the Kgosi had called us to say that he would not be attending the ceremony because of a supposed disparity between the treatment of officials from the local government and the treatment of the traditional leaders. It was a veritable disaster, from every point of view. There was the danger that the people of the village would also refuse to attend. We tried to resolve the situation by going to visit the chief at his home. We offered him a detailed presentation of each clinic. Thanks to this gesture his attitude changed and he gave his assent to the ceremony, which then turned out to be a great success, an important moment for the entire community. Now we continue to perform each task that is entrusted to us as an opportunity for coming together and helping our city to grow. And, slowly, we see the bonds improving between the population and government officials. Faith and trust are growing on both sides. Moreover, traditional leaders and elected councilors are discovering their own roles in full respect of the roles of the other. And so the child care project is now in the hands of the traditional leaders, and the project for youths is in the hands of the municipal councilors. It is no longer necessary to explain our choices to the different authorities, because they trust us, and the union among all grows in service to the community. We experience that if we try to put the Gospel into practice, truly nothing is impossible!
“Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Produced by Focolare Movement. Montage: Oscar Monteza (Rome). Animation and voicover: Corre Ruse (London)
‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ Peter had understood that the words of his Teacher were different from those of other teachers. Their words came from the earth and returned to the earth; they belonged to and had the destiny of the earth. Jesus’ words are spirit and life because they come from heaven: a light that comes down from Above and has the power of Above. His words have a quality and a depth that other words do not have, whether they be philosophical, political, or poetic. They are ‘words of eternal life’ (Jn 6:68), because they contain, express, communicate the fullness of the life that never ends since it is the very life of God. Jesus is risen and lives, and his words, although spoken in the past, are not merely a memory, but words he addresses today to all of us and to each person in every time and culture: they are universal, eternal words. The words of Jesus! They must have been his greatest art, as it were. The Word who speaks in human words: what content, what intensity, what expression, what a voice! Basil the Great[1] tells, for example, how ‘once upon a time, like a man roused from deep sleep, I turned my eyes to the marvellous light of the truth of the Gospel, and I perceived the uselessness of “the wisdom of the princes of this world.”’[2] Thérèse of Lisieux in a letter of 9 May 1897 wrote: ‘Sometimes, when I read books in which perfection is put before us … my poor little head is quickly fatigued. I close the learned treatise, which tires my brain and dries up my heart, and I turn to the Sacred Scriptures. Then all becomes clear and light – a single word opens out infinite vistas, perfection appears easy’.[3] Yes, divine words satisfy the spirit which is made for the infinite; they give inner light not only to the mind, but to the whole of our being, because they are light, love and life. They give peace – the kind Jesus calls his own: ‘my peace’ – also in moments of anxiety and anguish. They give complete joy, even in the midst of the pain that at times torments the soul. They give strength, especially in the face of dismay and discouragement. They set us free, because they open the path to Truth. ‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ The Word of Life this month reminds us that the only Teacher we want to follow is Jesus, even when his words may seem hard or too demanding. This means to be honest at work, to forgive, to be at the service of others rather than think selfishly of ourselves, to remain faithful in our family life, to help a terminally ill person without yielding to the idea of euthanasia… There are many ‘teachers’ who invite us to adopt easy solutions, to make compromises. We want to listen to the one Teacher and follow him, who alone speaks the truth and who has ‘words of eternal life’. Like this we too can repeat these words of Peter. In this Lenten season, as we prepare for the great celebration of the resurrection, we must truly join the school of the one Teacher and become his disciples. A passionate love for the word of God must come to life in us too. Let’s be ready to welcome it when it is proclaimed in church, let’s read it, study it, meditate on it… But above all we are called to live it, as scripture itself teaches: ‘Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves’ (Jas 1:22). That is why each month we focus on one word in particular, letting it penetrate us, mould us, ‘live us’. By living one word of Jesus we live the entire Gospel, because in each word of his he gives the whole of himself, he himself comes to live in us. It is like a drop of the divine wisdom that belongs to him, the Risen One, which slowly sinks into the depths of us and replaces our way of thinking, wanting and acting in all the circumstances of life. Chiara Lubich
Maria and John have lived in Italy for many years. “Even though we know that we were made for each other, we asked ourselves,” they recount, when they offered their testimony at the anniversary of Renata Borlone, “if we could also be witnesses of unity in our own family – me an American and Maria an Austrian – in immersed in an Italian society.” They are very different from one another. They are from the old European world and the world of America. They do not speak German or English with each other, but Italian. They come from different cultures, different families and different origins, different professional and intellectual formation, and different ages (thirteen years difference). And then, John recounts, “I’m simply a man and she’s a woman, with characters, needs and sensibilities quite diverse.” “One episode involving this diversity, which is emblematic, occured during the honeymoon in Sicily,” he conitinues. Everything beautiful and wonderful . . . we reached Selinunte and Maria enthusiastically exclaimed: “What beautiful temples, they tell of a wonderful past.” And me: “What are these old stones and broken columngs doing here? It would be better to knock them down and build a nice skyscraper.” Where did our common point lie? Certain of God’s plan of love for us, we intuited that it would be found neither in temples (history), nor in skyscrapers (young new lands), but in accepting each other.” “And this acceptance was taught to us by Renata with her life. She had an artful talent for listening to people, always giving first place to the other, it was an absolute for her. I felt completely welcomed, understood and loved.” Maria was recounting, touching on a few difficult moments the went through in their marriage. “I didn’t understand my husband. His way of being and of thinking put me in crisis, but we already had four children. One night I couldn’t do it anymore and I ran to Renata. I cast my huge doubt onto her. I had made a mistake in marrying John! As always, Renata welcomed me, taking my suffering upon herself. Then, with unwavering certainty, she reminded me that when I married, I had been certain that John was the right person for me, beyond our differences. That night I gained a new strength. Yes, we’d manage to love one another until the end!” “Still today, after forty years of living together,” John concludes, “we experience how true it is that when we accept each other’s differences in a positive way, as something that can enrich and complete us, then a new harmony is born between us.”
