May 2011
More than anyone else, Jesus knows the God we must truly love and knows how we should love him: he is his Father and our Father, his God and our God (see Jn 20:17). He is a God who loves each one personally; he loves me, he loves you: he is my God, your God (“You shall love the Lord, your God”).
And we are able to love him because he loved us first: so the love he commanded us to have is a response to his love, to Love itself. We can turn to him with the same confidence and trust that Jesus had when he called him Abba, Father. We too, like Jesus, can speak with him often; we can tell him all our needs, our resolutions and plans, and we can tell him over and over again of our exclusive love for him.
We too eagerly await the moment in which we can be in profound contact with him through prayer, which is dialogue, communion, a relationship of intense friendship. In those moments we can pour out our love: we can adore him beyond all creation, glorify his presence everywhere in the universe, praise him in the depths of our hearts and alive in our tabernacles, think of him present wherever we are, in our room, at work, in the office, while we are with others …
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Jesus teaches us another way to love God. For Jesus, loving meant doing the will of the Father, putting mind, heart, energies, life itself at his disposal, for Jesus gave himself completely to the plan that the Father had for him. The Gospel shows him to us as being always and totally turned toward the Father (see Jn 1:18), always in the Father, always intent on saying only what he heard from the Father, on carrying out only what the Father told him to do.
He asks the same of us: loving means doing the will of the beloved, without half measures, with all our being: “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Love is not just a sentiment. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?” (Lk 6:46), Jesus asks of those who love only with words.
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
How should we live this commandment of Jesus? Certainly by cultivating a filial relationship, a relationship of friendship with God, but above all, by doing what he wants. Our attitude towards God, like that of Jesus, will be that of always being turned toward the Father, listening to him, in obedience, in order to carry out his work — that alone and nothing else.
To accomplish this, we are asked to be radical in our choices and way of life, because we cannot give less than everything to God: all our heart, all our soul, all our mind. And this means doing whatever he asks of us well and completely.
Living his will and conforming ourselves to it will often require burning our own will, sacrificing anything we have in our heart or mind that does not concern the present moment. It could be an idea, a feeling, a thought, a desire, a memory, an object, a person …
In this way, we are all intent on doing whatever is asked of us in the present moment. Speaking, talking on the phone, listening, helping someone, studying, praying, eating, sleeping, living his will without wandering off; carrying out actions that are complete, whole, perfect, with all our heart, soul and mind; having only one motive for everything we do — love — so that we can say, in every moment of the day: “Yes, my God, in this moment, in this action, I love you with all my heart, with all my being.” This is the only way we can say that we love God, that we reciprocate his being love toward us.
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
To live this Word of Life it will be helpful to examine ourselves from time to time to see if God is truly foremost in our lives.
So then, to conclude, what should we do this month? Renew our choice of God as our only ideal, as the all of our life, putting him back in the first place, living with perfection his will in the present moment. We want be able to say with sincerity: “My God and my all,” “I love you,” “I am all yours,” “You are God, you are my God, our God of infinite love!”
Chiara Lubich
Young People for a United World: a new start!
“Only those crazy enough to think they can change the world can actually do it”. This impression left by one of the participants of the 2011 YPUW Meeting gives us a clear idea of the feeling amongst the 500 young people present: Young People for a United World aren’t about utopian dreams but follow an Ideal that’s worth giving your life for!
A general and intense joy was at the base of the meeting’s festive atmosphere. Here are some of the many impressions left by the young people present: “You need a huge heart to believe in this ideal but you’ve helped me believe in it too”, “You need only look at our faces to see that we are people who are now truly happy”, “I can’t wait to radiate this light unto the whole world, I’m going home with this one task in mind”.
The morning before leaving for Rome to continue festivities at the prayer vigil in Circus Maximus and ceremonies in St. Peter’s for Pope Wojtyla’s beatification, the Meeting’s program focused on the true nature of YPUW: a vision enlarged unto the whole world.
Piero Coda, president of the University Institute Sophia (Loppiano, Florence), along with two of the institute’s students, guided a reflection on the importance of dialogue in every situation. The three speakers underlined the importance of this dialogue for today’s civilisations that, after centuries of separate development, are now called to interdependence, exchange and continuous dialogue. Piero Coda’s following comment seemed emblematic: “History is made by some prophetic figures who know how to illuminate man’s actions, constantly guiding him towards new horizons. Those who build bridges daily, teaching the art of dialogue with their lives, are equally as fundamental to this process. You can be these bridge builders”.
A delegation of young people from the Japanese Buddhist movement Rissho Kosei-kai also participated in the Meeting. They presented their association which has had deep ties of friendship and dialogue with the Focolare for years; they spoke about collaboration for the Arms Down project, the activities they carried out last year in favour of nuclear disarmament and the recent activity to help victims of the Japanese earthquake. Their limpid words underlined how ‘building bridges’ between different movements, cultures and experiences brings about the most unexpected results.
At the end of the Meeting the young people from Rissho Kosei-kai said, “After this exchange with YPUW we are more certain than ever that we are all different, but that using these differences to reach unity is an amazing experience!”
World Unity Week can be followed until 8th May 2001 on: www.mondounito.net
[:it]Solitudine
Lampedusa: An experience of sharing
“The guests arrived soaking wet and most of them were barefoot. A relationship of empathy and gratitude was immediately created between us. They excused themselves for everything: the traffic they caused, the queues in the supermarkets and bakeries…”
“This situation has led to a true community experience over the last number of months. Everyone is doing their part to generously help these brothers and sisters with clothes, food, etc.”
The experience is characterised by concrete acts of solidarity: “In the days previous to the disembarkments my bag with all its contents, including my cell phone, was stolen. I bought another phone and, before taking it out of its box, I met a young Tunisian man whose cell phone didn’t work. He told me, ‘My mum is desperate because she hasn’t received any news from me’. My new cell phone came to mind. ‘He needs it’, I thought and decided to give it to him. He was truly happy and soon after managed to contact his mum.
A few days after the emergency situation began, the Young People for a United World along with other members of Focolare’s local community in Sicily and in collaboration with the Agrigento Caritas Centre sent a container full of clothes and primary needs to Lampedusa
After this first stage of great dedication, a certain discouragement began to spread through the island’s native inhabitants; an understandable reaction when 90% of the population live off tourism. “Certain that God will not abandon us nor let himself be out-matched in generosity, we tried to sustain all those around us encouraging each other not to be overwhelmed by worries for the future”.
The local bishop of Agrigento, Mons. Montenegro, invited everyone to see the face of Jesus in these brothers, recalling the Gospel excerpt: “when I was hungry… when I was a stranger...” He wrote to the President of the Republic and local authorities immediately started to step in. Everyone felt a great joy and a true sense of having received more than they gave. It was an amazing experience and it still continues: some families fostered a child for a period, others opened their doors at meals times or offered the possibility to use their showers, not to mention donations of food and money. The local fishermen gave crates of fish that the guests roasted on makeshift barbeques.
This communion of experiences and of material goods is continuing and is spreading throughout Italy.
[:it]I bambini e papa Wojtyla
Model of Incarnate Love
[:it]Castel Gandolfo: credenti e non credenti in dialogo[:de]Der Dialog hat Vorfahrt[:es]Castel Gandolfo: creyentes y no creyentes en diálogo[:fr]Castel Gandolfo : croyants et non croyants en dialogue [:pt]Castelgandolfo: crentes e não crentes em diálogo[:zh]岡道福堡：有信仰的與沒信仰的展開對談
[:it]È cominciato il meeting GMU 2011
[:it]”Pensieri” di papa Wojtyla per i giovani
United World Week 2011
United World Week (UWW) aims at fostering peaceful relationships, nurturing mentalities based on reciprocity betweens different populations and cultures, promoting respect for the dignity of each man and the identity of every community and population. UWW strives to contribute to an ever more united world, involving as many young people as possible. The idea took life in 1995 and UWW now takes place every year all around the globe.
The opening of United World Week this year on 29th April will take place during an International Meeting for young people when, at 9pm CET, there will a live internet linkup: http://live.focolare.org/smu/. 7 days full of social, cultural and sports activates will follow. There will be a constant news feed on: www.mondounito.net.
On the evening of 30th April at Rome’s Circus Maximus Young People for a United World (YPUW) will hold a prayer vigil in preparation for John Paul II’s beatification on 1st May in St. Peter’s Square. Among the participants in the YPUW’s International Meeting currently underway there is a delegation from the Buddhist movement Rissho Kosei Kai.
United World Week will draw to a conclusion on 8th May with another planetary linkup: Follow the Light, a day of celebrations with young people all around the world. This event, the climax of UWW, will take place in the home town of the young girl, Chiara Luce Badano, who was proclaimed blessed on 25th September last. The event can be followed on http://www.gmutorino.it/
John Paul II, Young People and Suffering
Rafael Tronquini
What do you remember about John Paul II in his latter years of illness. What witness did he give the Pope give you in that period?
