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.”
[:it]Spagna – Paesi Baschi – Lotta contro la repressione dei diritti dei baschi
[:it]Frère Roger Schutz: una vita coronata dalla palma del martirio[:fr]Frère Roger Schutz : une vie couronnée par la palme du martyre
[:it]Programma del viaggio in Germania di sua Santità Benedetto XVI
[:it]Dopo l’incontro con Gesù, quale il segreto per non perderlo più?
Peoples and religions living together as brothers and sisters
Is it possible to live together peacefully in our society that is ever more multicultural, multiethnic, with multi-religions? A dialogue among religions will be at the centre of the “Festival for a united world”. Thursday, August 18th, at 8 p.m., at Friedenspark, Cologne’s “Park of Peace”, young people from various countries – Israel, Egypt, Belgium, Syria, Lebanon, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, the Philippines, Madagascar, Germany, Austria and Belgium – will give witness to brotherhood lived in situations that are often characterized by social and political tensions, by indifference and individualism. This will take place at the “Colourdome”, one of Youth for a United World, of the Focolare Movement’s contributions for World Youth Day 2005. Some anticipations: Ossama is Egyptian. He works in a transportation agency. Almost all of his co-workers are Muslim. … It’s a challenge. The first days at work a sense of insecurity began to bother him. He started trying to live as suggested by the “Golden Rule” that many religions share: “Do unto others as you would want them to do to you.” (Matt. 7,12) He started with small acts, such as preparing tea for the workers who came in tired after loading the trucks. Little by little every barrier fell and a true friendship began. Ages, from Southeast Asia. In Asia Christians are a minority among Buddhist, Hindus and Muslims. To know how to dialogue is certainly not taken for granted, it’s an art to be learned. That’s why Ages went to Tagaytay, a small city of the Focolare Movement in the Philippines. There they have courses from the “School of Oriental Religions”, where young people of various religions from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand participate. There are also concrete actions in politics which can contribute to an approach among religions Sylwin from Cebu tells us about it. Reacting to the widespread political apathy, the youth of the Focolare Movement in the Philippines are committed to promoting an active participation in the next presidential elections. The “White Forum” was started a year ago. It uses all means of communication: TV, radio, the press, parish and school contacts, with the involvement of various youth organizations. And youth from other religions take part in their projects.
We are never alone when trials come
Double earnings I live in the southern part of Brazil, in a small town in the state of Santa Caterina, where there are few job possibilities and people are underpaid. One day my father came to see me and shared with me his problem: he didn’t have enough that month to cover the family expenses. Given the circumstances, it seemed quite impossible for me to help him. I felt great pain within but I remembered that I have a Father in heaven and I turned to him with the faith of one of his children, certain that He never abandons us in moments of trial. He would provide us with what was needed. Just in those days I was offered a better job with another company. When I presented my resignation at my current job I was overwhelmed when the manager offered to double my salary because of my good performance and because of my efforts in creating good relationships with my co-workers. In that doubling of my salary I acknowledged the answer from the Father of all: He had taken care of my own father’s need who, when he heard about it, was moved to tears. (S.J. – Brazil) Taken from the book “Quando Dio interviene – Esperienze da tutto il mondo”, Citta’ Nuova Editrice, 2004
Islam – Stories of harmonious living among people of different religions in Italy, by Luigi Accattoli
From the introduction: “(According to a survey), the fear of Islam is growing and the author counteracts the tension by sharing stories of harmonious living together among people of different religions. The work includes over 150 stories set in Italy or lived out by Italians around the world. The author was inspired by his belief that harmonious living among people of different religions is quite common but rarely spoken of. The narration unfolds with the sharing of small details such as gestures or occasional words of acknowledgement to a better way of living by immigrants who have been helped and want in turn reciprocate. It is not difficult to find unusual stories: a Tunisian who is a sacristan in a church in Milan, an engineer of Syrian origin who is the Mayor of a small town in Abruzzo, an entrepreneur from the Piedmont Region who, out of the 30 people that make up his staff, treats as his sons the 6 who are muslims; young Turks or young people of other nationalities who study at the Gregorian University; about 10 Islamic immigrants in touch with the Focolare Movement, families of practicing muslims who send their children to Catholic schools and want them to study the Catholic faith. There are several interviews with muslims employed by the Christian Association of Italian Workers (ACLI) , by CARITAS, by the Astalli Center and even by the Vatican.” “Islam – Storie italiane di buona convivenza” by Luigi Accattoli. Publisher: Bologna, Edizioni Dehoniane, 2004, 222 pp.
[:it]«Abbiamo ricominciato a pregare»[:es]«Hemos empezado a rezar»
Livio and his friends from Marene
Not only has Livio hired 6 Muslims to join the 300 laborers who work in his shop which manufactures chromium and copper-plated mufflers, and spare parts for cars, motorcycles, and wheelchairs for the disabled. He is also the animating spirit behind the “Friends from Marene and Thereabouts Group” (in Cuneo, Italy), which has chosen the “Golden Rule” (“Do to others as you would have them do to you” [Lk 6, 31]) as its motto. Another independent group has sprouted from “Friends of Marene,” with a completely Senegalese membership from Piedmont (Italy) as well as from Senegal itself. “The two groups collaborate, and one thing leads to another,” says Livio. Then he adds: “The story begins 10 years ago. In 1995 I attended a Focolare meeting at Loppiano (in Incisa Valdarno, province of Florence, Italy) which welcomed people of non-religious convictions. There I heard about the Christian art of loving, an ideal of life that was meant for everybody. When I got home, I told my wife that I wanted to try something different, an experience I had never tried before in my life – that of loving without any self-interest. We are still practicing it now, with the help of our four children. “The group was formed in 1997. We found a place where we could meet weekly. Now, people of all ages, colors and creeds come, together with their families, neighbors, relatives, friends and employees. People are always inviting others. We meet to listen to and help each other, and help other people, as well. “This was how the Muslims arrived, too. The first Muslim we met was in great need, so we decided to employ him, since – rather unusually – we had a very big order to fill and we did actually need another worker. We also helped him find lodgings. He fit in quickly, and he introduced his friends to us. Through our Senegalese workers we learned that many of the African immigrants in our area were natives of a region in their country. We became friends with one of them, together with his wife and children. He later spread our ideal of life in his own country. He and his friends always tell us that when they are with us, they feel at home.”
“Sow seeds of fraternity and peace for a deeper understanding of mutual gifts”
Chiara Lubich on dialogue with Islam
Miss Lubich: If I’ve understood correctly, 6.000 muslims, participate in the activities of or rather, are directly involved in the Focolare Movement. Aren’t you afraid that your Movement will be subject to an uncontrollable influence by Islam?
I don’t think so. Participating in the activities of the Movement and above all being part of it in various ways, is not so simple.
It requires demanding training in living , a sustained, attentive, active sharing of objectives. This gives origin to a profound spiritual unity that surpasses all differences among the members of the Movement; a unity which is rooted on great, real and sincerely shared values. The unity achieved does not cancel out the differences, on the contrary, it makes of them elements of mutual enrichment, an opening to a deeper understanding of each other’s gifts.
Judging by the number of muslims involved in your initiatives, one might think that Islam is the Movement’s chief partner when compared to the other religions
I don’t think so. We have warm, profound, fruitful contacts with many Jewish people, with Hindus in India and with Buddhists, mainly in Thailand and in Japan. One need only think of the enduring spiritual friendship built with members of the vast Rissho Kosei-kai movement in Japan. I want to also mention the numerous participants who belong to the traditional religions in Africa who share our spirit and participate in the activities of the Movement. Entire tribes in the Cameroon are involved with the Focolare.
Contact with these spiritual and cultural realities takes place at different levels: from sharing in the joys and sufferings of everyday life to sharing one’s spiritual and material goods. There are meetings between experts in these religions so as to delve into the truth each one professes in order to get to know each other better and to acknowledge the riches that God has sown in humanity’s vast range of cultures. Just recently we held symposiums with Hindu intellectuals (the second such symposium), with Buddhists and in May with Jews at our International Mariapolis Center in Castelgandolfo (Rome)..
The spirit that animates the Focolare Movement seems to be so meek, perhaps one of the most meek of spirits to appear in the vast Catholic family: why do you suppose the most meek of all has chosen to address the most aggressive possible partner?
With regard to the meekness of the Movement’s spirit I should stress the fact that it does not imply surrendering nor passive acceptance, rather, total adherence to one of the Gospel’s beatitudes. Meekness is not a defense, it is an expression of love, therefore it is a force. On the other hand, we have not chosen our partners. We believe God brought us together. As for aggressiveness, generally speaking, we cannot forget the violence we Christians have inflicted on others and for which Pope John Paul II asked forgiveness. We cannot generalize when speaking of the aggressiveness of Islam. We know muslims who have great love for peace, who have a profound, vigorous spiritual life , who want to dialogue. They are the ones, in fact, who help us see Islam in a different light than the very often superficial way it is perceived. Besides, we should bear in mind that meekness authentically lived out by of one of two partners sooner or later leads the other to do the same.
