[:it]Giornata dell’Interdipendenza. "Le persone, i popoli, gli stati per un mondo più unito"

Sep 9, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Fraternity in: Utopia or Necessity?

Sep 8, 2004 | Non categorizzato

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Swiss Constitution in 1998, I was invited by the “Visions for the Future of Switzerland” Committee to speak right here in Bern on the Federal Day of Reflection. It was an honor for me, an Italian, and therefore a foreigner in this country, to address such a distinguished assembly representative of all of Switzerland. It was indeed a joy for me to do so because I have loved Switzerland for decades, and I consider it to be my second homeland. Likewise, it is a joy for me today to address you, men and women with various commitments in the field of politics. I would especially like to thank the group of politicians on the organizing committee for this day. After having promoted in March 2003, a very successful day gathering in Martigny, followed by various meetings on the local level, they wished to take advantage of the upcoming autumn session of the federal Houses to organize today’s meeting. The subject I have been asked to address today is “Fraternity in Politics: Utopia or Necessity?” My hope is that this talk may demonstrate the need for fraternity and the possibility of achieving it in politics. These three: “liberty, equality and fraternity”, are almost a summary of the political agenda of the modern world, and express a deep intuition and lead us today to a profound reflection: what point have we reached in achieving these great aspirations? The French Revolution produced these three principles but it certainly did not invent them. They had already begun their difficult journey through the centuries, above all through the Christian message which illuminated what was best in the ancient world and the heritage of Jewish revelation, bringing about an authentic revolution. The new humanism brought by Christ enabled people to live these principles to the full. From that time on, and down through the centuries, the richness of these principles has been revealed through the works of men and women. Liberty and equality have deeply influenced the political history of peoples leading to the enrichment of civilization and creating such conditions that the dignity of the human person could be expressed more and more. Liberty and equality have become juridical principles and are applied every day as genuine political categories. But if liberty only is emphasised, it can become the privilege of the strongest, as we well know. If equality only is emphasised, then, as history has shown, it can result in a mass collectivism. In reality, many peoples still do not benefit from the true meaning of liberty and equality. How can these two, once acquired, be brought to fruition? How can the history of our countries and all humankind be put back on track towards their true destiny? We believe that the key lies in universal fraternity, in giving this the proper place among fundamental political categories. Only if each of the three principles is given its proper importance can they give rise to a politics that can meet the challenges of today’s world. Rarely has our planet experienced the suspicion, fear and even terror of our times. We just have to remember nine-eleven (September 11, 2001), and more recently, March 11, 2004, (in Madrid) without forgetting the hundreds of attacks which, in the last few years, have filled our daily news reports. Terrorism – a calamity just as serious as the dozens of wars which still lead to bloodshed all over the world! But what are the causes? There are many, but we must recognize that one of the deepest causes is the economic and social imbalance between rich and poor countries. This imbalance generates resentment, hostility and revenge, thus providing a breeding ground for fundamentalism which is more inclined to take hold in such terrain. Now, if this is how things are, war is certainly not the way to reduce and put an end to terrorism. We need to follow the paths of dialogue, both political and diplomatic. But this is not enough. We need to promote solidarity among everyone in the world and a more equitable sharing of goods. It goes without saying that there are many more burning issues facing national and international politics. In the western world the accepted economic theory is now undeniably in crisis, a crisis which no longer requires only limited remedies, but a global rethink. The relentless march of scientific research cannot continue without guaranteeing the integrity and health of humankind and the entire ecosystem. In acknowledging the essential role of the communications media in the modern world, we must establish certain basic rules aimed at promoting values and safeguarding individuals, groups and peoples. While recognising the irreversible process of current globalisation, a central question emerges about the need to defend and appreciate the many riches that come from the different ethnic, religious and cultural groups. These are some of the greatest challenges facing us today, reminding us of the need both to consider and to put into practice fraternity and since it is a world-wide problem, universal brotherhood and sisterhood is needed. Many great thinkers promoted universal fraternity. Mahatma Gandhi said: “The golden rule is to be friends with the world and to consider the whole human family as ‘one’.” And with regard to the events of nine-eleven (September 11, 2001), the Dalai Lama wrote: “The reasons (for the events of these days) are clear to us. (…) We have forgotten the most basic of human truths. (…) We are all one. This is the message that the human race has greatly ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war.” Without forgetting the Swiss saint, Nicholas of Flüe, prophet and peacemaker. Towards achieving it he affirmed that conflicts can be resolved in a profitable way only in full and total reciprocal respect, and therefore, by living fraternity to the point of reciprocal obedience. However, the one who brought fraternity as an essential gift to humanity, was Jesus who prayed shortly before he died: “Father, may they all be one” (Jn 17, 21). In revealing God as our Father, he made us all brothers and sisters and broke down the walls which separate those who are “the same” from those who are “different”, friends from enemies. Fraternity, then, is the ideal that we need to affirm. Fraternity is an ideal for today. But are there signs of fraternity among peoples in the world today? Over the years, having experienced countless times God’s providential hand in my own life and in the life of others, and having come into direct contact with many peoples, I have learned to recognise the steps forward which mark human progress, to the point of being able to affirm that its history is a slow, but continual journey towards universal fraternity. The facts are in front of us, but we have to know how to interpret them. The world’s longing for unity has never been so alive and evident as it is today. Signs of this are: � the Unions of States and the processes of economic and political integration which are being accomplished increasingly at the level of continents or geo-political areas; � the role of international organizations, especially the United Nations, which are more and more crucial in order to know how to face and manage the main questions affecting the lives of peoples and countries; � the development of an increasingly broad and fruitful dialogue among a wide variety of people; � the growth of social, cultural and religious movements which are themselves new facilitators in international relations and which work towards worldwide objectives. Therefore, the means are not lacking so as to bring about fraternity in the world, which generates spiritual unity, and which guarantees unity in politics, economics, the social and cultural spheres. We need only to recognise them. One means whose effectiveness has not yet been completely recognised, is the presence of dozens of movements which began to appear in the Christian world after the first decades of the twentieth century and which link peoples together through many networks, uniting peoples, cultures and differences. This is almost a sign that the world can become a home for all nations because it already is such a home through them, even if still in its early stages. These movements are not the result of human plans or projects, but of charisms of the Spirit of God, who more than any man or woman on earth, knows the problems of our planet and wants to help to resolve them. Because these Movements were founded by or are made up chiefly of lay people, they are deeply engaged with how people live. This in turn reflects on civil society where they contribute, through practical and achievable projects, in the fields of politics, economics, and so forth. These diverse and wonderful movements have come to life in various Churches: Catholic, Reformed, Anglican, Evangelical, Orthodox, and others. A special characteristic of these movements is the presence of very many young people, guarantee of the future, who are less conditioned than adults are by disappointing experiences of the past, who believe with greater enthusiasm in true and greater ideals. On the 8th May this year in Stuttgart, Germany, these Movements came together for a very successful one-day event which they themselves organised and which was transmitted via satellite across Europe and further afield. The day was entitled: “Together for Europe”. They offered to work towards achieving – along with the political or economic Europe or the Europe of the euro – the Europe of the spirit, seeking to give back a soul to Europe, a process which would also better guarantee Europe’s plurality and cohesion. To give an example of these movements I would like to present to you the main ideas of the one I know best because I am involved in it: the Focolare Movement whose aim is precisely that of unity and universal fraternity. It came to life while Trent (N. Italy) was being bombed during the second World War, while buildings were being destroyed and with them our plans for the future, our hopes and certainties. Everything was collapsing, yet in the hearts of us young focolarine, a unique truth was appearing with an intensity we had never known before: God is the only Ideal that never dies, God who was showing himself to us for what he is, Love. And precisely in that climax of hatred and division, God who is Love suggested to us that in order to love him we needed to love one another and bring this love to everyone, a love which was immediately extended to the whole town. With the passing of time this ideal spread across the world to 182 countries. The call to unity made us feel drawn to those places in the world where there was most division. As a result, specific spheres of dialogue and sharing came into evidence: first of all within the individual Churches, where the Movement gives its contribution so that there might be more “fellowship” and “communion”; among Christians of various Churches; with the faithful of the great religions, where there have been numerous experiences of respectful and fruitful dialogue, the “dialogue of life”, so necessary for peace. And finally, a dialogue built up through an active collaboration with those who do not have any formal faith. Although the Focolare is primarily a religious movement, from its beginnings and down through the years, it has shown special interest in all spheres of society, including the political world, to the point of seeing the birth within the movement itself, in Naples, Italy, in 1996, of the so-called “Movement for Unity in Politics”. Now it too is expanding and organizing itself across the world. I have had several opportunities to speak of the development of the “Movement for Unity in Politics”, addressing members of Parliament of various European nations and beyond, in Strasbourg, at the European Centre in Madrid and in the United Nations headquarters. As the political expression of the Focolare Movement, the specific goal of this movement (for unity in politics) is to help people and groups involved in politics to rediscover the profound, eternal values of the human person, to put fraternity at the basis of their lives and only then, to move on to political action. A consequence of political action which stems from interpersonal love is the possibility of a greater love, that which reaches out to the populace (polis). While this love acquires a political dimension, it does not lose its characteristics: the involvement of the whole person, who has the intelligence and will to reach everyone; the intuition and imagination to take the first step; the realism to put themselves in the other person’s shoes; the capacity to give oneself without hope of personal gain and to open up new ways even when human limits and failures would seem to block them. It is not a new party, nor does it confuse religion and politics, as has happened and still happens due to fundamentalist attitudes on the part of Christians and non Christians alike. Those who belong to the “Movement for Unity in Politics” are politicians working on every level: administrators, members of parliament, active members of the most varied political parties who feel the duty to act together for the good of those who have the real sovereignty, the citizens. Also involved are citizens who want to be politically active; students and political analysts who want to offer their contribution in expertise and research; local government officers aware of their particular role. What this movement proposes and gives witness to, is a lifestyle that allows politics to reach its goal in the best possible way, that is, the common good in the unity of the social body. In fact, one would wish to invite all those involved in politics to commit themselves to this lifestyle by making a pact of fraternity for their country, one that puts the country’s good above all partial interests, whether that of individuals, groups, classes or parties. Fraternity offers surprising opportunities. It helps to keep together and value human experiences which otherwise could develop into insoluble conflicts. It harmonizes the experiences of local authorities with the sense of a shared history. It strengthens our appreciation of the importance of the international organizations and processes which attempt to overcome all barriers, taking important steps towards the unity of the human family. Fraternity can give rise to projects and actions in the complex political, economic, cultural and social fabric of our world. Fraternity brings peoples out of their isolation and opens the door of development to those who are still excluded. Fraternity shows the way to resolving differences peacefully and relegates war to history books. Fraternity in action allows us to dream and even to hope for some kind of sharing of goods between rich countries and poor countries. The profound need for peace expressed by humanity today indicates that fraternity is not only a value, not only a method, but a global paradigm for political development. This is why a world that is always more interdependent needs politicians, entrepreneurs, intellectuals and artists who put fraternity – a tool of unity – at the centre of their actions and thoughts. Martin Luther King dreamed that fraternity would become the order of the day for business people and the password for statesmen and women. The politicians of the “Movement for Unity in Politics” want to make this dream become a reality. This is only possible if, in one’s political activity, one does not forget the spiritual dimension or at any rate belief in the profound values which must rule the life of society. Nicholas of Flüe was convinced of this too, he who did so much for the political life of this nation. He always kept abreast of everything. One window of his cell looked outward towards the people, but the other looked inward towards the altar of the chapel. The Honourable Igino Giordani, Italian member of parliament and co-founder of our movement, wrote, in his own unique style: “When we cross the threshold of our home to go out into the world, we cannot leave our faith hanging on the back of the door like a faded old hat.” One day I seemed to understand the meaning of politics as love. If we were to give a colour to every human activity, to economy, to health, to communication, to art, to cultural endeavours, to the administration of justice… politics would not have a colour, it would be the background, it would be black so as to highlight all the other colours. This is why politics should seek to have a constant relationship with every other aspect of life, in order to provide the conditions for society itself, in all its expressions, to achieve fully its design. Clearly, in this concern for dialogue, politics has the role of addressing certain areas: to promote fair, unbiased policies; to give preference to those in need; to promote participation at all times, which means dialogue, mediation, responsibility and concrete action. For the politicians I am speaking of, the choice to become politically active is an act of love through which they respond to an authentic vocation, to a personal calling. Believers discern the voice of God calling them through circumstances; non-believers respond to a human call, to a social need, to a city’s problems, to the sufferings of their people which speak to their conscience. Both kinds of politicians feel at home in the “Movement for Unity in Politics”, and in both cases, they are motivated to act by love. This love is a source of light, it shows the possibility of achieving great results, it replaces that crushing fear which is often present in the political world, with courage, with new courage. The politicians of unity become aware of the fact that politics is rooted in love. They understand that others, too, sometimes called political opponents, might have made their choices out of love. They realize that every political alignment, every political option can be the answer to a social need and therefore necessary to building up the common good. Therefore, they are as interested in all that concerns the other – including his or her role – as they are in their own role, and criticism becomes constructive. They seek to live out the apparent paradox of loving the other’s party as their own because the good of the nation needs everyone’s cooperation. This, summarizing the main points, is the ideal of the “Movement for Unity in Politics”, and this is – it seems to me – a politics worth living, a politics capable of recognising and serving the plan for one’s community, one’s town and nation, indeed that of all humanity, because fraternity is God’s plan for the whole human family. This is the genuine, authoritative politics which every country needs. In fact, strength comes with power but only love gives authority. This politics builds works that will last. The future generations will not be grateful to politicians for having risen to power but for the way they have exercised it. This is the politics which the “Movement for Unity in Politics” wants to generate and to support, with the help of God. So, then, what is my wish for you, politicians of this splendid Switzerland? That this people and in particular its representatives, enriched by your noble history of democracy, may find in fraternity the necessary energy to continue your journey with even greater effectiveness and to give a contribution as leaders in the history of unity of the human family. For our part, we are committed to not leaving you alone, and we will put at your disposal the charism of unity which heaven offers to the whole of humanity. Thank you for your attention.