Professor Bruni, in your an article published in Nuova Umanitàyou offer a very unique description of the entrepreneur. Can you explain where the figures of the investor, manager and speculator have become confused with that of the entrepreneur innovator? Much has to do with the financial revolution that has affected the economy (praxis and theory) over the past twenty years . . . due to globalisation. The West has slowed its growth, but has not wanted to reduce its consumption. With new technical instruments, creative finance then promised a growth phase in consumption without growth in revenue. The result was that many entrepreneurs were transformed into speculators, thinking of making profit through speculation, stepping outside of their traditional sector and calling. A second reason was the standardization of business cultures on the trail of a strong force in Anglo Saxon culture. The European and Italian tradition of business administration were characterized by a strong attention to the communitarian and social dimension, because of the presence of a Catholic-communitarian paradigm. This, along with the primary causes of the financial revolution, caused managers to assume an ever more central role in the big corporations, at the expense of traditional entrepreneurs. Nowadays there is an enormous need to launch a new season of entrepreneurship, if we want to come out of this crisis, and reduce the burden of speculators. Beginning with Schumpter’s theory of economic development, you describe the market as a “righteous relay” between innovation and imitation (. . .) but the profit, for the innovator, is essentially limited to the amount of time that elapses between the innovation and the imitation. What can be done to avoid that such a “righteous relay” will generate reciprocal damage between businesses? Here politics plays an important role and, in general, the institutions, which, through appropriate regulations to protect competition and the proper functioning of the markets, see to it that the relay is virtuous and not vicious. But a co-essential role is carried out by civil society, the citizen-consumers who with their buying choices must reward those businesses that have acted ethically, and “punish” (by changing businesses) those with predatory and aggressive attitudes. The market functions and produces fruits for society when it has a proper relationship with the institutions and with civil society. Finally you outline the characteristics of “civil competition” in which competition is not played out, Company A against Company B to avoid Client C, but on the basis of Company A for Client C and Company B for Client C. Could you explain the positive effects that this different way of seeing competition produces? What examples of “civil competition” can you give us? In the first place it helps to give a different tone to market trading. Our reading and descriptions of the world are very important for the behaviors. If I read the market to be a battle that must be won, when I go to trade on the market, or also at work, I tend to approach it with a mental and spiritual attitude that very much influences the results that I obtain and the happiness (or unhappiness) that I experience. If instead I see the market as a grand network of cooperative relations, I promotes creation of relational goods even during “economic” moments of my life, and individual and collective happiness grows. Moreover, reading the market as cooperation is closer to the vision of the great classical figures of economic history (Smith, Mill, Einaudi and, nowadays, Sen or Hirschman) and it is closer to what millions of people experience every day, working and exchanging not only in the field of social economy.
The Union of fifty states known as the United States of America extends across a vast area from the extreme northwest of Alaska to southeast Florida. The first focolarini arrived from Italy in 1961. During those years the first centers of the Movement were opened in Manhattan, Chicago and Boston. Toward the end of the 1970’s focolares were also opened in San Antonio and Los Angeles, followed by Washington D. C., Columbus and Atlanta. Mariapolis Luminosa, located in Hyde Park (New York), was inaugurated in 1986 and is the heart of the Movement in North America. During her first visit to New York city, in 1964, Chiara Lubich wrote the following: “(. . .) It seems particularly adapted for the spirit of the Focolare. There is not an atmosphere of ethnic superiority, but a clear feeling of internationality. There is simplicity. At Mass I prayed for the Movement on this continent and I hope that God listens to my prayer, because I’m praying for the spreading of His reign.” Her prayer was heard. In fact, over the years, communities began to appear throughout the country. As the Focolare Movement grew, so did its interreligious dialogue. With Jews who come into contact with the spirituality of unity, this dialogue is expressed in daily living, professional collaboration and theological study. In many parts of the country a fraternal “dialogue of life” has began and grew with Muslim followers of Imam W. D. Mohammed. Chiara visited the United States seven times. In 1990 she stressed that she had “captured various signs of a united world” in this land. In May 1977, as the guest of Imam W. D. Mohammed she spoke about the Spirituality of Unity to nearly 3000 Muslims gathered at the Malcom Shabazz Mosque in Harlem, New York. Then, at the United Nations “Glass Palace,” at a symposium organized in her honor by the WCRP (World Conference of Religions for Peace), she spoke about the unity of all peoples. Lastly, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 2000, Imam Mohammed invited her to return again to the United States: “America needs your message” he said on 2 November 2000 to a crowd of 5000 Muslims and Christians gathered in Washington D.C. for a meeting entitled: “Faith Communities Together”which had been organized by the two communities. Gatherings of this type multiplied in several other cities with annual events that seemed more like family reunions than meetings for dialogue. In her last visit to the US, in 2000, Chiara received the honoris causa degree in Educationfrom the Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C. 3.000 people gathered there: Jews, Buddhists and lots of Afroamerican Muslims, to underline the specific contribution of Focolare Movement to the interreligious dialogue. Meanwhile, the Economy of Communion project began to spread its roots within nineteen businesses which operate in different fields, such as environmental engineering, the arts, education, agriculture, free time and business consulting. The recent visit, in 2011, of the president of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce and of the Co-President, Giancarlo Faletti, for the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Movement in North America, gathered together 1,300 people from many communities in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, including Jews and Muslims. On this occasion, the book “Focolare – Living a Spirituality of Unity in the United States”was released. It responds to the questions people have about the Movement today, through compelling stories of many Americans (children, youths, married couples, elderly, singles, nuns, priests and bishops who belong to the Focolare) whose lives have been transformed by the encounter with Jesus. Readers discover the spiritual values and practices of the Focolare, the various vocational paths of its members and how it helps in supporting the values of American culture, such as freedom, happiness, community and the commitment to the common good in public life.