In a letter to the focolarini in 1980 you gave them a directive: “ If in your cities there is a mosque or a synagogue or any other non Christian place of worship, that is your place…” After having heard violent words uttered in mosques would you still give that directive?
I feel it is more relevant than ever. It is the response to Jesus’ invitation to “ make ourselves one” with everyone. Besides, violent words are not preached in every mosque. As a matter of fact experience shows that if those violent words are spoken to people who love peace, those very words often can take on a different dimension and be echoed back to the persons who uttered them in a way that transforms them.
I know that in Pakistan you have established an islamic-christian center at Dalwal, between Lahore and Islamabad. Will it survive the anti-christian sentiment that rages in that country?
I hope so. The future, at any rate, is in God’s hands. Our main concern is to live the present moment planting seeds of fraternity and peace. If at times these seeds perish, that is part of Gospel teachings as well, and for this very reason they will bring about fruits of life that will never pass away, just as Jesus taught..
Have you undergone outside criticism and internal dissent after September 11th because of the monthly newsletter in Arabic written by an Iranian theologian who quotes passages from the Koran and from the Gospel?”
As far as I know there has been neither dissension nor criticism. There is instead an increase in the number of requests for the newsletter and an increase in the number of persons volunteering to help with this work, particularly other muslim scholars.
Luigi Accattoli
An interview published by Corriere della Sera (Italy)
Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of life of August 2005
It was evening. The disciples were trying to cross the lake of Tiberias. Their boat was buffeted by a storm and the wind blew against them. They had already experienced a similar situation before (see Mt 8: 23-27). At that time the Teacher had been with them on the boat. This time he had remained on land and had gone up to the mountain to pray.
But Jesus did not abandon them to the storm. He came down the mountain and went out to meet them, walking on the water. He tried to lift their spirits: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid”(Mt 14:27). Was it really true, or only an illusion? Peter, who was doubtful, asked him for a sign: to also be able to walk on the water. Jesus called him over. Peter got out of the boat, but the menacing wind frightened him and he began to sink. Jesus then took him by the hand and said to him:
«O you of little faith, why did you doubt?»
Even today Jesus continues to repeat these words to us every time we feel alone and powerless during the storms that often batter us. These may take the form of illnesses or difficult family situations, acts of violence, injustices that allow doubts to creep into our hearts, if not outright rebellion: “Why doesn’t God see? Why doesn’t he listen to me? Why doesn’t he come to help me and intervene? Where is the God-Love I placed my faith in? Is he merely a ghost, an illusion?”
As he did with the fearful and incredulous disciples, Jesus continues to repeat: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” And just as he came down from the mountain to be close to them in their difficulties, so now too he, the Risen Lord, continues to come into our lives and walks beside us, as our traveling companion. He never leaves us alone in our trials: he shares them with us. Perhaps we do not believe enough in him, and for this reason he repeats to us:
«O you of little faith, why did you doubt?»
Besides being a reproof, these words are also an invitation to revive our faith. Jesus, while he was on earth, made many promises. He said, for example: “Ask and you will receive”(Jn 16:24); “Seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (Mt 6:33); and whoever has left everything for him “will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29).
We can obtain everything, but we need to believe in the love of God. In order to give to us, Jesus asks that we at least recognize that he loves us.
Instead, we often worry as though we had to face life on our own, as if we were orphans, without a Father. Much like Peter, we are more attentive to the turbulent waves that seem to swamp us, rather than to the presence of Jesus who is ready to take us by the hand.
If we stopped to analyze whatever hurts us – the problems and the difficulties – we would be overcome by fear, anguish, and discouragement. But we are not alone! We believe that there is Someone who takes care of us. We need to turn to Him! He is near to us even when we do not feel his presence. Let’s believe in him, let’s trust him and entrust ourselves to him.
When our faith is tested, we struggle and pray, as Peter did when he cried out: “Lord, save me!” (Mt 14:30) or as the disciples did in a similar situation: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk 4:38) He will never withdraw his help from us. His love is real and he takes on each of our burdens.
«O you of little faith, why did you doubt?»
Jean Luis was a young person who also had “little faith.” Unlike the other members of his family, he doubted the existence of God, even though he was a Christian. He lived in Man, in the Ivory Coast, with his younger siblings, far from their parents.
When the city was taken over by rebel forces, four of the rebels invaded their home, ransacked everything, and, noticing Jean Luis’ athletic build, tried to force him to fight along side of them as a rebel. The younger brothers begged them to leave him alone, but to no avail.
The rebels were about to leave with Jean Luis, when their leader changed his mind and decided to let him go free. Then the leader whispered to the older sister: “Leave right away because tomorrow we will be back,” and he pointed out the road they should take.
“Would it really be safe to go? Was this only a trap?” they later asked themselves.
They departed at daybreak with no money in their pockets, but with a tiny bit of faith.
They walked for almost thirty miles. Then they found someone who paid for them to ride on a truck that was going in the direction of where their parents were living. On the way, total strangers offered them lodging and something to eat. At border crossings no one checked their documents. Finally, they arrived at the home of their parents.
Their mother recalled: “They were not in very good shape, but they were sure they had been guided continually by the love of God!”
The first thing Jean Luis asked was: “Where is the church?” Then he said to his father: “Dad, your God is really powerful!”
Chiara Lubich
What future lies ahead for a multicultural, multiethnic and multifaith society after the terrorist attempts?
“What future lies ahead for a multicultural, multiethnic and multifaith society?” This is the disquieting question not only of England but of the whole Europe and beyond, after the tragedy that struck the heart of London, the most cosmopolitan city of the Old World on July 7, and Sharm el Sheik in Egypt on July 23.
The question is also the title of the Mariapolis, the summer meeting offered by the Focolare in various parts of the world. That of England started on July 24 at Lake District Windermere, northern England; the participants were about 600, including a group of Muslims.
Just last year, on June 19, 2004, Chiara Lubich gave an answer – which is very timely in these days – to the question about a multicultural society. The occasion was a meeting at Westminster Central Hall, attended by over 2,000 people, including leading Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu personalities. Her message is now being shown through videotape in the various Mariapolis.
Not a clash of civilizations, but the birth of a united world. In front of fears for the future, Chiara Lubich presents St. Augustine’s opinion about the migration of peoples occurring during his times. She indicates dialogue as a preventive measure against terrorism, and the “golden rule,” common to many religions, as the way to achieve it: “Do not do unto others what you wouldn’t want others to do unto you.” In other words: a love that knows how to be one with the other, to the point of “getting into the other’s skin… understanding what it means for the other to be Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu.” This is the way to practice reciprocal inculturation and build a society where “cultures are open to one another … in a profound dialogue of reciprocal love. “ She invites the religions to take the strategy of fraternity in order to heal the gap between rich and poor and effect a turning point in international relations.
A large number of echoes have arrived via e-mail from different countries, from Christians, Muslims and faithful of other religions who participated in the Mariapolis held during the summer months. Here is what they write from Los Angeles, where a group of Muslim friends (followers of W.D. Mohammed, leader of The Mosque Cares) were present at the Mariapolis: “Listening to this message of universal brotherhood together, right after hearing the news of the London terrorist attack, was really a sign of hope. Everyone was strongly impressed to see that among us, universal brotherhood was already a reality.” From the Mariapolis of St. Vith (Belgium), where18 different nationalities were represented, they wrote: “What struck the Muslims most was the experience of God’s presence in the midst of the community through mutual love.” The same experience was made in Amman (Jordan), where a group from Iraq was also present, and in Istanbul. A Muslim ex-military man, now a professor, commented: “Here I have seen brotherhood assume another dimension. All that we’ve heard reminds me of the thoughts of Mevlana (a noted Turkish Muslim mystic).” A Muslim woman remarked: “Here diversity has been transformed into unity. We have experienced the rainbow of peace, coloured by love.”
