Being a community is more than just being together.It means responding to a call to build: giving life to a family sustained by the Word and meeting each other. Here, in this video, is what some people who participated in the Mariapolis of the Holy Land last July told us. There is a light breeze which caresses the ancient ruins of the Church of St. George, in Taybeh, the only entirely Christian village in the Holy Land. According to Scripture, it is the place where Jesus came to rest with his followers before the Passion. And it was here, on 8th-9th July 2022 that adults, young people and children of the Focolare Movement gathered together to live a truly special Mariapolis, a moment of fraternity and true communion. “Mariapolis is a time for the family to get together,” says Mayra, from Bethlehem, “It usually takes place every year but due to the pandemic we couldn’t have it. This year, after three years, we could and for me it’s like taking a break from my life and recharging myself spiritually.” “To be witnesses of love” was the title of this two-day event that saw the participation of people from many regions of the country, from Haifa, Nazareth, to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Gaza. Despite the socio-political and cultural challenges of the Holy Land, the desire to enjoy beauty and to live as a community give the strength to overcome physical and often inner barriers. The community is the place where we find the values that become nourishment, where we build a present and a future which respect the dignity of all; the place where listening to and witnessing to the other in the light of the Gospel invites us to better understand the work of God in our lives and, more than anything else, it is the place where no one is alone. Marcell and Boulos, from Nazareth shared this with us: in their life-journey, they were able to experience support and family during the most painful moment of their lives, the death of their youngest son, Jack. And Khader, from Gaza, who despite the daily hardships to be faced in the context in which he lives, places his hope in God, joyfully recognizing the beauty of the vocation to which he is called: that of happiness.
Maria Grazia Berretta
Activate English subtitles https://youtu.be/cCMZ1jlYzhA
One of the greatest sufferings for human beings is to feel worthless when faced with the realities of life, to accept that at times we cannot do anything. To be an instrument in God’s hands means to make ourselves available, rediscover our own value in letting someone else do something, and learn the art of entrusting ourselves to others.A bit of prudenceAs head of a department in my company, one day I noticed that my typically peaceful colleague had an aggressive attitude. When I invited him to talk, he confided in me his problems with his wife, who had turned out to be violent to the point of laying hands on him. She continually demanded more and more money from him. This was what was behind his working overtime. Since then, my colleague started phoning me outside work when things were going badly, certain that he would find a listening ear. However, when I realised that I had become a kind of safe haven for him, I felt the need to talk to my husband about it, out of Christian prudence. After helping me to understand that for that man I might not just be a friend, but the ideal of a woman, my husband put forth an idea that turned out to be a winner. We invited over the colleague’s family using the excuse of a birthday. After trusting in God, and thanks to the atmosphere created by our children’s games and prizes, the relationship established with the other couple gave hope for a change in their situation. (G.T., Portugal) Goodbye bicycle For some time now I have had to put my beloved bicycle, my companion on so many journeys, to rest in the garage. The fact is that, because of my bifocals, I am now forced to walk. To be honest, it has cost me a bit personally. The bike was very useful, because I could put my shopping and other things in the basket, which I now have to carry by hand. Luckily I live in a small town where everything I need is close by. That said, I have discovered an advantage of going without two wheels, beyond that of avoiding falls, which are so disastrous when one has reached a certain age. Walking gives me the opportunity to meet many people, have a chat… and there is always something sad or joyful to share. In short, everything is an expression of God’s love, if we are willing to do his will. Better to try to go to heaven without a bicycle than to go faster… and where then? (Marianna, Italy)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta.
From “Il Vangelo del Giorno”, Città Nuova, year IX, no.1, January–February 2023
As the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity concludes, here’s an experience of synodality, dialogue and bonding with brothers from various churches in Bari, Italy. It was a step forward to get to know each other and to walk together. For some years my husband Giulio and I have been following ecumenical dialogue with other movements within our diocese and on behalf of the Focolare Movement. Some time ago we received a letter from Cardinal Kock, Prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and Cardinal Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, on the need to involve brothers and sisters of other churches at the synodal tables. These are moments in small groups, organised to articulate reflections and proposals on the way forward for our diocesan church, for the occasion of the synod launched in October 2021. I seized the opportunity and went to see Father Alfredo, our bishop’s delegate for ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, inviting him to consider this proposal. Later he contacted me to invite me to participate in a course for table facilitators in the diocese, which was very interesting. The next step was to start visualising our meeting with our Christian brothers and sisters, and then gradually make it come to life. We looked for a suitable room and involved friends from other movements in the preparation. Each of them knew people from other churches, who in turn became facilitators themselves. We set the dates, and in the morning we went together with my family to prepare the room to make it welcoming. We set six tables with coloured tablecloths, posters, coloured markers, as well as chocolates, drinks, glasses, etc. We didn’t know how many people would come, so we wanted to make sure and put six chairs per table. In the early afternoon our guests arrived. In the end there were 38 people from 9 different churches, and we had to add 2 chairs. It was a wonderful experience. We entered as strangers and left as family, with the desire to get to know each other more so that we could pray together and live fraternal charity. There was great enthusiasm at the discovery of being able to be together, with the joy of being one people of God.
