Christmas 2005 – New Year 2006
It’s Christmas. 
The store windows are all decorated with golden ornaments, small Christmas trees, sales on precious gifts. At night, the streets shine with hanging lights or stars of Bethlehem; the trees lining the sidewalks, their boughs full of red, blue or white lights, create a surreal effect in the boulevards… There is an atmosphere of expectation. Everyone is touched by it… Christmas is not just a traditional feast: the birthday of a child born 2005 ago… Christmas is alive! Not only in churches with manger scenes, but among people in this climate of joy, friendship, and goodness that it brings with it each year. And yet, the world is still overwhelmed by huge problems: poverty to the point of famine, the earthquake victims in Pakistan, dozens of wars, terrorism, hate between cultures, but also among groups and between people… We need Love. We need Jesus to come back with power. Baby Jesus is always the immense gift of the Father to humanity, even though not everyone recognizes him. We have to offer our thanks to the Father also for them. We need to celebrate Christmas and renew our faith in the infant-God who came to save us, to create a new family of brothers and sisters united by love, extended all over the world. Let’s look around us… so that this love may reach everyone, but especially those who are in pain, who are most in need, all those who are alone, poor, small and ill…. May the communion with them of affection and goods make a family shine forth of true brothers and sisters who celebrate Christmas together and continue even beyond it. Who can resist the power of love? In preparing for Christmas, let us display gestures which bring about concrete action. They will be remedies to problems that may seem small, but applied on a vast scale, they can be light and solutions for the serious problems of the world. Merry Christmas to all of you! Chiara Lubich
[:it]Natale 2005 – Hanno sloggiato Gesù!
[:it]Nuova Umanità – Novembre-Dicembre 2005
Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI
Dear young Friends, I would like to send my cordial greetings to you all, gathered in Nieuwegein for the First National Day of Young Catholics of The Netherlands. I greet Cardinal Adrianus Simonis, Archbishop of Utrecht and President of the Bishops’ Conference, and all the Dutch Bishops, expressing deep appreciation for the organization of this propitious initiative. I would then like to thank the Werkgroep Katholieke Jongeren for its work in these years and the priests and lay people involved in the pastoral care of youth, who are following you in your reflection. With this Message, dear young people, I wish to make myself spiritually present among you and to assure you that I accompany you in prayer. I know that a great many of you took part in the World Meeting at Cologne and it therefore gives me great joy that you now want to continue the experience that began with World Youth Day, involving others of your age who did not have the grace to take part in it. Holding today’s meeting at the invitation of your Bishops is a very beautiful sign for Dutch society: it means that you are not afraid to say that you are Christians and want to witness to it openly. In fact, the deepest reason for your gathering together is to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how it was for those who took part in the recent World Youth Day, whose theme was: “We have come to worship him” (Mt 2:2). In the footsteps of the Magi, impelled by the yearning to seek the truth, young people from every corner of the earth met in Cologne to seek and worship God made Man, and then, transformed by their encounter with him and illumined by his presence, they returned to their country, like the Magi, “by another route” (Mt 2: 12). So it was that you returned to Holland, eager to communicate to one and all your rich experience, and today you want to share it with your peers. Dear friends, Jesus is your true friend and Lord; enter into a relationship of true friendship with him! He is expecting you and in him alone will you find happiness. How easy it is to be content with the superficial pleasures that daily life offers us; how easy it is to live only for oneself, apparently enjoying life! But sooner or later we realize that this is not true happiness, because true happiness is much deeper: we find it only in Jesus. As I said in Cologne, “The happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy, has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth” (Address at the Poller Rheinwiesen Wharf, 18 August 2005; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 24 August, p. 4). I therefore invite you every day to seek the Lord, who wants nothing more than for you to be truly happy. Foster an intense and constant relationship with him in prayer and, when possible, find suitable moments in your day to be alone in his company. If you do not know how to pray, ask him to teach you, and ask your heavenly Mother to pray with you and for you. The recitation of the Rosary can help you learn the art of prayer with Mary’s simplicity and depth. It is important that you make participation in the Eucharist, in which Jesus gives himself for us, the heart of your life. He who died for the sins of all desires to enter into communion with each one of you and is knocking at the doors of your hearts to give you his grace. Go to the encounter with him in the Blessed Eucharist, go to adore him in the churches, kneeling before the Tabernacle: Jesus will fill you with his love and will reveal to you the thoughts of his Heart. If you listen to him, you will feel ever more deeply the joy of belonging to his Mystical Body, the Church, which is the family of his disciples held close by the bond of unity and love. You will also learn, as the Apostle Paul says, to let yourselves be reconciled with God (cf. II Cor 5: 20). Especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus waits for you to forgive you your sins and reconcile you with his love through the ministry of the priest. By confessing your sins humbly and truthfully, you will receive the pardon of God himself through the words of his minister. What a great opportunity the Lord has given us with this sacrament to renew ourselves from within and to progress in our Christian life! I recommend that you make good use of it all the time! Dear friends, as I said to you above, if you follow Jesus, you will never feel lonely because you are part of the Church, which is a great family in which you can grow in true friendship with so many brothers and sisters in the faith scattered in every part of the world. Jesus needs you to “renew” contemporary society. Take care to grow in the knowledge of the faith in order to be its authentic witnesses. Dedicate yourselves to understanding Catholic doctrine ever better: even if at times in looking at it with the eyes of the world it may seem a difficult message to accept, in it is the answer that satisfies your basic questions. Trust your Pastors and guides, Bishops and priests; become actively involved in the parishes, movements, associations and Ecclesial Communities to experience together the joy of being followers of Christ, who proclaims and gives truth and love. And truly impelled by his truth and love, you will be able, together with other young people who are seeking the true meaning of life, to build a better future for all. Dear friends, I am close to you with my prayers. May you generously accept the call of the Lord, who holds up to you great ideals that can make your lives beautiful and full of joy. You can be certain of it: only by responding positively to his appeal, however demanding it may seem to you, is it possible to find happiness and peace of heart. May the Virgin Mary accompany you on this journey of Christian commitment, and may she help you in all your good resolutions. With these sentiments, I cordially impart a special Apostolic Blessing to all of you who are gathered in Nieuwegein, as well as to those who accompany you with love and wisdom on your path of human and spiritual growth. From the Vatican, 21 November 2005
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Thirst for truth
A vibrant, joyful, authentic Church, moving towards – and with – society, was what attracted over 2,300 Dutch youth to Utrecht, one Sunday at the end of November. The event was the first national appointment, set as a follow-up of the World Youth Day (WYD) last August in Cologne, Germany. A participation as numerous as this has not been seen in decades. The event was the fruit of collaboration between dioceses and ecclesial movements, carried out in an atmosphere of profound communion. These ecclesial movements include Charismatic Renewal, the Committee of Young Catholics, Emanuel and the Focolare. It was a communion among charisms, like the one already experienced during the preparation of the WYD. “The happiness you seek, the happiness you have the right to enjoy, has a name, a face: that of Jesus of Nazareth.” This sentence is the center of the Pope’s profound and warm message, personally signed by him and welcomed by the youth with a long applause. Benedict XVI encouraged the young people to deepen their relationship with Jesus through the Sacraments and so be able to assume their responsibilities, both in their personal lives and in society. 
The meeting continued with workshops and group discussions regarding catechesis and its social application. The discussions thus ranged from such topics as faith, ethics and science, how to practice politics and economy as a Christian, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. It was amazing to see how much these young people longed to deepen their faith and what a thirst they had for the truth. “The fog that has hung over the Dutch Catholic youth for decades has disappeared,” said Auxiliary Bishop of Roermond (Netherlands) De Jong, during his homily. Bishop De Jong, who is in charge of youth apostolate, concelebrated with Cardinal Simonis at the Mass which concluded the youth day. His words expressed the commonly felt certainty that in their increasingly secularized society, in the womb of the Church something new and irreversible is born. What is happening in the Netherlands is also happening in other European countries. As Lorenzo Fazzini wrote in the Dec. 8 issue of Avvenire, “there is an atmosphere of spirituality,” and this new-found interior life is reflected in openness to others which – in many cases – is translated into social commitment and the choice to serve the poorest.
Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of life of December 2005
Isaiah’s cry of hope was heard by the people of Israel who had been in exile for 50 years in Babylonia (modern Iraq). Finally the Lord sent his messenger to announce their liberation, their freedom to return to their homeland. Just as when they were enslaved in Egypt, God once again revealed himself as their leader who would guide them to the Promised Land. They then had to repair the roads, fill in the holes; remove all the roadblocks, as was customary to do when a king traveled to one of his provinces.
And then five centuries later on the banks of the Jordan River, John the Baptist repeated this joyful cry of the prophet Isaiah. This time, it announced the coming of the Messiah himself.
«Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight… a highway for our God! »
Every year, as we draw closer to Christmas, we hear this same invitation. In every age God has revealed his ardent desire to remain among his sons and daughters, and now he has “made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). Today too he stands at our door knocking because he would like to come in and “dine” with us (see Rev 3:20).
We ourselves often yearn to meet him, to have him as our traveling companion through life’s journey, and to be filled with his light. In order for him to enter our lives, however, we first need to remove the obstacles. It is no longer a matter of clearing the roads, but of opening up our hearts to him.
Jesus himself named some of the barriers that close off our hearts: “theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly” (Mk 7:21-22). At times it may be anger against our relatives or friends, prejudice toward persons of another race, indifference to our neighbors, a lack of love and caring in our families.
As we face these many obstacles that impede our encounter with God, we hear once again the invitation:
«Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight… a highway for our God! »
How can we do something concrete to prepare the way of the Lord?
By asking for his forgiveness each time that we have put up a barrier that prevents us from being in communion with him.
This sincere gesture of humility and truth allows us to stand before him as we are, acknowledging our fragility, our mistakes, and our sins.
This is an act of trust by which we accept his fatherly love, which is “merciful… and abounding in kindness” (Ps 103:8).
It expresses our earnest desire to improve and to begin again.
Then at night, before going to sleep, we might stop for a moment to take stock and see how we did and ask for God’s forgiveness.
If we are Catholic, when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we can be more aware and fervent in the expression of contrition repeated at the beginning of the liturgy. It is the moment when together as a community we ask for forgiveness for our sins.
Then individual confession, the sacrament of God’s forgiveness can be of enormous help. It is a moment of encounter with the Lord when we can hand over to him all our mistakes. We leave confession with the certainty that we have been saved and made new, and we experience the joy that comes from discovering that we are true children of God.
And God himself, through his forgiveness, is the one who removes every obstacle, who “makes straight the highway” and establishes a bond of love with each one of us again.
«Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight… a highway for our God! »
This is what Louise experienced. She had a troubled life with her friends who were involved in drugs and had morally empty lives. In time, she struggled to break away from this group and she finally made it to overcome her addiction. Still she felt her life was scarred by this experience. After having gone through a hasty civil marriage, she began to recognize the first symptoms of AIDS. At that point, her husband left her.
Louise found herself alone, facing all her mistakes, until one day she met a group of Christians who were living the Word of Life and sharing their experiences. She discovered a whole new world. Soon she came to know God as a Father and as Love. When she began to believe in his forgiveness, she could no longer hold on to her sins. Her life took a complete turn. Knowing that she had been forgiven, now—even in the midst of her suffering and illness—she felt a joy she had never experienced before. Her countenance radiated a beauty that even the progress of the disease could not disfigure. The doctors were surprised to see her so peaceful. She was experiencing a new life.
The day she died, she was dressed in white, as she had asked to be. The road had been cleared for her to reach Heaven, for her encounter with the Lord.
Chiara Lubich
“Relationships in Law: is there a place for fraternity?”
“The principle of fraternity from a judge’s point of view – he said –can be applied under two aspects: it relates strongly to the interpretation of the norm, and also to concrete behaviour” “We are faced… everyday with the living reality of man. Before us there are no folders or papers but dramatic personal and family situations.” This was the statement by the President of the National Association of Magistrates, Dr. Ciro Riviezzo, during his greeting on Sunday 20 November, expressing his view of the judge’s work in the light of fraternity.
“The steps forward must be taken together and not in isolation”. This was the realization that emerged in the conclusions presented by the members of the central commission “Communion and Law”, presided over by the magistrate Giovanni Caso, ex judge of the Supreme Court of Cassation, to the 1st International Conference “Relationships in law: is there a place for fraternity?” The Conference was organized by “Communion and Law”, on 18-20 November 2005, in Castelgandolfo (Rome), and it provided the opportunity for a rich and lively exchange of reflections and experiences on the various areas in the field of Law. Fraternity and law. A proposal that has old roots. We find traces of it in Roman law, later developments in the Middle Ages – with the institution of the “fraternization” – and it finds its way into the famous “liberty, equality, fraternity” of the French Revolution, as Prof. Fausto Goria, of Turin University points out in his opening speech. Which fraternity? Chiara Lubich opens a wide horizon. The founder and president of the Focolare Movement says – in a message read at the beginning of the Conference: “Fraternity is inscribed in each man’s DNA, it constitutes every man’s ultimate vocation. It is part of God’s plan, which is the total fulfilment of man and humanity” and it can be accomplished by introducing the evangelical commandment of mutual love also in the juridical world.
All different sectors in the world of law and justice were examined in this light
International law:it emerged that the principle of fraternity can inspire concrete models for action, and methods of analysis in the present process of growing interdependence among nations. Administrative law: in the relationship between public administration and citizens, this principle can become a catalyst to “accelerate” democratic participation, as Dr. Nino Gentile pointed out and as clearly shown by the transformation of a depressed area in Gela, Sicily, and the resolution of a serious conflict between farmers and mining companies in Perú. Private law: both the sectors of family law – with developments such as the introduction of new figures like the family mediator, who acts as a support for the family and helps resolve controversies -, and that of business law were dealt with. The latter showed how fraternity can moderate the profit motive and lead to the birth of companies ran on the principles of the Economy of communion. In criminal law, Prof. Adriana Cosseddu, of the University of Sassari, highlighted the fact that crime is considered today essentially as a violation of the law, rather than as an offence to the victim and an injury to the tissue of social relationships. That is why – she said – we cannot limit ourselves to “retributive justice”; what is needed is a justice that restores relationships – “restorative justice”. It is a new style of juridical action, which goes “beyond” what is “formally correct” without, however, straining procedures: situations that seemed to be at a dead end, find an unexpected way out to recovery. The bond of fraternity among the participants has created a network of relationships, which will continue its activity even at a distance, through the exchange of experiences, reflections, and cultural elaborations, working for a kind of justice which responds always more to the needs of humanity.
Fraternity humanizes justice. New perspectives on the cultural level
Fraternity can become a new lymph to revitalize relationships and humanize justice. It also opens interesting perspectives on the cultural level. This is the most significant finding that emerged at the end of an intense 3-day conference with nearly 700 participants working in the field of law. Magistrates, scholars, lawyers and students from more than 35 countries and 4 continents convened in Castelgandolfo to explore the subject “Relationships in Law: is there a place for fraternity?”, an initiative of the international group “Communion and Law” of the Focolare Movement.
The difference fraternity can make in all sectors in the field of law appears clearly, primarily from many experiences that have taken place on different fronts in the most varied countries: in Perú, serious conflicts were solved between farmers and mining companies that wanted to exploit lands where they had lived since time immemorial; in Europe, magistrates and lawyers were at the front line, safeguarding the values of fraternity in family law; in South America, in the field of juvenile law; in USA and Austria, new paths were open in the area of social rehabilitation, and work was done also to transform international law into peoples’ law and not only State’s law. In this way, practical experience triggers off cultural research.
The Conference opened with a message from Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement. Do her words shed light on the task awaiting those involved in the world of law, pointing precisely to fraternity? Prof. Fausto Goria, Lecturer in Roman Law at the University of Turin, gives his answer in an interview with Vatican Radio:
Chiara has certainly said something very important: that in God’s plan – as she, being a charismatic, sees it – relationships among people are meant to be a mutual gift, and it is in this relationship of reciprocal self-giving that each one fulfils himself or herself as a person. This holds true also for groups and nations. I believe that translating this principle into actual practice, and then into a juridical norm, will require a certain number of years, but it can provide an interesting and useful perspective for development.
“Zenit”, Gen Rosso’s new CD
Gen Rosso is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a new CD composed of 10 of the group’s most popular songs, chosen from its repertoire of over 300 compositions. The selections are presented with new arrangements and there is one completely new release. “Zenit” is the result of the valid collaboration of a number of musicians, including well-known Italian singers in ‘duet’ with Gen Rosso’s soloists. These artists include Francesco Guccini, Antonella Ruggiero, Rosalia Misseri, Francesco Silvestre (Modà), Cheryl Porter and Kate Kelly who share the wealth of values that Gen Rosso upholds, and have therefore contributed their talent to produce an album that combines message and content with refined musical sensitivity. “Zenit” was given a press conference last November 17 at the Carroccio Hall of Campidoglio, Rome’s city hall, in the presence of the artists who collaborated for its production. The new CD is distributed by Multimedia San Paolo. Part of the profit from its sales will be donated for the construction of a new Multicultural and Interreligious Center for the promotion of dialogue among peoples in Jerusalem. Multiethnic by birth, ecumenical by vocation, musical loudspeaker of love, peace and brotherhood: Gen Rosso is all this. In its 40 years of energetic activity, it has asserted itself as one of the most mature expressions of music inspired by Christian values. It has characteristically been made up of a wide variety of musicians, singers, dancers and technicians who put together their professional and human experience to give life to a unique musical group that stirs audiences everywhere. It has given 2,000 concerts and gone on 170 concert tours in 43 nations, besides producing 53 albums and publishing 300 songs.
[:it]Relazionalità nel diritto: quale spazio per la fraternità?
[:it]Un’avventura illuminata dall’Infinito[:es]Una aventura iluminada por el Infinito[:pt]Uma aventura iluminada pelo Infinito
Experiencing the Gospel’s force in the refugee camp
At the conclusion of United World Week 2005 last October, the youth participants from different parts of the world took part in a telephone conference call, where two Tanzanian teen-agers shared their experience. After having fled from Burundi at the outbreak of the war, while living as refugees in a camp in the Kigoma region, they bore witness to the strength that comes from unity and from sticking to one’s Christian convictions. Together with others they thus brought a ray of hope into the refugee camp. They were both able to leave the refugee camp, thanks to a scholarship they received from Project Africa, and are now studying journalism. “I was living at home with my whole family when civil war broke out in Burundi, in 1993,” said R.. “I was then a kid and the Gospel I tried to put into practice had always been my source of strength in continuing to love in such a climate of hatred and violence. I went on loving everyone, even our ‘enemies,’ certain that good always wins out over evil. One day, I remember, together with my family, I helped some children who belonged to another tribe. In the situation we were in, I could have considered them as my enemies. Instead, we were able to save them even at the risk of our own lives. “In 1996, the situation worsened. At my school violence reigned and I, too, became a victim of torture. Even in the midst of this painful situation I prayed to God to give me the strength to forgive and to help those who had harmed me to change their life. Since my life was in serious danger, I was forced to escape to one of the refugee camps in the Kigoma region of Tanzania, where I lived for 9 years.” “Life in the refugee camp was not easy,” continued K. “We had to face serious difficulties: lack of a home, lack of food and clothing… But in all this, our personal choice to live as Christians has always helped us make of every difficulty a springboard and transform it into love. “We were 42 committed Youth for a United World in the camp. This year we were able to build two huts with mud and hay for two elderly refugees who had nowhere to live. We also went to two high schools in the camp to share with the other youth our experiences of putting the Gospel into practice. Through the help of many young people from all over the world who are committed to Project Africa, we organized some small businesses, for selling of cassava starch, sweet corn flour, palm oil, and so on. “Some weeks ago, we received a gift through Project Africa we never expected: we were able to leave the refugee camp to go to Tanzania, and thanks to two scholarships, we can now start a course in the Faculty of Journalism. “We can feel your concrete love and solidarity. Thank you for your prayers for our country. We feel we are part of one big family with all of you.” R. and K. – Tanzania
November 2005
The promise of land brings to mind another homeland, that which Jesus, in the first and last beatitudes, calls “the kingdom of heaven”: the life of communion with God, the fullness of life that will never end.
Those who live meekness are blessed even now, because even now they experience the possibility of changing the world around them, especially by changing how they relate to other people. In a society often ruled by violence, arrogance and injustice, they become a “sign of contradiction” and radiate justice, understanding, tolerance, gentleness and esteem for others.
While the meek are working to build up a society that is more just and more in tune with the Gospel, they are also preparing themselves to inherit the kingdom of heaven and to live “in a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1).
«Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land»
To know how to live this Word of Life it would be enough to look at the way Jesus lived, he who said: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29). In him meekness appears as a quality of love. And true love, which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts, is in fact “joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22).
Yes, whoever loves is not agitated, is not unduly hasty, does not offend, does not hurt others.
Those who love control themselves and are gentle, meek and patient.