The Cross and the Synagogue – Jews and Christians in Confrontation
The history of Jewish-Christian relationships is a painful one, made up of centuries of violence and defamation. Only a few decades ago have “elder” and “younger” brothers started to look at each other in the eye and speak to one another. While supporters of dialogue are growing in number among the Jews, Christians are recognizing the Jewish roots of their faith with growing conviction. In Brunori’s book, leading exponents of Judaism and Catholicism share their views with readers as they answer a reporter’s questions about such pressing issues as the role of Pius XII during the Jewish persecution, the figure of John Paul II (considered by the Jews as the best Pope in 20 centuries of Christianity), and the legacy he has left in the hands of his successor Benedict XVI. Other topics dealt with are: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the spread of terrorism and the resurgence of antisemitism, as well as the initiatives and hopes of those who are committed to dialogue and who believe that, finally, open relationships, free of prejudice, are possible. Exponents: Jack Bemporad, Riccardo Di Segni, Xavier Echevarria, Rino Fisichella, Innocenzo Gargano, Ada Janes, Leone Jehuda Kalon, Giuseppe Laras, Chiara Lubich, Amos Luzzatto, David Meghnagi, Jorge Maria Mejía, David Rosen, Manuela Sadun Paggi, Joseph Sievers, Ambrogio Spreafico, Elio Toaff, Maria Vingiani. La Croce e la Sinagoga Ebrei e cristiani a confronto edited by Giovan Battista Brunori Franco Angeli Editore
[:it]Chiara Lubich, i Focolari e gli ebrei
The strength to overcome every difficulty
I’ve been in Turkey for some years now because of my work. I have a lot of free time, so I spend it translating some books of spirituality from Italian to Turkish. I spend hours and days in front of the computer, sweating it out to be able to translate materials of Christian spirituality into the Turkish language – a country without Christian roots. At times I would ask myself if what I was doing wasn’t useless, but then I would entrust all my difficulties to the Father. The work I was doing did have a meaning – that of giving Him my time and efforts.
A change of life
I was about to leave for vacation, when the typographer who printed those books phoned me. “I found out that you’re leaving,” he said, “I need to speak to you urgently.” When he came to see me the next morning, I could hardly recognize him. He had lost weight, he looked run down and his eyes were red, as if he had been crying. I let him in and offered him a cup of coffee. “I’m sorry if I have to disturb you,” he started at once, ”but I feel I cannot but tell you what happened to me. Do you know that the book you asked me to print has changed my whole life? I read it over and over again, and it gave me an unimaginable strength, so much so that I was able to start life all over again. My wife left me a month and a half ago. I couldn’t believe it could happen after 26 years of marriage, but our family has been ruined by witchcraft, the evil eye … By the way, do you believe in these things?”
A strength greater than any difficulty
I answered no, and that I believed instead in the Almighty God who guides our lives. He then said, “This is what I understood, as I read that book. How I wish my wife would read it, too. You know,” he continued, “I got to the point of wanting to commit suicide. I’ve actually tried it twice, without success. I used to be on psychiatric treatment, but now I’ve stopped going and have also stopped taking medicines. I understood that within me I have a greater strength which enables me to overcome all difficulties. The central idea I found in that book is like a treasure that I will always keep close to my heart.”
My friend, the typographer, was slowly discovering a God who is living, who is near and helps those who are in need. I promised him that I would pray for his wife’s return. When he left, he seemed changed, younger and lighter.
R.M. – Turkey
Translated from Quando Dio interviene – Esperienze da tutto il mondo Città Nuova Editrice 2004
‘Offer to the Lord the gold of your lives’
My dear young people! 1. This year we have celebrated the 19th World Youth Day, meditating on the desire expressed by some Greeks who had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover: “We wish to see Jesus” (Jn 12:21). And here we are now, making our way to Cologne where, in August 2005, the 20th World Youth Day is to be celebrated. “We have come to worship him” (Mt 2:2): this is the theme of the next World Youth Day. It is a theme that enables young people from every continent to follow in spirit the path taken by the Magi whose relics, according to a pious tradition, are venerated in this very city, and to meet, as they did, the Messiah of all nations. It is true to say that the light of Christ had already opened the minds and the hearts of the Magi. “They went their way” (Mt 2:9), says the Evangelist, setting out boldly along unknown paths on a long, and by no means easy, journey. They did not hesitate to leave everything behind in order to follow the star that they had seen in the East (cf Mt 2:2). Imitating the Magi, you young people are also making preparations to set out on a “journey” from every region of the world to go to Cologne. It is important for you not only to concern yourselves with the practical arrangements for World Youth Day, but first of all you must carefully prepare yourselves spiritually, in an atmosphere of faith and listening to the Word of God. 2. “And the star… went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was” (Mt 2:9). The Magi reached Bethlehem because they had obediently allowed themselves to be guided by the star. Indeed, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Mt 2:10). It is important, my dear friends, to learn to observe the signs with which God is calling us and guiding us. When we are conscious of being led by Him, our heart experiences authentic and deep joy as well as a powerful desire to meet Him and a persevering strength to follow Him obediently. “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother” (Mt 2:11). There is nothing extraordinary about this at first sight. Yet that Child was different from any other: He is the only Son of God, yet He emptied Himself of His glory (cf Phil 2:7) and came to earth to die on the Cross. He came down among us and became poor in order to reveal to us His divine glory, which we shall contemplate fully in heaven, our blessed home. Who could have invented a greater sign of love? We are left in awe before the mystery of a God who lowered himself to take on our human condition, to the point of giving His life for us on the Cross (cf Phil 2:6-8). In His poverty, – as Saint Paul reminds us – “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9), and came to offer salvation to sinners. How can we give thanks to God for such magnanimous goodness? 3. The Magi found Jesus at “Bêth-lehem” which means “house of bread”. In the humble stable in Bethlehem on some straw lay the “grain of wheat” who, by dying, would bring forth “much fruit” (cf Jn 12:24). When speaking of Himself and His saving mission in the course of His public life, Jesus would later use the image of bread. He would say “I am the bread of life”, “I am the bread which came down from heaven”, “the bread that I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”. (Jn 6: 35.41.51). Faithfully pursuing the path of our Redeemer from the poverty of the Crib to His abandonment on the Cross we can better understand the mystery of His love which redeems humanity. The Child, laid by Mary in the manger, is the Man-God we shall see nailed to the Cross. The same Redeemer is present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the stable at Bethlehem He allowed himself to be worshipped under the humble outward appearances of a newborn baby, by Mary, by Joseph and by the shepherds; in the consecrated Host we adore Him sacramentally present in his body, blood, soul and godhead, and He offers himself to us as the food of eternal life. The Mass then becomes a truly loving encounter with the One who gave himself wholly for us. Do not hesitate, my dear young friends, to respond to Him when He invites you “to the wedding feast of the Lamb (cf Rev 19:9). Listen to him, prepare yourselves properly and draw close to the Sacrament of the Altar, particularly in this Year of the Eucharist (October 2004-2005) which I have proclaimed for the whole Church. 4. “They fell down and worshipped Him” (Mt 2:11). While the Magi acknowledged and worshipped the baby that Mary cradled in her arms as the One awaited by the nations and foretold by prophets, today we can also worship Him in the Eucharist, and acknowledge Him as our Creator, our only Lord and Saviour. “Opening their treasures they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Mt 2:11). The gifts that the Magi offered the Messiah symbolised true worship. With gold, they emphasised His Royal Godhead; with incense, they acknowledged Him as the priest of the New Covenant; by offering Him myrrh, they celebrated the prophet who would shed His own blood to reconcile humanity with the Father. My dear young people, you too offer to the Lord the gold of your lives, namely, your freedom to follow Him out of love, responding faithfully to His call; let the incense of your fervent prayer rise up to him, in praise of His glory; offer Him your myrrh, that is your affection of total gratitude to Him, true Man, who loved us to the point of dying as a criminal on Golgotha. 5. Be worshippers of the only true God, giving Him pride of place in your lives! Idolatry is an ever-present temptation. Sadly, there are those who seek the solution to their problems in religious practices that are incompatible with the Christian faith. There is a strong urge to believe in the facile myths of success and power; it is dangerous to accept the fleeting ideas of the sacred which present God in the form of cosmic energy, or in any other manner that is inconsistent with Catholic teaching. My dear young people, do not yield to false illusions and passing fads which so frequently leave behind a tragic spiritual vacuum! Reject the seduction of wealth, consumerism and the subtle violence sometimes used by the mass media. Worshipping the true God is an authentic act of resistance to all forms of idolatry. Worship Christ: He is the Rock on which to build your future and a world of greater justice and solidarity. Jesus is the Prince of peace: the source of forgiveness and reconciliation, who can make brothers and sisters of all the members of the human family. 