I especially remember the last year of his life. There was so much media coverage and images of the Pope who had difficulty speaking. But his love for me and all young people around the world was incredible. John Paul II was the first Pope I knew. In 2005 I was 21 and the Pope, with his great wisdom, was like a grandfather figure for me… I would say that he was a travel companion! He said so many amazing things. In the parish youth groups he was a reference point, an example of someone who continued to love in painful situations.
I wanted to respond to the invitation he gave at the Canada World Youth Day in 2002 and so in 2007 I took part in the WYD in Cologne. It was a chance for me to really experience the unity of the Church. I will be eternally grateful to John Paul II for the proposal he launched to all of us young people to share that unforgettable meeting and when I went to visit his tomb I thanked God for the gift of his life. After that GMG I understood lots of things; I committed myself above all to following Jesus in the joys and sufferings everyday life.
The Pope tried to find God/Jesus in his pain: can you tell us something about this idea?
Jesus’ walk to Calvary, his death on the cross and his resurrection come to mind. I believe that if we love Jesus we can have this same experience of resurrection. When I arrived home in Brazil after the WYD I heard that my grandmother was really unwell. I thought: What can I do? What can I say? John Paul II came to mind and I remembered how he faced suffering. A few days later my gran died. It was the first time I lost someone close to me. Losing her and John Paul II- very different but both very much loved people- in the same year was a new situation for me. I think that, when faced with illness, we can’t expect to find answers if we don’t love. We can find God’s face in those who are ill and truly love them. Jesus who died on the cross out of love is waiting for us to offer all our pain to Him.
The day the Pope passed away my sister called me at work crying. I couldn’t understand what she was saying; I could only imagine that it was bad news. When I understood that John Paul II had passed away I too started crying but at the same time I thanked God for the impact that John Paul II had had in my life.
Do you too have the ideal of “Jesus Forsaken”? What does this mean to you?
Yes I am a member of the Focolare and Jesus Forsaken is central to the Spirituality of Unity. What does this mean for me? It means choosing him forsaken, in his nothingness, in his cry: “Why have you forsaken me?” I want to choose him in that moment when he made himself nothing, in the climax of his love for the whole of humanity. And so when I’m tired after having studied hard or after a long day at work I remember that, in that tiredness, I can find an aspect of Jesus Forsaken and this pushes me love. This also helps me overcome temptations in order to be a coherent Christian and gives me the strength to start again when I make mistakes. When evening comes I offer all my sufferings, my limitations and my failures to him because he already took all this upon himself. He is unity.
(Interview by Corinna Muehlstedt, for Bavarian Radio – 18 March 2011)
Beatification of John Paul II
The beatification of Pope John Paul II is by now imminent and together with the whole Church we feel enveloped by an immense joy and profound gratitude. Joy and gratitude for the gift She is giving to us in recognizing the holiness of this great Pope, expressed in his well-spent and consumed life, up to the last moment, for God and for us human beings. The extraordinary richness of his teachings continues to amaze, as well as his witness of love which has aroused gratitude worldwide both in Christians and faithful of other religions, and in people with no religious faith. On occasion of the 25th anniversary of his pontificate, he had confided to us the source from which everything derived: the intimate secret of that relationship – as successor of Peter – which connected him to Jesus: “Twenty-five years ago I experienced the divine mercy in a particular way. Christ said also to me, as he once did to Peter: ‘Do you love me more than these?’ Every day in the depths of my heart the same dialogue takes place between Jesus and Peter. In the spirit, I fix my eyes on the benevolent gaze of the risen Christ. He, despite knowing my human frailty, encourages me to respond with trust like Peter: ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you’.”[1] Today, this event of the Church makes us penetrate into the dimension of that “something more” lived out by John Paul II day after day, with heroism. Together with all the other Movements, we have experienced the special love of John Paul II in his recognition of the role they have in the Church, an expression of its Marian dimension. Already in 1987, in speaking to the Roman Curia, he had highlighted the importance of this dimension: “The Church lives in this authentic ‘Marian profile,’ this ‘Marian dimension’ …. The Immaculate Mary precedes all the others, including Peter himself and the Apostles. … This link between the two profiles of the Church, the Marian and the Petrine, is profound and complementary. This is so even though the Marian profile is anterior not only in God’s design but also in time, as well as being supreme and pre-eminent, richer in personal and communitarian implications …”.[2] Opening wide the doors to the novelties brought about by the Holy Spirit in the historical meeting in St. Peter’s Square of the ecclesial movements and new communities on the vigil of Pentecost 1998, John Paul II acknowledged that the two profiles “are co-essential as it were to the Church’s constitution. They contribute … to the life, renewal and sanctification of God’s People.”[3] 
Beyond the important public events, Chiara Lubich was connected to this great Pope by a personal and deep relationship: the private audiences, often granted with lunch invitations, his presence in many public events of the movement, personal letters and phone calls on special occasions, were “milestones in our movement’s history,” urging Chiara to express herself like this in 2005, at the moment of his death: “I too can personally bear witness to his saintliness.”[4] “He made himself so ‘nothing,’ that sometimes, coming out of our audiences with him, we felt an intense direct union with God alone. Therefore the Pope led you to God, like a true mediator, annulling himself when he has reached this aim.”[5] “We are filled with awe and gratitude for so great a love. At the same time, we are grateful to God for having been able to be close to him, to help him as sons and daughters, and, as a ‘sister,’ as he referred to me in his last letter.”[6] “The Focolare Movement’s experience,” wrote Chiara on that occasion “during these last 27 years is proof of that ‘greater love’ dwelling within John Paul II’s heart. This ‘greater’ love of his called for our love in return; thus the Pope entered into the depths of each member of the movement’s heart. Simple human words, therefore, cannot express who he was for us.”[7] How can we forget the visit of the Holy Father to the international Centre of the Movement at Rocca di Papa on August 19, 1984? On that occasion he explicitly acknowledged the presence of a charism in Chiara’s spiritual experience. He affirmed: “In the Church’s history there have been many radicalisms of love …. There is also your radicalism of love, of Chiara, of the focolarini …. Love opens the way. My wish is that this way, thanks to you, may always be more open for the Church!”[8] And how can we forget some of his expressions about us? During his speech at the Familyfest in Rome, on May 3, 1981, he improvised saying: “Our spirituality is open, positive, optimistic, serene and conquering… You have even conquered the Pope… I said that I wish all of you to be Church. Now I want to say that I wish the Church be you.”[9] And in 1983, on March 20th, during the New Humanity Day: «Many times, when I am sad, what comes to me is… ‘focolarini.’ And I find a consolation, a great consolation!”[10] During his numerous trips as a pilgrim all over the world, he had learnt to recognize our “focolarino people,” as he used to call it, drawing – as Chiara once said – comfort and support from it. In the course of his long pontificate, more than once we felt a special love from him, the profoundness of his paternal glance and nearly his predilection. We remember with gratitude the warm affection shown to Chiara and to a number of us in many circumstances, but also his determining role in recognizing the particular charism given by God to the Church and to humanity through Chiara. An aspect of particular spiritual affinity between Chiara and John Paul II can be recognized in feeling and living the Church as communion, the expression of God’s love for all people. From here came his proposal, expressed in the apostolic letter Novo Millenio Ineunte, for the Church of the third millennium: to live the spirituality of communion in order to bring the Risen Jesus back in the heart of the world.[11] So, in this moment in which we celebrate with immense joy the beatification of John Paul II, we feel once more strongly called by him and by Chiara, with one voice, to fully live the spirituality which God has given us.
Maria Voce
[1] John Paul II – Homily for the 25th anniversary of his pontificate – 16.10.2003 [2] To the cardinals and officials of the Roman Curia – 22.12.1987 [3] John Paul II – To the ecclesial movements and new communities – 30.5.1998 [4] Chiara Lubich – A Greater Love – Living City, May 2005 – Vol.44, No.5, p. 5 [5] Mariapoli n. 4-5/2005 [6] Chiara Lubich – A Greater Love – cit. [7] Chiara Lubich – A Greater Love – cit. [8] Speech of John Paul II to the members of the Focolare Movement – 19.8.1984 [9] Speech of John Paul II to the married couples participating at the meeting “Family and Love” – 3.5.1981 (expression not quoted in the published speech) [10] Speech of John Paul II to the participants of the international meeting of the «New Humanity Movement» – 20.3.1983 (expression not quoted in the published speech) [11] See Novo Millennio Ineunte, n.43
The Resurrection
Christianity is true because Jesus is risen.
So that he wouldn’t be taken from that pitiful tomb a large stone blocked the entrance and in front of that there was a guard. But the story took another direction, through which he left and opened up eternal life, even in death.
The Church exhorts, on the mouth of the empty tomb: heads of State, Kings and magistrates to understand; that which is difficult to understand; so much so that the same mistakes are endlessly repeated: they come from one dictatorship and prepare another; they take note of the second war and plan a third; they take care of people in disasters by adding to their mourning.