The “art of loving” is found everywhere in the Gospel. Many children have learned this art. I know that they play with a special cube that they call the “cube of love.” Each side of this cube has a phrase written on it suggesting a way to love following Jesus’ example: to love everyone, to love one another, to be the first in loving, to share the other’s joy or hurt, to love Jesus in the other, and to love our enemies. At the beginning of the day they roll the cube [like rolling dice] and they try to put into practice the phrase that turns up. Then they share their experiences on how they tried to do so.
Francis is a three-year-old boy who lives in Caracas, Venezuela. One day his father came home quite upset because he had had an argument with a colleague at work. He told his wife about it and she too became angry with that colleague. Francis went into his room and came back with the cube. “Roll the cube of love!” he told his parents. They rolled it together. “Love your enemy” turned up. His parents knew what they had to do.
If we stop to think about it, we will realize that there are people who live exemplary meekness in their daily life. Through their meekness, great figures who have departed from this earthly life—John Paul II, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Frere Roger Schutz, for example—made a tremendous difference in society and in history, and they continue to urge us along in our journey.
Chiara Lubich
[:it]Il tuffo in Dio: i 40 giorni di Carlo e Alberto
[:it]Nuova Umanità – Settembre-Ottobre 2005
In the hospitals, among the casualties, a lesson in faith from Muslim brothers and sisters
The dramatic picture of the disaster that struck Kashmir is well-known: over 50,000 dead, 65,000 wounded and more than 4,000,000 homeless. There are still some mountain villages that cannot be reached, even by helicopter. More than 5,000 wounded have been transported by helicopter to the hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, but the structures are absolutely inadequate. The state of emergency grows by the hour due to the risk of epidemics and infection. Many cases of tetanus have already been reported. The ground continues to tremble, not just with aftershocks but with strong earthquake tremors. At night it is difficult to sleep while during the day rescue activities continue at a pressing pace. Notwithstanding the fact that the aid extended is insufficient it is still a display of great generosity from governments of a large number of countries, as well as from international organizations. Someone commented that the prompt response of Europe and the United States is beginning to close the gap between the West and the Muslim world. Also the people’s generosity is impressive; it knows no barriers of class, religion or nationality. In front of the wounded and homeless who have lost everything, one is edified by their great lesson of faith, that beyond all things, there is God who with personal love is helping men and women to discover what really counts in life. Pakistani friends, both Muslims and Christians, have written us a touching letter that helps us know the human side of this catastrophe: “Most of all we wish to share with you the story of some earthquake victims so that you may get to know them at least through these few lines. We want to take upon our shoulders at least a little of their suffering and pain, so that they may not feel alone but rather understood and helped in this situation they are in.” Here are some of their experiences:
Among the victims in a hospital in Rawalpindi: As the wounded were extracted from the ruins, they were brought to Rawalpindi and Islamabad, and then to the different hospitals. We try to give support to the wounded because there is no one to listen to, and assist them especially in their personal needs. The hospital workers suggested that we give this kind of help which they deemed absolutely necessary. We feel it is important for us to be there to bear with them their suffering and be a concrete sign of God’s love.
Alessandro, who went to Rawalpindi General Hospital says, “The scene one finds upon entering the hospital is beyond words. The lobby, the corridors, every empty space is occupied by stretchers and beds with women, men, and children – some in visibly serious condition – assisted as best as possible. Almost everyone is silent, with an absent gaze, probably in shock.” The biggest lesson, however, comes from the earthquake victims themselves. They tell us very sorrowful and terrifying stories. A 17 year old student says: “I was in the classroom when the first shocks came. I was near the door and I quickly ran outside. As I turned, I saw the ground open up before my eyes and swallow all my classmates. I was the only survivor.” A great number of persons have lost everything, and in many cases, their entire families. But the faith that these people draw from Islam makes them believe that in spite of everything there is a God who loves them and wants them to re-discover what really counts in life. Rani visited a hospital ward. She stopped by a child who was still in shock. One of her legs was in a cast and the other, wounded. Rani offered her an apple and the little girl barely reacted. “Come on, tell her your name,” her father told her gently with a smile. Rani was touched by the scene and she asked the man where the girl’s mother was. “She’s gone,” the father replied with the same smile and profound serenity. In such an atmosphere one realizes so clearly that everything vanishes, and all that remains is a true and concrete love that joins us together as one family.
[:it]Che cosa possiamo fare?
[:it]“L’arte di amare” di Chiara Lubich
[:it]Dalla prefazione di Sergio Zavoli
[:it]La “cosa pubblica” è un affare che mi riguarda[:es]La vida pública es una situación que me interpela[:fr]La «chose publique» est une affaire qui me concerne
[:it]Quell’amore “speciale” che rivoluziona
A united world is possible!
As in previous years, United World Week this year was held contemporaneously in major population points around the world, ranging from the tsunami-stricken areas to the U.S.A., Africa, Middle East and other “hot spots,” from Moscow to Patagonia.
The motto: “Give a hand to our city,” highlighted the commitment of the “Youth for a United World” (the promoters of United World Week) to do something for their own city, town, or village, with special outreach to the needy. In view of leading more and more people to believe that “A united world is possible!” the youth got local institutions and entities involved. They also collected the impressions of the adolescents who just concluded their ‘Run4Unity’ relay race in 300 cities all over the world.
United World Week was concluded on Oct. 15 and 16 with two “planetary phone calls,” where the youth participants in about 100 localities were linked up to listen to Chiara Lubich’s message and exchange impressions and experiences.
Birth of the idea. Ten years ago, at the conclusion of the Genfest 1995 in Rome, a proposal was launched to the youth all over the world, to public and private institutions, both national and international; in short, to everyone. It was not only a proposal; rather, it was an appointment – United World Week. Its aim? To highlight and give value to initiatives that promote unity … at all levels.” At ten years from that historic moment, the balance sheet is positive – all ten editions of United World Week have attracted wide-scale participation all over the world.
News of United World Week around the globe
Indonesia: In Medan, there were meeting points at the University throughout the week, to get acquainted and to work together for the victims of the tsunami and the earthquake at Nias; also scheduled: a marathon race and an ecology project to clean up the city (population: 3 million). Singapore: Initiatives to promote dialogue and understanding among youth of different religions by following the “Golden Rule.” Everyone was invited to make a commitment to build “a more united Singaporean society.” Signatures were collected to accompany a declaration that will be presented to the government. India: In Mumbai, there were fund-raising activities for the building of an orphanage; in New Delhi: Cineforum and visit to the poor in the houses of Mother Teresa; in Goa, prayer vigil for peace.
U.S.A. : In Manhattan, New York, at the Jesuits’ Fordham University, one of the activities of the United World Week was a program entitled “Interreligious Dialogue: A Way to Peace.” Argentina: In Rosario, night at the theater to benefit Project Africa in collaboration with one of the city’s universities. Bolivia: “We chose one of the most disadvantaged cities – El Alto. A revolution deposed the President of Bolivia two years ago. This city, situated 4,000 m above sea level and inhabited mostly by descendants of the Aymara (the first people of Bolivia), symbolizes our efforts to build unity among the Bolivians. Together with adult members of the Movement, for more than a year now we have been holding monthly sessions dedicated to discussion of current national issues, viewed in the light of the Gospel. We named these initiatives ‘De El Alto al Alto’.” This was what the Youth for a United World of Cochabamba wrote us, as they organized the activities for the United World Week together with their Aymara friends, all of them “high level” projects. Brazil: At Sao Paulo, 123,000 calendar notebooks were printed containing the United World Week calendar of activities as a reminder of its message and how it can be put into practice. Tanzania: In Iringa, following the encounter with the municipal authorities to inform them of the initiatives of the Youth for a United World, there was an ecology-inspired activity and a meeting organized at the orphanage. Lebanon: The Youth for a United World have for some months now been working in teams to get the involvement of public institutions and to try to respond to Lebanon’s current problems. One of the strategies is interreligious dialogue. Scheduled for the United World Week: social activities with Muslim families in Nabaa; artistic and cultural activities like painting and music; forum on new politics at Beirut’s Faculty of Medicine; ecology day. Italy: In Loppiano (Florence): forum on “Fraternity – A Response to the Terrorist Emergency;” soccer match with friends of the Arab community of Figline Valdarno. In Lazio region: culinary contest; forum on the theme of immigration; meal service to the poor; program for children patients at Genzano Hospital; conclusion at Nettuno with various “unity workshops.”
[:it]Meditazioni per la vita pubblica
Peace Landmarks
The Young for Unity raced across the globe’s symbolic sites Places that had known suffering:tsunami-stricken Medan (Indonesia): the relay race, held at the University of Sumatra Utara campus, took place at 6 a.m. (local time) in view of the hot climate. Johannesburg (South Africa): the sports activities took place at Regina Mundi, a place which had a significant role in the end of apartheid.
To appeal for the end of all conflicts: In New York (U.S.A.), the race course included the road past the United Nations. In Jerusalem (Israel), a message of peace was carried to the respective sacred places of the three monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism). In Nagasaki (Japan), the relay race started at the point where the atomic bomb was dropped 60 years ago. It closed with a meal at the clinic for radiation victims. In New Caledonia, the appointment was at St. Louis, site of frequent conflicts between the people of Wallis and of Melanesia, the island’s natives.
Places that symbolize unity: In Panama, the race course included the Bridge of the Americas which unites the north with the south of the continent. Slovak and Hungarian participants crossed the Mount Valeria bridge over the Danube, which had been built to mark the end of rivalry between the two nations. In Seoul (Korea) the race took place in a place which is symbolic of the unity between the two Koreas.
Significant spots: From Marathon (Greece), the city from which the modern sport got its name, the race followed the route which unites the city to Athens. In Oslo (Norway), the relay was in the form of a canoe race along the fjords. In Mexico City, there was a stop-over at the Anthropological Museum, a monument to the nation’s pre-Hispanic, indigenous culture. In Melbourne (Australia), the starting point was Federation Square, symbol of Australia’s multiethnic society. In Amman (Jordan), the race passed around Mount Nebo, and included a telephone link-up with Baghdad (Iraq).
Interreligious participation: This was a characteristic of most of the events, especially in Coimbatore (India) where both Christian and Hindu youth competed. The relay race between Christians and Muslims in Cairo (Egypt) took place against the backdrop of the Pyramids. In Buenos Aires (Argentina), a large number of Jewish young people participated, while in Bangkok and in Chiang Mai (Thailand), Christian and Buddhist youth competed.
In Italy: 30 relay races took place which touched cities like Oniferi and Orani (Nuoro, Sardinia), the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, the ‘Sassi’ (tr. – ‘Boulders’) in Matera, the Square of the Miracles in Pisa, and the Palace of the Normans in Palermo.