6. “And they departed to their own country by another way” (Mt 2:12). The Gospel tells us that after their meeting with Christ, the Magi returned home “by another way”. This change of route can symbolise the conversion to which all those who encounter Jesus are called, in order to become the true worshippers that He desires (cf Jn 4: 23-24). This entails imitating the way He acted by becoming, as the apostle Paul writes, “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”. The apostle then adds that we must not be conformed to the mentality of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of our minds, to “prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (cf Rm 12: 1-2). Listening to Christ and worshipping Him leads us to make courageous choices, to take what are sometimes heroic decisions. Jesus is demanding, because He wishes our genuine happiness. He calls some to give up everything to follow Him in the priestly or consecrated life. Those who hear this invitation must not be afraid to say “yes” and to generously set about following Him as His disciples. But in addition to vocations to special forms of consecration there is also the specific vocation of all baptised Christians: that is also a vocation to that “high standard” of ordinary Christian living which is expressed in holiness (cf Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). When we meet Christ and accept His Gospel, life changes and we are driven to communicate our experience to others. There are so many of our contemporaries who do not yet know the love of God or who are seeking to fill their hearts with trifling substitutes. It is therefore urgently necessary for us to be witnesses to love contemplated in Christ. The invitation to take part in World Youth Day is also extended to you, dear friends, who are not baptised or who do not identify with the Church. Are you not perhaps yearning for the Absolute and in search of “something” to give a meaning to your lives? Turn to Christ and you will not be let down. 7. Dear young people, the Church needs genuine witnesses for the new evangelisation: men and women whose lives have been transformed by meeting with Jesus, men and women who are capable of communicating this experience to others. The Church needs saints. All are called to holiness, and holy people alone can renew humanity. Many have gone before us along this path of Gospel heroism, and I urge you to turn often to them to pray for their intercession. By meeting in Cologne you will learn to become better acquainted with some of them, such as St Boniface, the apostle of Germany, the Saints of Cologne, and in particular Ursula, Albert the Great, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) and Blessed Adolph Kolping. Of these I would like to specifically mention St Albert and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross who, with the same interior attitude as the Magi, were passionate seekers after the truth. They had no hesitation in placing their intellectual abilities at the service of the faith, thereby demonstrating that faith and reason are linked and seek each other. My dear young people as you move forward in spirit towards Cologne, the pope will accompany you with his prayers. May Mary, “Eucharistic woman” and Mother of Wisdom, support you along the way, enlighten your decisions, and teach you to love what is true, good and beautiful. May she lead you all to her Son, who alone can satisfy the innermost yearnings of the human mind and heart. Go with my blessing! Castel Gandolfo, 6 August 2004 JOHN PAUL II
COLOURDOME
The Focolare’s youth, coming from various continents, will communicate their experiences and present some artistic numbers which compliment the catechisms scheduled in Cologne on August 17-18-19, during the World Youth Day, as a preparation for the conclusive day with the Holy Father. “Colourdome” is the name of the initiative of the Youth for a United World, as their contribution to WYD 2005 in Cologne. “Colourdome” aims to express and communicate how the love of the Gospel can colour life, transforming its various aspects. From Tuesday, August 16th to Friday August 19th, the Friedenspark, Park of Peace, in South Central Cologne, along Oberländer Wall, will be transformed into a colourful festival with a central stage, which will be surrounded by 7 areas, each marked by a different colour of the rainbow. With the language of music, theatre, and dance, young people will be invited to meet and exchange reflections and experiences, to celebrate and pray, to relax and participate in sports. Each area will offer a program with various themes: that of the “culture of giving”, dialogue with other religions, the search for the meaning of pain, just to name a few. One of the areas will be dedicated to sports, such as volleyball, street-soccer and various games whose aim is to get to know youth from all over the world. There will be concerts on the center stage every day. A concert by the international band, Gen Rosso, entitled Give Peace a Hand is scheduled for Wednesday evening, August 17th. On Wednesday afternoon, August 17th and Friday afternoon, August 19th , there will be two round table discussions on aid for Tsunami and global solidarity, given by the German Episcopal Conference and the Public Protection (Technisches Hilfswerk).
Interactive areas Red: Time to share for a culture of giving – economy, work, consumerism Orange: Face the world 360� dialogue – dialogue, ethnics, religions Yellow: To be with You suffering has a place – pain, suffering, illness Green: Get the feeling living life to the fullest – sports and leisure time Blue: Discover His Beauty God in culture – art, music, culture Indigo: Think about life vision and planning – society, politics and much more Violet: Hold the line communication and mass media – entertainment, mass media, pubblicity Form more information, email to: sgmu@focolare.org wjt2005@geeintewelt.de
Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of life of July 2005
God is Love (1 Jn 4:8). This certainty is the most solid one to guide our lives when we are assailed by doubts as we face huge natural disasters, the violence that human beings can inflict, our own limits and failures, and the sufferings that touch each of us personally.
That he is Love God has shown us and continues to show us in a thousand ways, giving us creation, life (and all the good things connected with it), redemption through his Son, and the possibility of reaching holiness of life through the Holy Spirit.
God shows us his love constantly: he makes his presence felt in each of our lives, following and sustaining us step by step through our various trials. The psalm that this Word of Life focuses on assures us of this by speaking of the unlimited greatness of God, of his splendor, of his power, and also of his tenderness and immense goodness. He is able to bring about prodigious deeds and, at the same time, to be a most attentive father and be even more thoughtful than a mother.
«The Lord supports all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down»
Every so often, we all have to face difficult and painful situations, both in our personal lives and in our relationships with others. At times we experience complete helplessness. We can find ourselves faced with walls of indifference and self-centeredness, and we are caught off guard by events that seem to overwhelm us.
How many painful situations each of us has to face in life! And how we all feel the need for Someone else to step in! In just such a moment the Word of Life can come to our aid.
Jesus allows us to experience our limitations, not in order to discourage us, but to help us experience the extraordinary power of his grace, which reveals itself in those very moments when we cannot make it on our own strength, so that we can better understand his love. There is one condition, however: that we have complete faith in him, as a small child does in his mother. We need to have boundless trust in him, to feel that we are in the arms of a Father who loves us as we are and for whom everything is possible.
We cannot be deterred even by the knowledge of our mistakes because, being love, God picks us up every time that we fall down, as parents do with their children.
«The Lord supports all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down»
Strengthened by this certainty, we can then entrust every worry to him, every problem, as Scripture invites us to do: “Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you” (1 Pt 5:7).
At the beginning of the Movement, when the Holy Spirit was encouraging us to take our first steps in the way of love, “cast all your worries onto the Father” became a daily exercise for us, one that was frequently repeated during the day.
I remember that I used to say that it’s impossible to hold a burning coal in our hand. You have to immediately get rid of it. With that same quickness, you should cast every worry onto God. I can’t recall any worry that I entrusted to him that he did not take care of.
Of course, it’s not always easy to believe and to believe in his love, but let’s make the effort throughout this month to do so in every instance, even in the most complicated situations. We will witness, time after time, God’s intervention and how he does not forget us, rather he takes care of us. We will experience a power not known before that will release in us new and unimaginable resources.
Chiara Lubich
Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of life of June 2005
While he was coming from Capernaum, Jesus saw a tax collector by the name of Matthew seated at the customs post. Matthew had a job that made him despised by the people, for it placed him in the same category as the loan sharks and those who took advantage of others to amass wealth for themselves. The Scribes and Pharisees put him on the same level as the public sinners, and criticized Jesus for being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” and of eating together with them (Mt 11:19; 9:10).
Jesus, going against all social conventions, called Matthew to follow him and accepted his invitation to dine at his home, as he would later do also with Zaccheus, the head of the tax collectors in Jericho. When questioned about his behavior, Jesus responded that he had come to heal the sick, not the healthy, and to call not the righteous, but sinners. His invitation, also this time, was addressed directly to one of them:
«Follow me»
Jesus had already said these words to Andrew, Peter, James, and John on the shore of the lake. He made the same invitation, using different words, to Paul on the road to Damascus.
But Jesus did not stop there; down through the centuries he has continued to call men and women of every culture and nation. He still does it today: he passes by in our lives, he meets us in quite different places and in different ways, and he makes us feel anew that invitation to follow him.
He calls us to be with him because he wants to build a personal relationship with us, and at the same time he invites us to collaborate with him in his great plan to renew humanity.
He does not care about our weaknesses, our sins, and our limitations. He loves us and chooses us just as we are. His love will then transform us and give us the strength to answer his call and the courage to follow him as Matthew did.
He has a particular love for each one of us, a plan for each person’s life, an individual call. We can feel it in our hearts through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through certain circumstances, or through a piece of advice from someone who cares about us. Even if manifested in different ways, his message spells out the same words:
«Follow me»
I remember when I, too, felt a call from God. It was a very cold winter morning in Trent. My mother asked my younger sister to go and pick up some milk at a place about a mile away from home. Since it was so cold she did not feel like going. My other sister also refused to go. “I’ll go, Mom,” I said, and I picked up the bottle and left the house. Halfway there something peculiar happened: it seemed as though the skies opened up and God reached me with his invitation to follow him. “Give all of yourself to me,” I felt him say in my heart.