In 1979, our family moved to the Village of North Riverside, a suburb of about 6,000 people near Chicago. During this time, we found we had to do an intense physical therapy program for our severely disabled son David. Our neighbors, even the firemen helped us every day for six years, so that David would one day be able to walk and talk. I remember asking God for a way to give back to our town and its people. It was not long after this that our former mayor wrote asking for ideas for a Neighborhood Services program where there would be neighborhood captains for each block. I wrote back sharing my experience in the neighborhood. After some time, he asked me to coordinate the program. There were 72 block captains, each responsible for one block of North Riverside. I thought that the block captains should try to make each block like a family, where no one would feel alone. We adapted Chiara Lubich’spoints of the art of loving into four points which I called the ‘Art of Caring’. During each captains meeting, I would take one of the points and illustrate it using an experience shared with me by one of the block captains. At first, I had to use stories based on my own family or quotations from famous persons. After a couple of years, however, some of the block captains themselves starting sharing what they had done to live the points of caring. One of the first experiences shared by a captain was about a new resident of the block whose dogs were left outside barking from early morning until late evening. Instead of complaining to the police, the captain and the neighbors tried to “love their enemies” by reaching out to dog owner, baking cookies for her and even helping her catch her dogs when they escaped the yard. Only then did they approach her with their concerns about how the constant barking was affecting the newborn baby on the block. Not only did the mayor encourage these individual acts of caring, but he also tried to make the village itself, through the block captains, an active force for caring. For example, the block captains give welcome bags to new residents. They take interest in people, especially those experiencing personal suffering. They send cards, bring food, listen to people’s troubles. We use our emails to communicate these needs like in a family so we are all aware of who needs help. On a regular basis, some captains even do extra by volunteering to drive people in town to doctors, or shopping for groceries for the homebound. Just recently, we published our twenty years of experiences, also ideas for helping anyone live the Golden Rule. It was circulated among doctors, social workers, teachers and politicians as well as individuals who want to make a difference in their corner of the world. The art of caring has even been extended by North Riverside to other towns. At one of the town meetings, the publisher of the newsletter stood up and announced, “When I tell people in my town about North Riverside, they say such a town cannot exist. And I say come and see.” (For more experiences, please go to http://www.northriverside-il.org/departments/recreation/neighborhoodservices.html)
Christians from a Catholic parish in Basel went to visit the community in an Islamic neighbourhood. After the Muslims had prayed they had lunch together. ‘In the afternoon, there was a football competition: teams of children, young people, grown ups and also “imams versus priests”!’ said imam Mohammed Tas from Kleinbasel. ‘We parish priests lost, but our friendship grew,’ observed the Fr Ruedi Beck with a smile. The imam carried on, ‘We had the joy of meeting together. Many things unite us. We live in the same city, we are human beings, we all have a lot of work and many worries. We pray for one another and help one another where we can.’ This was one of the examples during the day of Muslims and Christians in Dialogue, last 12 February in Baar, that showed how it is possible to build up family-like relations between different religious communities. There were 80 participants, from the three largest linguistic regions of Switzerland, 40 Christians and 40 Muslims, originally from 17 nations, among which were Kosovo, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Macedonia, the Ivory Coast and North Africa. Well-known personalities from Switzerland also participated, such as Dr Taner Hatipoglu, president of the league of Muslim organizations in Zurich and four imams. At the basis of the dialogue was the theme: Hearing and Living the Word of God. Ali Cetin, an imam from Baar, introduced people to the Muslim understanding of who God is and of his word for Muslims: ‘The one who is truly loved and recognizes it reads emails, text messages or letters from his friend word by word and more than once. He values what is written, every word, every sentence. It is like that that the Muslim honours the Koran, as a letter God has sent to humanity. Its verses are cited with love, learnt by heart and put into practice.’ In Christian thought the love of God who is one and three is central. The importance of this came into strong relief in a passage from a talk given by Chiara Lubich, at an international congress with Muslim friends in Rome, 1998. She said, ‘We believe that God loves us immensely… and in the Koran it is written: “Believers do not love in a different way from how they love God.” This is the strongest thing that can unite us. Like this we are no longer only Muslims and Christians but brothers and sisters, persons who put God in the first place.’ Imam Mustapha Baztami from Teramo in Italy, one of the speakers, who knew Chiara Lubich personally, affirmed, ‘Chiara Lubich is the first Christian, the first woman who spoke in a Mosque in Halem (1997). She managed to build a bridge between religions. She was not afraid to meet the differences between the various religions, because she made her faith in God’s Love a way of living and not an empty slogan.’ A committed Muslim woman echoed his words, saying, ‘Today we have met on the same level, as in a family, and everyone was accepted. We are a building bridge, a ‘neutral zone’ that binds everyone together.’ To conclude the meeting, Marianne Rentsch and Franco Galli, co-ordinators of the Movement in Switzerland, recalled the Golden Rule: ‘No one of you is a believer if he does desire for his brother what he desires for himself’ (The Forty Hadith of Al-Nawawi, 13); ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you’ (Luke 6:31). It was printed, in both its Christian and in its Islamic form, in the three main traditional languages of Switzerland, on a card the shape of a credit card, and given to everyone to take away as a reminder. Beatrix Ledergerber-Baumer
“In the name of God who created them, human beings must be aware of their sociality, of their social nature, otherwise they are not completely human. In fact, another of their characteristics, according to the Bible, besides communion with God, besides being required to support themselves and dedicate themselves to work, is sociality – the interweaving of human relationships. We know what sociality means for God. It means to love others as ourselves. As ourselves, not less. Indeed, to love them with a love which, since it comes from more than one person, becomes reciprocal; and, because it is inspired by Christ, generates unity. Herein lies the meaning of what we stressed, namely that we walk through life together being one heart and one soul. Our collective spirituality, derived from the Gospel, not only can contribute to, but can be of vital importance in finding solutions to the present problems of the working world. In this spirituality, every person in the working world (from the owner to the administrator, from the director to the technicians, from office workers to laborers) in order to build solidarity with others, must love everyone in such a way that he or she becomes “one” with the others. In this spirituality, mutual love leads to reciprocal understanding, to sharing the fatigue of the others, to making our own the problems of the others and to seeking solutions together. It leads us to find common agreements for new forms of organizations in the working world. All come to share and participate together in the means of production, and in the fruits and profits. With what consequences? If, previously, for example, for individual laborers, industrialized work was synonymous with being crushed and deprived of their personality, with being unable to see the fruits of their intelligence and efforts, now because they consider their own all that regards the others as well, work cannot help but take on meaning, indeed a stimulating meaning. What is needed, therefore, is a new … vast social awareness. Indeed, since the economy of each country is so linked to that of other nations, the situation requires a “global” social awareness as the Pope has also affirmed. Who is capable of helping individuals to fully achieve this and to regard themselves as members of one great human family… “without denying man’s origins and the membership of his family, his people and his nation, or the obligations arising there from…”?[1] Who can accomplish this after human beings have shattered their union with God through sin, thus seriously compromising over and over again, communion with other brothers and sisters and therefore human solidarity? Who can do it? Only Christ can – he who is so often relegated to our private life. Only his supernatural and universal love – so often considered as something limited to people’s prayer life and is instead the indispensable leaven for the whole of human existence in all its expressions. It is only with his love that we can build confidently a world of lasting justice and peace. As far as work is concerned, it is only with his love that selfishness and hatred – often considered the law of social life – can be eliminated. It is with his love that working communities will witness how unity rather than conflict can truly improve work. With his love the life of society itself will not be conceived as a struggle against someone but as a commitment to grow together. Therefore only a new civilization based on love will be capable of offering a solution to the complex problems of the world of work.” Chiara Lubich, Rome, 3 June 1984
[1] John Paul II, Address to the International Labor Organization in Geneva. June 15, 1982, n. 10.
Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers are present – is only meant to be a guide. The markers on the map do not necessarily point to a specific address and they must not be relied on for navigational purposes. Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.(more…)
Brazil has the fifth most powerful economy in the world. It covers 8.5 million square kilometres, and its almost 200 million inhabitants, descendants of white colonists, black slaves and indigenous peoples, as well as other immigrants from every part of the planet, all speak a single language: Portuguese. It is a country the size of a continent, with varied climatic and geographical conditions, enormous natural resources and a powerful potential for growth. It is a country that is also marked by huge social contrasts, which are growing somewhat less, thanks in part to the efforts of the last governments. It faces the challenges of a young democracy, of a nation that has emerged from military dictatorship less than thirty years ago. It was here that in 1991, Chiara Lubich, struck by the tremendous social problems, launched the basis for a real revolution in the economic field with the Economy of Communion (EOC), a project now known throughout the world. But the Focolare’s experience in Brazil has not only developed in the area of economics. It has had effects on the whole fabric of society: on education, health, politics, art, human welfare – as witnessed by the experiences of Santa Teresinha and Magnificat in the North East, of Bairro do Carmo e Jardim Margarida in São Paolo – and likewise in a whole range of areas of research. An example of such academic study is the group looking at ‘Law and Faternity’, which began in 2009 in the ‘Center of Juridic Sciences’ in the Federal University of Santa Catarina. There have been various activities run by the Focolare in all the States of the Federation: from Civitas, the school for political formation in João Pessoa, to the Young People for a United World’s solidarity project and to the families’ weekend in the State of Alagoas; from the youth Olympics in the State of Rio Grande Do Sul, to the Unicidade Project in the Mariapolis Ginetta, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year – to name but a few. But what gives rise to this life? Let’s take a step back in time. It was the year 1958. A ship landed in Recife, carrying three focolarini from Italy: Marco Tecilla, Lia Brunet and Ada Ungaro. They communicated their experiences in schools, universities, parishes, associations, hospitals, families. After a month they were travelling again: Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo, Porto Alegre, and then Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. On returning to Italy, the aeroplane made an emergency stop in Recife because of a serious fault which held them there for four days. They used that time to follow up a whole host of contacts. In this way the community in the North East of Brazil came into being. It was the first of many. With the arrival of other focolarini who came to stay, the first centres of the Movement were opened in 1959 in Recife. A rapid spread of the Ideal of unity began in the larger cities and in the villages, among young people and adults, whites and blacks, rich and poor… and all it happened with a characteristic mark: social harmony. Many social activities came in to being as an effect of a life rooted in the gospel. In 1962 a centre was opened in São Paolo. The publishing house Cidade Nova and the magazine Cidade Nova were founded. Other centres were opened: Belém, 1965; Porto Alegre, 1978. Today there are centres in all most all the 27 capitals of the federal states and in many other cities. In 1965 near Recife the Movement’s first little town of witness in Brazil was founded. It was called Santa Maria, a reference to this people’s love for Mary. Two years later there was established São Paolo’s little town, called at the time Araceli and now renamed Ginetta, after one of the first focolarine who had an immensely important role in the spread and growth of the Movement in Brazil. Following that Belém’s little town, Gloria, was set up and in Porto Alegre there was established the Mariapolis Centre Arnold which has particular a focus on ecumenism, and then Brasília’s little town called Mary Mother of the Light was founded. Chiara Lubich always showed a great love for Brazil and its people, ‘a people who seem very like those who listened to Jesus: magnificent, magnanimous, good, poor, who give everything: their hearts and their goods.’ Her first visit was in 1961, to Recife. She returned a further five times. She received various forms of public recognition and honorary degrees. In 1998, on her last visit, she inaugurated the Spartaco Business Park, the first of such parks belonging to the EOC in the world. On this occasion, one of the fathers of democratic Brazil, Prof. Franco Montoro, referring to Chiara in a speech given at the State University of São Paolo, recognized in the thought and activity of the Movement – and not only in Brazil – ‘a consistent witness that has drawn behind it millions of people. It has protected human rights during periods of dictatorship and, in the scientific boom, it has demonstrated that we must be guided by ethics. It has promoted love, universal fraternity.’ These are values that today the Movement’s members are committed to living, together with others, in a historic moment that sees Brazil emerge on to the global scene and take a leading role in events such as the World Youth Day 2013 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The encounter with Jesus changed our life.”“An encounter with God. I had never had an experience like this before.” “I want to live the art of loving with you. . .” These are some of the impressions that were gathered by youths and families before returning home after ten intense days in the Amazon. Amid local situations of suffering, living among the indigenous people who are scattered throughout this forest, many rediscovered hope for the future. We share some of the fruits of these six years of evangelization:
Amazon Project is the name that was given to this experience that is taking place in a region that covers more than fifty percent of Brazil and includes nine states: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins. In 2011 it was taking place for the sixth time.
Beginnings. There had been a progressive diminishing of faithful and a growth among the sects. This was also due to the scarcity of priests and the difficulty of reaching various centres of the region. The Amazon Project was meant to be an answer to the appeal that the bishops of Brazil made to various groups in the Catholic Church that they would each contribute according to their own charism to a vast and permanent action of evangelization.
Each year ten vacation days are dedicated to this project. Since 2005 people from various sectors of the Focolare Movement (focolarini, families, youths) have joined in. They come from several regions in Brazil and travel for as long as sixty hours in buses or five hours by plane, more than twenty-four hours by boat, all at their own expense.
“We went to give, but what we have received is much more.” This is the common expression. Through their efforts, some 26,000 people have been personally contacted during these years. This year there were 4,700 and half of them were youths, in three cities: Abaetetuba and Bragança (state of Pará) and Barreirinha (state of Amazonas ).
The Cube of Love is a most useful tool. The Cube of Love is a game invented by Chiara Lubich that is meant to help children in living the art of loving, the heart of the Gospel message. A cube was donated to some 1500 children. Fifty-four teachers and principals of five schools in Barreirinha took a course on using this pedagogical tool. One hundred and fifty families from two poor quarters and sixty couples also took part in the course. Very touching was the visit to a prison, where – during the dialogue with the prisoners – they were presented with the Art of Loving. Personal relationships are the first priority, which bring conversions to the Gospel. The appointment for 2012 is 14-22 July.