[:it]Nuovi orizzonti dell’Economia di Comunione/2

Aug 28, 2004 | Non categorizzato

New horizons for the Economy of Communion

Aug 28, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Never, as in these last few years, has the present economic system proven to be so fragile and unsustainable; the financial downturn of many large corporations and the energy crisis, all these point to the fact that the world economy, as conceived over the past two centuries, is gravely ill. At the same time, never as in these years has there been such a blossoming of new forms of social economics, such as equitable commerce, ethical financing, and critical consumption. Such phenomena give hope that a sustainable economy and development is possible. It is in this context that the Economy of Communion is imbedded. The international Convention held at Castelgandolfo (Rome) on Sept. 10-12 presented an evaluation of the results obtained after over a decade of experimentation on an international scale, and indicated new horizons to explore. The Convention offered the most significant experiences made in the sharing of profits by business enterprises with the poor; an update on the theses (130) exploring the Economy of Communion, presented in universities in different countries; the industrial parks which have emerged in Latin America, as well as one beginning in Italy. These, in fact, are some of the concrete accomplishments of the Economy of Communion project, launched in Brazil in 1991 as a response to the wide gap existing between the rich and the poor. One of the most important themes was “Looking at poverty and development through the perspective of communion”. The foundress of the Focolare herself, Chiara Lubich, spoke on the central theme: “New horizons for the Economy of Communion.” Another novelty which marked the Convention was the dialogue among proponents of the concrete realizations of social economics in their respective cultural contexts. For example, there was the experience of microcrediting inspired by Ghandi’s economic theory; innovative experiences which have their origins in Hindu and Jainist culture were also shared. The Dutch experience called “Economy of enough” proposed a simpler lifestyle. Experts in social economics on the international level, such as Michael Noughton and Stefano Zamagni, as well as other experts and entrepreneurs of different countries and professional backgrounds, contributed to the dialogue. The last session of the Convention was entitled: “Not only economy of communion but humanism of communion.” With the contribution of experts of fields such as ecology, politics and urban planning, the activities of the Economy of Communion were inserted in the larger framework of “a humanism of communion”.