It was a clear call that I wanted to answer right away. I spoke with my spiritual advisor about it and he gave me permission to give my life to God forever. It was December 7, 1943. It’s impossible to fully convey what I felt in my heart that day: I had married God. I could expect everything from him.
«Follow me»
This phrase does not only pertain to that specific moment when we make a choice for our lives. Jesus continues to ask us this every day. “Follow me,” he seems to suggest to us as we face our smallest daily chores — “follow me” in that moment of trial we are called to face, in that temptation we have to overcome, in that act of service that needs to be done.
How should we respond concretely?
By doing what God wants from us in the present moment, which always comes accompanied by a particular grace.
Our commitment this month will be, then, to do the will of God with decisiveness; to dedicate ourselves fully to the brothers and sisters that we are called to love, to our work, to our studies, to praying, to resting, and to all the different things we are supposed to do.
Let us learn to listen to the voice of God deep within our hearts, which speaks to us also through the voice of our conscience: he will tell us what he wants from us in every moment, and our part is to be ready to sacrifice everything in order to do it.
“Let us love you, O God, not only more each day, for the days that remain may be few, but let us love you in every present moment with all our hearts, souls, and strength in whatever is your will.”
This is the best way to follow Jesus.
Chiara Lubich
[:it]L’esperienza dell’Eucaristia nel Movimento dei Focolari
[:it]L’Eucaristia: il sacramento dell’unità[:fr]L’Eucharistie, sacrement d’unité
“Sent out,” even from a hospital bed
When my illness became worse, I had to be confined to the hospital again. I was quite weak and everything I did demanded almost unbearable effort. The continual check-ups and treatments were attempts at a cure, so I had to make a leap in the dark again and again, and put myself in God’s hands as I followed the doctors’ instructions each time they had a new idea for me. One weekend, I found myself alone in the ward: I could finally rest and take a breather! I knew that the next Tuesday, the room would be full again. So I prepared myself, promising Jesus to see and love Him alone in the new patients, whoever they might be. I wanted to immerse myself in the Word of God, since to be able to proclaim the Gospel I first had to be evangelized myself. And God did take me at my word! The ward filled up. At the beginning I panicked; it was worse than I expected. There was never a single moment of silence and I went through sleepless nights. Had I not known the value of the present moment, I would never have made it! I felt like someone “sent out”: even from my hospital bed, I could let God’s love reach the doctors and patients around me. Slowly, I learned to discover their positive side, the values they possessed, beyond their intimidating appearance which used to be so hard for me to take. Out of the blue, one of them remarked how important it was for her to have good relationships with her roommates, and then she said to me, “But we do get along very well, don’t we?” She had no inkling therefore that I was having a hard time, and she felt at ease with me. I realized how important it is not to stop at one’s personal limitations, but take courage and love, trusting that God will take care of the rest. I experienced how much one grows and gets stronger spiritually. My three – week experience had its fruits. My physiotherapist was amazed at seeing me so cheerful. The doctors appreciated me because they felt free to prescribe the treatments they deemed useful for me. An ex-roommate came to bring me a gift and told me she had gone to church to pray that I might not have to undergo chemotherapy, as was forewarned. Now I’m back home, experiencing a new peace and serenity. (M. – Germany) Translated from “Quando Dio interviene. Esperienze da tutto il mondo” – Città Nuova 2004
[:it]Messaggio di Chiara Lubich
[:it]Introduzione del prof. Giuseppe M. Zanghì
“Love of God and neighbour in the Jewish and Christian traditions”
Not a conflict of cultures but “a harmonious composition of differences” where the inexhaustible and infinite richness of God are brought to light, and greater commitment to dialogue and to getting to know one another more deeply is pledged.” This was the message read at the first international Jewish-Christian symposium promoted by the Focolare Movement, from May 23-26. The participants met at Castelgandolfo, on the theme “Love of God and neighbour in the Jewish and Christian traditions.” Addressing the symposium, Cardinal Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, defined the developments in Jewish-Christian dialogue as “amazing.” After recalling the gestures of John Paul II, he mentioned how, immediately after his election, Pope Benedict XVI declared his intention to continue to pursue this dialogue. “I’ve known Pope Ratzinger for 40 years now,” Kasper said. “He has written much about Jewish-Christian relationships and made many important theological contributions. He has this dialogue very much at heart.” For the future, Pope Ratzinger pointed out three challenges to be faced: “We must do all we can to know each other,” deepen theological research, each on the other’s faith, and ‘collaborate’ in efforts to alleviate poverty, and uphold human values and the family.” All that has been accomplished needs to be transmitted to the new generations. The symposium started on May 23 with Chiara Lubich’s welcoming message. The Focolare foundress related her personal experience. “I assure you,” she said, “that to me, it seems the Holy Spirit hovers over such meetings; and even more so in this one for Jews and Christians!” Giuseppe Zanghì, co-director of the Focolare Center for Interreligious Dialogue – observed that the “tone” of the symposium is one of “reciprocal openness in a listening attitude which leads to knowing one another at the very source of love,” that love among us where “the prophets’ promises of peace find their fulfilment.” On the Jewish side, Ibraham Skorka, rector of the Latin American Rabbinic Seminary of Buenos Aires (Argentina), elaborated on “The concept of the human being.” Jack Bemporad, director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding of New York, and Gerard Rossé, biblical theologian, dealt on the theme “God’s presence and God’s silence.” Among the Catholic exponents were Piero Coda and Jesús Castellano. The Focolare Movement’s dialogue with the faithful of the Jewish religion began several decades ago. Particularly important was the meeting of 1998 in Buenos Aires between Chiara Lubich and one of the largest Jewish communities of Latin America. The participants of the symposium attended the General Audience at St. Peter’s Square. Fabrizio Mastrofini – Avvenire – May 25, 2005
[:it]Un dono immenso l’annuncio dell’immediato inizio della causa di beatificazione di Papa Wojtyla
[:it]Una famiglia di popoli fratelli[:es]Tiempo de fraternidad
A time for fraternity
A time for fraternity at Loppiano, the “young” city Often defined as “a laboratory of fraternity,” Loppiano – the little town of the Focolare situated in the province of Florence, Italy – with its citizens coming from every nation and race, served as a backdrop to the celebration of May 1st. Since this tradition began 35 years ago, it has seen the participation of a total of over 150,000 young people. Fraternity was the program of the day, all lit up by a radiant sun. The over 5,000 young people who arrived from all over Italy, from Western and Eastern Europe, from Algeria, Africa and Asia, were distributed in four different workshops: that of sports entitled: “Fraternity: a game that requires teamwork”; that of the media: “Fraternity Online”; of Politics: “Liberty, equality … and fraternity?”; and lastly, that of art, entitled “FraternArt.” The workshops offered a forum for the exchange of experiences on how fraternity is practiced in different countries. The telephone link-up with the Holy Land in the afternoon gave a planetary dimension to fraternity’s journey in time. Fraternity – motor of a world at peace, a united world Chiara Lubich sent a message to the young people gathered at Loppiano and at the little town “Arco Iris” in Lisbon, Portugal. In her message she wished that everyone may respond to the challenge of fraternity, “the motor of a world at peace and a united world.” “In a world restlessly searching for God, that believes only in the things it can touch, it is possible to make room for Jesus himself, drawing him to us, to the point that he makes himself present in our midst.” How? “By practicing the art of loving 100%, until the presence of Jesus in your midst is felt everywhere, there where you find yourselves and where the Risen Jesus will fill you with his gifts – a joy you have never known before, a peace you have never experienced, an abundance of light, so that you can bring the world together in unity.” Lisbon: the worldwide web of unity Lisbon was the venue of the youth meeting on May 1st. They were about 1,000 coming from Portugal, Spain and Timor. The program of the day was all said in the title: www.deunidade. In the Iberian peninsula, memories are still vivid of the March 11 tragedy in Madrid, but the experiences of those who lived through the difficult experience of post-March 11 brought to light that it is possible to forgive; in fact, this is the only way to build true fraternity among people of different religions. And this is true not only in one’s own country but throughout the world, which can thus be enveloped in a net of love. Special guest at the meeting: Imam Allal Bachar of Spain.
[:it]Vite vissute all’insegna di un mondo più unito[:es]Vida vivida tras un mundo más unido
[:it]Un e-mail per risalire la china
“Flying high is possible” with the sharing factor in business
“Flying high is possible”
A group of young people experienced this when they met together to exchange ideas with seasoned entrepreneurs in several fruitful workshops. The entrepreneurs shared their past experiences in the business world, even the painful ones, and the youth with enthusiasm and curiosity encouraged them to live the ideals of the Economy of Communion (EoC) in an even more radical way. “From the youth we received more than what we gave,” was the comment of one of the entrepreneurs.