[:it]Programma radiocronaca: “R4U RADIO”[:es]PROGRAMA RADIO CRONICA
“Let our cities live again”
“Let our cities live again” is the motto of the relay race entitled ‘Run4unity.’ Boys and girls of different languages, cultures and religions have fixed an appointment from 11 to 12 a.m. on Sunday, October 9, in the most important places of their respective countries to ask that universal brotherhood become a reality as soon as possible. The worldwide event is a day dedicated to sports as a way of bearing common witness to building a united world. It involves a number of cities and has for its guideline the Gospel’s ‘Golden Rule’: “Do unto others what you would have others do unto you,” which is present also in the sacred books of the main religions of the world. By walking, running, on skates or on bicycle, the participants all over the world have set as their goal those places where there is tension or which are recognized as landmarks of peace. They will also pass by headquarters of local and international institutions. In Rome the relay race will conclude at St. Peter’s Square with the hope of having a word of greeting from the Pope during the Angelus. Countries of the Northern and Southern hemispheres will offer a sharing of goods by giving the participants the chance to donate thingsthey own, which will then be distributed to the disadvantaged young people in their respective cities or to maintain scholarships for youth in war-torn or poverty-stricken countries.
There will be radio updates in streaming and telephone link-ups in real time from 11 p.m. (Italian time) of Saturday, October 8 to 11 p.m. (Italian time) of Sunday, October 9 with Noumea (New Caledonia), Coimbatore (India), Jerusalem (Israel), Fontem (Cameroon), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Sao Paulo (Brazil), New York (USA). From October 10 to 16, the boys and girls participating will pass the race on to the youth of the Focolare Movement who will celebrate the World Unity Week (www.mondounito.net), a worldwide appointment which includes round table forums, demonstrations, cultural evenings and activities on the subject of peace and unity in all levels of society, with the aim of rendering public opinion and institutions more sensitive to the ideal of a united world and to generating universal brotherhood among all.
Word of life of October 2005
These decisive words fix our lives in God and then, with the light and strength that comes from this, they launch us into the service of humanity. With these words Jesus answers a question posed by a group of Pharisees and some of Herod’s men: were they obligated to pay taxes to the occupying Roman powers? This was a trap set up to trick him. If Jesus would have answered yes, the Pharisees would have accused him of collaborating with the enemy and he might have lost the trust of the people. If he would have answered no, then Herod’s men, who were connected with the Roman authorities, would have said that he was subversive and would have accused him of being a political agitator. Jesus then asked them to show him a silver coin used to pay taxes and to tell him whose image and inscription was on it. They answered that it was the Emperor’s. If it is the Emperor’s, Jesus said, then give to the Emperor what is his. He thus recognized the value of civil authority and institutions. But his answer goes beyond this dimension, indicating what is truly important: to give to God what is already his. Just as the image of the Emperor is on the Roman coin, so too has the image of God been imprinted on the heart of every person: he created us in his image and likeness (see Gn 1:26). We therefore belong to him and must return to him. Only to him should be given the total and exclusive tribute of our lives. What is most important is not paying the taxes due to the Roman Emperor, but giving to God our own lives and our own hearts.
«Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God»
How should we live this Word of Life? By renewing our respect, our sense of responsibility for and our commitment to civic affairs, by honoring the law, protecting life, and maintaining the safety and order of society’s structures: public buildings, roads, means of transportation, and so forth. We can do it, not by taking a back seat but by offering an active contribution, decisive and well-thought-out ideas, proposals, and suggestions on how to improve our neighborhood, city and nation. We can volunteer our services in social and healthcare agencies, and we can increasingly improve the quality of our work. By fulfilling our responsibilities with competency and love we can truly serve Jesus in our brothers and sisters, and thus help the government and society to respond to God’s plan for humanity and to be completely at the service of each human person.
«Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God»
Andrea Ferrari, a bank clerk in Milan, was able to live out this Word of Life in the office where he worked. “Every morning,” he once wrote, “just a few minutes before 8:30, I walk into the office building, punch the time clock and my day at work begins. It’s an odd sort of job; I’m always coming and going, up and down stairs, waiting in front of closed windows, receiving and giving out forms — and I’ve been doing it for years now. If I keep loving always, even when under stress, for example, with letters that have to be written over and over again, I will have done all that is expected of me, because I feel quite certain that Jesus is the one who has chosen this place for me.” “I am a bank clerk,” he would say with simplicity to Jesus, “and I want to serve you as a bank clerk. This is my life, Lord. I want to fill it with Love!” An elderly woman remarked that she always felt Andrea treated her not as an anonymous customer but as a “person.” One day she wished to express her thanks and brought him a bag full of fresh eggs! At thirty-one years of age, Andrea lay dying in a hospital in Turin, as a result of a traffic accident. “Am I to die like this, alone, without seeing anyone?” The nun nursing him responded that one needs to accept the will of God. On hearing these words, Andrea took courage and smiled. “We have learned to recognize God’s will as our ideal, always, even in the small things,”1 he responded, and then he added with his usual wit, “even in front of a red light.” He had obeyed God, and in this obedience of love he returned to God. Chiara Lubich
[:it]I segni dello Spirito nel Novecento
Bishops of different Churches received by the Orthodox Church Patriarch Teoctist I
In response to the invitation of Rumanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Teoctist I and his Synod, the annual international Meeting of Bishops from different Churches, friends of the Focolare Movement, was held this time in Bucarest, Rumania, a country considered to be, in many ways, a bridge between the East and West.
The Patriarch himself opened the meeting which was attended by bishops from 19 different countries. The Orthodox Church was represented by bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, of the Patriarchates of Rumania, Serbia, and of the OrthodoxChurch of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Also present were Bishops of the Syrian-Orthodox Church from Syria, India and the Netherlands. The Anglican Church of England was also represented, as well as the Lutheran Churches of Germany and Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Rumania and the United States. A Bishop of the Methodist Church of Brazil participated, and 14 Catholic bishops from different countries.
“The presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his people: center of ecclesial life and heart of our shared witness,” was the title of the meeting, the theme which was developed in the reflections offered. The mystery of Jesus who becomes present – as he promised – where “two or more are united in his name” was the topic the bishops wished to deepen as a means to communicate the Faith in these present times and a way to reach full visible communion of the Church of Christ. Theological and spiritual reflections were interwoven with moments of dialogue and exchange of experiences which demonstrated the action of the Risen Christ in daily life and in the most varied environments.
Chiara Lubich gave an important contribution to deepening the mystery of Jesus’ presence through a videotaped conversation, since this presence of Jesus in the community is the characteristic of the charism of unity.
Contact with the monastic life, liturgy and iconography of the orthodox Church in Rumania, was an enrichment and an added impulse towards reaching a more profound communion with the Rumanian Orthodox Church and with other Churches existing in the country.
In turn, bishops coming from different countries were able to offer their witness of fraternal communion to this nation which, in answer to the cry “unity, unity” gave a significant contribution to the cause of Christian unity on the occasion of John Paul II’s visit to Rumania in 1999.
Patriarch Teoctist: let us solve the problems together with love
05/10/2005 
Rumanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist, who invited and hosted the annual international meeting of 40 bishops, friends of the Focolare Movement, at the Patriarch’s Palace in Bucarest, also attended some of the sessions. The bishops’ reflections centered on the title and theme: “The presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his people: center of ecclesial life and heart of our shared witness,” as a contribution to full communion among the Churches. Two video-taped conversations of Chiara Lubich developed the theme of the meeting, particularly characterized by the warm brotherly relationships among the participants. The Patriarch gave the welcome address at the beginning of the meeting and attended the last day, where also representatives of different Churches and of the civic society were present. During the conclusion, Focolare members of different ages and vocations offered their experiences of living out their commitment among the youth, in the family, in the parish and in the sphere of economy and of politics. Among the 300 people present, there were also some members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Rumania. In his closing remarks, the Patriarch said: “We see the world moving ever farther away from Christ; love is lacking (…). Unfortunately, I also have to note that we are still far from that moment when we can give a shared witness that we are totally at the service of the Word of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us love one another so that we can give the witness of being one mind: it is a word which always warms our hearts. During these days I had the chance to listen to special things (…). Hearing the young people share their experiences, I thought how advantageous it would be if we bishops and our Churches would try to see together, as the young people do, the problems that embitter us (…). I say this with all sincerity, because I see here before me the Catholic bishops of the Bizantine rite. We of the Rumanian Orthodox Church recognize that in our relationships with them, we are far from justice and truth, and above all, from the love of Christ. Let us also try – following the example of these young people and of these our brothers – to find ways of solving the problems that we still have. We can do it if we want.” Conscious of the unsolved issues between the Catholic Church of the Bizantine Rite in Rumania and the Rumanian Orthodox Church, problems linked to the confiscation of ecclesiasial property during the communist regime, Patriarch Teoctist’s words deeply struck those present and brought back to mind the people’s cry of “Unity! Unity,” which in 1999 accompanied the embrace between the Patriarch and John Paul II, then on his visit to Rumania. The Divine Liturgy on Sunday, celebrated by Patriarch Teoctist was a very solemn moment. After his homily, he invited Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, Archbishop of Prague and main promoter of the meeting, to say a few words. The convention also included an encounter with the entire Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Rumania, made up of the Catholic bishops both of the Latin as well as the Bizantine rite.
The Catholic Mass concelebrated in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, where the hymns of the Catholic choir alternated with those of the Orthodox students of the Faculty of Theology of Cluj, was an eloquent sign of communion. The Catholic bishops and those of other Churches entered together in procession in the crowded cathedral. The Catholic Archbishop of Bucarest Joan Robu said in his homily, “This week you have lived among us as a spring of life, of new ideas. This offers me true hope of unity.” Also included in the programme of the meeting was the possibility to get to know the monastic life of Curtea de Arges, Bistrita and Horezu and the very rich liturgy and iconography of the Rumanian Orthodox Church. Visits were also made to the different Christian communities (Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican) present in Bucarest and there was participation in their respective liturgical celebrations.
The Orthodox Church was represented by bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, of Rumania, Serbia, and the Orthodox Church of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Also present were members of the Syrian-Orthodox Church from Syria, India and the Netherlands. The Anglican Church of England was also represented, as well as the Lutheran Churches of Germany, Rumania, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, and the United States. The Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India was represented by a bishop. A Bishop of the Methodist Church of Brazil also participated, and there were 14 Catholic bishops from different countries present.