Through the countryside of the resurrection pass the delicate figures of women. In these love has overcome fear: and when the apostles had gone to ground hiding, the women came out and looked for the one who is Love: they discovered that He had risen. They find the confirmation of the Gospel: that the religion of Jesus is a duel against death, a victory over it; in fact its substance is love, which knows no limits. Beauty ends, honour terminates, justice stops at the margins of law, but love knows no barrier, it goes beyond the furrows of evil, the background of death. With the sacraments we can assure a continual resurrection from evil, which is the substance of death: and the sacraments, the substance of life, are produced by love, as redemption and as the Church.
Christians are not allowed to despair; they are not allowed to lose heart when faced with death. Their house can collapse, their riches scatter: they will pick themselves up, and take up the fight again: the fight against evil. Christianity lasts whilst it remains firm in the belief of the resurrection.
The resurrection of Christ, our Leader, draws us into and makes us participants in it through his life, he obliges us to never despair. He gives us the secret to lift ourselves up in every fall. He gives us the arms for the fight and the strength to conquer death. The spirit, if it is rooted in Christ, prevails. Ours is a religion of life; the only one in which death has be victoriously, and if we want it, definitively banished.
Today, we are on earth, but linking ourselves to the Christian spirit, people rise again. So, like Mary, who took her son freed from the nails of the cross and held him in her arms, the Church holds our crucified humanity in its womb and prepares it for the resurrection.
The resurrection of Christ must be the reason for us to be reborn in our faith, hope and charity: victorious in our actions against the tendency of death, each one with their neighbour reborn in a unity of affection, every nation reborn, in agreement of actions, with other nations.
St Augustine, in a talk about Easter and the process of our resurrection, couldn’t find better words than to quote the apostle of love who says: – We have passed from death to life because we love our brothers.
And therefore: let us love one another, to help each other to live. In this way we will rise again.
Igino Giorndani, published in Le Feste, Turin, 1954
[:it]Video: Chiara Lubich, Argentina 1998[:es]Video: Chiara Lubich, Argentina 1998[:zh]1998年4月9日盧嘉勒的復活節祝賀詞與視頻（意大利語）
The Risen Jesus among those who live mutual love
Buenos Aires, 9 April 1998
Televised message by Chiara Lubich - Italian Soundtrack
Dearest people of Argentina,
Here is my wish for this splendid nation of Argentina.
I will not wish something of my own, but something which is in the air of current history.
As we know, beyond our way of seeing things there is another: the one of He who guides history, God.
Now and again He gives signs which indicate His will: the signs of the times. One of these for the present is unity.
Despite the wars which exist in the world, despite the disasters and the inequalities, many things tell us that the world is tending towards unity.
The States in the civil and political world say it, like the European, African, Asian or American countries, which are striving to unite even if in different ways and for different goals. International bodies and organizations, like the UN, say it. The religious world says it. This is the reason we speak of ecumenism and interreligious and intercultural dialogue.
It is also unity I wish for this nation. It already exists, but we can go in depth. How? With fraternal love among everyone, between families, generations, cities and provinces, respecting every identity, in order to transform this society into one big family.
If we do this, the Risen One, which Easter celebrates, will be in the midst of everyone, because He said so.
He will improve everything in every field of human endeavour. He will be Argentina’s fortune, the country’s big chance, its secure future.
Best wishes to all, great and small! My heartfelt greetings especially to those who may be suffering in any way.
Chiara Lubich
Easter 2011: Bringing the Risen Jesus to the streets of the world
|
|
|
| “Dearest all ,
The Good News that we are still called to live today is that Jesus is risen and is alive in our midst through our mutual love. The evangelical message of 2,000 years ago is still relevant today and draws us all into a new commitment in life and giving witness. The wish that I would like to reach each one of our large family everywhere is to always walk with Him, the Risen One, through the streets of the world.” Maria Voce |
|
Dominican Republic: The generosity of the young people
It was a special Saturday for the large Focolare family in the Domincan Republic. Seven-hundred people met in the Church’s Casa San Paolo, a small country with a dozen provinces, two-hundred by three-hundred kilometers, but rich in local beauty and “campanalism” with both its positive and negative implications.
This was brought out during the meeting between Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti with 150 young people who are close to the Movement in the Domican Republic. Priscilla, for example, shared how she had moved from her province, Santiago Rodriguez, which is rural and famous for its large banana cultivations, nearer to the capital, in order to study psychology. The adjustment to the new environment, the people, and the way of living wasn’t easy. But being close to the youths of the Focolare helped her to insert herself into her new surroundings, and even to become a leader among her friends.
The young audience sat in silence. It seemed strange, given the exuberant vitality of Dominican youths, who are also capable of great depth and generosity. The questions showed their desire to be radical. And so Maria Voce insisted on speaking about “vocation” and aspiring for great things: «At your age there is a love for taking risks, the spirit of adventure, doing something different. It’s precisely at your age that you have the grace to do something crazy! You can have a lunacy for God, following his call, even if you aren’t sure of it. It’s worth it. » Giancarlo Faletti undscored how «It is in the nature of young people to search, in school they do research, they search for work, sport, love, involvement. It is in these things that each person’s potential is brought into evidence, and also the capacity to listen. Not only to listen to exterior voices, but above all, to the interior voice that asks me why I’m doing what I do. I can’t hide myself in front of so many things, in front of such a busy life: I must listen to the voice that asks me where my life is going. »
The influence of egotistical urges and a lack of clarity also emerged during this meeting, the noise of the city, of temptation and sin: «Our amplifier,» Maria Voce replied, «is the presence of Jesus in our midst, who makes his voice heard, and he makes it heard loudly, even more loudly than all the other noises.» Chiara Luce Badano, the young woman of the Movement who was recently beatified, is an example for their lives, who helps them to face their difficulities even when, what is accepted as normal becomes a cause of judgement against them because of their involvement in a Christian lifestyle that goes against the current. «Well, is it more important to be concerned that your companion is happy with you, or whether God is?» asked Maria Voce. Then «But these young people should be able to feel the joy that there is among you.» It’s not a matter of becoming isolated, but of advancing the beauty of life “with Jesus” in order to share with others the beauty of doing this “together”.
One young woman named Marguerita commented on what Maria Voce said: «When Maria voce spoke to us of Jesus who cried out his abandonment on the cross, I realized that it’s not only suffering, living it doesn’t doesn’t leave us with our suffering, but it brings us the joy of living with Him and for Him.» Pablo from Santo Domingo underscored that «the simple joy that I experienced today is like a virus that I have to spread to my friends.» «You’re generous, » Maria Voce concluded, «you’ve shown me that you are. And so you’re capable of great things. Let’s carry on without any fear to give even more. »
By Michele Zanzucchi
Dominican Republic: “Café con leche” social project
We know that the Dominican Republic is the “Switzerland of the Caribbean”. The central districts of the capital, Santo Domingo, resemble Miami or Houston, but they remain unable to conceal the serious social inequalities that affect Dominican society as a whole. It is nothing like the plight of their Haitian neighbors who are struggling to survive, even though a million Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, doing the toughest jobs as construction workers, longshoremen, and banana plantation workers. And you cannot talk about “pockets” of poverty, because here there are entire neighborhoods where it is difficult to lead a decent life.
One such place is Herrera in the El Café area, where Maria Voce went to visit one of the social projects being developed by the Focolare Movement, a school named “Café con leche” – “Coffee with milk – which calls to mind the mulattoes – neither coffee nor milk – the majority of the population in the Dominican Republic. The school has over 500 students who attend morning and afternoon classes in a building that has gradually been growing larger and larger since 1990 when the project was begun.
Everything began with Marisol Jiménez. Seeing the state of extreme poverty in the district and the children in their state of semi-abandonment, she began by organizing a choir in the local parish. Then she organized a summer camp for children, which was repeated for two years and involved 500 children. It soon became clear to her that something had to be done to raise the educational level of the children, many of whom were unable to read or write. Gradually, she was able to engage her friends in the project until, in 1995, the school was opened with three teachers and around ten students.
In an atmosphere of joyful anticipation, with children sitting everywhere, and neighboring families coming to join in the festivities, Maria Voce was able to appreciate the progress that the project has shown, how it has gone ahead with the help of the “adoption at a distance” program of the New Families Movement and the generosity of the Igino Giordani-Foco Foundation, which is now directed by Margarita Rodriguez de Cano.
An incredible series of heroic acts, miracles, spiritual and material growth of the students, have permitted the school to equip hundreds of children to be earning members of the work force. The school is an example of a “holistic education” which is able to involve, support, and appreciate the family, offering hope for human development. The school is also supported by the wood crafts produced by the boys, the clothes and dresses produced by the girls, and other handcrafts that are sold locally and in the United States. The Domincan government and the President of the Republic himself have contributed to the project.
“Even if it all seems small,” said Maria Voce as she stood in the school’s courtyard, “you can feel that love has built something great here. And this remains; love always remains”.