Building unity beyond age-old prejudices, distrust and rifts. Generating, day after day, a dialogue that has become a way of life. This is the daily life of the Focolare community in Great Britain, whose members belong to various Christian Churches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJWtzhL2tew&list=PL9YsVtizqrYsxCVExqFc_vvuzCKyNbr43&index=2
On 19th January, 2023, the first “Communion in Action, A Lifestyle of Sharing” Report of the Focolare Movement was presented at the “Focolare Meeting Point” premises in Rome. It is an overview of the activities and initiatives promoted by the Movement in the world in the two-year period 2020-2021. The first report of this kind published by the Focolare Movement was presented to an audience from the diplomatic, political and religious worlds and to journalists from the Italian media.
Margaret Karram
The document describes a lifestyle made up of spontaneous sharing, not only of goods but of experiences and needs. It is all inspired by evangelical love. Contemplating the fruits of this sharing encourages a renewed dialogue to increase communion even more. Alongside material resources, the invisible goods which have been donated, invested or gathered in this period are given equal importance. The journalist Claudia di Lorenzi facilitated the event. It opened with a greeting from the President of the Focolare Movement, Margaret Karram, who said. “I hope that these pages mark the beginning of an ever greater sharing. We desire to be credible seeds of hope that contribute to renewing the world with love”. Geneviève Sanze, Economist and Co-Responsible for the aspect of “Economy and Work” at the International Centre of the Focolare Movement, explained that “this Report is an instrument of dialogue, an attempt to offer a glimpse of what we try to bring into society to progress the path towards fraternity”. Sr. Marilena Argentieri, President of the CNEC (National Centre for Religious Community Economists) said that what “the Report conveys the idea that nothing belongs to us (…) because everything I have is in communion with others”. Then she added a personal note, “I think the Report makes me grow in freedom and detachment, because at its centre is love for God and love for the poor”.
From left:: Dott.sa Geneviève Sanze, Prof. Luigino Bruni, Prof. Andrea Riccardi, Sr. Marilena Argentieri.
Andrea Riccardi, Historian and Founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, said, “This document highlights the effects of this communion, of what we have and what we are, in a voluntary and free sharing. And to some extent the more communion there is, the less the effects can be controlled but perhaps the more the Gospel is lived. The Focolare Movement, which has spread silently in many countries of the world, is like a network in society and in the Church, that protects the earth from landslides. We are in a time of human, ecological and religious unease and then there is this network of friendship in the world and here I insist on the value of unity, but a unity that is rooted in so many places in the world, has a much greater value”. In his turn, Luigino Bruni, Economist and Professor of Economics at the Lumsa University in Rome, said that “the Report reminds us of the importance of the relational capital, the spiritual capital and the invisible capital that make our community beautiful and rich (…) Charisms are capable of activating energies deeper than money, that is, people act for higher aims”. The “Communion in Action, A Lifestyle of Sharing” Report is a 112-page document, in which you can visualize the life of the Focolare Movement, from the many initiatives to the aspect of formation and study, from communication to ecology and in which it is clear that, as Geneviève Sanze said, “it is not money that changes the world but “new” women and men who bring a new culture of fraternity. This is what we want to highlight”.
Carlos Mana
Watch the video of the presentation here https://youtu.be/HcJ5poGmq8A
The continental stage of the Synod has begun. The Focolare Movement contributed with a worldwide reflection and study. We interviewed Francisco Canzani, Councillor of the International Focolare Centre for the aspect of “wisdom and study” and Coordinator of the Synod Commission to learn more about this contribution.What is your assessment of the work done in the Focolare Movement for the Synod? Very positive. Over 15,000 members of the Movement participated in the first stage of our synodal journey. They represent 520 communities around the world. We received 21 regional summaries that demonstrate the depth of reflection and the interest shown by Focolare in all cultures. Alongside this work within the Movement, which was in response to the Secretariat of the Synod, which specifically asked us for a contribution, many members of the Movement took part in the processes in their dioceses and parishes. The involvement of people of different Christian Churches and of faithful of different religions in the process of reflection was particularly relevant. We also received two important contributions from dialogue groups between Christians and people without religious convictions that the Movement hosts. How can this experience help us to acquire the practice of synodality within the Movement?