Fraternity in politics: Utopia or necessity?

Aug 26, 2004 | Non categorizzato

  Fraternity in politics: Utopia or necessity? Politics  02/09/2004

In our times marked by fragmentation, provoked by a growing polarization at all levels of the federal administration, and by the widespread vision of politics as a power struggle between political parties, the Berne Congress taking place at the BEA (Bern-expo) on Saturday, September 4th, will take a fresh look at the underlying principles of political behaviour, in the light of a new idea: universal fraternity. This initiative will offer politicians a new stimulus for their political commitment and also support dialogue between politicians and young people. The keynote address: “Fraternity in politics: Utopia or necessity?” has been entrusted to Chiara Lubich. In 1996 in Naples (Italy), she founded the Movement for Unity in Politics, which has since spread to various countries. Ms. Lubich, Founder of the Focolare Movement, has spoken on this important topic in various international political settings: London, Madrid, Bratislava, Brasilia. The Congress will be opened by the Swiss Federal Chancellor, Annemarie Huber-Hotz. Ms. Lubich will be introduced by the Ticino National Councillor, Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi. A dialogue will follow between Congress participants and politicians of various countries who have taken on board this new political idea. Ample space will be given to the youth in the afternoon session. This Congress follows the one held in March 2003 in Martigny, Switzerland, attended by 250 people engaged in politics at various levels. Many national MPs, members of the parliaments from various cantons, mayors and young people will be present. The chief promoters of the Congress are: W. Donzé, National Councillor, (Frutigen, Berne), Swiss mayors, M. Schwery of St. Léonard (Vallese), R. Lurati of Canobbio (Ticino), M. Wenger of Schaffhausen, S. Pont of Mollens (Vallese), M. Weber, deputy mayor of Oberägeri (Zugo), the President and the delegate of the Youth Parliament of Vallese*, Laurent Mösching e Krystel Bovy. * The Youth Parliament of Vallese was founded in 1995. Similar organisations exist in other Swiss cantons. Anyone resident or studying in Vallese, whether Swiss of foreign, can take part. The Youth Parliament discusses topical subjects affecting regional, national and international politics.

[:it]La fraternità in politica: utopia o necessità?

Aug 26, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Ti voglio bene, anche quando…

Aug 25, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Il mistero d’amore

Jul 18, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Risking my life at the railway terminal in Rome

Jul 7, 2004 | Non categorizzato

  I was on my way into Rome one day for a doctor’s appointment, when a young man bumped into me as I was getting off the train at the station. He was a young foreigner, and three men ran after him. “Thief! Stop him!” The crowd stopped him and he fell to the ground. When the men caught up to him they began insulting and beating him and kicking him in the stomach. As I watched this brutal scene, I gave a fleeting thought to my serious condition of hypertension. But right away I understood that then and there that boy’s life was more important than mine. I couldn’t give in to the usual way of thinking and pretend nothing was happening. The Gospel I was trying to live demanded much more from me. So I rushed into the crowd, pushing my way through with my bag. I threw myself over the boy to protect him. He was shouting for help and when his aggressors saw what I had done, they decided to stop. “Don’t you all feel ashamed treating him like this?” I asked them. “What serious crime did he do to make you to treat him like this?” “He stole my wallet,” one of them answered. The boy, who was 16 years old, told me he had to steal in order to buy bread. He hadn’t eaten for two days, and was sleeping under a bridge. In the meantime, the police arrived. The boy started to explain that he had fled from his country two years before. His whole family had been killed and he was the only one who had escaped death by hiding under a haystack. Then he came to Italy, a place, his friends told him, where life was much better. The police brought the boy to the hospital and I went along with them. On the way, he held my hand tightly, and said, “Mama, you’ve saved my life. You are my Italian mother.” In the emergency room he was diagnosed with a fractured skull and three broken ribs. After a while a Sister came to tell us that he had to be admitted to the hospital, but that he didn’t have the necessary clothing. I went to buy the things he needed and soon after he was admitted. As I was caring for him, the police officers and the Sister read me his clinical report and asked if I was a relative. I said no. From their eyes I saw that they were both perplexed and moved. “Why are you doing this?” they asked me. I answered that every day I try to love my neighbor, seeing Jesus in him or her, and I felt I couldn’t turn away from difficult situations. The eyes of the Sister welled up with tears and she told me that I had just given them a beautiful lesson in love, because only someone who puts the Gospel into practice is capable of doing something like this. She encouraged me to continue living this way. Before leaving the hospital, and just as I was leaving some money – all that I had on me – for a visit to a specialist and to cover the boy’s needs, the Sister told me not to worry about him. “You’ve already saved his life, now I’ll take care of him.” Even the police officers thanked me for acting as I did, saying that I had risked a lot. Afterwards, justice ran its course, but I know that today this boy lives in a Catholic community and works as a caretaker there, thanks to the Sister I met at the hospital. (M.T. – Italy, from the volume When God intervenes: Experiences from all over the World, Città Nuova Publishing, Rome 2004)

To live in love so as to die in love

Jul 2, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Vincenzo (the 4th of 8 children of the Folonari family) was a very lively child, but on the day of his First Holy Communion, something radically changed him. At first, he used to tease his schoolmates, chat in class instead of listening, which got him into trouble with his teacher at times. Then all of a sudden he changed completely; he became like a person fully taken by God. One day, at dinner Vincenzo asked his brothers and sisters, “How old do you want to be when you die?” One answered, “While I’m still young …”, and another, “When I’m 100 years old …”. But Vincenzo said, “I want to die when I’m 33, like Jesus.”

An Ideal to live for

Some years later, in the summer of 1951 at the end of the school year, Vincenzo and two of his sisters went to Dolomite Mountains for vacation. At that time, Chiara Lubich was in the nearby little town of Tonadico. The meetings for adherents of the emerging Focolare Movement was then becoming a regular appointment in the mountains of that side; they were called ‘Mariapolis’ (“city of Mary”). The young Folonaris, who had already met the Movement in Brescia, their home town, got their parents’ permission to have their vacation at San Martino di Castrozza, and they too went everyday to nearby Tonadico. They were placed in different groups and did not see each other all day. In the evening of the first day, as they returned to San Martino by bus, Vincenzo was deeply moved and happy. “Beautiful, very beautiful,” he said. It was as though he had found something which deeply satisfied him, an Ideal to live for.

“You haven’t chosen God, God has chosen you!”

Some months later, Vincenzo moved to Rome to attend university. He immediately got in touch with the Focolare. On the Eve of Pentecost, he made a pilgrimage on foot to the shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love to ask her for a sign that would help him understand his vocation. The next day, when Chiara saw him, she reminded him of a sentence of Jesus: “You haven’t chosen God, God has chosen you!” From then on, everybody called him “Eletto,” which in Italian means “Chosen”.

In a letter to Chiara he wrote: “I have chosen God, nothing else but Him alone.” He also told her that he wanted to give his inheritance to the Focolare Movement (which included 80 hectares of land where years later, the little town of Loppiano came to life) adding, “although I have no merit because I received it for free.”

A life spent giving the Ideal of unity to young people

One of Eletto’s characteristics was his special relationship with the children of the Movement. Chiara had entrusted the boys to him. In fact, during the Mariapolis of Fiera di Primiero, they were always all around him. He would go hiking with them or they would put on skits together.

Whenever Eletto talked with Virgo, his sister, who was entrusted with the girls, he used to say: “Can you imagine what would happen if the Ideal would conquer all boys and girls, all the young people?”