By Michele Zanzucchi
The Palms
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, amidst cheering and waving of palms, has political significance: not only because the crowd instinctively recognises him as the head of their people but also because, in this circumstance, he himself, the peaceful leader, offers a message of political worth.
On that day, therefore, whilst the multitudes (today we would say ‘crowds’) proclaim him King of Israel, Jesus Christ comes down from the Mount of Olives and – before the whole of Jerusalem, with its white houses and its people gathered around the splendid Temple, in the midst of everyone’s joy – he bursts into tears and cries out: “‘If you too had only recognised on this day the way to peace! But in fact it is hidden from your eyes!
Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you, because you did not recognise the moment of your visitation.”
That same day however, the heads of the nation, contrary to the sentiments of the people, rejected his program of peace and confirmed their program of war. That same day they decided definitively to rid themselves of the peaceful Messiah who arrived to Jerusalem on a donkey because this scarlet hero put them face to face with their belligerent messianism.
The entrance into Jerusalem was therefore the celebration of pacific messianism, that is, of a sui generis politics which is crushed by the old sort of politics; an old politics which believed (and which perhaps would believe again) in God and his law but trusted (and would trust again) more in the sword that in the squires; more in army tanks than in the Sinai announcement. This decrepit, lunatic politics sows war even in peace treaties, transforms a nation into an army and turns farmer’s fields into battle grounds.
Jesus’ messianic politics can be summarised under the heading ‘Kingdom of God’: a regime whose constitution is God’s law, a regime that upholds God as its purpose and principle. The nation is organised therein: God’s nation, guided on the tracks of peace. This kingdom of God also translates into a social constitution: it’s law is the Gospel and it entails unity, solidarity, equality, paternity, social service, justice, rationality, truth; it fights against war, tyranny, enmity, error, stupidity…
To search for the Kingdom of God therefore is to search for the happiest conditions for the life of the individual and of society. And this is easy to understand: where God reigns, man is God’s son, a being of infinite worth, who treats other men as brothers, who is treated as a brother by other men, who does unto others as he would have done unto him. In God’s kingdom the world’s goods are fraternally put in common and love circulates with forgiveness; frontiers are worthless, senseless because of the universality of love. Putting the Kingdom of God before all else therefore means raising life’s goal. In this sense we too can say that Christ has “overcome the world”.
Beyond this meaning, Jesus doesn’t deal with politics, nor do the apostles. But their teaching contains principles that, if not of a practical, immediate, biased political nature, they are of soaring and guiding wisdom which supports the great and universal art of governance in every age. Jesus doesn’t touch existing institutions, he transforms their spirit by transforming sentiments of men. He doesn’t tell the soldiers to desert their duties, nor does he tell the tax-collectors to abandon office or the members of the Sanhedrin to step down from the Supreme Court: he simply tells them to carry out their work with a new spirit. He doesn’t create commotion, he brings about revolution. He does this by transforming the spirit there where it needs to be transformed.
(Igino Giordani, Le Feste, SEI, Torino, 1954, pp. 104-110).
[:it]Chiara mia sorella
Philippines: at the school of religions
From the 1st- 3rd April the School for Oriental Religions (SOR) organised a course in the Focolare’s little-town called ‘Peace’ in Tagaytay (Philippines). There were 250 participants from all around Asia: Pakistan, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The majority of those who took part were from various islands in the Philippines especially Manila and Cebu.
SOR was founded in 1982 by Chiara Lubich on her first trip to Asia when dialogue between members of the Focolare Movement and the mahayana Buddhists from the Rissho Kosei kai began. SOR runs biennial courses that aim at giving formation to Christians from around Asia for dialogue with members of the continent’s religious traditions. Both in 2009 and in this year’s course, opportunities for an exchange of experiences accompanied the formation.
Visiting SOR one can not help but think of the Ancient Greece’s ‘Agora’: a place to openly discus challenges and problems that arise in the various cultural contexts such as Pakistan. It also provides an occasion to share prophetic experiences such as the dialogue that takes place with the monastic Theravada Buddhism in Thailand. We can’t leave out the recent events in Japan: following the earthquake and nuclear crisis members of the Focolare and of the Rissho Kosei kai managed to face the tragedy together in a true spirit of friendship and reciprocal support thanks to the relationships already built. Dialogue at an academic and social level in India with various Gandhian organisations and academic institutes also shows great promise.
Despite many common spiritual characteristics that can be seen throughout Asia, each country and cultural area has its specific traditions. Differences can also be seen in the relationships between Christians and members of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and cultures such as Confucianism and Taoism. The Focolare Movement experiences the challenges that the Catholic Church faces in these worlds at first hand.
During the presentations given by the working groups at SOR’s course, dialogue and evangelisation clearly emerged as two different aspects of the Church’s sole mission; a mission that must place personal and, above all, communitarian witness at top importance so as to guarantee a constructive and credible presence for announcing Jesus Christ. On the other hand Asian cultures often gather and intuit aspects of faith that Western Christianity have not yet valued nor deeply understood.
This year the School for Oriental Religions focused on the aspect of love in the different cultural and faith traditions. The presence of Archbishop Mons. Francis Xavier Kriegesak, the school’s dean was much appreciated as well as the contributions given by the monk prof. Phramaha Sanga Chaiwong, abbot of an important temple near Chang Mai in the North of Thailand, and by Julkipli Wadi, a Muslim professor of Islamic Studies at the University of the Philippines.
Three days of dialogue and exchange that will produce “suitable antidotes for fundamentalism and intemperance”, not only in the long run but straight away.
Source: Città Nuova
Spirituality of Communion at DePaul University in Chicago
“I will show you the way of wisdom” is DePaul University’s motto and it shows up here and there on its campus. The university was founded at the end of the 19th century by the Congregation of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul, with the goal of providing proper education to the children of Catholic immigrants to Chicago. Today it has 25 thousand students and it has been ranked among the “top tier” universities in the United States.
The motto, taken from the Book of Proverbs, acquired a special meaning during World Catholicism Week organized by the university, the first day of which was dedicated to the theme “Catholic spirituality: a global communion”. Various personalities spoke during the week. On that first day, April 11, a number of roundtable discussions took place, some simultaneously, and some scholars from the Focolare Movement were called to present various aspects of the communal dimension of the spirituality of Chiara Lubich. Dr Judith Povilus presented the interdisciplinary, multi-ethnic and intercultural experience of the University Sophia in Loppiano. Dr Donald Mitchell discussed the connection between environmentalism and interreligious dialogue; and Dr Paul O’Hara discussed the Marian dimension of the Church.
Maria Voce, finally, gave a talk with the title “Spirituality and Trinitarian Theology in the Life and Thought of Chiara Lubich”. In a room full of academic personalities and representatives of the Catholic world, the Focolare’s president underlined four aspects of the spirituality of communion: God-love, love for our neighbour, mutual love, and Jesus Forsaken as key to the achievement of unity. She dwelled in particular on the mystery of Jesus Forsaken viewed as a secret way to heal all wounds caused by division and fragmentation.
Maria Voce used Chiara Lubich’s experience of light in the summer of 1949 and her intuitions about the spirituality of communion as mirror of the life of the Trinity as a reference point for some passages of Chiara’s she read to the audience. At the end she underlined the deep agreement between the spirituality of communion and the ideas expressed in John Paul II’s apostolic letter Novo Millennio Inuente, and presented the challenge of Sophia University, which aims at “providing foundations and perspectives of global learning, of a culture that springs from the charism of unity and that is the fruit of communitarian spirituality lived deeply as a mirror of the life of the Trinity.”
Two theologians, Dr Tom Norris of the International Theological Commission and Dr David Schindler, director of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America responded to Maria Voce. Both emphasized, albeit from different perspectives, the contemporary relevance of Chiara Lubich’s Trinitarian thought and the courage contained in her proposal to the Church and to today’s theological thinking. Norris mentioned that a theologian recently claimed that the Trinity is the grammar of every theology. Schindler highlighted the Marian dimension of Chiara’s communitarian spirituality and her capacity to respond in a positive manner to the Enlightenment.
It was impossible at that end of that day not to think of the connection between the “way of wisdom” proposed by DePaul University to its students and Chiara Lubich’s charism of communion, a gift from God to walk better on the way to wisdom.
Roberto Catalano
Interreligious Meeting in Chicago
The Kehilath Anshe Maarav (KAM) synagogue of Chicago, built in 1847, was the ideal place for the gathering of 200 faithful of different religions. Located in Hyde Park on 50th Avenue, it was the first synagogue ever build in the Midwest. Its very architecture seems inspired by a desire for dialogue. Lutherans, Armenians, Presbyterians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians were present to the meeting.
About thirty of the people present took turns on the stage to share moments of spiritual communion they experienced in the course of the last thirty years by living the spirit of brotherhood exemplified by Chiara Lubich when she met representatives of various faiths throughout the world. Those meetings were seeds of prophecy that, one by one, came to fruition. The participants remembered with emotion the meeting between Chiara Lubich and Imam W. D. Mohammed in the Malcolm Shabazz mosque in Harlem in 1997, and later in Washington D.C. in 2000; the two leaders made a pact of mutual love which continues to these days among their respective organizations.