Joy comes from giving of oneself, also in sports activities
Dear participants of the 3rd Sportmeet International Congress, I learned that you are gathered in Trent, the city where the Focolare Movement was born, for the Congress entitled “Sport and Joy – Joy runs together with true sport.” I extend a particular greeting to all those present and to all the people of the city who will join you. To you, my ardent wish that this event may contribute to the expansion of “Trento Ardente” (Ardent Trent), a reality always very dear to us. From ancient times, sport has been conceived as a time of rejoicing both for participants and spectators. It is not just by chance that the Olympic Games have endured up to our times Christianity later gave value not only to the men and women who won, but also to the glory rendered to God who created people who are particularly gifted physically (be they individuals or groups), not to mention the contribution of the teachers, trainers and supporters. With Christianity in particular, the losers learned the value of their suffering and defeat, because the Son of God has given value to these. Those who lose may even experience a deeper joy, that which comes from having given: given of themselves in endless hours of training or in co-operating as a team member that when united gives wholly of itself during a public performance. Inner joy, the purest joy can come only from giving, from loving, on the part of the winners (if they strove and won out of love) as well as the losers (if they, too, strove and lost out of love). Sport, then, becomes something true, worthy of being raised up to its dignity in society, something that provides true recreation for people in this very stressful civilization of ours. True sport then becomes an element that generates closeness, brotherhood and peace among peoples and nations. In ancient Greece, all wars were suspended during the Olympic Games. May we not fall short of the example those people set for us. With this wish, I greet all of you again, the youth in particular, whom I wish would experience the joy of true sport. Chiara Lubich
Sport and Joy: joy runs together with true sport
“The growth of sports in society and its consequences,” “Sport and the ambition to succeed and get rich,” “The educational value of the sport models offered by the world today,” “Is happiness found in practicing, or in achieving success in sports?” These issues and concerns of the sports’ world formed the nucleus of discussion in an international Congress entitled ‘Sport and Joy: joy runs together with true sport.’ The event was held in conjunction with the United Nations International Year of Sport and Physical Education. It was promoted by Sportmeet for a United World, which aims at initiating a dialogue with the world of sports regarding the ties that link physical activity, sport and happiness – quite a challenging correlation in our times, when the experience of lasting personal and collective happiness seems to be an illusion.
Experts, educators and people involved in the sports’ world helped define the theme of sport and joy and its sociological, economic, educational and psychological implications.
What is Sportmeet all about? It is a worldwide network of people involved in the field of sports, who aim to help build a more united world precisely through sports activities. Sportmeet is one of the expressions of the Focolare Movement. Forthcoming appointments October 9, 2005: Sportmeet will collaborate with Run4Unity, a planetary relay race promoted by the Young for Unity of the Focolare Movement. The 24-hour race for peace is currently being organized in 10 cities around the world (www.run4unity.org).
Together for peace and unity in Central America
“Like you, most Salvadorians believe that to work together to build a more united Central America is not a utopia, but an aspiration inscribed in the very culture, history, and even in the topography of our region,” affirmed the President of El Salvador), Antonio Elias Saca, in his welcome address to the 2,000 people gathered in the Amphitheater of the El Salvador International Fair. The president recalled the region’s pre-Columbian cultural unity, the efforts to achieve political unity with the Central American Republic during the post-independence period (1821-1842), as well as the new efforts at unification during the latter half of the 20th century through the institution of the MERCOMUN.
The participants – many of whom were young people – came from Central American countries. As in many other regions of the world, here too a process of unification is currently taking place due to the growing awareness that only in collective efforts can a solution to current social conflicts be achieved and peace strengthened.
“There is much talk about economic, social and political integration, but also a religious integration should take place as well,” emphasized Dr. Rodrigo Samayoa of the Allianza Republicana Nacional (National Republican Alliance) Party. This meeting, the first of its kind in the region’s history, was promoted by ecclesial Movements, new communities and groups belonging to different Churches, which have started directing their efforts towards achieving greater collaboration, and thus contributing to the spiritual unity of the region and of the whole Latin American continent.
The dignitaries present at the meeting included representatives of such political parties as the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) and the Democratic Revolutionary Front. Their presence was particularly welcome, considering that not many years have passed since these groups passed from the option of violence to that of politics, to restore social justice in their country. “Events like these bring us spirituality and hope, where one gives and receives,” commented Violeta Mejivar of the FMLN.
The journey towards unification received the encouragement of Pope Benedict XVI who, in his message read by the Apostolic Nunzio, Archbishop Luigi Pezzutto, exhorted everyone “to be open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to progress in the journey you have undertaken, committing yourselves to building up a world faithful to God, more full of the spirit of solidarity, more just and fraternal.”
The many experiences shared revolved around the theme of peace, a new lifestyle favorable to dialogue and integration of different peoples and cultures, family values and solidarity with the poor of Central America and the world. They were offered by members of Savior of the World Movement, Charismatic Movement, Cursillos, Heraldos del Evangelio (Heralds of the Gospel), Focolare Movement, Young Christ Community, St. Egidio Community, Marriage Encounter, Prayer and Life, and Body of Christ Community.
In her message, Chiara Lubich emphasized specific characteristics of this region, rich in history, culture and art – as evidenced by the great Mayan civilization – but also marked by the sufferings caused by colonialism and civil wars; now it is displaying renewed creativity and innovative collaborative efforts.” Chiara Lubich’s message underlined “the call to unity,” and “the challenge of brotherhood,” as the way to fulfill this call.
Prof. Andrea Riccardi of St. Egidio Community emphasized in his message that in El Salvador and in other parts of the Americas, “there is a need for people who dream of a new world of peace. I feel that the meeting in Salvador brings us closer to this goal.”
The culminating point of the event was the declaration of a commitment to peace and brotherhood presented by the delegates of the different Movements and new communities and the religious leaders of different Christian Churches: Gregorio Rosa Chavez, Catholic auxiliary bishop of El Salvador; Barahona, bishop of the Anglican Presbyterian Church; Hector Fernandez of the Lutheran Church; Miguel Tomas Castro of the Baptist Church; and Santiago Flores of the Reformed Calvinist Church.
September, the date chosen for the meeting in San Salvador, is a symbolic month because of two dates: the 11th, anniversary of the terrorist attack on New York; and the 15th, anniversary of the Independence of Central American countries.
“Together for Central America” came as a sequel to the large meeting of 10,000 people in May 2004, in Stuttgart, Germany. Entitled “Together for Europe,” it was aimed at giving a “soul” to the process of unification of the European continent.
Arts at the heart of Interdependence
Professor Benjamin Barber,
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,
I still remember very well the second Interdependence day in Rome. I wish I were with you in Paris, though, I’m present with this message.
This third step along our road places the Arts at the heart of Interdependence, for this way of life can build deep relationships among individuals and among peoples.
The encounter of civilizations, now irreversible, has led us far from our old cultural views. We realize now that they were often inadequate or biased because they were deprived of relationships between peoples. This is very good.
But there’s the other side of the coin: many of us were not ready for these changes. A feeling of insecurity prevailed, together with intolerance, caused by the fear that we might lose both our own way of thinking and our deepest values.
It can’t be so.
Among the material and spiritual ruins of the Second World War, my first companions and I discovered that Love is the only Ideal that always remains. This Love is God, who sustains and gives meaning to everything.
This unique discovery led us to start loving the person next to us. Always and everywhere we got an immediate answer from every man or woman of whatever culture, faith, tradition. This is because the DNA of Love lies in the heart of every person, even if it is sometimes hidden.
Looking at the world in this way, we can see we are brothers and sisters of every man or woman we approach, because we are children of the one God, who is Love. If we look back at history we can identify certain occasions when fraternity has been lived. This is what is happening today, here.
Then we can rely on the strength of Love to take up the present historic challenge of multiculturalism.
Love loves everyone; it moves every heart so that a communion of goods may be achieved. It loves the other’s homeland as well as its own, it builds up new structures so that war, terrorism, quarrels, hunger and the thousands of evils of the world draw back.
Love takes an active part in lively dialogues between people of the most diverse religions, based on the « golden rule » – « do for the others what you’d like them to do for you » – present in all the holy books, and it reconstructs the spiritual history of mankind.
Love makes the men and women of this earth able to embrace the whole world, able to offer their own values as a gift to the others, able to enhance the values of the other cultures, in order to work out a global wisdom, which is so necessary today.
Then humankind will live up to a fraternal interdependence, as one family capable of building structures that can express the movement from unity to diversity and vice versa.
I ask God, the source of Love, to help us make this dream come true.
Chiara Lubich
Liliana Cosi’s address
It’s a great honor and joy for me to be here and to represent Chiara Lubich, the founder and president of the international Focolare Movement, on this occasion.
The link between Chiara Lubich and Pr. Barber is much more than a deep friendship. It is a reciprocal convergence of views and commitments.
Since the first Interdependance Day which took place in Philadelphia, U.S.A., it became obvious that the main goal of the Focolare Movement – to work for the unity of the human family – strongly supported all the values of the Interdependence ideal.
According to Chiara Lubich, universal brotherhood is the basis and the guarantee of true interdependence among peoples. The recent tragic events in the world show that fraternity is an inalienable condition to reach a future of peace. But fraternal interdependence requires the contribution of all the powers, not only the political ones but also the cultural and spiritual ones.
The topic of this third Interdependance Day, “Arts and culture at the heart of Interdependence” really moved me, it’s almost prophetic.
When I met the focolare Movement in the sixties, I was ballet dancer at the Scala of Milan and I was about to leave for the Bolshoi, in Moscow. The life style of the focolare opened new perspectives to me, well described by the following words of Albert Camus :
“Often he who has chosen the fate of the artist because he felt himself to be different, soon realizes that he can maintain neither his art nor his difference unless he admits that he is like the others. The artist forges himself through a continuous to-and-fro between himself and the others, midway between the beauty he cannot do without and the community he cannot tear himself away from.”
In fact, in the course of my long international career, I have experienced how much relationships with others and brotherhood have been a source of inspiration for me, especially through the creation of an international school of ballet dance with a Rumanian dancer. As a matter of fact, I discovered with amazement how enriching it is to put aside one’s own inspiration and culture in order to welcome those of someone else.
But this model of brotherhood has also generated various projects and meetings among artists of different ages, trends and cultures, where they could experience the fruitful sharing of talents, inspirations and compositions. Many young artists have become interested in this new way of working, and they are searching for new artistic expressions, which are open to a transcending dimension.
Chiara Lubich once said : “The artist is probably the closest to God (…) He is able to transmit what is the most sacred on earth : the human soul.”