That smile among the waves

July 12th, 1964 was a Sunday. Gabriele, a boy who knew Eletto, went to the focolare. Eletto invited him to go on an outing, and since it was a very hot day, they decided to go on a boat ride at Bracciano Lake (Rome). About 200 meters from the shore, Eletto who loved sports, especially swimming, jumped into the water and held onto the boat with both hands. “The water’s very cold,” he told Gabriele. Then Eletto suddenly turned very pale. The waves started getting bigger and suddenly one of them pulled the boat away from Eletto’s grasp, first one hand and then the other. The boat slid several meters away. “Come here, come here, come closer!” Eletto cried out to Gabriele, but Gabriele did not know how to swim nor row a boat. The powerful waves kept pushing the boat farther away. “Soon I could hardly see his face among the waves. I called out to him, I cried for help, I told him I could not move the boat any closer.” Gabriele recalled. “’I’m going to shore, I’m going to shore,’ Eletto shouted. Then he turned. I saw him for a few seconds more: his face was lit up by a bright smile,” Gabriele said. Then Eletto disappeared, swallowed up by the lake. His body has never been found; Bracciano Lake had become his “blue” tomb.

To live in love so as to die in love

On July 19,1964, Chiara wrote: “Eletto was so good, so alone, so humble that he belonged much more to God than to us. Maybe it was for this that God called him to himself. Now he is with Jesus whom he loved, and with Mary and all our friends who are in Paradise. He considered himself the least, but he has become the first.

My God, what an abyss this life and this death are that each one of us has to face. Give us the grace to live in love so as to be able to die in love.

Eletto’s last act was an act of love. That means he was used to loving, because otherwise in those moments one cannot but think of oneself.

‘Eletto, pray for us in heaven now, we who are praying for you. We are certain that God, in his love for you, has taken you at the right time. You loved him in your life; you had nothing else but him and Mary.

You have arrived where we too must come. Pave the way for us, Eletto, and prepare us a place (…). Now that you see what really counts, as you were used to doing while you were here on earth, help us not to stray from the road and help us to live in charity as you have done.’”

The GEN Movement

Not only the adults were dumbfounded by his sudden death, but also the children and the youth he had been following. Chiara wrote, “They, too, have gone through a trial, a tremendous and irremediable one. Let us hope that from this trial something will come to life in the Movement for them, too, for God’s glory and for the Church’s greater beauty. Eletto would have desired nothing more.” A few years later, the Gen Movement was born, which now counts thousands of young people and children from all over the world.

Commemoration at Trevignano

On July 12th, 2004, 40 years after Eletto left us for Heaven, a day long meeting will be held at Trevignano, a town along the Bracciano Lake. It will start with Mass at 11 a.m. at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta which towers above the little town. The meeting is expected to end at 5 p.m.

For further information call: tel. 06/94315300; 06/9412419

e-mail address; gen2m@focolare.org; centrogen2f@focolare.org

[:it]”Libertà, uguaglianza… che fine ha fatto la fraternità”

Jun 21, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Igino Giordani: A Soul on Fire

Jun 13, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Igino Giordani. Author, journalist, politician, ecumenist and expert in patristic studies, remains one of the most representative figures of the 1900s, a highly gifted individual who left a profound mark and opened prophetic perspectives on a cultural, political, ecclesial and social level. Born in 1894 in Tivoli, the first of 6 children of Orsolina and Mariano, a bricklayer, Giordani was given the opportunity to study, thanks to the help of a sponsor. In 1915 he entered the army to fight in the First World War. An official in the trenches, he admitted later that he never wanted to shoot at the enemy. Nevertheless, he earned the Silver Medal for Bravery. He also received wounds, the pains of which remained with him for the rest of his life. He went on to get his degree in letters, he began teaching in Rome, and he married Mya Salvati. Theirs is a story of great yet delicate love, from which were born 4 children: Mario, Sergio, Brando and Bonizza. Political commitment beginning in the 1920s Giordani met Don Sturzo, who chose him to be the press officer for the newly-born People’s Party. Piero Gobetti published Giordani’s book entitled Rivolta Cattolica (The Catholic Revolt), defining it as “the synthesis of new Catholic thinking”. He founded the periodical Parte Guelfa, and between the years 1924 and 1925, he worked at spreading ideas on Unione delle Chiese (The Union of the Churches) and Stati Uniti d’Europa (The United States of Europe). For political reasons, he left teaching in the public schools, and in 1927 he was employed at the Vatican Library, where he helped hire Alcide de Gasperi, who had just been released from the Fascist prison. He became the director of Fides, the periodical of the Pontifical Work for the Preservation of the Faith. He also collaborated with others at the review Il Frontispizio (The Frontispiece) by Piero Bargellini, and thus increased his contacts with the vigorous Florentine literary movement. In 1944, he directed Il Quotidiano (The Daily), the new newspaper of the Catholic Action Movement; following that, he succeeded Gonella as director of Il Popolo (The Populace). On June 2, 1946, he was elected to the government and became part of those “founding fathers” who laid down the ideal foundations of the Italian republic. He was re-elected in 1948, and in 1950 he became a member of the Council of Nations of Europe in Strasburg. In brief, Giordani was a militant politician, not because of ambition but out of a spirit of love and service for the community. In the 1920s, he courageously struggled for freedom in the face of dictatorship. The marked ethical tendency of his political commitment brought him to be relegated to the margins of government under the regime: it was to be a period of intelligent, constant, “cultural resistance,” in which his writings raised high the values of freedom and of a new order. The period from 1946 to 1953 remains his most vigorous and creative time. He worked audaciously and prophetically for peace among classes and among peoples, and he acquired a very original characteristic: his famous “candour” which led him to assume uncomfortable positions, such as that of the conscientious objector, a “no” to military expenditures, “no” to the demonizing of communists. A “candour” that quickly marginalized him (he was not re-elected in 1953), but which today helps us discover him to be (and these are the words of historian De Rosa) “an anti-political politician, he was not one who accepted just any political idea, nor was he ready to accept the reasons of power just for the sake of power.” As a writer he published more than 100 works (an average of 2 every year), works translated into the main languages. He also authored countless reviews, commentaries, articles (over 4,000), letters and speeches. An exemplary Christian Out of a situation of suffering in the military hospital, Giordani at 22 years of age, sensed an initial call to holiness of life, a call reinforced by the writings of Catherine of Siena. He became a third order Dominican out of love for her, “the first who ignited the flame of the love of God in me.” As a Christian, he approached his work with an evangelical spirit, seeing in it his vocation. His most significant writings – ever contemporary – came forth from a deep knowledge of the history of Christianity and of the Fathers of the Church. Herein lies the solid spiritual and theological formation which characterized him. He put it to good use through his vigorous activity in fostering the Christian impact on culture, the spiritual formation of the laity and of priests and religious. A forerunner in ecumenical dialogue Giordani, already in the 1930s, marked out elements for the Second Vatican Council. He studied, he translated, he explained the Fathers of early Christianity, at a time when they were almost forgotten. Their works formed the basis of his “Christian Social Message,” one of his better known works. He entered into them in such a way that Italo Alighiero Chiusano defined him as “a sort of ancient Father of the Church to whom God gave the privilege of rising and acting in our midst today.” Along pathways of holiness Yet the event that would most point Giordani’s life in the direction of luminous and demanding pathways of holiness came about in September 1948, when he met Chiara Lubich. This encounter marked for him the beginning of a new experience that was to envelop him completely; his spiritual membership was exceptional for his humility, transparency and unity. He would later say: “All of my studies, my ideals, the events of my life seemed directed towards this goal… Before, I had looked for it, now I had found it.” Captivated by the evangelical radicality of the “spirituality of communion” that Lubich spoke of and lived out, Giordani saw in it the possible accomplishment of the dream of the Fathers of the Church: to open wide the doors of the monastery so that holiness of life would not be the privilege of just a few, but a mass movement among Christians. With all his mind and heart, he entered the Focolare Movement and came to be known as “Foco”, because of his burning love that bore witness and reached out to others. Furthermore, with his “yes”, he became a providential instrument by means of which the Focolare foundress would reach an ever deeper understanding of the charism she had received. Giordani would them almost leave the cultural and political scene he had treaded till then, to assume a supernatural perspective. In making himself “small” before the total gift of love contained in the call to a life of virginity, to him – a married man – precisely in his unconditional love, a way of communion with them was opened up. He was pure of heart and his soul was open to all of humanity; therefore he could open the path to countless married persons all over the world called to this new consecration. They in turn became the backbone of vast movements to strengthen family life and for the evangelical renewal of all areas of human endeavor. Giordani thus became one of Chiara Lubich’s closest collaborators; indeed, she considers him a co-founder of the Focolare Movement. Experiences of mysticism At the crucible of the Focolare, Giordani went a step higher in the soul’s itinerary along the mystical way, where his spiritual trials, the misunderstandings and humiliation he went through due to his progressive social emargination, as well as his physical sufferings were relegated to the background in front of the daily experience of Christ present “where two or more” are united in his name, and before the mystery of a crucified and forsaken God. Giordani was gifted by Heaven with extraordinary experiences of union with God and with Mary, as well as “dark” trials of the soul reserved by Our Lord to whose he loves most. His life’s journey thus became a “flight” to God, which concluded on the evening of April 18, 1980. His mortal remains lie in the cemetery of Rocca di Papa (Rome). How can we describe Giordani in one word? Many people, including exacting intellectuals, call him “a prophet”. For Chiara Lubich, he is “a man of the beatitudes,” and she reveals his extraordinary openness of soul when he calls him “a soul with the dimensions of humanity”. For Tommaso Sorgi, who has attentively studied his life, he is someone “in love with God and with the human person.” Nedo Pozzi __________ The spiritual itinerary of Giordani, as revealed by his writings, especially those of a more autobiographical nature, is traced out in a brief biography entitled “Un’anima di fuoco” (A soul of fire) (Città Nuova publications), written by Tommaso Sorgi, director of Igino Giordani Study Center.