The representative of the Buddhist movement Rissho Kosei Kai remembered the meeting between Chiara and founder Nikkyo Niwano.
Emily Soloff, associate director for Interreligious Relations of the American Jewish Committee, one the people who emceed the event, said that moments of dialogue with members of the Focolare remind her of the Jewish Sabbath because of their solemnity and sense of family. Sister Laila Mohammed, daughter of the late Imam W. D. Mohammed, echoed those feelings: she said that the meeting between Christians and Muslims she attended in Rome had great spiritual depth and brought to her the same spiritual fruits of a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Prof. Donald Mitchell, Imam Mikal Saahir and Imam Kareem Irfan recounted an experience of dialogue between academics and religious leaders they had during a joint trip to Asia. In the Philippines and Thailand, in particular, the spirit of universal brotherhood felt by everyone who met in the Focolare centers gave hope that dialogue can bring a solution to the conflicts with Muslim minorities that afflict the South of both countries.
Young people who work in collaborative social projects aimed to people in need also shared their experiences.
At the end, Maria Voce, president of the Focolare, and co-president Giancarlo Faletti greeted those present and answered questions presented by a Christian, a Muslim, and a Jew. The answers brought into evidence that the dialogue conducted by the Focolare has its origin in Chiara Lubich’s dream to contribute to the unification of the human family, and is thus not the responsibility of only a part of the Focolare movement but of everyone – young people and adults, the elderly and children. Giancarlo Faletti emphasized that, while the day had been a trip down memory lane that allowed everyone to remember the milestones of their common history, it was important not to dwell in nostalgia but to strengthen their mutual love.
At the end Maria Voce said: “Often religions have been like spheres that brushed one another. Then people came along who pierced these spheres so that the wealth of each could be shared by the others. This was the prophetic role of Chiara Lubich, Nikkyo Niwano, Dadaji of the Swadhyay movement, Imam W. D. Mohammed, and others. Thanks to them we were able to discover riches we weren’t aware of. Fear has gone. Now we must continue on this path.” The attendees responded to this invitation with a standing ovation. Some said: “We bring to our communities the wealth we have discovered. You help the Focolare; together we will help humanity.”
Roberto Catalano
[nggallery id=31]
Ivory Coast: the Focolare a permanent witness
The humanitarian emergency caused by conflicts in the Ivory Coast, with thousands of refugees and displaced people, has engaged international NGOs who, in collaboration with the local church, strive to provide aid and refuge to as many people as possible. 600km west of the country’s capital, near Man there is one of the Focolare Movement’s ‘little towns’ which seeks to be a permanent witness of brotherhood and evangelical love. How are its inhabitants reacting to the country’s present crisis?
Adriana Masotti from Vatican Radio asked this question to Vitoria Franciscati, the director of the Focolare’s Centre in the Ivory Coast for 20 years:
We are involved in humanitarian aid in a fairly direct way. Man has become a reception centre because there’s a conflict zone 80km to the west and a large number of people have fled from the very difficult situation. People also come here from the capital Abidjan and we, along with others throughout the diocese, have offered our strengths to receive as many refugees as we can. In our little town we have a medicine dispensary, a clinic and a centre for the fight against malnutrition. The number of abandoned patients and small children (often along with a grandparent) is growing. This work has therefore become more demanding and is being brought ahead. We are also a reference point for humanitarian organisations that come to the region to help the fight against hunger: Médicins sans Frontiers, Red Cross and so on. There is no water in the city and so people come here to our well. Electricity is often down and we have we share our generator that runs for a few hours a day. There’s lots of collaboration therefore with everyone.
You are far from the capital but there are members of the Focolare community who live in Abidjan near Gbagbo’s residence which is hit by the conflicts. What is their experience at the moment?
Our members are present in neighbourhoods throughout the city especially in the outgoing president’s neighbourhood. We are in contact with them various times a day and they are determined and committed to living and spreading a Gospel-based lifestyle, to being builders of peace through a life of love: it’s the only force capable of disarming hearts, the most difficult but most necessary task at present.
The country has been split into two blocs with opposition even within families. How do they deal with this division?
This is the point: starting from home, from the family. Some kids tell us, “I don’t know my father any more, I don’t recognise him”, because division has penetrated; it’s something that deeply pierces. It wasn’t like that before. Ivorians however are very sensitive people and are ready to change, they’re not so hardhearted. We must therefore have faith in them; they are a welcoming people who are used to cohabitation of different ethnic groups and religions. There have never been problems in that regard.
What is the principle contribution that you want to give and that you have committed yourselves to giving to Ivorian society?
Brotherhood. The “Golden Rule”: do unto others as you would have done unto you. That is our specific contribution.
Lived in a concrete way day by day, trying to love the other even if he’s different…
Exactly. Accepting those who are different from me, who have a different way of thinking. I believe that new political systems will arise, have to arise, from Africa’s cultural roots. Prayer, however, is very important at this time because hearts have been hardened and a grace from God is needed.
Source: Vatican Radio – Radio Giornale 10/04/2011
Becoming Saints in the Midwest
When you arrive in Chicago from the East Coast you immediately realise that you’re in another world.
The city runs along Lake Michigan for 50 km. Despite our night-time arrival at Midway Airport, the urban skyline of modern, lit-up skyscrapers was truly striking. Here too the population is multiethnic but it’s somehow different from New York and Washington. Chicago, the third largest city in the US with its 3 million inhabitants (9 million if you include the suburbs), is the city with the second largest Polish population in the world. It also has particularly numerous Greek and Italian communities. Throughout the decades – at times centuries – these cultural groups have maintained a clear identity within their characteristic neighbourhoods. Recent generations, however, have contributed to increased integration.
Some neighbourhoods have had serious public order problems and sometimes you’re told not to cross certain streets if you want to avoid trouble. But in Illinois and throughout the Midwest religious values and traditions are still strong and families strive to pass them on to their children.
Shortly after its arrival in the USA 50 years ago, the Focolare Movement was instituted in Chicago. Since 1966, in the Hyde Park neighbourhood, a 19th Century mansion house – loaned to the Movement by the diocese – has hosted a Mariapolis Centre. Beside it, in just as pretty a house, is the women’s focolare centre. Over the past two years the neighbourhood had been under strict security surveillance: the Obama family residence is at the end of the road. The US President will here next week, people tell us. The men’s focolare centre is a 20 minute car drive – when traffic is good – in a suburb called Berwyn.
Not far away is another small town, North Riverside, with its own town hall and mayor. There Carol, a Volunteer who got to know the Movement back in the 60’s, gave life to a very touching experience. Carol, whose son has serious disabilities, is particularity sensitive to other’s pain. She built bridges all around her with people in the neighbourhood who were suffering for one reason or another. A network of reciprocal care was gradually formed, triggering a social revolution. By now the people who run the activity have been christened “army of angels” and the project is sponsored by the local government. It’s a true model of sustainable and reciprocal care for the emotionally or physically vulnerable, giving life to a distinctive art of caring for the suffering. Other municipalities have contacted River Side North to collaborate in overcoming seemingly impossible problems. Even the president of the Bahamas on hearing about the project asked for sponsorship to apply the same methodology in his country.
Focolare’s youth members organised a meeting for their peers which took place on Saturday afternoon in North Riverside’s Village Hall. They invited friends and acquaintances as well many other young people through personal contacts, Facebook, and the internet. It was difficult therefore to estimate the possible turn-out. The program was courageous: a presentation of Chiara Luce Badano’s life enriched by experiences of local young people in their everyday environment of school and work. A young ballerina came from Ohio for the event and presented the audience with an elegant piece of dance. Another young artist sang a song she wrote about Chiara Luce and her sainthood.
This inspired Maria Voce’s opening lines when she herself took to the stage to greet the young participants. She underlined that God continues to call each one of us to be saints today and that he does this through people like Chiara Luce who show us how to become saints with the help of others: family and friends who live for the same ideals. The Focolare president concluded by launching an appeal without half measures: “Do you want to be a saint? Then why not do it?” The response was a standing ovation, a sign that the message really struck a chord. We can’t deny that today in the Mid-West and through out the world there is a thirst for sainthood.
By our correspondent Roberto Catalano
[nggallery id=30]
[:it] La Croazia, con grande gioia ed unità, celebra il terzo anniversario della “partenza” di Chiara Lubich
Washington DC: Unity – a new frontier
“Americans always see a new frontier to be crossed. This is how they reached the moon. Wouldn’t you like reach unity?” Maria Voce said wrapping up her informal address at a meeting with Washington’s Focolare Community on the evening of 7th April.
300 local members of the Movement had come to spend two days together in the nation’s capital. Their meeting held at the Catholic University of America was enriched by an encounter with the country’s history.