Synod path team Focolare Movement
The way to participate in the synodal journey is by “walking together”. The experience of reflecting and sharing our experiences, concerns and questions has already been very valuable in itself. All the important themes emerged: co-responsibility, mission, young people, option for the poor, community life, the role of women in the Church. These are themes which also emerged from the General Assembly of the Movement, which was held between January and February 2021, but which still need to be developed. The synodal process was a further stage of a journey of embedding our life in the times that God gives us to live. Having concluded this contribution as a Movement, how can we participate in the current stage, that is, the continental stage? It is fundamental that we all “enter” fully into the Synthesis prepared by the Synod Secretariat for the Continental Stage. We should read it, meditate on it, continue to consider its questions in our communities. This will help us become aware of the great harmony that exists with the document that we sent as Focolare Movement to the Secretariat of the Synod. To be part of the current stage, we can then continue to participate in all the opportunities that our local Churches offer us. Is there any other material that can help the members of the Movement to deepen the theme of synodality? I think it is important that we all consult the summary document that we sent as the Focolare Movement to the Secretariat of the Synod. We also made a video, which explains it better. Then, as I have already said, it is essential to read the document of the continental stage and continue to reflect on the issues contained therein. Moreover, it would be really useful, , if the communities of the Movement could answer the questions posed by the document, the same ones that the whole Church asks. It is also very important to learn about synodality. For this reason, the Sophia University Institute, through its research centre Evangelii Gaudium is holding an online course on the Synodality. I think we all can and should make use of it.
The first annual prize of the Chiara Badano Foundation is underway Do you like helping others? Do you have an idea about a solidarity project and can’t wait to get going? Well, there’s an initiative in which you might be interested. On 29th October, 2022, during the anniversary of the birth of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano, the Foundation that keeps her memory alive established the Solidarity Prize. It is an annual event to promote solidarity projects around the world. Since childhood, Chiara Luce demonstrated her passion for the most needy, the weakest, the marginalized of society, the elderly and in particular children. This is why the Chiara Badano Foundation decided to establish this award. The objective is to support and encourage projects to promote positive actions aimed at the weakest sections of the population (the elderly, people with disabilities, immigrants…) and actions aimed at combating exploitation and violence against women and children, new poverty and for the protection of the planet. Each year the prize will identify an innovative project of social importance, with the aim of disseminating its contents to make it available to everyone. The idea is to support the project with a financial contribution of 2,000 euro, to promote it through effective communication on social media and open it up to new forms of support. Organizations and groups, even informal ones, can apply for the prize. They should be composed mostly of young people under 30 years of age, who have a project that promotes and furthers the culture and practice of solidarity. The deadline for submission of projects (20th January 2023) has been extended to 20th February. For more info read the announcement. The Chiara Badano Foundation also promotes the Art Prize, an initiative to give young people the opportunity to express through artistic talents, how much Chiara Luce’s lifestyle has fascinated and inspired them. The call for tenders for the sixth edition will be launched in March 2023. www.chiarabadano.org
KidsAction4Peaceis the initiative to which the youngest of the Focolare Movement join, Gen4 e Gen3, inviting children to get involved in building peace. A simple but concrete way to look at those who, at this moment, are living the suffering and injustice of war. To make a contribution, we have time from 25 to 30 January 2023 Hello everyone! We are a few children who strive to build peace at school, at home, in sport by being kind and helping those in need. How can we help our friends who are in the midst of war? Let’s ask our leaders to help people at war to build peace! Would you like to help us too?
Make a drawing, or write a poem or letter about peace.
Write the slogan (hashtag) #KidsAction4Peace on it (you can also ask an adult to take a photo and put it on social media with this hashtag).
Send it between January 25 to 30 to the postal address of your head of government or You can also make more and send them to other leaders. You can find the list bycountry here. (January 30 is also the International School Day of Non-Violence).
Ask at least five other children to do the same and pass this message on.