The Focolare Movement would like to contribute to the revelation of the high vocation of the artist. It implies that the artist should let his soul be expanded through love and communion with others, and that he should draw from his inner self an art, that witnesses the suffering and distress of human kind, but also reveals its deepest aspirations and the infinite which each person has within him or her self : art as a sign of hope for the whole world.
Relying on the strength of love to take up the present historic challenge of multiculturalism
“We can rely on the strength of Love to take up the present historic challenge of multiculturalism.” A love that is rooted in God and “makes the men and women of this earth able to embrace the whole world, able to offer their own values as a gift to the others, able to enhance the values of the other cultures, in order to work out a global wisdom, which is so necessary today. Then humankind will live up to a fraternal interdependence, as one family capable of building structures that can express the movement from unity to diversity and vice versa.”
This is the heart of Chiara Lubich’s message, read at the conclusion of the Interdependence Day held in Paris from September 10-12, 2005.
The three-day-meeting consisted of cultural and political events affirming global interdependence as a civic strategy for peace and justice. The participants included Harry Belafonte, United Nations Cultural Ambassador; Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders); Adam Michnik, Polish Solidarity Movement co-founder; and a large number of political dignitaries.
Interdependence Day started being held after the September 11 terrorist attack. It is an initiative of American democratic political scientist Benjamin Barber, professor at the University of Maryland, born out of his conviction that “it is not sufficient to say no to war; we must build up an alternative.” The objective of Interdependence Day is to prepare individuals and groups, by promoting formation activities in schools for example, to commit themselves to international cooperation and become citizens not only of their own communities and nations, but of the interdependent world, knowing that each person can be a principal agent of change. This initiative is shared by a large number of people in America and in other countries who believe in multilateralism, in dialogue among cultures, and in the need for a global citizenship. The first Interdependence Day, sponsored by CivWorld, an affiliate of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland , was held on September 12, 2003 and was celebrated in Philadelphia – the home of American Independence – as well as in Budapest, to establish its international character. The 2004 celebration included the signing of a new European Charter of Interdependence. It was held in Rome Italy, hosted by Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni. Chiara Lubich of the Focolare Movement and Andrea Riccardi of the Community of St. Egidio were among the participants. In this year’s Interdependence Day, held at the American University of Paris, the Focolare Movement was represented by Liliana Cosi, prima ballerina and co-director of the Cosi-Stefanescu Classical Ballet Company and exponent of the artistic disciplines of the Focolare Center of Studies. Liliana Cosi presented the Focolare Movement and its contribution in the field of arts.
From drug trafficking to a life spent for a united world
I come from the southern province of Colombia, a region of farmers with a strongly individualistic culture, where each one tries in every possible way to escape poverty. The family is not given much importance; one enjoys the company of “friends,” but only a few. God? God is far away. I too had only one major concern: to get rich. In a place like this, it was easy for me to enter the drug scene. I started working on the plantation, then I joined in small-scale distribution – just the right job for someone who wants to make easy money. Fortunately my conscience began to bother me. At night I would read the Bible I borrowed from someone, and I realized that what I was doing was completely opposed to what the Bible says. It was during this period of my life that some of my cousins invited me to a youth meeting. There I found something special: the young people wanted to put the Gospel into practice. When I went back to work, I decided to give it a try: I began by changing some of my attitudes. In short I tried to “re-educate” myself, but the point was that I could not continue staying in that circle. My customers tried to convince me that it was only a question of selling medicine and God was out of the picture, because he created us free and we had to earn our daily bread. I reached the conclusion that the only way to get out of the circle was to leave. Most of the people I knew could not understand my decision, not only because I was letting go of “the best business ever,” but also because my choice exposed me to serious risks: I was defying “the law of the toughest.” But I made it. I started spending my time for other people by working in public organizations. I got in touch with those young people who wanted to put the Gospel into practice, to see what we could do together for our country. I told them of my desire to live a new life; they then spoke to me of the Economy of Communion. Before, I thought that one had to be rich to be able to give; now I understood that one can also give the little that he has. I organized a group to help other people like me, and we started several activities: a gym, a soccer team, and service projects for the needy. In all this, we tried to break through the barrier of individualism and build up a sense of community and inter-action. For example, our neighbor’s house burned down. We asked him what kind of help he needed most; he asked for cement to build a water tank. We worked to earn the money, we paid for the cement and gave him the receipt so he could get the cement himself. There was a father of seven children who could not finish building his house because he had no time. He asked us to get the wood he needed, found along a steep mountain trail, 4 kilometers away. It took us 8 hours straight to do the job, but the man could not stop thanking us for this favor. We also went to a home for the elderly, to bring them farm products. This is how a chain of sharing began. It makes us feel more united and allows us to overcome old grudges and divisions, giving us a real sense of brotherhood. (J.S. – Colombia)
Fraternity, political agent for peace
Colombia is a country plagued by guerrilla warfare and drug trafficking – wounds that nonetheless have been unable to suppress the people’s vitality and urge to react. Like other countries of the so-called New Continent, signs of reawakening are emerging, especially from the new generations. It was thanks to their initiative that a meeting of youth from different Latin American countries took place from September 8 to 10 at Tocancipà, an important region of industrial development near Bogotà. The aim of the meeting: to unite peace forces in Colombia and throughout the continent. Title: “Fraternity: a political agent for peace.” Promoters: politically committed youth members of the Focolare Movement, the Third Millenium Generation, and the Promised Land Foundation. The challenge posed by the meeting was decidedly praiseworthy: Colombia has been suffering serious internal conflicts for over 20 years, between government forces and guerilla elements. The result, a yearly death toll of close to one thousand among the civilian population, union workers, politicians, human rights activists and journalists. Then there is the sad phenomenon of the desplaçados – the two million or more persons who are forced to leave the rural areas and move to the cities, leaving behind their houses and possessions. The Colombian meeting was held just a week after the meeting of the first Latin American university parliament in Buenos Aires, and just a few months after the recent “Cities for Unity,” meeting held at Rosario (Argentina) – the first convention of Latin American mayors, promoted by the members of the International Political Movement for Unity (MPPU) belonging to the Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Here, too, the youth played a major role. Moreover, several MPPU courses for formation for the youth for young people began a year ago in Argentina, one more sign of the new initiatives that are emerging in the “New Continent.” “Without you, peace cannot be full:” With these words, the young people extended the invitation to their peers to join the meeting. The price of admission: let fraternity guide your every action.
Among the objectives of the meeting: to listen to what the youth have to say about the problems in Latin America; to propose together concrete solutions that could have a direct impact on achieving the common good of each one’s community of origin; to promote interaction between the youth and public and private institutions, and to create a network among those who work to build a peaceful, just, worthy, autonomous and fraternal society.
The programalso included a presentation of the experience of Argentina’s socio-political formation schools, and of “the practice of fraternity” worked out in one Latin American city. Round table discussions revolved around such topics as conflict and peace; fraternity as a pro-peace methodology in the context of problem situations in Latin America, especially Colombia; the need to found a new economic paradigm and the Economy of Communion. Discussions were then followed by workshops.
[:it]La fraternità nella città[:fr]La fraternité dans la ville[:pt]A fraternidade na cidade
Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of life of September 2005
Despite the difficulties that they had with the civil authorities and the citizens, a small Christian community had come to life in Philippi and a few years later Paul wrote a letter to urge these believers to remain loyal and steadfast in their duties as citizens.
A little further down, in the same letter, Paul reminded them that for Christians our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). This, however, does not exempt them from performing their social and political responsibilities. On the contrary, precisely because they are citizens of the Kingdom of Christ, Christians are strongly motivated to put themselves at the service of everyone and to build up the earthly city in justice and in love.
«Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ»
Through these words, Paul was asking the Philippians to conduct themselves as true Christians. We sometimes think that the Gospel does not provide solutions to earthly problems and that it brings about the Kingdom of God only in a religious sense. But this is not the case. It is Jesus in that Christian, in that man or woman—when God’s grace dwells in that person—who builds a bridge, opens up a road, and so on. And, as another Christ, every man and woman can give his or her own specific contribution in any field of human activity: science, art, politics, and so on.
«Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ»
But how can we be other Christs so that we can work in and make a real impact on society? We can do so by adopting his lifestyle as it is revealed in the words of the Gospel. If we welcome and live out his word, we will be increasingly in tune with his thoughts, his sentiments, and his teachings. His words enlighten everything we do; they realign and correct every aspect of our lives.
Yes, by living the Gospel we will become Christ like, and as he did we will devote our lives to others. Through loving we will contribute to building brotherhood. All the words of the Gospel can, in fact, be summed up in love of God and neighbor, and if lived out, they lead us to love.
We often speak about love and it may seem unnecessary to emphasize it again this time. But it is not so. Our “old self” (Rom 6:6) is always prone to withdraw into privacy, to cultivate our own little interests, to ignore the people who pass before us, to remain indifferent in the face of the common good and the needs of humanity around us.
We need to rekindle the flame of love in our hearts. And we need new eyes with which to look around us and realize what may be needed to improve our society. Love will give us the insight and creativity to see the right roads to take and give us the courage and strength to pursue them.
«Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ»
This is what Ulysses Caglioni did; he was a good friend of ours who spent his life in Algeria together with Christians and Muslims, giving a witness of Gospel love to everyone with simplicity and concreteness.
He did not live for himself. He always put the needs of his brothers and sisters first. He had a special love for each one, and gave of himself unsparingly. He shared in their joys, their accomplishments, and their hopes, but also in the struggles, the uncertainties, and the sufferings they experienced in the first decade of their independence.
When, in fact, in the 1990s the nation went through a period of civil disorder and terror in which no Algerian citizen (almost all Muslim) was spared, the impact was also felt on the small Christian community made up of foreigners. Ulysses decided then, together with other Christians, not to leave and go back to his native Italy.
During an interview with one of the newspapers, he stated: I remained in Algeria for many years while everything was going smoothly. Now the situation has become precarious and dangerous, but I don’t think that I can leave; it would not be following the Gospel to flee.
When on September 1st, two years ago, following an illness he left for heaven, his Muslim friends offered this testimony: There was such love among us that everything that happened was lived together and shared. Ulysses was the bridge, the link between Christianity and Islam. In a country where intolerance is exalted, we have learned to listen, without prejudice, without passing judgment. Ulysses taught us to do everything out of love, to be love.