‘Having Maria Voce was like rain that refreshes everything, now everything is flowering again,’ said one young Algerian, summing up in a few words the visit of the Focolare President to the people of Algeria who share the Focolare spirit. In the ’90s, when the community was just beginning, Chiara Lubich, answering someone who had asked her to visit, said, ‘It’s necessary to work for this.’ After that there was a journey of dialogue spanning the years that still carries on. The visit of Maria Voce, from 9th to 14th February, was therefore an extremely important event for the Focolare community in Algeria. But not only for them. Dialogue with the Muslims in this country, in fact, is well-developed and recognized by the local Church and further afield too. This was confirmed by a visit from Mgr Ghaleb Bader, the Archbishop of Algeria. Algeria is no longer a tourist destination. The image of Islam has been obscured nowadays by many things that have very little to do with religion. Maria Voce’s visit went beyond all this. As Chiara used often to recall, dialogue is a ‘highway’ towards a united world, and this small community of Muslims, which has made Focolare spirituality its own, raises questions. How are these things possible? ‘We have to live in order to understand,’ Maria Voce said at one point. The Siberian cold that had gripped Europe did not spare North Africa. Tlemcen at 900 metres above sea level is used to the cold. But this year has been exceptional. To this city with its rich cultural and religious history (where the first focolare in Algeria was opened in 1966), on the late afternoon of 10 February, arrived the Focolare President. She was met by a welcome typical of Tlemcen, with two riders on superb Arabian horses who gave her a guard of honour, children in traditional costumes who offered milk and dates according to the custom of the nearby desert. Maria Voce joined in willingly and embraced everyone. The firing of guns made her jump; feelings ran deep. Indeed, feelings were no less on the following day, when she went to the small hall of the Mariapolis Centre. There were 130 people there, all Muslims expect for the members of the focolare, four African students, two bishops and two Dominican friars from Tlemcen, who had been specially invited. Some people had also come from Morocco and Tunisia. After the telling of a brief history of how the Focolare Ideal had arrived in the Maghreb, there was a conversation that marked the beginning of a ‘spring’: ‘The leading figures in this hour were the young people,’ Maria Voce commented on her return to Italy. They were the first to start, speaking of their experiences and asking questions. Maria Voce answered in French with great clarity. The adults present were deeply moved, feeling the certainty that the future was assured. And the answers were helpful to everyone, ‘even to bishops,’ affirmed Mgr Henri Teissier, the Archbishop Emeritus of Algiers, who is in his retirement lives in the Tlemcen Focolare’s Ulisse Mariapolis Centre. The questions revealed the difficulty of spreading the Ideal in the daily life of young people, in Algiers and in other parts of the world, with the necessary commitment to going against the tide. In her answers Maria Voce often spoke of love, the summary of Focolare spirituality: ‘If we are in Love towards the other person, there is nothing any more to separate us.’ She therefore stressed the importance of interpersonal relations: ‘The crisis in the world today, before it is about economics and politics, is about relationships.’ For this reason it is important to have ‘an unconditional love, that expects nothing in return, completely disinterested, totally Love for God through our brother or sister.’ This culminates in joy. Algerian music, in the Andalusian style, is very popular in Tlemcen and traditional dress decorated an afternoon of celebration. The words of many of the songs give praise to God and show the profound religiosity of this people. Following Algerian tradition, everything finished with a dance. Tlemcen, the international capital for Islamic culture in the year 2011-12 and host to numerous cultural and religious events, showed itself in all its beauty. The sun shone when, at the end of the visit, the moment came to see it. Fouad, the guide, himself from Tlemcen, is in love with his city. He presented it and pointed out its legacy of Muslim saints, the most famous of whom is Sidi Boumediene, well-known in all the Islamic world. At his tomb Maria Voce prayed that all the Muslims of the community in Algeria would be able to follow the example of these saints. When they left, Fouad chanted some verses of song containing the saint’s teaching: ‘All is from God, we are nothing.’ And Maria Voce rejoined, ‘Yes, but we belong to God.’ Fouad said, ‘That’s it, that’s the word: “to belong”.’Algeria – Maria Voce visits the Focolare community (9-14 febbraio 2012)
The Gospel is pleasant to read; but putting it into practice provokes scandal among respectable people. The Gospel will not tolerate immobility, gives no guarantee of rest. He, the One who is the ‘sign of contradiction’, does not offer any sinecures: ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!’ The history of Christ on earth, in twenty centuries, is a series of gallows, between the galleys and the pillory: we do not always see the the wave of hidden tears. All the same, in the context of that sorrow and darkness, faith is worthwhile. Believing without seeing is worthwhile. It brings to mind His warning: Fear not, O you of little faith, I have overcome the world. For a short while He disappears and we are in pain, left alone, but then he comes back. For mystics these dark nights end in a blazing eruption of sunshine. It is a trial: and whoever undergoes it with strength gains victory. It is a suffering that produces life: of a grain of wheat dying in the clods to bear fruit in the sunlight. ‘For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.’ (2 Cor. 1:50) Those who welcome Jesus crucified, welcome suffering out of love: and just by doing that they do an act of love, and they find joy. We need training by the Holy Spirit for this. And so existence takes on the appearance of a tough drama, with apparent defeats and appalling disillusionments: but we must resist. Nothing is wasted of what we give in suffering: the fruit of resisting in rationality and faith, with virility and charity, brings benefits both to the civil realm and to the spiritual realm, in which people become, also through this, the Social Body of the Mystical Christ. We sow in tears, when we reap we rejoice.
‘The huge number of people who in every possible way have expressed how much they share our sorrow at the loss of our beloved Marisa makes it impossible for us to thank everyone personally. ‘We are now taking this opportunity to express our thanks and, in addition, our deep sense of gratitude for the warmth of feeling given to Marisa and to us.’ The Baù family
The battle against poverty and the Economy of Comunionwas presented from several angles at The United Nations. The side event included international speakers that befitted the home of the UN, from: Burundi, Brazil, Philippines and US states such as Massachusetts, Indianapolis, and New York. Fifty people attended the presentation, including representatives from ONGs and UN delegates from several countries of Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and North Americ The event was promoted by the New Humanity, the non-governmental organization that represents the Focolare Movement, with general consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) and the Permanente Observer Mission to the Holy See. In his introduction, the Apostolic Nunzio Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt underscored the importance of promoting an integral human development at all levels today.
“My sister Maria Assunta was no longer there, swept away by sudden lukemia. I was taken by a sense of powerlessness. ‘What is the sense in living,’ I began to wonder, ‘if death can take away my dreams and achievements?’ Everything lost its meaning. I didn’t want to go on living. Those last moments spent together with Maria Assunta returned to mind. Her strength had abandoned her. Even raising her eyelids was an enormous effort that could have cost her her life. Nevertheless, as we took her home and were removing her from the ambulance on that stretcher, the voices of relatives and friends who had gathered to say their last goodbyes startled her. I saw her face suddenly change. Not only did she open her eyes, but she raised her head and smiled at each one of them. And she didn’t stop smiling until she had greeted each and every one. Then, as soon as the door of the house closed behind us, she allowed her head to fall back on the pillow. . . and went into coma. had she done it? As I reflected on the absurdity of it, I seemed to understand why. The love that spurned her on to be concerned for others and not for herself permitted her somehow to conquer death, and her eyes manifested this. They didn’t show fear of dying, but serenity that reached out to console those around her, as if to say: “Don’t worry. I’m happy.” A thought flashed through my mind: “Antò, you’re the one who’s dead. Assunta is alive!” And so I said: “Enough wasting time! Love is the only direction for my life.” I began with small things, loving the people who were near to me, in simple ways. But over time this little flame began to fade, because loving always was demanding and it didn’t always correspond to my way of doing things. On the contrary, at times I was met with derision. During that period, I had the opportunity to watch a video recording in which Chiara Lubichspeaks of the suffering of Jesus on the cross when he cries: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I felt as if I had been set free. In those few brief moments Chiara undid every knot inside me. Even though she didn’t even know me, there she was explaining life to me. She made me realize that no suffering should be despised, but loved becuase is it all contained in the suffering of Jesus. The word that can best describe the state of my soul when my sister died is “absurd.” It’s absurd to die at twenty! Yet, once I accepted this absurdity I found the sense in living again, and I understood, just as my sister had that you can win out over death. Antonio (Teramo, Italy)