We heard that on February 9 and 10, many of these leaders will meet in Brussels, so we hope that our letters and drawings will reach their hearts. Bye!!! Sofia (12), Agnese (10), Matteo (10), Costanza (10), Nicola (9), Mattia (8), Teresa (8), Cristina (7), Anastasia (7) from Italy; Leonor (11), Margarida (9), Leonor (9), Joao (8), Leonor (8) from Portugal; Thiméo (12), Mathilde (11), Adéline (8), Aurélien (5) from Belgium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi0kJ9-z7pY
Learning to do good means learning an alphabet that allows us to intuit the will of God in our lives and go towards other people. It is an alphabet made of concrete action. Justice is the precious treasure to be sought, the desired gem and the goal of what we do.The accident I was on my way home for lunch when the car in front of me swerved and turned over. I stopped and got out of the car to help. Thanks also to other rescuers, we were able to remove the injured an old lady, a young man and a child from the vehicle. They were covered in blood. For fear of being involved in the accident, no one offered to take them to the hospital. So it was up to me! I am very sensitive and sometimes the sight of blood has made me faint. But this time I took courage and was able to help. There is a fee to be paid to be admitted into the emergency department. I didn’t have the amount in cash. I was hesitant to write a cheque but I could not abandon them so I did. After making sure that the injured were being looked after (like the Good Samaritan), I left. I felt light, like you do after sitting an exam: I had overcome the obstacle of my sensitivity but above all I had been of help to my neighbours at a crucial moment. I felt the true joy of the Gospel. (Marciano – Argentina) Rebirth The rebellious adolescence of one of our children, his depression, panic attacks, destructive friendships and addictions had caused a serious wound in our family. A river of anger and hostile feelings welled up inside me that made me act negatively towards my husband and other children. I felt I had failed as a mother and I became more and more closed in on myself. A dear friend, seeing me in such a state, advised me to talk to a priest. I received a grace in that very meeting. It was as if God broke through the thick walls of my heart where my tears were locked up. I cried for a long time, I cried for all the terrible things that happened to our son over the years. That day the liturgy contained a phrase from Ezekiel that confirmed my rebirth: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). I found peace in prayer and was able to be close to my children and become a safe place for them. (W.Z. – Poland) Forgiveness An acquaintance of mine received a message from her brother announcing the sudden death of his wife and begging her to go and see him. She had never been on good terms with her sister-in-law, especially since she had prevented her husband from visiting their mother on the verge of death. She even had some friends who told her that it was good not to go to a brother who had not behaved well with the whole family. The woman, in her very religious way, began to pray for her sister-in-law, to have Masses celebrated for her… but she did not move: she could not forgive her brother. How could I convince her of the incongruity of her Christianity? That month, the Word of Life was focussed on mutual love. I brought my acquaintance the leaflet with the commentary that explained how to live that evangelical commandment. A few days later, she came to my house smiling: she wanted to tell me that after she read the leaflet she had not been able to prevent herself, she had gone to see her brother and had reconciled with him. (D.P. – Brazil)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(Taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year IX – n.1- January-February 2023)
To go towards others “with haste” like the Virgin Mary – this is the heart of the message of the next World Youth Day (WYD) which will take place in Lisbon 1–6 August. Here are some interesting facts about the preparations. “Dear young people, I dream that at WYD you will again experience the joy of encounter with God and with your brothers and sisters. After long periods of distance and isolation, in Lisbon – with God’s help – we will rediscover together the joy of the fraternal embrace between peoples and between generations, the embrace of reconciliation and peace, the embrace of a new missionary fraternity!” These were the hopes of Pope Francis at the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome as he addressed young people from all over the world on 15 August 2022. On the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he explained the profound meaning of the theme chosen for the next World Youth Day: “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39). In such difficult times, in which humanity, tried by the trauma of the pandemic, is torn by the drama of war, the Gospel episode of the Visitation is the path which so many young people will take from 1–6 August, as they will take part in the international meeting in Lisbon. It will be a moment of great joy and an opportunity to witness, meditate and share together in Mary’s footsteps. But how are the preparations going? Mariana Vaz Pato, a young designer from Lisbon, is part of a team from the Focolare Movement that is in charge of the organisation. “When I heard that WYD would be held in Portugal, I reacted to this news with great joy,” she says. “I immediately decided to be part of this team because I felt I could contribute, dedicate my time to building this great event.” Mariana, what is going on behind the scenes at the moment? Behind the scenes there is a lot going on, and generally there is a spirit of great enthusiasm. Right now, the main focus is on registrations, which have just opened, and we have to spread the word so as not to leave anyone out. My team has been working on different parts of the WYD programme. One of these is the preparation of a catechesis