[:it]Riportare Dio nella società, nella cultura e nella politica: l’ideale di Igino Giordani[:es]Devolver a Dios a la sociedad, a la cultura y a la política: el ideal de Igino Giordani[:fr]Faire revenir Dieu dans la société, dans la culture et dans la politique : l’idéal d’Igino Giordani

Jun 13, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Chiara Lubich: Igino Giordani christian and co-founder

Jun 13, 2004 | Non categorizzato

First of all, I would like to thank His Excellency Giuseppe Matarrese, Bishop of Frascati, also on behalf of the Focolare Movement, for today’s event: the solemn proclamation of the opening of the cause of beatification of Igino Giordani.
My heartfelt greetings to the fortunate sons, daughter and other relatives of the Honorable Igino Giordani, now Servant of God.
We are grateful for the presence of the mayor of Frascati, Dr. Francesco Posa, and the other mayors, as well as all the citizens whose presence here signals their interest in this Christian, so rich with witnesses to give to the “city of man”.
I share the joy of all the members of the Focolare Movement gathered here.

The installation of the ecclesiastical tribunal marks the beginning of the diocesan phase of the canonical proceedings. To each of its members present here I assure my, our prayerful support for your very sensitive work and our active collaboration in any way that could be helpful.

On this very special occasion, I hope that a few words on my part about the Honorable Igino Giordani will be appreciated.

As you know, he was an eminent, versatile Catholic personality who always joined his political commitment to an intense and fruitful cultural activity as journalist, author, apologist, hagiographer and renowned scholar of the Fathers of the Church and Christian social doctrine.
We could and should speak at length about the many different roles which made the Honorable Igino Giordani famous.

But today, in this sacred place and in this particular circumstance, it seems to me that we must speak of him above all as a Christian, as a focolarino and co-founder of the Focolare Movement: roles he diligently carried out for thirty-two years of his life.

Giordani as a Christian

Someone once said that if every Gospel were to disappear from the face of the earth, people should be able to rewrite it by observing how Christians live.
On the day of Igino Giordani’s funeral, the Gospel passage which speaks of the Beatitudes was read. All of those who had known him well, were unanimous in affirming that he had practiced each one of them.
“Blessed are the pure of heart”. It was this purity that allowed him to see and describe one’s earthly life as a divine adventure, because of the intervention of God’s providential love. This purity of heart strengthened his most sacred sentiments and at the same time it potentiated them: towards his wife, towards his most beloved children.
He was “poor in spirit”, completely detached not only from all that he possessed, but above all, from all that he was.
He was full of “mercy”: even the most wretched sinner felt that he had been forgiven when he was with him and the poorest person felt like a king.
He was always a “peacemaker”, as the record of his political career shows.
He was so “meek” as to make one understand why the Gospel says that those who live this virtue will possess the earth. His extraordinary kindness, his way of finding the right word for each person, won over everyone he met.
And… we could go on and on….

Giordani as a focolarino

He was an excellent Christian, a scholar, an apologist, and apostle. Yet when he encountered a genuine spring of pure water flowing out from the Church, he “sold everything” in order to follow Jesus who was calling him.
Giordani was a true Christian, but he was also a Christian with a specific vocation. God called him to be a focolarino.
He personified the name by which he was known within the Movement: “Foco”, which means “fire”. He loved God and neighbor with a love that was both natural and supernatural, the kind of love which is the basis and apex of an authentic Christian life.

He had always hoped to find to fulfill his desire to consecrate himself to God even though he was married. In 1948 he came in contact with the Focolare Movement.
And it was through the spirituality of unity, characteristic of this Movement, that he was able to express the Gospel in his life.

So that Christ would live in him, the way to achieve the full communion with our brothers and sisters that Christ asks of us, he really died to himself as a poetic writing of his from 1951 confirms:

“I have resolved to die
and what happens no longer matters to me;
now I wish to disappear
in the abandoned heart of Jesus.

All this toiling
with avarice and for vanity
disappears in love:
I have recovered my freedom.

I have resolved to die
by this death which dies no more;
now I wish to enjoy with God his eternal youth.”

Giordani was very familiar with Christian asceticism, and he also experienced the joys of contemplation and the mystical life.
St. Louis Maria Grignon di Montfort, speaking of people whom the Virgin Mary loves in a special way, says that the primary gift that such persons acquire here on earth, is the life of Mary in the soul, so that it is no longer that person who lives but Mary living in him or her. In other words, such persons acquire the hearth and soul of Mary.

Giordani wrote in 1957: “On the evening of October 1st, the month dedicated to Mary, after praying, I felt my soul suddenly free from every attachment to persons and things. Mary entered in their place, with the lifeless Jesus in her arms. My entire soul was filled with her presence, a combination of suffering and love. (…)
“She remained there for twenty-four hours, like an altar bearing its victim: ‘Virgo altare Christi’. My soul became her room, a temple. (…) So that I felt like saying: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Mary who lives in me’.
“Her presence had, as it were, virginized my soul, marianized my person. My ego seemed dead, and Mary took its place. I no longer felt the need to search for images of Mary along the road. It was enough to fix the eyes of my soul within to discern, in the place of the usual sordid and grotesque idol of myself, the All Beautiful One, the Mother of the Fair Love. And even this poor, suffering body seemed to me to be a kind of cathedral….
“If I am not the most scoundrel on earth, I must become a saint, in order to be in accord with this reality.”

Giordani co-founder

He was also co-founder of the Focolare Movement. He was the one who opened the doors of the focolare to married people. In this way, something which had at first been only vaguely foreseen, became a reality – single and married people could, insofar as is possible, pursue the same spiritual itinerary.
He was the one who gave an outstanding contribution to the birth of those branches of the Focolare’s mass movements, like the New Families Movement, the Youth for a United World, or the New Humanity Movement, which seeks to animate the worlds of work, art, medicine, education, and politics, to name a few, with a genuine Christian spirit.
He was the one who began with other members of parliament the “St. Catherine Center”, precisely in order to animate politics with the spirit of the Movement.
He was the one who personified one of the most important aims of this Movement: to cooperate towards the unification of the Churches, directing for years the ecumenical center “Centro Uno”.
He was the one, above all, who helped the Movement to be deeply rooted in the Church. During his lifetime, the Movement’s branches extended across the globe bearing much fruit, given its evangelical spirit which emphasizes universal fraternity, unity among all people.

Giordani was one of the greatest gifts that heaven ever gave our Movement.