“Interreligious dialogue involves the sensitive asking of questions in order to achieve mutual understanding and respect … Father Troll shows himself to be a faithful Catholic practitioner of dialogue and an outstanding scholar of Islam.” Rev. James Massa, Former Executive Director, USCCB Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs “Based on his decades-long experience living and teaching among Muslims, Fr. Troll answers questions asked by Muslims about the beliefs and practices of their Christian neighbors. He places each set of questions within the context of contemporary Muslim perceptions, along with their sources in Islamic scripture and traditions. Fr. Troll answers them following orthodox Roman Catholic and traditional Protestant teachings. Muslims Ask, Christians Answer is a must-read for both experts and casual readers alike.” Sandra Toenies Keating, Associate Professor of Theology at Providence CollegeOrders: http://www.newcitypress.com/muslims-ask-christians-answer.html
“Brendan Purcell has given us a study of human origins that is comprehensive, wise, and of startling philosophical clarity. He combines the latest discoveries in paleoanthropology, genetics, neuroscience, linguistics, and other sciences with the insights of thinkers from Xenophanes and Aristotle to Eric Voegelin and Bernard Lonergan to produce a deeply impressive and convincing synthesis.” Stephen M. Barr, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Delaware and author of Modern Physics and Ancient Faith “Purcell moves easily from the best scientific data on evolutionary genetics to mystical affirmations of God without skipping a beat. This is an astonishing, learned, and profoundly moving book.” David Walsh, Professor of Politics, The Catholic University of America Orders: http://www.newcitypress.com/big-bang.html
In North America, EoC businesses include, among others, an environmental engineering firm, a violin atelier, a language school, a travel agency, a tutoring service, a law office, an organic farm and various consulting businesses. These EoC firms sustain their vision through contact with local Focolare communities and their “business to business” network with other EoC firms throughout the continent and the world. Quarterly conference calls, an annual national convention and occasional international meetings provide opportunities to sustain their commitment to the project and refine their ideas. Clare Marie DuMontier’s Visitation Law Office in Appleton, Wisconsin, provides guardianship services for the elderly. She had considered leaving the profession because of the conflict that suffused the legal environments in which she had worked. A spirituality of unity has given her the tools “to stay calm and persevere, and to love in the most stressful circumstances.” The businesses commit themselves to infusing all their relationships — with employees, customers, suppliers and their neighbors — with values of love and respect. But how do EoC businesses function in a competitive environment? John Mundell is the founder and CEO of Mundell & Associates, an environmental reclamation consulting firm in Indianapolis. “It’s a twist on the American way, but in an EoC business, we try to see competitors not as the ones to beat, but as people with whom we can build relationships. Since we started, we have tried to follow the principle of never speaking ill of a competitor. It’s tempting when someone calls seeking negative information about them, but we refrain. We compete only by the quality of our product and our service. Once we were involved in a fairly large bid for a sophisticated project in another state. When the attorney for the city stood up to say how our references checked out, he confessed that he had spoken not only with our client referrals, but also with our competitors. ‘I tried to get the dirt on this company, and I have never heard such glowing remarks from competitors. I have no reservations about hiring these people.’” EoC businesses also consider how to foster reciprocal relationships in their local environments. For example, Mundell decided to relocate their offices so as to encourage economic development in a distressed part of the city. “We decided to hire local people to fix the roof and do the landscaping. We have developed close relationships with the local businesses. Our employees volunteer at the food pantry in the nearby Disciples of Christ church, and some helped to fix up a run-down house in our neighborhood. A television crew came by that day, and they featured us on the evening news. Because of that coverage, three years later we obtained a $50,000 contract.” Some of the more developed EoC businesses have been able to offer internship programs so that undergraduate and graduate students can experience from the inside how these firms operate. Elizabeth Garlow, who had done research on the EoC model in college, interned with Mundell & Associates. “I came away,” she affirms, “convinced that you can build a sense of family in a workplace.” From Focolare: Living a Spirituality of Unity in the United States (New City Press, 2011). (more…)
The Republic of Malta is composed of three main islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino. Its strategic position in the Mediterranean between Europe and Africa has made it a perfect stronghold for many: Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Aragonese, the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, French and English…the remains of the first human settlements on the island date back to 5200 B.C. With a surface area of 316 sq kms, Malta is one of the smallest and most populated states in the world. The population has reached 400,000 inhabitants. Tourism is a fundamental element in Maltese economy. Malta was one of the first Roman colonies that embraced Christianity, brought around 60 B.C. by Saint Paul, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles. The Maltese are Catholic by overriding majority, and there are more than 360 churches in Malta, Gozo and Comino. Persons d’autres dénominations chrétiennes sont également présentes, dont les anglicans, les orthodoxes, les luthériens, l’Église d’Écosse, les méthodistes, et d’autres religions comme le Judaïsme et l’Islam.. From 2004 onwards, Malta forms part of the European Union. The first seeds of the spirituality of unity were sown in the sixties. In 1975 there were around 70 persons who adhered to it, the first community was formed, the first vocations to the focolare came about, and there was the desire was to have a Focolare on the island and to hold the Mariapoli in Malta. Then finally, in 1979, the first Mariapoli was held, with 1000 participants. And at the beginning of the 80’s two centres for the Focolari were established. This life continued to grow and put down roots: the year 1999 was a fundamental stage of this journey. Chiara Lubich came to Malta to receive from the University of Malta the degree Honoris Causa in “Literature (Psychology)”, motivated by the contribution given by her charism in “the cultivation of an integral vision of the human person in the field of psychology.” Within this perspective, “Psychology and Communion” was born on international plane. It is a network of operators with the task of delving into this original psychological approach. Ten years after the conferment of the degree on Chiara, a specialist seminar was held in Malta on the psychological significance of the relational paradigm that emerges from the spirituality of unity. The Focolare community continues to flourish unto today, and several thousand people have been touched by the spirituality: lively relationships have been built with the local Church, and with other Movements and ecclesial communities. The real effects can be seen in the work that is presently being carried out in the journey towards “Together for Europe 2012”. Work is carried out in close contact with people of other Christian denominations through the Malta Ecumenical Council, and with the local church in the diocesan ecumenical commission. Frequent and very friendly are the contacts with the Moslem community, particularly in events in which we have collaborated, working together with the children. One of the most recent developments is in the cultural sphere, particularly in the fields of medicine, pedagogy, sports, and also in the political-juridical field: members of the Focolari, who belong to the two main political parties, seek to give their witness to fraternity. Amongst the various Maltese initiatives in adherence to the Economy of Communion, the school of English “the Voice” was born in 1992. It is much appreciated by the Ministry of Education for its cordial and welcoming climate and the professional level of instruction. This welcome was experienced also by Saint Paul, who was shipwrecked on the island (Acts 27, 26) and who remained there for three months. He left –as recorded by Benedict XVI on his travel there in 2010-“an indelible mark on the history of your country”. On that occasion he recorded how, thanks to the presence of Paul amongst the Maltese, the Gospel of Jesus was rooted firmly and has borne “much fruit not only in the life of individuals, the families and the communities, but also in the formation of the national identity of Malta, and also of its vibrant and particular culture.” Link: www.thevoicelanguageschool.com