Participants represented a true cross-section of the ethnic and cultural groups in this capital city that hosted some of the most memorable moments for the nation and many iconic turning points in the story of mankind: from the declaration of independence and the memorable speech by Abraham Lincoln right up to Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ and J.F.K.’s ‘The New Frontier’.
That morning Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti had visited the city’s historical sites, giving them an insight to the values that built this nation of peoples: simplicity, practicality, humility, readiness to forgive, openness to novelty, optimism, strength not to give up even when doors are closed. “They are extraordinary gifts that have come about thanks to the contribution of the many populations who came to these lands in the search of wellbeing. They may have gone to Colorado on a quest for gold but above all they were looking for freedom”, Maria Voce underlined. In the U.S., this freedom is in the air you breathe and in the heart of everyone who chose to come and live in the “New World”.
“You’ve reached the dream of freedom. Perhaps now is the time to do something for unity that, in a certain sense, you have also reached, thinking of the many cultures united in the USA”, continued the Focolare’s president. She confided however that the people she met over the past number of days expressed regret for the individualistic environment in which they live. Maria Voce then shared her impression that music in US- spirituals, jazz, rock and rap- seems to express its people’s ardent desire for unity- a comment that pleasantly surprised many. “The Spirituality of Unity could do something to help this dream come true… God sent the Charism of Unity here too. It’s a gift that can’t render me indifferent if I’ve received it”.
The evening’s program demonstrated how its participants, with their cultural and religious diversity, originate from all corners of the globe: Europe, Asia, the Middle-East, Cameroon. Noteworthy was the colourful presence of the 30 or so Bangwa-Cameroonians with Mafua Cristina who was on visit to the USA. Likewise the participation of a group of Afro-American Muslims with Imam Talib Sharif was particularly precious.
The Imam fondly remembered how, in 2000, Chiara Lubich launched ‘Operation Washington’ between members of the Focolare and Afro-American Muslims. He was doing military service at the time and the meeting deeply struck him. Afterwards, whilst waiting for a train back to his barracks, he found himself looking through the crowd to see if he could spot the smile of someone from the Movement. He didn’t see anyone but was reassured by the certainty that deep within him something had been edified and would be brought ahead by the relationship between Chiara and Imam W.D. Mohammed. On the 7th April in Washington, along with other Muslim brothers and sisters he witnessed that this relationship had been reinforced and developed.
Looking at the hall at the end of the two hour programme at the Catholic University of America, you could see the dream expressed on the Great Seal of the United States Government-E pluribus unum, Out of Many, One- coming true. “Which doesn’t mean that all are the same”, specified Maria Voce, “but that all are united”.
Roberto Catalano
Fordham University: a study day on the spirituality of unity
Fordham University, founded and run by the Jesuits, has two campuses in New York. The main campus is in the Bronx, while the Law School is in Manhattan. A smaller site, it is in the heart of the “Big Apple”, near the Lincoln Centre, the New York Philharmonic, the Ballet School… and only a few blocks from Broadway. It is a part of New York rich in art and culture.
On this campus on the 5th April, a study day was held on The spirituality of unity: a gift for our times. There were contributions from academics in various disciplines: theology, religious studies, ethics. The organisers were a group from various fields of jurisprudence: lawyers, judges, lecturers and professors from this and other universities. The value of their presentations came not so much from their unquestionable academic expertise, but from the values and ideas they shared regarding the dimension of communion in law. Law and communion is the name of their project in fact, and after many years of effort and not a few obstacles, promoting the value of the person and of interpersonal relationships, they had put together this first class symposium. With their colleagues from other universities, they demonstrated how the spirituality of communion can be a point of reference for those working in the legal field.
The group is from many different backgrounds. Law professors Ross Pierce and Ian Weinstein are both Jewish, while Amy Uelman and Greg Louis are Catholics. Other collaborators include Deborah Cantrell, professor of Law at The University of Colorado, who is a Buddhist, and David Shaheed, a judge in the supreme court of Marion County in Indianapolis, who is an African American Muslim.
The day was based around four round table discussions: the spirituality of unity, an economics based on communion rather than self interest, personal fulfilment, and “love of neighbour” in the field of law. The conclusion to the day was delivered by Maria Voce, Focolare president, who answered questions from those present. These were varied and challenging, and covered economics, law, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, moral theology and the role of women in the Catholic Church. Maria Voce gave clear indications regarding the promotion of justice and truth in the legal world, encouraging everyone to bring important and essential values to even the most unlikely areas of human endeavour.
She spoke of how this means finding a place for concepts that can be easily misunderstood, or only partially understood, like the key idea of “fraternity”. This dialogue needs to continue, she said. We have to find a robust methodology for accepting differences and overcoming them. It is important to recognise that our own identity is forged through relationships. She spoke about the present situation of women in the Catholic Church, and, over and above the roles of men and women, the importance of the leadership of love.
Above all Maria Voce encouraged everyone to carry on witnessing to unity in diversity. “I known it is not easy”, she said, “and who knows how many moments of discouragement and disappointment you have experienced, but I thank you because the life of your cell within Fordham University has provided yet another way forward towards universal fraternity.”
Roberto Catalano
[nggallery id=26]
At St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Forum at Fordham University
50th anniversary celebrations in the USA
Maria Gloria Huille
Teacher of social studies and home economics; at the age of 50 she meets the Focolare and starts a new life beside Chiara Lubich: a summary of Maria Gloria’s radiant 100 years.
100 years old and Maria Gloria still has that same look in her eyes, that same smile, that same simplicity and solemnity, not to mention her clarity of mind and readiness to smile. On 13th March, the day of her 100th birthday, when the other focolarine asked her, “Will we too reach 100?”, she answered, “Luckily it only happens to few!”
Leafing through the pages of her life, we discover that Marie Louise Celine Huille comes from a numerous family of nine children, three of whom entered religious orders.
She started to work at 21 years of age as a Home Economics teacher in Paris (a job that, at the time, had a higher status than that which we give it nowadays). Then she worked as head-mistress and teacher in various social service institutes in France, Portugal, Morocco, USA,…
She dedicated herself to finding new systems for simplifying women’s labour and, with a friend, she developed a project which was revolutionary for its time: applying principles of scientific organisation- like those used in a factory – to housework.
In August 1963, at the age of 50, she met the Focolare Movement. A revolutionary breakthrough in her already committed and worthy life. With the freshness of a young girl she dedicated herself completely to the focolare community and Chiara gave her a new name “Maria Gloria” as a particular encouragement to imitate the Mother of God. When Jean Marie Villot, the Cardinal Secretary of State at the time, asked Chiara if she could send some focolarine women as assistants, Chiara didn’t hesitate to send Maria Gloria.
This surprise-filled adventure later continued when she went to work in Chiara’s house after the Cardinal’s passing. She and the other assistants who had worked for the Secretary of State continued their task in Rocca di Papa (Rome) in Chiara’s focolare right up until the Focolare’s founder passed away.
During those years, Chiara found solace in Maria Gloria’s extraordinary life experience and often listened to her advice. With Maria Gloria, Chiara discovered that things done with care and love are not only beautiful but useful.
To commemorate a century lived in such an extraordinary way, ‘Casa Verde’, the focolare where Maria Gloria now lives with other elderly focolarine women, hosted a celebration. The Mayor of Rocca di Papa joined the festivities, presenting her with a valuable book containing photograph’s of Rocca di Papa along with a parchment that read: “Maria Gloria, a women whose dedication to women and to others kept her young. She shared her talents and strength with the admirable aim of discovering the beauty of creation and helping others do the same, transforming this beauty into daily tasks”.
What happens when we die?
One of the girls in the class I taught was always withdrawn. They had told me she had Aids.
“What can I possibly do for her?”, I thought.
I started offering her a lift home at the end of the school day. Bit by bit I realised that she was being eaten away by desperation. One day I decided to call her father who I’d never met him before. I was sure that something could be done for this young girl.
When I met him I listened to his tragic life story: 20 years of drug abuse, prison, the death of the girl’s mother… The day after he sent me a note: “I understood that you care for my daughter at school”.
Whilst trying to handle the situation with great care, I managed to create an ever more trustful relationship with her and, engaging others, a chain of solidarity was formed. The teachers found a million and one ways to help her actively take part in school activities. Bit by bit she came back to life.
One day she came to me with a question: “What happens when we die?” I felt compelled to share my life treasure with her. I told her about paradise, about love, about my experience with Jesus. When I’d finished she said, “I too want to live like that”. It was a moment of light for both of us. Her mysterious suffering and pain had a meaning.
Source: http://www.focolare.se
Strong Without Violence- Gen Rosso in Germany
“All our warmest greetings from Germany where this unforgettable and unique experience with the junior high and high school kids has by now become a tradition”.
One of Tomek Mikusinski’s impressions of Gen Rosso’s German tour in a letter he wrote to our editorial team on behalf of the whole troupe before they set off for the Czech Rebublic.
The German tour began in Heidelberg- 200 teenagers in the run-up to the sacrament of confirmation freely gave up part of their winter holidays to parttake in “Strong without Violence”, a tried and tested educational project, carried out thanks to collaboration between Gen Rosso and various schools in a number of European countries.