And now, to conclude, I would like to tell you about one of his last days.
His physical condition had deteriorated. I brought to his bedside a card that had just arrived for him, with a picture of the Holy Father, a heartfelt blessing, and His signature.
It made him very happy. He brightened and said: “Today is a beautiful feast day! This is something I never expected!”
And while Father Antonio Petrilli – one of the first focolarini priests, who was looking after him during his last years, he too in heaven now – was hanging up the framed blessing on the wall, Giordani added: “I feel like I’m in heaven”.
When I asked if it would like him to have Mass said in his room, also so that together we could renew the pact of unity of the focolarino, he exclaimed: “Oh, how beautiful! This is an added gift.”
At one point, he said: “I’m always mindful of God, the Giver”, and he listed some of the gifts he had received from God.
When I asked him if he would like to go to heaven, he nodded with his head, as if to say: “Oh, if only I could…!” Several times, with a particular smile, he added: “This is heaven! What could be more beautiful?”
Referring once again to the Pope’s blessing, he whispered: “I can’t find the words to express what that gift means to me; the more I think about it, the more I find no words …”
After receiving the Eucharist during a special Mass, he solemnly affirmed: “Everything is complete”.
Giordani is present here today with all of us.

[:it]L’inizio del processo di beatificazione di Igino Giordani

Jun 13, 2004 | Non categorizzato

A wave of hope for a fraternal and peaceful Europe

Jun 2, 2004 | Non categorizzato

“We felt changed, strengthened. This meeting is the sign of a great hope. In these times, when the message we get from Europe is consumerism, fashion and material values, I now see we can hear about spiritual values, too.” This fax message arrived from Vilnius, in Lithuania. With 9 other countries, it celebrated its entry into the European Union on May 1st, not without some trepidation on the part of many. Vilnius is one of the 163 European cities linked up via satellite to the Palasport of Stuttgart last May 8, which hosted close to 10,000 people from all over the continent who came to attend the gathering entitled “Together for Europe”. Numerous comments defined the meeting as “historic” also because it was the first meeting, on a European scale, of more than 150 Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Anglican movements. A soul for Europe “We are here to give Europe a soul that could generate a strong spiritual unity” – said Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, in her opening remarks – “like many networks of fraternal relationships which bring nations together, like an experiment to prepare the full unity of Europe” in the wealth of its diversities. These words pronounced at Stuttgart became an experience of life. “The impression one gets from Stuttgart is the kind that lasts,” President of the European Commission Romano Prodi affirmed in an interview with Città Nuova. “Today Europe revealed itself capable of closing a chapter in history with no more sufferings nor divisions.” The experience was just as intense in those gatherings which were linked up to Stuttgart, as revealed by numerous fax and e-mail. This is what they wrote from Trent: “We couldn’t tell if we were on or off the screen.”

A milestone “We need a Europe of the heart, hearts that are full not of the Euro, but of values, of God,” stated Cardinal Kasper when he spoke onstage. “We need the spiritual dimension of Europe, the spiritual movements which can render such a Europe tangible. We need communities that overcome the boundaries of peoples and nations: today’s meeting is a milestone in this journey.” Among the leading personalities present at the Geneva link-up in the headquarters of the World Council of Churches, was Marie-Francois Charrin, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who affirmed: “This united Europe with a soul, a heart and two lungs, will heal the major wounds of countries in conflict.”

A united Europe was born out of the ruins of World War II The process of reconciliation and the dream of a united Europe was born right from the ruins of a conflict: World War II. This fact was recalled by Evangelical Pastor Aschoff of the German Charismatic Renewal Movement, as well as by Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St. Egidio Community. The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi brought to light the vision of Schuman, De Gasperi and Adenauer and the initial steps marked by the Coal and Steel Agreement of 1951, then the adoption of the Euro and the Constitution in the making. He recalled that the great Fathers of Europe had built it, drawing from their faith. He added that today, too, Christians are called “to contribute through their creativity… so that Europe may develop, not like a fortress but as a political subject with a soul, which makes of peace and justice its identity and its vocation…You are an essential component of this soul,” he added. Europe viewed in the light of the different charisms The theme that ran through the meeting was: Europe, illuminated by the charisms brought to life by the Spirit through the centuries. Aschoff recalled that it is not by chance that a large number of new spiritual movements and communities were born right “in the difficult days of the war”. “Behind these faces, there is a heart regenerated by the Gospel,” said Riccardi. In the face of a “listless Europe” the movements supply “gusto for the future.”

It is a Europe “in need of new bonds among human beings,” affirmed Ulrich Parzany, a Lutheran Evangelical pastor, secretary-general of the YMCA in Germany and promoter of a broad evangelization initiative called “Pro Christ”. He also observed that “democracy itself is founded on presuppositions that it is incapable of creating.” And the keyword launched in Stuttgart was “universal brotherhood”. Speaking about it, Chiara Lubich said that it is the most widely felt aspiration, a brotherhood made possible by Jesus, who “has torn down the walls separating those who are the same from those who are different, friends from enemies, thereby setting in motion an existential, cultural and political revolution.”

The witness offered by the movements and new communities A series of life experiences showed the seeds of spiritual and social renewal sown by the different charisms of Movements and new communities. The Orthodox Youth Movement (ONL) presented its “determinant contribution” to the survival of the Orthodox Church in Finland. A youth member of the FCJG evangelical community of Ludenscheid shared his experience of passing from the “abysmal darkness of the soul” which he had fallen into because of drugs, to his liberating encounter with Christ. Nicky Gumbel, Anglican who started the Alpha Courses spoke of the transformation operated by the Gospel in 124 prisons of the United Kingdom. Members of movements for the family, like the Family Life Mission of the Evangelical Church, and the Equipe Notre Dame of the Catholic Church spoke of the Christian renewal of families.

The youth’s vision and commitment for Europe The voice of the youth resounded loudly as they expressed through their experiences, songs and choreography their wish and their commitment to see a Europe capable of forgiving, of overcoming barriers and of aiming at a united world.

A pact of brotherhood This was the commitment taken in the final declaration: “Intensify universal brotherhood more and more; it is evangelical love put into life” in “the sharing of goods and resources,” “in openness to other cultures and religious traditions,” “in loving solidarity with the weak and the poor of our cities,” “in a profound sense of family and values of life.” It was the culminating point. The stage was filled with the representatives of movements and communities who had worked for over a year to prepare this historic moment. Their adherence was unanimous – and not only at Stuttgart. From Warsaw, Poland they wrote: “It was deeply moving, all of us on our feet just as in Stuttgart, at the moment of the final declaration. Today, we saw and touched the soul of Europe.” Then ecclesial dignitaries representing a wide array of Churches went up onstage to read the key passages of Jesus’ priestly prayer, “May they all be one.” Queen Fabiola of Belgium was also invited onstage to conclude with the “Our Father”. A united Europe for a united world The message of Stuttgart also reached other continents, where 35 cities were linked up. From Buenos Aires they wrote: “We were gathered in thousands, and standing, we too joined our hands in prayer to seal this pact.” We heard from Man (Ivory Coast) that they too rejoiced for a Europe that is open to all peoples of the world, especially Africa. The strong impulse that would have come from Stuttgart was further emphasized by the message of the Pope: “A common home for Europe cannot be built without concern for the good of all humanity, especially of Africa which is plagued by so many and such serious problems.” From Singapore: “Distances were erased. After Europe, let us aim at the unity of the whole world.” That was the vision proposed by Riccardi and Chiara Lubich: “a united Europe for a united world”.

The Pope, too, had underscored this perspective in his message: “The Christians of numerous spiritual movements gathered at Stuttgart show that the Gospel has made them overcome self-centered nationalism in order to look at Europe as a family of peoples, rich in cultural variety and history. Europe of tomorrow needs this awareness for it to take part in the great events to which it is called by history.”

A first step A wave of hope has ripped out from Stuttgart, “like the concentric circles of water that continue out to regions unknown,” as they wrote from Vilnius. But, as numerous comments say, this is just the first step.

Unconditional love, a path to peace

May 27, 2004 | Non categorizzato

“When the Holy Year 2000 ended and the second Intifada began, the pilgrims disappeared. Christians here feel abandoned. Most of them make their living on the services provided to pilgrims. Pilgrimages not only give them material help, but spiritual support as well.” These are remarks from the Apostolic Nuncio in Jerusalem, Bishop Pietro Sambi.