Fraternity is the “plus” of the EoC manager
The workshops were based on the talks delivered by Cecilia Cantone Manzo, president of EoC s.p.a., the society that manages the Lionello Business Park, and by Prof. Luigino Bruni, who described the ideal EoC manager, pointing out that fostering fraternity should be one of his or her positive traits along with all the other qualities required of an entrepreneur, namely the ability to risk, to innovate, and to carry out a project.
A push to do business innovatively
A group of experts presented the typical problems that can arise, considering them from the point of view of the “culture of giving.” The subject proved to be of great interest to the young participants, who were struck by the novelty of such an entrepreneurship. A student from Naples remarked, “Coming here reinforced our will to do business, to do something new.” The youth expressed the request that a similar appointment at Loppiano be repeated every 6 months.
Unexpected progress in business management
On April 24, the meeting opened its doors to other entrepreneurs. One of them, a native of Piedmont, Italy [a province known for its business-minded population] shared his experience saying, “In spite of the difficulties and the general economic crisis, we have seen a continuous and notable increase in sales. It’s been my experience that the Gospel’s ‘hundredfold’ never comes in a big, cumbersome package (the kind that winning a lottery would mean, for example), which can also ruin the harmony of normal daily life. The ‘hundredfold’ arrives in a very discreet way. Many times our financial officer – at about mid-year, for example – would warn us of a borderline situation. We would just go on working, with renewed sprint, and at year-end, to our real surprise, he would announce that beyond our every expectation, our business had made progress.”
Chiara Lubich's commentary on the Word of life of May 2005
It was the evening of Easter Sunday. The risen Jesus had already appeared to Mary of Magdala; Peter and John had seen the empty tomb. And yet, the disciples continued to remain shut up in the house, paralyzed by fear. Then, even though the doors were locked, the Risen Lord appeared in their midst, for no barrier could separate him from his friends any longer.
Jesus had left but, as he had promised, he was returning to stay with them forever: “He came and stood in their midst” (Jn 20:19). It was not a fleeting apparition, but a permanent presence! From that moment on, the disciples would no longer be alone and their fear would be replaced by a deep joy: “The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord”(Jn 20:20). The Risen Lord opened wide their hearts and the doors of their homes onto the whole world, saying to them:
«As the Father has sent me, so I send you»
Jesus had been sent by the Father to reconcile everyone with God and reunite humanity. Now it was up to his disciples to build up the Church. As Jesus had been able to fulfill the Father’s plan because he was one with him, so too would they be empowered to bring ahead this lofty mission because the Risen Lord was in them. “I in them”(Jn 17:23), Jesus had asked the Father.
From the Father to Jesus, from Jesus to the apostles, from the apostles to their successors, this mandate never waned.
But every Christian needs to hear these words of Jesus resonating in his or her heart. In fact, “there is a diversity of ministries in the Church, but unity of mission” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2).
«As the Father has sent me, so I send you»
To fulfill this mandate of the Lord, we have to act in such a way that he may live in us. How? By being living members of the Church, by being one with the word of God, and by evangelizing ourselves first of all.
It is one of the duties that John Paul II called “a new evangelization.” “To nourish ourselves with the word,” he wrote, “in order to be ‘servants of the word’ in the work of evangelization: this is surely a priority for the Church at the dawn of the new millennium” (Novo Millennium Ineunte, n. 40), because “only a person who has been renewed” by the “law of love of Christ and the light of the Holy Spirit can bring about a true metánoia [conversion] in the minds and hearts of other people, in the fabric of a society, in a nation or in the world” (To the pilgrims of the diocese of Torun, Poland, February 19, 1998).
Nowadays, words are not enough. “Humanity today would rather hear witnesses than teachers,” noted Paul VI, “and if teachers are heard, it is because they themselves are the example of what they teach” (General Audience, October 2, 1974). The proclamation of the Gospel will be effective if it is based on a witness of life, such as that given by the first Christians who could say that they preached “what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes” (1 Jn 1:1). The Gospel would be effective if what was said of them could be said of us: “Look at how they love one another, and how they are ready to lay down their lives for each other” (Tertullian, Apology, 39,7). It will be effective if we make our love concrete by giving and responding to those in need, and if we feed, clothe, and give lodging to those who are homeless, offer friendship to those who are alone and desperate, and provide support to those undergoing a time of trial.
Living in this way we will allow others to experience what a captivating figure Jesus is and, by becoming like Christ, we will give our contribution to the continuation of his work.
«As the Father has sent me, so I send you»
This was the experience of some of our doctors and nurses after they learned in 1996 about the situation in Cameroon, Africa of the noble Bangwa people, whose illnesses, with their 90% infant mortality rate, threatened their very extinction.
Our doctors and nurses went to live with those people and felt that their first duty was to maintain their mutual love so as to bear witness to the Gospel. They loved one person at a time without making any distinctions. They offered their professional expertise and opened up a medical clinic that soon grew into a hospital. The infant mortality was reduced to 2%. In the middle of the forest an electrical power plant was built. Then came a school for elementary and high school levels. Over time and with the help of the Bangwa people, twelve roads were constructed that connected them with other villages.
Concrete love is contagious: a considerable portion of the population began to live this new Gospel-based life. Villages that were often in conflict with each other were reconciled. Land disputes were resolved in harmony. A number of tribal leaders formulated a pact of mutual love between them and began to live in brotherhood, offering in their exchange of gifts a wonderful witness, an example that was both original and authentic.
Chiara Lubich
The experience of Islamo-Christian dialogue in the Focolare Movement
This experience began around 40 years ago in Tlemcen, Algeria, where the focolarini received the gift of an abbey built in Arabian style by the Benedictine fathers with the intention of making it into a center of dialogue with the Muslim world. From the initial contacts, both Christians and Muslims were impressed by the affinity between the two religions which have their origins in Abraham, for example on such points as believing in only one God, most clement and merciful, total dedication to the will of God, high esteem for Jesus and for Mary, his mother.
In close contact with the focolare centers are over a thousand Muslims in many countries of the world. Among them are Imams, practicing believers and other Muslims who, due to their meeting with the Movement and in sharing its spirit of unity, have gone back to the practice of the five pillars of Islam. In fact, the effect of dialogue is not syncretism, but the rediscovery of one’s own religious roots, of that which unites us.
Pope John Paul II once said at Madras in 1986: “Through dialogue, we let God be present in our midst, because while we open ourselves to dialogue with each other, we also open ourselves to God. The fruit of union among human beings is union with God.” Dialogue also strengthens the commitment to bring unity and peace especially wherever violence and racial and religious intolerance try to create a breach among the components of society.
[:it]Chi è Dio per noi "Ma’ Arifatu Allahi Bialnisbati Lana"
![[:it]Familyfest 2005… al Papa della famiglia[:es]Familyfest 2005… al Papa de la familia[:pt]Mensagem de Chiara Lubich às famílias](https://10.0.0.128/2010focolare/img/hr.gif)
[:it]Familyfest 2005… al Papa della famiglia[:es]Familyfest 2005… al Papa de la familia[:pt]Mensagem de Chiara Lubich às famílias
Familyfest 2005 … to the Pope for the family Family 11/05/2005 
Dearest families gathered in Rome and in many parts of the world for FAMILYFEST! After a long absence, through this brief message I want to be present with you all today. Thank you for your generosity and your active participation in this event, which you want to be a tribute to our unforgettable Pope John Paul II, who, in our mind, is already a saint. Our meeting today is also an opportunity, among other things, to give maximum visibility to the model of the family that John Paul II envisioned and taught us to live, that is, a family based on values drawn from the Christian faith. The source of these values is authentic love, which comes from the very heart of God. It is therefore a love that never ends, is the first to love everyone, knows how to forgive, is fruitful and is open to life, to those who are the weakest, to the full sharing of goods and to solidarity with all. These values can also be found in the major world religions and cultures, and therefore, reflect the deepest aspirations of every man and woman on earth. Thus the family, which is called to live mutual love in all cultures and in every environment, becomes the source of social relationships, promoting basic human values and universal brotherhood. My hope is that you may all be like this, that you may always and everywhere be witnesses to the love that builds peace. In this way, we will draw closer to the day when “all will be one” on earth. Let’s live for this great Ideal together! Dearest families all over the world, I hope to see you very soon
[:it]Familyfest 2005… al Papa della famiglia
Familyfest 2005 … to the Pope for the family
“Love builds peace,” the guideline of John Paul II’s pontificate, was the leitmotif of the Familyfest 2005. At Campidoglio, two mothers from Jerusalem shared their experience of how friendship is possible between opposing factions such as Israelis and Palestinians. Along this theme, one of the 9 link-ups during the broadcast was dedicated to the Soweto district of Johannesburg, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid was launched, and another link-up to Zagreb, in Southeastern Europe, a flash point which the Pope twice visited. The Familyfest audience of 4,000 in Zagreb consisted not only of Croatian Catholics but also of Muslims from Bosnia. When love burns out – The Familyfest was not only a festive international event which also focused on solidarity. It also dealt with the winter of crisis, one of the sorrowful “seasons” that many families are going through. “Through marriage a man and a woman are no longer two but one. To divide after having been so united means to make each other bleed to death. It means death.” These are the words of Igino Giordani, writer, journalist, politician, father of four, and first director of New Families, which resounded in the square. “To conserve married love, there is no more cohesive force than love, the kind of love that comes from the love of God, which is superior to nature’s vicissitudes and human moods… Spouses who lose time not loving each other are two persons who lose time dying.” A Spanish couple shared their struggle towards rebirth after the drama of division.