Chiara Lubich
[:it]Nuova Umanità – Maggio-Agosto 2005
[:it]Discorso di Sua Santità Benedetto XVI ai rappresentanti di alcune comunità musulmane[:es]Discurso del Santo Padre Benedicto XVI en el encuentro con los representantes de comunidades musulmanas[:pt]Discurso de Bento XVI/3
Address of Pope Benedict XVI during the Youth Vigil
Dear young friends, In our pilgrimage with the mysterious Magi from the East, we have arrived at the moment which St Matthew describes in his Gospel with these words: “Going into the house (over which the star had halted), they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him” (Mt 2: 11). Outwardly, their journey was now over. They had reached their goal. But at this point a new journey began for them, an inner pilgrimage which changed their whole lives. Their mental picture of the infant King they were expecting to find must have been very different. They had stopped at Jerusalem specifically in order to ask the King who lived there for news of the promised King who had been born. They knew that the world was in disorder, and for that reason their hearts were troubled. They were sure that God existed and that he was a just and gentle God. And perhaps they also knew of the great prophecies of Israel foretelling a King who would be intimately united with God, a King who would restore order to the world, acting for God and in his Name. It was in order to seek this King that they had set off on their journey: deep within themselves they felt prompted to go in search of the true justice that can only come from God, and they wanted to serve this King, to fall prostrate at his feet and so play their part in the renewal of the world. They were among those “who hunger and thirst for justice” (Mt 5: 6). This hunger and thirst had spurred them on in their pilgrimage – they had become pilgrims in search of the justice that they expected from God, intending to devote themselves to its service. Even if those who had stayed at home may have considered them Utopian dreamers, they were actually people with their feet on the ground, and they knew that in order to change the world it is necessary to have power. Hence, they were hardly likely to seek the promised child anywhere but in the King’s palace. Yet now they were bowing down before the child of poor people, and they soon came to realize that Herod, the King they had consulted, intended to use his power to lay a trap for him, forcing the family to flee into exile. The new King, to whom they now paid homage, was quite unlike what they were expecting. In this way they had to learn that God is not as we usually imagine him to be. This was where their inner journey began. It started at the very moment when they knelt down before this child and recognized him as the promised King. But they still had to assimilate these joyful gestures internally. They had to change their ideas about power, about God and about man, and in so doing, they also had to change themselves. Now they were able to see that God’s power is not like that of the powerful of this world. God’s ways are not as we imagine them or as we might wish them to be. God does not enter into competition with earthly powers in this world. He does not marshal his divisions alongside other divisions. God did not send 12 legions of angels to assist Jesus in the Garden of Olives (cf. Mt 26: 53). He contrasts the noisy and ostentatious power of this world with the defenceless power of love, which succumbs to death on the Cross and dies ever anew throughout history; yet it is this same love which constitutes the new divine intervention that opposes injustice and ushers in the Kingdom of God. God is different – this is what they now come to realize. And it means that they themselves must now become different, they must learn God’s ways. They had come to place themselves at the service of this King, to model their own kingship on his. That was the meaning of their act of homage, their adoration. Included in this were their gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh – gifts offered to a King held to be divine. Adoration has a content and it involves giving. Through this act of adoration, these men from the East wished to recognize the child as their King and to place their own power and potential at his disposal, and in this they were certainly on the right path. By serving and following him, they wanted, together with him, to serve the cause of good and the cause of justice in the world. In this they were right. Now, though, they have to learn that this cannot be achieved simply through issuing commands from a throne on high. Now they have to learn to give themselves – no lesser gift would be sufficient for this King. Now they have to learn that their lives must be conformed to this divine way of exercising power, to God’s own way of being. They must become men of truth, of justice, of goodness, of forgiveness, of mercy. They will no longer ask: how can this serve me? Instead, they will have to ask: How can I serve God’s presence in the world? They must learn to lose their life and in this way to find it. Having left Jerusalem behind, they must not deviate from the path marked out by the true King, as they follow Jesus. Dear friends, what does all this mean for us? What we have just been saying about the nature of God being different, and about the way our lives must be shaped accordingly, sounds very fine, but remains rather vague and unfocused. That is why God has given us examples. The Magi from the East are just the first in a long procession of men and women who have constantly tried to gaze upon God’s star in their lives, going in search of the God who has drawn close to us and shows us the way. It is the great multitude of the saints – both known and unknown – in whose lives the Lord has opened up the Gospel before us and turned over the pages; he has done this throughout history and he still does so today. In their lives, as if in a great picture-book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed. They are the shining path which God himself has traced throughout history and is still tracing today. My venerable Predecessor Pope John Paul II, who is with us at this moment, beatified and canonized a great many people from both the distant and the recent past. Through these individuals he wanted to show us how to be Christian: how to live life as it should be lived – according to God’s way. The saints and the blesseds did not doggedly seek their own happiness, but simply wanted to give themselves, because the light of Christ had shone upon them. They show us the way to attain happiness, they show us how to be truly human. Through all the ups and downs of history, they were the true reformers who constantly rescued it from plunging into the valley of darkness; it was they who constantly shed upon it the light that was needed to make sense – even in the midst of suffering – of God’s words spoken at the end of the work of creation: “It is very good”. One need only think of such figures as St Benedict, St Francis of Assisi, St Teresa of Avila, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Charles Borromeo, the founders of 19-century religious orders who inspired and guided the social movement, or the saints of our own day – Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Mother Teresa, Padre Pio. In contemplating these figures we learn what it means “to adore” and what it means to live according to the measure of the Child of Bethlehem, by the measure of Jesus Christ and of God himself. The saints, as we said, are the true reformers. Now I want to express this in an even more radical way: only from the saints, only from God does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world. In the last century we experienced revolutions with a common programme – expecting nothing more from God, they assumed total responsibility for the cause of the world in order to change it. And this, as we saw, meant that a human and partial point of view was always taken as an absolute guiding principle. Absolutizing what is not absolute but relative is called totalitarianism. It does not liberate man, but takes away his dignity and enslaves him. It is not ideologies that save the world, but only a return to the living God, our Creator, the guarantor of our freedom, the guarantor of what is really good and true. True revolution consists in simply turning to God who is the measure of what is right and who at the same time is everlasting love. And what could ever save us apart from love? Dear friends! Allow me to add just two brief thoughts. There are many who speak of God; some even preach hatred and perpetrate violence in God’s Name. So it is important to discover the true face of God. The Magi from the East found it when they knelt down before the Child of Bethlehem. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”, said Jesus to Philip (Jn 14: 9). In Jesus Christ, who allowed his heart to be pierced for us, the true face of God is seen. We will follow him together with the great multitude of those who went before us. Then we will be travelling along the right path. This means that we are not constructing a private God, we are not constructing a private Jesus, but that we believe and worship the Jesus who is manifested to us by the Sacred Scriptures and who reveals himself to be alive in the great procession of the faithful called the Church, always alongside us and always before us. There is much that could be criticized in the Church. We know this and the Lord himself told us so: it is a net with good fish and bad fish, a field with wheat and darnel. Pope John Paul II, as well as revealing the true face of the Church in the many saints that he canonized, also asked pardon for the wrong that was done in the course of history through the words and deeds of members of the Church. In this way he showed us our own true image and urged us to take our place, with all our faults and weaknesses, in the procession of the saints that began with the Magi from the East. It is actually consoling to realize that there is darnel in the Church. In this way, despite all our defects, we can still hope to be counted among the disciples of Jesus, who came to call sinners. The Church is like a human family, but at the same time it is also the great family of God, through which he establishes an overarching communion and unity that embraces every continent, culture and nation. So we are glad to belong to this great family that we see here; we are glad to have brothers and friends all over the world. Here in Cologne we discover the joy of belonging to a family as vast as the world, including Heaven and earth, the past, the present, the future and every part of the earth. In this great band of pilgrims we walk side by side with Christ, we walk with the star that enlightens our history. “Going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him” (Mt 2: 11). Dear friends, this is not a distant story that took place long ago. It is with us now. Here in the Sacred Host he is present before us and in our midst. As at that time, so now he is mysteriously veiled in a sacred silence; as at that time, it is here that the true face of God is revealed. For us he became a grain of wheat that falls on the ground and dies and bears fruit until the end of the world (cf. Jn 12: 24). He is present now as he was then in Bethlehem. He invites us to that inner pilgrimage which is called adoration. Let us set off on this pilgrimage of the spirit and let us ask him to be our guide. Amen.