Paola Loriga writes: The cold that has gripped the whole of Italy from the end of last week could be a metaphor for the degree and complexity of the crisis gripping Italy. Aware of this crisis, a while ago an appointment was made by leaders of at every level of the Movement in Italy for a meeting in Castel Gandolfo on 3-5 February. Many people attended (about 400). There were two and a half days of analysis, dialogue and discussion, with a precise objective: what can best be done for Italy today? The results show in the first place a renewed commitment at a community level to the county’s needs. This commitment has considered and shared priorities. Thus, in politics, Focolare members in Italy have decided to take up the Movement for Unity in Politics’ work for electoral reform. With regard to economy and work, the existing network of labour supply and demand across the country will be extended and made more effective. Looking to young people and the need of job creation, the Loppiano business park, near Florence, which stimulates enterprise at a regional level, will be given a national profile so that it can offer its services wherever jobs are being created. With regard to the educational emergency and to legality new projects will be started and those already existing will be strengthened and better coordinated with other initiatives, making these two themes central to Focolare activities in various parts of the country. On the front of immigration, integration and interreligious dialogue it is necessary to draw up an up-date-date national map of the various support activities for people arriving in Italy.A similar map should be made of the current presence of Focolare members in the various projects set up by the Catholic Church. Renewed and greater commitment was manifested with tremendous passion on two significant fronts: the profound relationship with Islamic communities and the schools for young people of the Political Movement for Unity – since last November ten have been opened. These are extremely practical results of working for the future good of the country. Paolo Loriga Source: Città Nuova
For several years we have seen the yellow four pointed star against a blue background. It was also the basis of the graphics of www.focolare.org up to 22nd January 2011. All of us have seen the yellow four- pointed star on a blue background. But Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement had seen this symbol more as a flag for the Movement’s Mariapolis towns. In 2000 she clarified: “I’ve understood from within, that the logo of the Focolare Movement is not the star. It is that image of Our Lady whom you often see on the walls of medieval churches, with people of all callings gathered beneath her mantle. This is our logo. And so let’s look into it. Let’s find someone with some artistic talent who can design it for us.” Chiara refers to an image of the Mother of God that is sometimes portrayed in sacred art. She is wearing a mantle with a variety of people from various professions gathered beneath it. It is meant to represent Mary who continues to welcomes everyone into her arms. Chiara’s guidelines should also inspire the graphics of the official international website of the Focolare. However, we are aware that the task of searching for a logo that identifies the meaning of the Focolare on an international level may take a bit more time. For this reason, a competition has been launched for the realization of a logo for the Focolare Movement. A panel of seven professionals from different continents will judge the submissions. Everyone is invited to send their ideas or designs to: azzurro.co@focolare.orgFor further information:
For some time the date has been fixed: 31 August-2 September. The countdown on the site www.genfest.org reminds us that between now and then there are 25 weeks, 1 day, and… hours, minutes, seconds rush by. The programme is taking shape, and on planet earth (aka, in various parts of the globe) people are getting ready to arrive in Budapest. Here are a few examples of what has been going on lately.
Two hours of broadcasting dedicated to young people, during which the Y4UW from Poland have spoken on one of the main national radio stations of their experiences and their invitation to all the young people of Poland to be united in walking together towards Budapest. They write: ‘It was our first chance of announcing the Genfest and enthusing the hearts of many young people!’
In Italy, ‘Coffee Bridge’ is the initiative launched by Y4UW in Lombardy. Having got good price from a wholesaler and put the Genfest logo on bags of coffee, they have begun selling them. The aim of the initiative: to promote the ideals of Y4UW and to gather funds for the journey to Budapest. Email address: coffee@genfest.tk
40 young people from various regions have started up a day for teaching songs, playing games and … having great fun. It was impossible not possible to talk about the Genfest and give everyone an invitation, which was immediately accepted, to be ‘bridge builders’. The next appointment is in April for another weekend together.
«I was born in Santa Maria, in a region at the foot of the Andes, rich with aboriginal culture, but very poor. I am a descendent of the “calchaquies” (calciachies) aboriginals. I’m married and have seven children. I studied for twelve years at the Aurora School. There, besides reading, writing and weaving, I learned to live the spirituality of unity. In 2003, faced with the widespread unemployment, I started a spinning mill to supply the school’s weaving workshop. It wasn’t easy to convince the women of my land, who have always been discriminated, to take up the work of weaving again. They had to cross rivers and walk many kilometers every day in order to reach the spinning mill. We had no means. Little by little each one offered what she had: a spindle, balls of wool or her ability in this traditional art. There was still the problem of expensive machinery. One day I had to ask for a ride and I confided my concern to the driver. 
He told me that he knew how to build weaving machines. “Can you make them for us?” I asked. He replied: “Yes, you can pay me when you can.” There were other obstacles as well: we lost the place where we were working and our most expert woman quit. “With all that is happening, maybe we should just give up!” said one of the girls, expressing the doubt we all had. 
While we were moving to a new location, we found an image of Our Lady. It seemed very significant to me and I proposed to the others that we make a pact: to work every day with love for one another. Shortly afterwards, we received a donation with which we were able to buy property and equipment. That was the beginning of the “TINKU KAMAYU” studio, which means “Working together.” In the beginning there were eight of us. Today, two years later, there are 18 craftswomen and a growing production. Now I feel that I am part of a large project and involved with many other calchaquies people. We have found our identity again, and with it, hope, cultural growth, the possibility of work for ourselves and for others, and all the wealth of our cultural roots and our people. Now we feel that we are useful, no longer humiliated, but appreciated and capable of expressing our thoughts».
The Union of fifty states known as the 
The first focolarini arrived from Italy in 1961. During those years the first centers of the Movement were opened in Manhattan, Chicago and Boston. Toward the end of the 1970’s focolares were also opened in San Antonio and Los Angeles, followed by Washington D. C., Columbus and Atlanta. Mariapolis Luminosa, located in Hyde Park (New York), was inaugurated in 1986 and is the heart of the Movement in North America. During her first visit to New York city, in 1964, 
Her prayer was heard. In fact, over the years, communities began to appear throughout the country. As the Focolare Movement grew, so did its interreligious dialogue. With Jews who come into contact with the spirituality of unity, this dialogue is expressed in daily living, professional collaboration and theological study. In many parts of the country a fraternal “dialogue of life” has began and grew with Muslim followers of Imam W. D. Mohammed. Chiara visited the United States seven times. In 1990 she stressed that she had “captured various signs of a united world” in this land. In May 1977, as the guest of Imam W. D. Mohammed she spoke about 
In 2000, Imam Mohammed invited her to return again to the United States: “America needs your message” he said on 2 November 2000 to a crowd of 5000 Muslims and Christians gathered in Washington D.C. for a meeting entitled: “Faith Communities Together”which had been organized by the two communities. Gatherings of this type multiplied in several other cities with annual events that seemed more like family reunions than meetings for dialogue. In her last visit to the US, in 2000, Chiara received the 
The recent visit, in 2011, of
One of the first experiences shared by a captain was about a new resident of the block whose dogs were left outside barking from early morning until late evening. Instead of complaining to the police, the captain and the neighbors tried to “love their enemies” by reaching out to dog owner, baking cookies for her and even helping her catch her dogs when they escaped the yard. Only then did they approach her with their concerns about how the constant barking was affecting the newborn baby on the block. Not only did the mayor encourage these individual acts of caring, but he also tried to make the village itself, through the block captains, an active force for caring. For example, the block captains give welcome bags to new residents. They take interest in people, especially those experiencing personal suffering. They send cards, bring food, listen to people’s troubles. We use our emails to communicate these needs like in a family so we are all aware of who needs help. On a regular basis, some captains even do extra by volunteering to drive people in town to doctors, or shopping for groceries for the homebound. 