“We were a mixed group of youth from Europe and Asia and right from the start, the unity among us ‘pilgrims’ and our local friends was natural and concrete. Our heart told us we had to go and visit them right in their own land to be able to understand how much they need to feel our support. But contact with these people is useful for us, most of all, who come from different parts of the world: we have a lot to learn from them and much to thank them for, for what they are living through and offering up for everyone.

“As we walked through the ancient city and looked around, we were filled with sensations we could hardly put into words. Faces, houses, colors and odors, words and silences, panoramas and stones. The very stones the God-made-man walked on and His presence is more than ever alive and resounding right here and now. It was deeply moving to see that there are still people who go on building peace, starting first of all from themselves. This was the greatest lesson we learned on this trip. “We were witnesses of touching experiences of life: of a woman who had lost husband, brothers or children; of people who live day by day with the fear of check-points; of one who saw her loved ones being dragged away, or another his house collapsing. Experiences of people who have lost all certainty except the certainty that ‘It is in giving Love to whoever comes our way that we get the strength to smile again.’ Which means ‘loving that soldier, smiling over a misunderstanding, going beyond injustice to offer something positive to someone one could rightly call ‘enemy’.’ The initiatives of solidarity are in the thousands; and just to cite an example, a typing office was set up in a village of the Palestinian Territories to offer new job opportunities. “During the days we spent in the Holy Land, such an unconditional love reached us, too. Our friends there really gave us so much of their life, their deeds, sweets, dinners, visits, celebrations – everything was part of a continuous act of Love for us.” P.B.

Gestures that make life different

May 26, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Like St. Martin did
I am a young widow, with 3 children to raise and a shaky financial situation. My salary as a domestic helper was low. One day, as I was entering a church, I noticed a man who looked in distress. His trousers had patches. “Dear Lord, does this man need my help?” I prayed. As I raised my eyes, I noticed a painting of St. Martin, and I knew that I did not have to wait for further signs: St. Martin never used half-measures in putting the commandment of evangelical love into practice. I approached the man. “I’ve just come out of the hospital and I am no longer fit to work,” he told me. “I find myself here, but to tell you the truth, I’d rather step in front of a train and end it all.” I tried to encourage him, saying, “Of course you’ve come to the right place. And you must keep coming back here. God will surely help you.” I gave him what I had earned that day: 80 Swiss francs. The next day my uncle, whom I had not seen for 10 years, paid me an unexpected visit. It was a great joy for us to see each other again. When he was about to go, he handed me an envelope. It contained the sum of 8,000 Swiss francs!

(M.M. – Switzerland)

At the public laundry
Two days ago, I went to the public laundry with my washing. It was a sunny day and there were many women doing their laundry though the wash-house was quite small. We were chattering away when an elderly man who was half-blind arrived. He had a pair of bedsheets, a shirt and his turban to wash, and he asked us to move over a little to give him room. Nobody wanted to do it. Then I thought: “Jesus considers as done to him whatever we do or refuse to do for our brothers.” So I said to the man: “Baba (term of respect used to address the elderly), give me your laundry; I can do it for you!” The other women started to laugh. “Are you serious? With your big family and the mountain of washing you have?” I repeated my offer to the man and started to wash his bedsheet. He was very happy; he gave me a fatherly blessing and before going, he left me a piece of soap which he had held onto for himself. This time nobody laughed. In the silence, something new had happened at the public laundry. One woman lent her basin to another, while another offered a pail of water to someone else who was farther off. A chain of love had begun!

(F.V. – Pakistan)

[:it]Renata Borlone: Un sorriso meraviglioso

May 20, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Renata Borlone: the steps of her ascent

May 20, 2004 | Non categorizzato

– The golden thread
– Rome in the 1940s during the bombings
– The discovery
–  No one came her way in vain
–  The departure

The golden thread
“Only in Paradise shall we read our complete story. There we shall see in its entirety the golden thread which, hopefully, will bring us to where we should arrive.” With these words, Renata once began narrating her life story, which she discovered to be wholly interwoven with the love of God.

She was born on May 30, 1930 in Aurelia, a small city of the Latium region. Later, she and her family moved to Rome.

The members of her family were not churchgoers. They were upright people, sincere and rich in human values. “I shall never stop thanking God,” Renata used to say, “for letting me experience what a true family is, and this is due most of all to the love my parents had for each other.”

Renata was 10 years old when World War II broke out. A sensitive person by nature, she was far from indifferent to what was happening around her, and some incisive moments remained particularly imprinted in her memory.

Rome in the 1940s during the bombings
On July 13, 1943, as she saw the bombs falling, she decided to give her life another direction. She wrote: “I realized that death could come anytime, and as if in a flash, I understood the vanity of games, money, of the future. It was a moment of grace… When I went back home, I felt different. I had decided to become a better person.”

All of a sudden, one of her schoolmates, a very bright girl, disappeared. She was Jewish. “Why are they killing the Jews? Are they not just like us?” she asked herself, insistently demanding an explanation from her father.

On September 8, 1943, a decisive date in Italian history, from the balcony of her house she saw a German soldier closely clinging to the wall as he slowly tried slip away unseen, like someone who was cringing with fear. Renata was filled with compassion for him and his people…

Images buried by time, yet they already tell us that love without measure – for the human person, for all human beings – would later be a dominant factor in her life. As she grew up, her need for a challenging faith life also grew, and the “question” of God made itself felt. She began frequenting the church, she joined a Marian association, and her favorite teachers were those she considered morally upright.
At 14 years of age, she felt some kind of “a first calling”: an interior push to offer her life so that her family would find the faith.
From age 15 to 19, in her thirst for the truth, she threw herself into her studies, desirous of penetrating the deepest truths as she searched for God. She enrolled in the Faculty of Chemistry, because she hoped to discover Him by penetrating the secrets of the universe. “Mathematics became my passion because of its logic. I was thrilled each time I discovered something new. I hoped to gain a kind of knowledge that would somehow allow me to embrace the universal. I searched for God wherever his reflection could be found. I did not yet know that only in the Creator who is Love could I discover and love all created life.”

The discovery
On May 8, 1949, a day which Renata would later describe as “extraordinary”, while somewhat hesitant about taking time away from her studies, she attended a meeting where Graziella De Luca, one of the first companions of Chiara Lubich, spoke of the re-discovery of God as Love, of a new evangelical lifestyle which had started in Trent a few years back, while the war was raging.
“I do not remember exactly what she said. I do remember that when I came out of that meeting, I knew I had found it. (…) I had the intuition that God is Love. That experience penetrated the innermost depths of my being. I lost the image of God as a harsh judge who punishes the bad and rewards the good, and I saw him as a God who is close to us.”
Convinced that she had a calling from God, she gave another decisive turn to her life. Soon afterwards, she met Chiara personally and immediately sensed a strong bond with her, a vital link as that of a child with her mother. She also felt a clear confirmation that she was called to give her life to God in the Focolare Movement. She said her yes to God forever.

A long experience of faithfulness to this ’yes’ began on August 15, 1950. She had just turned 20. Her young age, her capacity to love, her selfless giving and her peace did not go unnoticed. Renata spent 40 years at the service of the Focolare Movement, first at different focolare centers in Italy, then in Grenoble, France.

In 1967, at 37 years of age, Renata was asked to assume the position of co-director of the little town of the Movement at Loppiano, in particular of the women’s school of formation, where she spent 23 years. Here, her self-giving blossomed in full force. From her, over a thousand young women received wisdom and the inner strength necessary for their spiritual growth.

No one came her way in vain
Her life was a wonderful interweaving of love and suffering, as she strove to die to herself to let Jesus live in her. And indeed what others found in her presence was Jesus.

Because of her measureless love, no one came her way in vain, as numerous persons of all ages and backgrounds testify. Anyone who came in contact with her experienced her love. A love which made them feel God’s personal love.