500,000 young people have taken part in the project to date. The European Union sponsors this project based on the group’s musical Streetlight: the true story of Charles Moates who grew up in one of Chicago’s ghettos in the 60’s. Following the ideal of a united world Charles was always opposed to violence and this choice cost him his life in 1969.
Drawing on this inspirational figure, the project strives to transmit values that help young people combat violence, marginalisation, bullying and other problems facing teenagers in their urban environments. The conclusion of the teenagers’ work was displayed in the Eppelheimer Rhein-Neckar-Halle, with 1,100 paying audience members. The novelty of this year’s tour was the “Doku-Workshop”: participants made a documentary which covered the whole week’s activities right including the build-up to the show and the audience’s arrival in the theatre. Its photos and interviews about Gen Ross’s daily life and their work on the road was screened during the evening.
The next leg of the tour was in Bonn with 13 workshops and over 500 participants. After that came a strongly multiethnic school in Dortmund. Last off was Cologne where the troupe had a particularly special experience with young students with hearing difficulties. “I am proud of my students”, said the principal of the LVR-Johann-Joseph-Gronewald School, “because putting on a musical despite hearing difficulties is obviously a huge challenge. I thank those who had the idea for this indispensable project and for the huge opportunity given to my students”.
“Gen Rosso, you absolutely must keep this project up because it really, really helps us young people!”, wrote one of the participants on the group’s Facebook page, confirming the worthiness of an idea that is spreading more and more among students throughout Europe.
[:it]Brasile. Omaggio a Chiara Lubich
“To Love You I have Only the Present Moment”
Talk by Chiara Lubich to the focolarini e focolarine Loppiano, 22 giugno 1981 © Centro Chiara Lubich
A time set aside for Life
I don’t know what the word “possible” brings to your mind but for me it means one thing: these 40 girls in front of me, these “possible focolarine”.
We can make lots of choices in life, wonderful choices. These girls decided to come and spend some time together- “a time for life” as we called it with a precise slogan: “Here I am”, meaning ‘I am ready for anything’.
I have to say that they were invigorating days for me too. The Lord God has a great imagination and each of these girls’ life stories is more beautiful than the other; unfledged and with room for development but budding signs for a promising future.
Micarla from Recife, in the North East of Brazil came not only to look for the truth but to find it; it’s always been the bee in her bonnet. Today she is happy!
Grisel, 27 years old, from Mendoza (Argentina), loves revolution and discovered that Mary of Nazareth is the greatest revolutionary of all time. “I wanted to be like her”, she told us. “What fascinates me about the vocation to the focolare? I see men and women who are completely fulfilled, people who give God to those they meet. Giving my whole life to God was a logical consequence: if He loves me immensely how can I not give him everything?”
Vida, a 24 year old from Lithuania: “I have had a lot of doubts, common doubts: can I manage to follow God completely for my whole life or should I start a family? What gave me peace and assurance was the freedom I felt every time I said my yes to Him: freedom to love the whole world.”
Emma is Mexican: “It’s not easy to follow Jesus”; she confides, “It seems that everything goes against a life given to God: from the world of communications to some aspects of education and the values proposed to us. We think that if we don’t have “extreme” experiences we get bored. This led me to think that I had to give more to God because nothing quenched my thirst, nothing satiated me.” She considers life in a focolare to be like a rollercoaster ride: a breathtaking, fascinating and at times tortuous journey, but a journey where your gaze is set on a goal : being face to face with God. “This is what I want more than anything.”
Priscilia from Geneva, is 23 and studies French literature. She is here to understand if God is really calling her. She wants to give everything to Him so as to live an adventure that “is, in my eyes, beyond compare: contributing to building a united world,” and she then concludes, “I want to have God as my Spouse as of right now”:
Nuam comes from a small village in South East Asia. She was fascinated when she saw the simple yet extremely deep life of a focolare house. Then in 2005 during a Genrosso concert “those songs, though sung in another language that I didn’t know, transmitted God and His love to me. I felt that I had to respond in some way. Now I want to give Him everything so as to be able to bring Jesus to everyone; I want to do my part so that humanity may become more and more like one family. The Ideal of Unity has helped me open my heart to the whole world”.
What comes to mind is an excerpt from Chiara’s commentary to March’s “Word of Life” that helped us do the Will of God. Chiara Lubich wrote: “Let’s say before every action, ‘May your will be done.’ By doing so, we will accomplish — one moment at a time, one piece at a time — the wonderful, unique and unrepeatable mosaic of our life that the Lord has always had in mind for each one of us”.
Now, in the meeting hall beside us there are about 40 boys who also want to give everything to God and who have wonderful things to tell us. Keep your eyes open for their upcoming article.
But now it’s time to catch up with the groups who are off to visit the little town of Loppiano.
All the best to these wonderful girls!
Sharry S.
Mariapolis Luminosa (Hyde Park, NY) 2011
Sportmeet: moving people and ideas
The sports world meets the social sphere on many levels. Their paths cross in politics and economics, they overlap in areas of health and communication. Sportmeet’s main aim therefore, is to contribute to a culture of sport inspired by universal brotherhood based on the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”- a universal truth. On this basis, Sportmeet’s objectives and methods are now shared by people of many different beliefs, cultures and religions.
Through Sportmeet, athletes, professionals and others who work in the sports world have organised numerous sports initiatives of social worth: ongoing projects on different scales and in different parts of the world with a special focus on developing countries, war zones and socially disadvantaged areas. Sportmeet gives financial support as well as cultural and human resources to assure solidity and continuity to these projects.
The congress from 8- 10 April will address the issues of dignity and responsibility in sport and the attempt to go beyond the show business profile so as to rediscover its capacity to be a catalyst for social and cultural change. The title “moves people, moves ideas” expresses the desire to create new and positive relationships because changing sport means changing society.
The program will include talks by experts, personal experiences, round table discussions, workshops and games. Amongst the guest speakers are Italian and European university professors from various sport-related disciplines as well managers, psychologists, teachers, coaches and athletes. Names include Gianni Rivera, youth and school coordinator for Federcalcio Italiana, Valerio Bianchini and Marco Calamai, professional basketball trainers, Oreste Perri, athlete and head coach of the Italian Olympic Canoe team, now mayor of Cremona.
The convention is open to athletes of every category and discipline, trainers and coaches, teachers, managers, professors and students of physical education and motor skills development.
The program, registration form and video commercial for the event are on the website www.sportmeet.org
New York 2011: Meeting with the young people
[:it]Messaggio di Chiara Lubich al Movimento Umanità Nuova
[:it]Polska. Wdzięczność, która się nigdy nie kończy.[:ot]Polska. Wdzięczność, która się nigdy nie kończy.
[:it]A Benevento la IV Edizione del premio “Fraternità”
[:it]Bra: “Quando si ama si è felici e se si ama sempre, si è felici sempre”
Fiftieth anniversary of the Focolare in the New World
It could have been the finale of a Broadway musical. Men and women wearing black shirts, girls with yellow and blue scarves, dance routines, and a medley of well known songs about the joys and worries, the hard times and the dreams of Americans. The lengthy applause expressed joy and gratitude for “an unforgettable day for the whole of north America”, that, as one of the presenters put it, “took fifty years to prepare.”
The occasion, in upstate New York, marked 50 years since the Focolare Movement arrived in North America. There were 1,300 people, representing the many communities in Canada, the United Sates and the Caribbean, and those present included Jews and African American Muslims. “This country is particularly suited to the spirituality of the movement”, Chiara Lubich had said during her first visit to the USA in 1964, “there is a true sense of internationality.”
After that first visit she returned six times, confirming her feelings about the strategic importance of this part of the continent. With each visit the founder introduced something new, like the dialogue she opened with African American Muslims (she was the first white woman to speak in New York’s Malcolm X mosque), and the collaboration with actors, directors and producers in Hollywood.
The arrival of the Movement in the New World was somewhat unexpected. It happened that Julia Conley from Detroit who had attended the Mariapolis in Fribourg in 1960, wrote afterwards to Chiara Lubich and Pasquale Foresi asking them to send someone to the USA as her guests. There was no immediate response, but she was not giving up, and with true American determination she wrote again, this time including the money for two airline tickets. At the time Chiara wrote in her diary, “This is a sign from God.” She therefore sent Silvana Veronesi one of her first companions and Giovanna Veronucci. A year later in 1961 Giovanna (Giò) returned with Serenella Silvi (who was present at the celebration), and Antonio Petrilli, and two focolares began.
With a sketch involving mobile phone “apps”, a couple of young people led the audience through a tour of North America using photos, and both live and recorded personal stories, presenting the activities and life of the movement in the various States. Of course, it was loaded with special effects, and the West Coast community, on the Pacific, which includes Hollywood, began their presentation in Twentieth Century Fox style with spotlights lighting up the sky, the familiar music, and the name West Coast Focolare in huge letters.