Just recently, we published our twenty years of experiences, also ideas for helping anyone live the Golden Rule. It was circulated among doctors, social workers, teachers and politicians as well as individuals who want to make a difference in their corner of the world. The art of caring has even been extended by North Riverside to other towns. At one of the town meetings, the publisher of the newsletter stood up and announced, “When I tell people in my town about North Riverside, they say such a town cannot exist. And I say come and see.” (For more experiences, please go to 
Christians from a Catholic parish in Basel went to visit the community in an Islamic neighbourhood. After the Muslims had prayed they had lunch together. ‘In the afternoon, there was a football competition: teams of children, young people, grown ups and also “imams versus priests”!’ said imam Mohammed Tas from Kleinbasel. ‘We parish priests lost, but our friendship grew,’ observed the Fr Ruedi Beck with a smile. The imam carried on, ‘We had the joy of meeting together. Many things unite us. We live in the same city, we are human beings, we all have a lot of work and many worries. We pray for one another and help one another where we can.’ This was one of the examples during the day of Muslims and Christians in Dialogue, last 12 February in Baar, that showed how it is possible to build up family-like relations between different religious communities. There were 80 participants, from the three largest linguistic regions of Switzerland, 40 Christians and 40 Muslims, originally from 17 nations, among which were Kosovo, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Macedonia, the Ivory Coast and North Africa. Well-known personalities from Switzerland also participated, such as Dr Taner Hatipoglu, president of the league of Muslim organizations in Zurich and four imams. At the basis of the dialogue was the theme: Hearing and Living the Word of God. Ali Cetin, an imam from Baar, introduced people to the Muslim understanding of who God is and of his word for Muslims: ‘The one who is truly loved and recognizes it reads emails, text messages or letters from his friend word by word and more than once. He values what is written, every word, every sentence. It is like that that the Muslim honours the Koran, as a letter God has sent to humanity. Its verses are cited with love, learnt by heart and put into practice.’ 
In Christian thought the love of God who is one and three is central. The importance of this came into strong relief in a passage from a talk given by Chiara Lubich, at an international congress with Muslim friends in Rome, 1998. She said, ‘We believe that God loves us immensely… and in the Koran it is written: “Believers do not love in a different way from how they love God.” This is the strongest thing that can unite us. Like this we are no longer only Muslims and Christians but brothers and sisters, persons who put God in the first place.’ 
Imam Mustapha Baztami from Teramo in Italy, one of the speakers, who knew Chiara Lubich personally, affirmed, ‘Chiara Lubich is the first Christian, the first woman who spoke in a Mosque in Halem (1997). She managed to build a bridge between religions. She was not afraid to meet the differences between the various religions, because she made her faith in God’s Love a way of living and not an empty slogan.’ A committed Muslim woman echoed his words, saying, ‘Today we have met on the same level, as in a family, and everyone was accepted. We are a building bridge, a ‘neutral zone’ that binds everyone together.’ 
To conclude the meeting, Marianne Rentsch and Franco Galli, co-ordinators of the Movement in Switzerland, recalled the Golden Rule: ‘No one of you is a believer if he does desire for his brother what he desires for himself’ (The Forty Hadith of Al-Nawawi, 13); ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you’ (Luke 6:31). It was printed, in both its Christian and in its Islamic form, in the three main traditional languages of Switzerland, on a card the shape of a credit card, and given to everyone to take away as a reminder. Beatrix Ledergerber-Baumer
It was here that in 1991, 
There have been various activities run by the Focolare in all the States of the Federation: from Civitas, the school for political formation in João Pessoa, to the Young People for a United World’s solidarity project and to the families’ weekend in the State of Alagoas; from the youth Olympics in the State of Rio Grande Do Sul, to the Unicidade Project in the Mariapolis Ginetta, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year – to name but a few. But what gives rise to this life? Let’s take a step back in time. It was the year 1958. A ship landed in Recife, carrying three focolarini from Italy: Marco Tecilla, Lia Brunet and Ada Ungaro. They communicated their experiences in schools, universities, parishes, associations, hospitals, families. After a month they were travelling again: Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo, Porto Alegre, and then Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. On returning to Italy, the aeroplane made an emergency stop in Recife because of a serious fault which held them there for four days. They used that time to follow up a whole host of contacts. In this way the community in the North East of Brazil came into being. It was the first of many. 
With the arrival of other focolarini who came to stay, the first centres of the Movement were opened in 1959 in Recife. A rapid spread of the Ideal of unity began in the larger cities and in the villages, among young people and adults, whites and blacks, rich and poor… and all it happened with a characteristic mark: social harmony. Many social activities came in to being as an effect of a life rooted in the gospel. In 1962 a centre was opened in São Paolo. The publishing house 
On this occasion, one of the fathers of democratic Brazil, Prof. Franco Montoro, referring to Chiara in a speech given at the State University of São Paolo, recognized in the thought and activity of the Movement – and not only in Brazil – ‘a consistent witness that has drawn behind it millions of people. It has protected human rights during periods of dictatorship and, in the scientific boom, it has demonstrated that we must be guided by ethics. It has promoted love, universal fraternity.’ These are values that today the Movement’s members are committed to living, together with others, in a historic moment that sees Brazil emerge on to the global scene and take a leading role in events such as the World Youth Day 2013 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Beginnings. There had been a progressive diminishing of faithful and a growth among the sects. This was also due to the scarcity of priests and the difficulty of reaching various centres of the region. The Amazon Project was meant to be an answer to the appeal that the bishops of Brazil made to various groups in the Catholic Church that they would each contribute according to their own charism to a vast and permanent action of evangelization.
The Cube of Love is a most useful tool. The Cube of Love is a game invented by 
The Gospel is pleasant to read; but putting it into practice provokes scandal among respectable people. The Gospel will not tolerate immobility, gives no guarantee of rest. He, the One who is the ‘sign of contradiction’, does not offer any sinecures: ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!’ The history of Christ on earth, in twenty centuries, is a series of gallows, between the galleys and the pillory: we do not always see the the wave of hidden tears. All the same, in the context of that sorrow and darkness, faith is worthwhile. Believing without seeing is worthwhile. It brings to mind His warning: Fear not, O you of little faith, I have overcome the world. For a short while He disappears and we are in pain, left alone, but then he comes back. For mystics these dark nights end in a blazing eruption of sunshine. It is a trial: and whoever undergoes it with strength gains victory. It is a suffering that produces life: of a grain of wheat dying in the clods to bear fruit in the sunlight. ‘For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.’ (2 Cor. 1:50) Those who welcome Jesus crucified, welcome suffering out of love: and just by doing that they do an act of love, and they find joy. We need training by the Holy Spirit for this. And so existence takes on the appearance of a tough drama, with apparent defeats and appalling disillusionments: but we must resist. Nothing is wasted of what we give in suffering: the fruit of resisting in rationality and faith, with virility and charity, brings benefits both to the civil realm and to the spiritual realm, in which people become, also through this, the Social Body of the Mystical Christ. We sow in tears, when we reap we rejoice.