The root of her deep love for every person lay in her unconditional love for Jesus on the cross who cried out when he felt abandoned by the Father, and in her looking up to Mary as her model who, before her dying Son, continued to believe, hope and love. This was the impelling force of her continual ascent, lived in the guidance of the Gospel words which became her life program, almost like a sketch of her spiritual features: “Mary kept all these things, meditating on them, in her heart” (Lk 2,19). From her intelligent and constant self-denial blossomed her constant thrust towards holiness of life, her growth in virtue, her faithful adherence to her founder’s charism, “May they all be one” (Jn 17,21).

The departure
When she was 59, she was diagnosed with an illness which soon proved to be extremely serious. She had only a few months to live. From that moment on, her life took off in its flight to God. Meanwhile she remained always happy, just as she had promised Jesus many years before.
Her sickbed became a pulpit. In Christ, there is no death, there is life, she often said, and she kept repeating it up to her last moment: “I want to bear witness that death is life.”

Renata never complained about her sufferings, and refused pain-killers. She wanted her head to be clear, in order to be ever ready to say her full yes to the God who had fascinated her since her youth and was now asking her for the gift of her life. In her final days, even when in pain, she radiated fullness of joy. “I am in a sort of abyss of love. I am too happy,” she said. With paradise in her heart, she went to meet her Spouse on February 27, 1990.

(Renata Borlone’s complete biography is entitled “Un silenzio che si fa vita” by G. Marchesi and A. Zirondoli – Città Nuova Publications)

I want to bear witness that death is Life !

May 20, 2004 | Non categorizzato

I want to bear witness that death is Life !

The lives of the saints always offer a precious nourishment for the Christian community. Why choose Renata? Because she had discovered that God is Love and from that moment on, her life would have been inflamed by love until her death.” It was with these words that Bishop Luciano Giovannetti of Fiesole illustrated the motivations which had urged him to request that the cause of beatification be started for Renata Borlone (1930-1990), the focolarina who was co-director of Loppiano from 1967 to 1990. Her life, dedicated to God and neighbor, lived in the light of the spirituality of unity, continues to trace a luminous trail.

The San Benedetto Hall in Loppiano, the little town situated on the hills of Incisa Valdarno (Florence), was crowded with friends as Bishop Giovannetti officially inaugurated the process of Renata’s canonization on December 18, 2003.

Who was Renata
Renata Borlone was born on May 30, 1930 in Aurelia, in the suburbs of Rome. She grew up in a non-practicing Catholic family, and at around 14 years of age, the question of God’s existence surfaced in her mind and she started to frequent the church. She sought the truth, she chose fields of study that aided her search of God. When she was 19, she was struck by the lifestyle of a group of focolarine who had moved to Rome, and with them she experienced a joy and fullness she had never felt before. A certainty dawned: God exists and God is love! It was a dazzling discovery which trasformed her whole life. An extraordinary adventure had begun. For 40 years she contributed to building up a work of God in the Church. She was assigned to positions of responsibility both in Italy and abroad. In 1967 she moved to Loppiano to become co-director of the Movement’s little town there, and direct the spiritual formation of the women focolarine.
She died on February 7, 1990, leaving an example of life which continues to draw our attention.

[:it]Voglio svegliare l’aurora. Concerto per il dialogo tra i popoli

May 15, 2004 | Non categorizzato

TOGETHER FOR EUROPE

May 5, 2004 | Non categorizzato

Not a mosaic of congresses, but a gathering with a continental dimension in order to give hope to Europe.
In a moment in which Europe and the world are swept by the winds of violence and terrorism,
winds of fraternity will blow from Stuttgart and the 163 European cities linked to it.
This is its contribution towards “giving a soul” to the process of unification, so that Europe may
realize the project of its founding fathers: a family of united peoples and reconciled nations,
committed to building peace and the unity of the entire human family.

Significant date: 8 MAY 2004

Anniversary of the end of the second world war, which led to the dream of a new Europe
Eve of Europe day which recalls the historic declaration of Robert Schuman on May 9, 1950, origin of the European Union.
During the week of the extension of the European Union to 25 countries with the entrance of the first countries of Eastern Europe, Cyprus and Malta.

The protagonists
175 MOVEMENTS AND COMMUNITIES
Catholics, Evangelicals, Orthodox and Anglicans

This is not a well-known phenomenon. As in other crucial moments of European history, also
in our times new spiritual currents have emerged from the Gospel, spiritual currents which gave
rise to communities and movements of spiritual renewal and social commitment.
United by an increasing communion, for the first time in history, they weave a network of fraternal relationships among the various peoples and cultures of Europe, making visibile, albeit on a small scale, the unity already in act, of Europe in its multiplicity, from which can emerge new impulses to social, political and cultural life.

Jews, Muslims and members of other religions will be present as observers.

Where: STUTTGART, city of reconciliation

In this city, for the first time, in October 1945, representatives of the Evangelical Church officially recognized its share in the shortcoming towards nazism. The German people began to admit their fault.

Some statistics
10,000 people will partecipate in the “Together for Europe”day at the Hans Martin Schleyer of Stuttgart
100,000 people will be gathered together in sports stadiums, theatres, cultural centres, and universities and linked via satellite with Stuttgart in
163 cities of 30 European countries
34 cities of 15 countries of 4 continents, for a Europe open to all the world
100 political personalities belonging to different parties from 14 countries
16 satellites will transmit in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North, Central and South America, Australia, with audio in 8 languages (French, English, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, German and International).

Among the 175 Movements and communities: about 80 Catholics from different countries and over 80 Evangelicals of Germany. Representatives of Syndesmus, which gathers together 126 Orthodox movements, associations and theological faculties from all over the world and 4 other Orthodox movements; Alpha Courses, born in the Anglican Church and now spread to all the world in various Churches, various ecumenical communities and associations, among which the Taizè community and Initiatives e Changements, the former Moral Rearmament Foundation.

Personalities
High level representatives of European institutions: the European Commission, with the intervention of President Romano Prodi, the European Council, by the Secretary General, W. Schwimmer. Video message of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Irish Prime Minister, Ahern.
About 100 political personalities belonging to different parties from 14 countries, members of 10 Parliaments, and various mayors.

Quite significant is the adhesion of personalities representing the leaders of different Churches: Catholic, Orthodox of Constantinople, Moscow, Greece, Albania, Romania, Anglican, Evangelical, and important Church organizations of Europe (CCEE, KEK) and the world (WCC). We are expecting messages from Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Costantinopole Bartolomew I.

Program
prepared for television with brief talks and artistic numbers

Interventions, among others, by founders and directors of Movements, Communities and groups, among whom: Chiara Lubich, Andrea Riccardi; the Evangelical pastors Friedrich Aschoff, Ulrich Parzany; Fr. Heikki Huttunen, Orthodox
Young people will say how they want Europe to be
A final message will be launched

Information service:
www.europ2004.org

The event will be transmitted via internet in Italian and English: www.europ2004.info

On the website:
program, photos, texts in 15 languages, music, news, press release, forum with e-mail messages
from various gatherings linked up with the event

Signal of the transmission from Stuttgart
thanks to TELESPAZIO, CRC/Canada and MEDIA SPACE Alliance
will be offered free to TV and radio stations, with audio in French, English, Italian, Dutch,
Polish, Spanish, German and International.

To obtain the signal contact: ianua.co@focolare.org cell. 39.338.394.8600

[:it]L’eco sulla stampa

Apr 28, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]I Movimenti e l’Europa dello Spirito

Apr 27, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]UE: Cristiani insieme a Stoccarda per costruire Nuova Europa

Apr 26, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Primo incontro dei movimenti cristiani nella storia

Apr 26, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Ecumenismo: In 10 mila a Stoccarda per realizzare “Il sogno di un’Europa unita nello spirito”

Apr 26, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Secondo simposio indù-cristiano

Apr 21, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Dal buio alla riscoperta del proprio carisma[:es]De la oscuridad al redescubrimiento del propio carisma[:pt]Da escuridão à redescoberta do próprio carisma

Apr 6, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Il mosaico si ricompone[:es]El mosaico se recompone[:pt]O mosaico se recompõe

Apr 5, 2004 | Non categorizzato

[:it]Economia di Comunione e Cooperazione sociale: un futuro economico dal volto umano

Mar 31, 2004 | Non categorizzato