The high point of the day was when Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti went up on the stage and responded to a number of questions. It was a conversation that lasted seventy minutes. The eleven questions covered many key issues: the fear of pain and death, the relation between wellbeing and the gospel, the sexual abuse scandals in the USA Church, relationships with the mass media.
“Allow me to reflect once more on those two girls who had this huge nation before them,” the president confided, “and now consider how much the family that you represent has grown.” After a short pause, she addressed each person there: “this is Chiara’s mandate, to be a Silvana, a Giovanna, and return to your own town with their same burning desire to witness to the charism of unity.”
Maria Voce, struck by the simplicity, authenticity and generosity of this people, also highlighted their optimism, which has helped them to get through many situations. So quite spontaneously she said something that sounded like a slogan: “After 50 years, there are still things to do, and we will do them!”
In his message for the occasion, Pope Benedict XVI, “aware of the very multicultural dimension of the Focolare in North America” promised his prayers, “so that the bonds built with members of other religious communities may bring abundant fruits for the progress of mutual understanding and spiritual solidarity with the whole human family.”
From our correspondent Paolo Lòriga
[nggallery id=25]
[:it]A Foggia. Una scuola materna e un parco intitolati a Chiara Lubich
USA: Dialogue with young people
Up close and in person, it’s always a different story. In fact these young people had often seen Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti on DVD, their tone of voice was familiar, everyone knew how simple and uncomplicated they are. However, they were always president and co-president of one of the world’s biggest Ecclesial movements. The excitement among the 130 Gen (young people closely involved in the Focolare) who came from all over the USA for the event was therefore understandable. But any tension was dissolved once the meeting began. The backdrop: a snow-covered Mariapolis Luminosa, the Focolare’s ‘little town’ two hours north of New York.
“Your spontaneity has put us at ease and we feel really comfortable around you” one girl said to Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti. Despite the fact that it was a first encounter, everyone was on the same wavelength from the word go and a true chord of harmony was struck, so much so that the two special guests said in unison that they imagined the Focolare’s founder Chiara Lubich looking at those young faces with joy.
Two lively hours of music, graphics and a confiding exchange of experiences and questions. Two gentle yet intense hours where the young people brought their guests up to speed with the youth panorama in the USA today – without avoiding the difficulties and challenges facing young people. Amongst the topics discussed were the difficulties in talking to peers about God and the Church; the conditioning impact of high university fees (from 10- 60 thousand dollars a year); political polarisation between democrats and republicans. They were eager to receive feedback, views and guidelines inspired by the Charism of Unity.
“You are Chiara’s children, bursting with her legacy and aware that you’re its bearers for everyone. The more it’s shared, the more it spreads. You are young and strong and people, without knowing it, are waiting to be engaged in a project of world unity”, Maria Voce said to them and continued, “Don’t lose Jesus’ treasure, He lives, he is Risen and True and wants to be amongst you and to walk with you through the streets of your cities to proclaim, heal and console”. In this perspective Giancarlo Faletti underlined the vital link between the Word and the Eucharist: “Jesus is an incredible force and he is close to you in your hopes and expectations”.
The heart of the American dream (‘anyone can do it’) meets one of its highest perspectives in the spiritual mandate just received. A challenging task which inspires and fascinates these ethnically-diverse young people. Aiming to be number 1 is fascinating but it involves many responsibilities, leading a girl from San Antonio to thank Maria Voce with straightforwardness, “for having accepted the presidency”.
From our correspondent Paolo Lòriga
[nggallery id=24]
A lifelong adventure together
The 460 couples who attended the meeting organised by New Families from 17- 20 March didn’t hide their doubts and fears for the future but nor did they hide their strong enthusiasm about giving a solid base to their relationship.
In 1975 Chiara Lubich had the idea of offering pre-marriage formation. Since then New Families presents the opportunity for engaged couples to verify their project for a lifetime together.
The title “There is only one love” also served as a proposal: to graft human love onto the love which is rooted in God. This strengthens the couple, stimulating values of gratuity, initiative and the capacity to forgive. “What will we bring away with us? The evangelical art of loving- a treasure, a legacy for the married life that awaits us”, commented one of the participating couples.
There were translations in 9 different languages for the participants who came from all over Europe to the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo (Rome). The group was extremely heterogeneous: newly-engaged couples alongside those who are very close to their wedding day; couples who already live together and others who are civilly wed; young people from the Focolare and other Ecclesial Movements; people from various churches as well as some with no-religious affiliation. However there was one common denominator: the desire to discover how love can stay alive throughout time and to deepen the commitment to marriage.
This lifelong dedication implies a choice which is fascinating whilst challenging, because of the responsibility required, and ever more difficult due to the insecurity surrounding work and housing. Openness about the balance already obtained and willingness to learn to make common decisions in the face of life’s crossroads are therefore fundamental.
“They were 4 extremely intense days!!!” Elena remarked, “They were also a bit difficult to tell you the truth because there were some questions to resolve and synchronize between the two of us. During the convention we dealt with them all and it wasn’t pain-free. On the other hand the course was an ultimate blessing: being surrounded by so much love was vital. We are trying to learn the ‘art of loving’… a tortuous but thrilling adventure!!!”
Differences when reciprocally welcomed can be a richness. During the period of engagement the couple therefore needs to evaluate whether or not these differences are compatible for a lifetime together and partners needs to reflect on their capacity to accept each other.
To assist this process the convention offered roundtable discussions, sharing of experiences and dialogue. Married couples and experts spoke on a comprehensive range of topics (affective formation, relationship with ‘family of origin’, work and family finance, sacrament of marriage, communication and fertility) and to further deepen these issues there were group meetings and workshops where, through sharing, there was the chance for partners to get to know each other in an ever deeper way.
[:it]Terzo anniversario di Chiara Lubich ad Arequipa[:es]Tercer Aniversario de Chiara en Arequipa
April 2011
But in the end he submits completely to the Father’s will:
“Not what I will, but what you will.”
Jesus knows that his passion is not a chance event, nor simply a decision taken by men, but rather, a design of God. He will be taken to trial and rejected by men, but the “cup” comes from the hands of God. Jesus teaches us that the Father has a design of love for each one of us, that he loves us personally, and if we believe in this love and reciprocate with our love — this is the condition — he directs all things toward good. For Jesus nothing happens by chance, not even his passion and death. And this was followed by the Resurrection, whose solemn feast we are celebrating this month. The example of the risen Jesus should be a light for our life. We should interpret all that happens to us, all that takes place, all that is around us and even all that makes us suffer as something that God wills or that he permits, because he loves us. So then everything will have meaning in life, everything will be extremely useful, even what might seem in that moment to be incomprehensible and absurd, even what might plunge us into mortal anguish, as happened to Jesus. With him we need only to repeat, with an act of total trust in the Father’s love:
“Not what I will, but what you will.”
His will is that we live, that we joyfully thank him for the gifts of our life. His will is not, as we might sometimes think, something that we must resign ourselves to, especially when we encounter suffering. Nor is it merely a sequence of monotonous acts that we carry out in our lifetime.It is his voice that continues to make itself heard within, inviting us. It is his way of expressing his love and bringing us to the fullness of his life. We could depict it with the image of the sun, whose rays are like his will for each one of us. Each one walks along a ray, distinct from the ray of the person next to us, but always along a ray of the sun, that is, the will of God. So we all do only one will, that of God, but it is different for each one of us. Furthermore, the closer the rays come to the sun, the closer they come to one another. For us too, the closer we come to God, by carrying out the divine will more and more perfectly, the closer we draw to one another … until we are one. By living in this way, everything changes in our life. Instead of associating only with people we like and just loving them, we seek the company of whomever God wills us to be with. Instead of preferring the things that please us the most, we look after those that the will of God suggests to us, and we give preference to them. Being completely intent on doing the divine will in each moment (“what you will”) will lead to our being detached from everything else, and from ourselves as well (“not what I will”). This detachment is not something deliberately sought after — we seek God alone — but in actual fact it is attained. Then our joy will be full. We need only to immerse ourselves entirely in each fleeting moment and in that instant carry out the will of God, repeating:
“Not what I will, but what you will.”
The past no longer exists; the future is not yet here. Just as someone traveling by train would never think of walking up and down the aisle to reach his destination sooner but remains seated, so we should remain in the present. The train of time moves ahead on its own. We can love God only in the present moment given to us by saying our own “yes” — a vigorous, total, very active “yes” to his will. So let us be happy to give that smile, carry out that job, drive that car, prepare that meal, organize that activity. Let us love all those who are suffering around us.Not even trials or sufferings should frighten us if, with Jesus, we recognize God’s will in them, that is, his love for each one of us. Indeed, we could pray in this way:“Lord, help me not to fear anything, because all that will happen will be nothing other than your will! Lord, help me not to desire anything, because nothing is more desirable than your will. What matters in life? What matters is doing your will. Grant that nothing may depress me or exalt me, because in everything I find your will.” Chiara Lubich