The experience of suffering – A couple of journalists – the husband an Italian, and the wife an American – shared their precious experience of a relentless illness from which their life now draws a new fullness, as John Paul II wrote in his testament. “To live life to the full,” the woman said, “one must be constantly aware of death…. We have learned to look suffering in the face, and that face has a name for us: Jesus who accepts being nailed to the cross and feeling abandoned by God, in order to unleash his gifts onto the world.” Gifts that turn into a living experience of “light, joy, and serenity, into a quality of life superior to the quantity of time I may have left in my life.” “We do not want our marriage to be a closed door to the rest of the world; we want to share happiness with the less fortunate.” This was the witness shared by a young couple (ages 21 and 24), who spent their honeymoon among the orphans of AIDS in Tanzania, who were the beneficiaries of the sum of money which represented the wedding gifts the couple would have received.
Solidarity – No, it’s not a sporadic fact. For 25 years now, New Families has facilitated 14,000 adoptions-at-a-distance. Another solidarity project was now launched at Familyfest 2005: “One family, one house project,” which aims to give a home to needy families in the Philippines, as well as to tsunami victims in Thailand and Sri Lanka. The project was an idea which came from the poor families themselves. Contributions can be sent through Bank Account no. 888885 under the name of Associazione Azione per Famiglie Nuove, Banca Intesa: CIN T ABI 03069 CAB 05092. Chiara Lubich’s message – The last word of the Familyfest was reserved for Chiara Lubich’s message: “Indeed, the spring of true love wells up from God’s love, which in turn makes of the family a source of social life, a seedbed of universal brotherhood.” Chiara’s wish for all is “to be witnesses of this love everywhere, so that the time when ‘that all may be one’ may soon come.”
[:it]La gioia di Chiara Lubich e del Movimento dei Focolari per l’elezione del nuovo Papa
Igino Giordani: the wellspring of love
Igino Giordani, writer and journalist, politician, husband and father of 4 children, was also the first director of New Families and is considered a co-founder of the Focolare Movement. His cause for beatification began last year. Two commissions were set up to examine his writings (over a hundred books and four thousand articles): a historical commission and a theological one. We want to remember him today, 25 years after the end of his earthly life, with one of his prose works, which was recited during the live broadcast of Familyfest 2005 by RAI International last April 16. The wellspring of love – Igino Giordani “Through marriage a man and a woman are no longer two but one. To divide after having been so united means to make each other bleed to death. It means death. To conserve married love, there is no cohesive force other than love, but the kind of love that comes from the love of God, which is superior to nature’s vicissitudes and human moods.
Looking at my own life, I have to conclude that the success of marriage depends on the measure in which this kind of love is achieved. The value of marriage lies primarily in this, and not in a bank account, not in well-being or success, and not even in physical attractiveness. Marriage becomes love’s tomb when the physical attractions exchanged out of love are exhausted and its vivifying spirit is lacking.
To love each other more and more each day, to ignore each other’s defects, to ignore the wrongs one has been subjected to, to forgive always, to love each other over and over again… Then life becomes a joy. What purpose do indifference and selfishness serve? They only create hell on earth. Spouses who lose time not loving each other are two persons who lose time dying. Instead, if they love one another, then God passes between them. It is then that the home becomes a dwelling place of happiness, even in the midst of the greatest trials.
Ecumenical dialogue: one of the priorities of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate
Since the death of John Paul II, Christians of different traditions who are in contact with the Focolare Movement have continued to express deep feelings for him. Ecumenical dialogue was indeed one of the priorities of his pontificate. Orthodox ITALY “He was a charismatic person, a man of inestimable worth who was loved by all. The Holy Spirit enlightened him and us as well, in following the will of God along the same line: “That all may be one.” (Metropolite Gennadios Zervos, Orthodox Archbishop of Italy, ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) SLOVENIA “He was an extraordinary person. The Serbian Church is in mourning, too.” (Protoierei Boskovic) ARGENTINA “Torch of living light, tireless traveler in his search for visible unity among Christians … As a Greek-Orthodox, I have met him and loved him: a saintly man, a Pope, “elder brother” of His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I – as the Patriarch himself said.” (Lic. Elias Crisostomo Abramides, Buenos Aires, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) Armenians UNITED STATES “All Christians can be proud of him.” (Fr. Khatchadourian, parish priest, Los Angeles) Evangelical Lutherans GERMANY “In his speeches and Apostolic Letters, John Paul II always based himself in Sacred Scriptures, and this made him closer to us. Also the Pope’s openness towards the Movements and new ecclesial communities is admirable.” (Pastor Gottlob Hess, Common Life Fraternity) “With growing evidence we could see that Pope John Paul II wanted to accelerate the ecumenical process. Ecumenism for him was not a secondary issue; and to this he had borne a convincing witness.” (Walter Pollmer, Fraternity of the Cross) “I am grateful to John Paul II for his profoundly Biblical anthropology, which gave justice to the human person.” (Günter Rattey, Fraternity of the Cross) “After the historic encounter with the Pope in 1998, his affirmation that the charismatic dimension (which is significantly expressed by the movements) and the institutional dimension are co-essential to the constitution of the Church has given an impulse to spiritual ecumenism. When some of the leaders of Evangelical movements in Germany were informed of this, they exclaimed, “So the Pope understands us!” (Konrad Herdegen, YMCA of Nuremberg) “It is with immense gratitude that we remember the past years with appreciation for the initiatives of the Holy Father, which has led to the marvelous witness of the Stuttgart event, “Together for Europe,” on May 8, 2005.” (Helmut Nicklas and Gerhard Pross) GUATEMALA “This man is really a saint.” (Edna Cardona de Morales) Swedish Lutherans SWEDEN “Perhaps his most significant testimony is that of these last years and weeks, when he bore his physical weakness with unceasing love for his people and his Church. Thus he set an example… With great gratitude Christendom can bear witness to the fact that the Pope had truly lived for God’s glory with his faith, his conviction and his piety.” (Archbishop emeritus, Gunnar Weman) Christians of the Reformed Church SWITZERLAND “In his unique vocation he was brother and father also for us, a model of courage in speaking and acting according to God, and nothing else. Thus he became a crystal-clear incarnation of our Christian conscience in society.” (Atty. Kathrin Reusser, Zurich) RUMANIA “I was fortunate enough to meet him personally, even if only for a few moments. The audience at St. Peter’s at least 20 years ago was unforgettable. We were a group of participants in a meeting organized by the Centro Uno (the ecumenical center of the Focolare Movement) and we were in the front row when the Pope passed. He recognized our group. “We believe the unity of the Church will come about,” I said. The Pope answered, “I hope so, too.” He went on walking, and with a louder voice I said, “We firmly believe it!” He stopped, he turned again, looked at us and said, “You have to be the ones to do it.” You have to be the ones to do it. The Church’s unity was certainly one of his most impassioned aspirations. The way of unity needs the impetus of the Holy Spirit at the grassroots, among the people. This is what I felt beneath his words. It is a task he entrusted to many people in many ways. (Prof. Stefan Tobler, Sibiu). Anglicans USA “He was truly a fascinating leader. He faced topics which nobody else wanted to face. It’s not that I agreed with him all the time, but I have never doubted his good faith, his desire to reach out to others and seek what is good, going beyond doctrinal differences. He leaves us with a most precious legacy.” (Rev. Chuck Kramer, President of the Clergy’s Ecumenical Association, Hyde Park, New York) “He has encouraged me to live a better life.” (Dr. Shirley Jones, Albany, New York) URUGUAY “We live these moments with you with prayer in our hearts for this great Pope who worked so hard for unity,” (Bishop Miguel Tamayo) GREAT BRITAIN “The Pope had a very important role in ecumenism as well. He brought about a big change: he lived the Papacy as a world authority. When he gathered the leaders of different religions, we saw in him the universal Pastor. This image is more acceptable than the image given in the past. (Rev. Callan Slipper, ecumenical delegate of the Anglican diocese of northwest London) Methodist SOUTH AFRICA “I feel a great gratitude for the Pope in a special way for all he did for ecumenism. Some years ago I had the chance to greet him in Rome. From then on, I felt that John Paul II did not belong only to the Catholic Church, but that he belonged to all of us. I think he has fulfilled God’s plan on him completely.” (Em Beardal, volunteer) “After attending the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, my wife and I began to see the Pope in a positive, new light. We began to pray for him. During these last days we accompanied him by reciting the “Our Father,” the prayer of unity. (Dr. Welile Shasha – director of the World Health Association for South Africa) USA “I cannot find the words… certainly, he is in our thoughts. One of the legacies he has left, worth remembering, and which I particularly appreciate, is his constant effort to build bridges of dialogue with other Christians and with members of other religions.” (Pastor Jim Moore, Hyde Park, New York) Presbyterians BRAZIL “What a great man! I admire him for the way he worked for peace.” (Pastor Marcio Moreira, Sao Paulo) Mennonites GUATEMALA “Let us thank God for John Paul II’s life, his vision of how to strengthen ecumenical dialogue in order to cancel the scandal of division and insist on the urgent need for Christian unity.” (Prof. Mario Higueros)
John Paul II: a great Pope, a great saint!