Homily of Pope Benedict XVI during the Eucharistic Celebration
Prior to Mass, the Pope said the following: Dear Young People, I would have liked to tour the hill in the Popemobile and to be closer to each one of you, individually. Unfortunately, this has proved impossible, but I greet each one of you from the bottom of my heart. The Lord sees and loves each individual person and we are all the living Church for one another, and let us thank God for this moment in which he is giving us the gift of the mystery of his presence and the possibility of being in communion with him. We all know that we are imperfect, that we are unable to be a fitting house for him. Let us therefore begin Holy Mass by meditating and praying to him, so that he will take from us what divides us from him and what separates us from each other and enable us to become familiar with the holy mysteries. *** Dear Young Friends, Yesterday evening we came together in the presence of the Sacred Host, in which Jesus becomes for us the bread that sustains and feeds us (cf. Jn 6: 35), and there we began our inner journey of adoration. In the Eucharist, adoration must become union. At the celebration of the Eucharist, we find ourselves in the “hour” of Jesus, to use the language of John’s Gospel. Through the Eucharist this “hour” of Jesus becomes our own hour, his presence in our midst. Together with the disciples he celebrated the Passover of Israel, the memorial of God’s liberating action that led Israel from slavery to freedom. Jesus follows the rites of Israel. He recites over the bread the prayer of praise and blessing. But then something new happens. He thanks God not only for the great works of the past; he thanks him for his own exaltation, soon to be accomplished through the Cross and Resurrection, and he speaks to the disciples in words that sum up the whole of the Law and the Prophets: “This is my Body, given in sacrifice for you. This cup is the New Covenant in my Blood”. He then distributes the bread and the cup, and instructs them to repeat his words and actions of that moment over and over again in his memory. What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood? By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence – the Crucifixion – from within becomes an act of total self-giving love. This is the substantial transformation which was accomplished at the Last Supper and was destined to set in motion a series of transformations leading ultimately to the transformation of the world when God will be all in all (cf. I Cor 15: 28). In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world: violence is transformed into love, and death into life. Since this act transmutes death into love, death as such is already conquered from within, the Resurrection is already present in it. Death is, so to speak, mortally wounded, so that it can no longer have the last word. To use an image well known to us today, this is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being – the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world. All other changes remain superficial and cannot save. For this reason we speak of redemption: what had to happen at the most intimate level has indeed happened, and we can enter into its dynamic. Jesus can distribute his Body, because he truly gives himself. This first fundamental transformation of violence into love, of death into life, brings other changes in its wake. Bread and wine become his Body and Blood. But it must not stop there; on the contrary, the process of transformation must now gather momentum. The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn. We are to become the Body of Christ, his own Flesh and Blood. We all eat the one bread, and this means that we ourselves become one. In this way, adoration, as we said earlier, becomes union. God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him. His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world. I like to illustrate this new step urged upon us by the Last Supper by drawing out the different nuances of the word “adoration” in Greek and in Latin. The Greek word is proskynesis. It refers to the gesture of submission, the recognition of God as our true measure, supplying the norm that we choose to follow. It means that freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total autonomy, but rather about living by the measure of truth and goodness, so that we ourselves can become true and good. This gesture is necessary even if initially our yearning for freedom makes us inclined to resist it. We can only fully accept it when we take the second step that the Last Supper proposes to us. The Latin word for adoration is ad-oratio – mouth to mouth contact, a kiss, an embrace, and hence, ultimately love. Submission becomes union, because he to whom we submit is Love. In this way submission acquires a meaning, because it does not impose anything on us from the outside, but liberates us deep within. Let us return once more to the Last Supper. The new element to emerge here was the deeper meaning given to Israel’s ancient prayer of blessing, which from that point on became the word of transformation, enabling us to participate in the “hour” of Christ. Jesus did not instruct us to repeat the Passover meal, which in any event, given that it is an anniversary, is not repeatable at will. He instructed us to enter into his “hour”. We enter into it through the sacred power of the words of consecration – a transformation brought about through the prayer of praise which places us in continuity with Israel and the whole of salvation history, and at the same time ushers in the new, to which the older prayer at its deepest level was pointing. The new prayer – which the Church calls the “Eucharistic Prayer” – brings the Eucharist into being. It is the word of power which transforms the gifts of the earth in an entirely new way into God’s gift of himself, and it draws us into this process of transformation. That is why we call this action “Eucharist”, which is a translation of the Hebrew word beracha – thanksgiving, praise, blessing, and a transformation worked by the Lord: the presence of his “hour”. Jesus’ hour is the hour in which love triumphs. In other words: it is God who has triumphed, because he is Love. Jesus’ hour seeks to become our own hour and will indeed become so if we allow ourselves, through the celebration of the Eucharist, to be drawn into that process of transformation that the Lord intends to bring about. The Eucharist must become the centre of our lives. If the Church tells us that the Eucharist is an essential part of Sunday, this is no mere positivism or thirst for power. On Easter morning, first the women and then the disciples had the grace of seeing the Lord. From that moment on, they knew that the first day of the week, Sunday, would be his day, the day of Christ the Lord. The day when creation began became the day when creation was renewed. Creation and redemption belong together. That is why Sunday is so important. It is good that today, in many cultures, Sunday is a free day, and is often combined with Saturday so as to constitute a “week-end” of free time. Yet this free time is empty if God is not present. Dear friends! Sometimes, our initial impression is that having to include time for Mass on a Sunday is rather inconvenient. But if you make the effort, you will realize that this is what gives a proper focus to your free time. Do not be deterred from taking part in Sunday Mass, and help others to discover it too. This is because the Eucharist releases the joy that we need so much, and we must learn to grasp it ever more deeply, we must learn to love it. Let us pledge ourselves to do this – it is worth the effort! Let us discover the intimate riches of the Church’s liturgy and its true greatness: it is not we who are celebrating for ourselves, but it is the living God himself who is preparing a banquet for us. Through your love for the Eucharist you will also rediscover the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which the merciful goodness of God always allows us to make a fresh start in our lives. Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on. In vast areas of the world today there is a strange forgetfulness of God. It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him. But at the same time there is a feeling of frustration, a sense of dissatisfaction with everyone and everything. People tend to exclaim: “This cannot be what life is about!”. Indeed not. And so, together with forgetfulness of God there is a kind of new explosion of religion. I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery. But to tell the truth, religion often becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it. But religion sought on a “do-it-yourself” basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable, but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves. Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ! Let us seek to know him better and better, so as to be able to guide others to him with conviction. This is why love for Sacred Scripture is so important, and in consequence, it is important to know the faith of the Church which opens up for us the meaning of Scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church as her faith grows, causing her to enter ever more deeply into the truth (cf. Jn 16: 13). Beloved Pope John Paul II gave us a wonderful work in which the faith of centuries is explained synthetically: the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I myself recently presented the Compendium of the Catechism, also prepared at the request of the late Holy Father. These are two fundamental texts which I recommend to all of you. Obviously books alone are not enough. Form communities based on faith! In recent decades, movements and communities have come to birth in which the power of the Gospel is keenly felt. Seek communion in faith, like fellow travellers who continue together to follow the path of the great pilgrimage that the Magi from the East first pointed out to us. The spontaneity of new communities is important, but it is also important to preserve communion with the Pope and with the Bishops. It is they who guarantee that we are not seeking private paths, but instead are living as God’s great family, founded by the Lord through the Twelve Apostles. Once again, I must return to the Eucharist. “Because there is one bread, we, though many, are one body”, says St Paul (I Cor 10: 17). By this he meant: since we receive the same Lord and he gathers us together and draws us into himself, we ourselves are one. This must be evident in our lives. It must be seen in our capacity to forgive. It must be seen in our sensitivity to the needs of others. It must be seen in our willingness to share. It must be seen in our commitment to our neighbours, both those close at hand and those physically far away, whom we nevertheless consider to be close. Today, there are many forms of voluntary assistance, models of mutual service, of which our society has urgent need. We must not, for example, abandon the elderly to their solitude, we must not pass by when we meet people who are suffering. If we think and live according to our communion with Christ, then our eyes will be opened. Then we will no longer be content to scrape a living just for ourselves, but we will see where and how we are needed. Living and acting thus, we will soon realize that it is much better to be useful and at the disposal of others than to be concerned only with the comforts that are offered to us. I know that you as young people have great aspirations, that you want to pledge yourselves to build a better world. Let others see this, let the world see it, since this is exactly the witness that the world expects from the disciples of Jesus Christ; in this way, and through your love above all, the world will be able to discover the star that we follow as believers. Let us go forward with Christ and let us live our lives as true worshippers of God! Amen.
Benedict XVI: every good wish for a great springtime of hope for Europe and the world
“A prophetic intuition” of the “unforgettable” predecessor, destined to mark out a “great springtime of hope” for Europe and the world: this is Benedict XVI’s definition of the World Youth Day. At the general audience held on Wednesday 24 August the Pope spoke about his trip to Germany, recounting aspects of its most significant moments. Seven thousand filled the Paul VI Hall and included an interfaith delegation from Nagasaki, Japan, and a group of Buddhist religious. From Benedict XVI’s address: “Divine Providence willed that my first pastoral trip outside of Italy should have, precisely as its object, my country of origin and that it should be on the occasion of the great meeting of young people of the world, 20 years after the institution of World Youth Day, established with prophetic intuition by my unforgettable Predecessor.
The ideal embrace with young participants in the World Youth Day began from the moment of my arrival at the Cologne-Bonn airport and became ever more charged with emotions when sailing on the Rhine from the Rodenkirchenbruecke pier to Cologne escorted by five other vessels representing the five continents. Evocative, also, was the pause in front of the Poller Rheinwiesen wharf where thousands upon thousands of young people awaited, with whom I had the first official meeting, called appropriately “welcome festival” and which had as its motto the words of the Magi “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2a). It was precisely the Magi who were the “guides” of those young pilgrims to Christ. How significant it is that all this took place as we prepare for the conclusion of the Eucharistic Year called by John Paul II! “We Have Come to Worship Him”: The theme of the meeting invited everyone theoretically to follow the Magi, and to undertake together with them an interior journey of conversion to the Emmanuel, the God-with-us, to know him, meet him, adore him, and after meeting and adoring him, to then depart bearing in spirit, in the depth of our being, his light and joy.
In Cologne, young people had repeated opportunities to reflect profoundly on these spiritual themes and felt themselves driven by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Christ, who in the Eucharist has promised to remain really present among us until the end of the world. I recall the different moments that I had the joy of sharing with them, especially in the Saturday evening Vigil and Sunday’s concluding celebration. Millions of other young people from all corners of the earth were joined to these thought-provoking manifestations of faith thanks to providential radio and television connections. But I would like to recall here a singular meeting, the one with the seminarians, young men called to a more radical following of Christ, Teacher and Shepherd. I wished to have a specific time dedicated to them, to highlight also the vocational dimension typical of World Youth Day. Not a few vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life have flowered in these 20 years, privileged occasions in which the Holy Spirit makes his call heard. Very well placed in the rich context of hope of the Cologne Day, was the ecumenical meeting with representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial communities. Germany’s role in the ecumenical dialogue is important whether because of the sad history of divisions or the significant part played in the path of reconciliation. I hope, moreover, that the dialogue, as a reciprocal exchange of gifts and not just of words, will contribute to make that ordered and harmonious “symphony” grow, which is Catholic unity. In such a perspective, World Youth Day represents a valid ecumenical “laboratory.” And how can I not relive with emotion the visit to the Synagogue of Cologne, where the oldest Jewish community has its headquarters? With our Jewish brothers I remembered the Shoah and the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. This year, moreover, marks the 40th anniversary of the conciliar declaration “Nostra Aetate,” which opened a new season of dialogue and spiritual solidarity between Jews and Christians, as well as of esteem for the other great religious traditions. Among these, a particular place is held by Islam, whose followers worship the one God and refer gladly to the Patriarch Abraham. For this reason I wanted to meet with representatives of some Muslim communities, to which I expressed the hopes and concerns of the difficult historical moment that we are going through, hoping that fanaticism and violence will be extirpated and that we will be able to collaborate together in defending always the dignity of the human person and in protecting his fundamental rights.
Dear brothers and sisters, from the heart of “old” Europe, which in the past century, unfortunately, knew horrendous conflicts and inhuman regimes, young people relaunched to the humanity of our time the message of hope that does not disappoint, because it is founded on the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ, dead and risen for our salvation. In Cologne, young people met and worshipped the Emmanuel, the God-with-us, in the mystery of the Eucharist and understood better that the Church is the great family through which God creates a space of communion and unity among all continents, cultures and races, a — so to speak — “great group of pilgrims” led by Christ, radiant star that illuminates history. Jesus makes himself our travel companion in the Eucharist, and, in the Eucharist — as I said in the homily of the concluding celebration, borrowing a well-known image from physics — effects a “nuclear fission” in the depth of the being. Only this profound explosion of goodness that overcomes evil can give life to the other transformations necessary to change the world. Let us pray therefore so that the young people of Cologne will bear with them the light of Christ, who is truth and love and will spread it everywhere. In this way we will be able to witness a springtime of hope in Germany, Europe and the whole world.”