John Paul II: a great Pope, a great saint!
The charism of the Pope
03/04/2005
A great Pope, a great saint has truly left us! Oh how I long for the return of a time when sanctity was proclaimed by popular demand. The young people would be first in line!
His holiness. I too can testify to this from personal experience. Often, after an audience with him, I felt that heaven had opened up. I felt that I was directly linked up to God in the most profound union with Him and without any intermediary. And this is because the Pope is a mediator but when he has joined you to God he disappears. He uses the keys to open up heaven for us not just through cancelling our sins but also through facilitating our union with God.
How else can you perhaps explain that joy, that enthusiasm, that appeal that the Pope has always exerted on young people, on the millions of men and women of every race, culture, religion and creed that he has met all over the world? How else can you explain the complete turnabouts in history for which he has been instrumental over the last 27 years? This Pope communicated God and He “makes all things new”. As he became more and more burdened by suffering, this communication of God’s presence became stronger and stronger right to the last moment of his life.
However in this moment I have to also express my deepest thanks for the many other doors opened by those keys: the Pope has always thrown the doors wide open to the novelties of the Spirit which he has recognised too in our Movement, by giving his continuous encouragement and support and by acknowledging the Movement as a gift of God and hope for humanity.
[:it]Infinita gratitudine
Gratitude and great warmth towards John Paul II from Jews, Muslims and Buddhists
Following the Pope’s death, reflections about him continue to arrive from the Focolares all over the world. The way in which our Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist friends have shared closely in this moment, expressing their gratitude towards John Paul II, has been particularly significant. Below are some extracts: The Jewish world Thoughts from our Jewish friends in Argentina and Uruguay – “The Pope’s approach built bridges” (Rabbi Daniel Goldman – Buenos Aires) – “There will be a “before and after” in history thanks to John Paul II” (Rabbi Arian Herbst – Buenos Aires) – “The Pope was the one who most worked for Judaeo-Christian dialogue. His greatness lays in asking forgiveness for the errors committed in the past and since he defined us “older brothers”, today we can say that “our older brother John Paul II is dying” (Abraham Kaul, the President of AIMA, the Mutual Jewish Argentinean Association) – “The Jewish people have never had such strong feelings for a Pope and for what he has done for us” (a Jewish friend from the Commission of Women Jewish Associations, Uruguay). The Muslim world Thoughts from Turkey, Algeria and the United States Our Muslim friends were the first ones to contact the focolare of Istanbul in Turkey. – A woman who was very moved said: “It seems that my soul, part of me, has left”. – A student: “I pray to God not to leave us bereft of people like Him…Like all the people in the world I too am close to you in this suffering and I pray with all my Christian friends”. From Algeria: A Muslim couple remembered that the Pope had been to Morocco and that he had struck people because of his openness in front of 10,000 young people in Casablanca. This morning they said to us: “The Pope is a saint! He has done so much for the world and he had so much courage. He did what God wanted. He was against divisions and wars. He has been a Father to us”. Reflections have reached us from some Imams in the United States with whom the local focolares are in contact: – “The “essence” of Christ lived in John Paul II. He served all people, not only Catholics, extending his hand to all so that they could live a better life. He knocked on the doors of the consciences of world leaders so that they could acknowledge their duty to do more for people suffering in every part of the globe. This really appealed to me and I have communicated it to my followers” (Imam W.D. Mohammed – leader of 2 million Afro-American Muslims. – “I felt that I had a personal relationship with this Pope. I especially appreciated his words to the world after September 11th when he said that what had happened had nothing to do with religion. This was very encouraging and moving. I looked on him as a brother, a friend, a member of the family. I will miss him, but I know that what he has started will live forever”. (Imam Sultan Salahuddin, Chicago) – “I cannot think of a person in recent history who was so great and made such an impact on society and the world. He worked to draw the best out of humanity”. (Imam Bilal Muhammed, Kansas City) – “His life, what he accomplished and his actions have changed the way that the world looks on the different ethnic groups. I have been observing him for years and I have seen the changes that occurred have been like a chain reaction in the whole of humanity. I appreciated the fact that he embraced Islam during a time when it was not very acceptable to approach us”. (Ijlal Munir, a Muslim and manager of a firm of W.D. Mohammed, Chicago) – “John Paul had a spiritual strength which went beyond religious barriers. He had a phenomenal, spiritual influence which touched everyone” (Dr Imam Mikal Ramadam, Chicago) – “Pope John Paul II is one of the great marvellous signs in history of the love for humanity of the Great Merciful, Great Benefactor. With his courageous defence of liberty, justice and equality among the members of the human family, John Paul II helped us recall our individual and collective responsibility to use the resources which God has given us for the service of humanity”. (Imam Malik Shabazz, Imam of the Beacon mosque – New York): The Buddhist world Thoughts from Japan and Thailand: From the focolare of Tokyo: “Our Buddhist friends are living this experience with us in such a warm and intense way”. – “Now the whole world is praying for John Paul II, a very great figure in history, an exceptional leader for peace because in him they see God” (Rev. Nissho Takeuchi, of Nichirensu, Myokenkakuji Temple – Osaka) – A Buddhist who has been to Rome and met the Pope: “My little girl is 9 years old now and when she was tiny the Pope caressed her head. I can still see before my eyes the figure of John Paul II who made us feel his warmth even if we were not Christians. As a man, me too I want to live my life following the heart of the Pope. The only words that come to me are “thank you”. And may he rest in peace.” (Koichi Kawamoto, of the Risso Kosei Kai Movement) – “The figure of the Pope has been a model of life for me. I saw the Pope during a public audience in St Peter’s Square. He greeted the sick people first or those in wheelchairs and he seemed to have all the time in the world for them. I saw that he did this with such love that I realised the existence of these people was something “precious” for the Pope. When I got back to Japan I wanted to do the same thing and follow his example: I called the disabled or sick people of the Buddhist temples who were entrusted to me to greet them and get to know them”. (Rev. Yasuo Koike – responsible of the Rissho Kosei Kai of Chiba, near Tokyo) Our Buddhist friends of the Focolare Movement in Thailand are united to the Christian world in praying for the Pope with affection and deep respect and they make us aware of their spiritual closeness. – In the hall of the Grand Master Ajhan Thong, in Chiang Mai, there is a huge photograph of him together with the Holy Father during an audience in the Vatican. Since that moment he has often spoken to his followers of the spiritual greatness of the Pope for the whole world. He prayed for the Pope in a special way over the last few days. – In a telephone call, the monk Phramaha Thongrat said to us: “The Pope is not just a big brother, he is my Father!” (The Thai Buddhists call people of great spirituality who are important guides for their lives “father” or mother”). And he wanted to dedicate a poem to him: My father left for Paradise
During the long years when my father dwelled in the Vatican Beauty shone and joy reigned. Today without him the city is empty. Dismay, pain and tears: everything speaks of his immense love. Yes, love is the word, which he proclaimed to the whole world. His message has changed the course of every man. His inheritance will endure for all time, reaching the ends of the earth: The foundation for true peace, for a world, which will never know evil again. Today my father left for Paradise; he finished his earthly journey and he has gone away. But his heart will always be full of overflowing joy. My father has shown us the way of the wise that leads to eternal wisdom. Phramaha Thongrat, Buddhist monk