in the light of the charism of unity, and at this stage we are working on the content related to the WYD theme, following the guidelines of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. We are working on the creation of a stand in the City of Joy (a vocations fair), where pilgrims will find interactive content and experiences from around the world related to the various stages of Mary’s life. With the international performing arts group Gen Verde we are preparing another moment – the Start Now workshops – which will take place in a neighbourhood in a Lisbon suburb and will culminate in one of the stages of the youth festival. In addition to the main WYD programme, we feel the need to offer a post-WYD meeting, where participants can experience and reflect on everything they experienced during WYD. The meeting will take place at the Focolare’s Arco-Íris community and is open to all those who wish to participate. We are also involved in other groups to welcome pilgrims, manage volunteers and the official choir. What does it mean for a young person today to “arise” and leave in a hurry? The theme of this day calls us to go on mission, using Mary, who responded to God’s call, as an example. I think that for young people, “arising” means being missionaries. That is, to be ready to leave, get out of ourselves (from the comfort of sitting), go towards our neighbours, and not remain indifferent to the problems that exist around us. This WYD is also entrusted to some patron saints or witnesses of the faith, reference figures who have their processes still going on. Why is it so important today to aspire to holiness? I think that to aspire to holiness is to aspire to happiness. For young people it is important to have a role model, and saints are proof that it is possible to have a Christian lifestyle that is different from what we see around us. The figure that strikes me most, for example, is Blessed Chiara Badano. The way she lived, swimming against the current with great trust in God, is an inspiration and shows us that it is possible to become a saint even in today’s world. For more information visit: JMJ Lisboa 2023.
On 31st December 2022 Luisa Del Zanna, one of the first focolarine in Florence, left us. She was born in 1925 into a Christian family as one of eight children. When she got to know the spirituality of unity she immediately made it her own. In 1954 she joined the focolare in Florence. In the following years she saw the birth of and followed various communities of the Movement. From 1967 she lived in Rocca di Papa (Italy) where Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, had entrusted her with taking care of its secretariat, the archives, which she coordinated until 2007, and the nascent St Clare Centre (Centro Santa Chiara) for Communication, together with one of the first focolarini, Vitaliano Bulletti. “The guardian of the ‘treasures of the Focolare’” – we read in a article from 2008 in Città Nuova, “Luisetta, a name that caresses you, that makes you think of a delicate and gentle creature. And that really describes Luisa Del Zanna with her petite figure; one of those people who are usually entrusted with important tasks because of their discretion, competence and fidelity, whose value we don’t always realise because they remain behind the scenes, but without whom the cogs of the wheels would stop turning…”.In her early years, she worked as a schoolteacher in a small village in the mountains of northern Italy which she reached by taking part of the road on foot or on a donkey. It is her experience of that time that we are publishing here, keeping the original style of the year it was written, 1958. “Please, which is the road to Bordignano?[1]” After a four-hour bus journey, I had arrived at the principal municipality of that area which I had been unable to find on the topographical map (scale 1:100,000). No information agency had heard of it, and there was no mention of it on the timetables for the various means of transport. Yet the appointment letter stated quite clearly: ‘Your ladyship is invited to take up service on Friday 7 October at Bordignano Primary School in the municipality of Firenzuola”. And the name was written in block letters. There could be no mistake. The person to whom I had addressed the question – a tall, robust man – looked at me, puzzled: “What did you say?” and made me repeat the question. He thought he had misunderstood. Then he pointed into the distance: “You see that hill over there? Behind it are two others and then there’s Bordignano. I’m just going there now to deliver the post”. I realised immediately that he was going there on foot by the big boots he was wearing and his tanned face. I gasped in dismay for a moment. I looked at that hill, then at the man’s boots and realised there was no other way, so I took courage. “I’ll go with you,” I said resolutely. The postman didn’t seem to understand, just as before, but I set off and followed him. It was a long three-hour journey, interrupted only by brief pauses at the top of the steep climbs where there were impetuous gusts of wind where the valley opened up. Eventually, I arrived and saw three stone houses in a row, and further up, at the top of a tree-lined lane, the church with its bell tower. I greeted an old man, sitting with a pipe in his mouth, on the doorstep. I told him I was the teacher. He got up and moved to accompany me. We went through a bumpy door into the second of the row of houses, all of which were owned by the old man; the first was the shop that stocked everything (except for a few things I didn’t have which I really could have done with). There were hobnailed boots, matches, mousetraps (all kinds of mousetraps), stale bread, notebooks, everything. We climbed a ladder and entered the school. It was a large room with a few desks stacked in a corner (I had never seen such desks: six children could have fitted in one of them), a splintered chair, a broken blackboard. That was all the furniture. – Over here is your house,’ the old man explained to me, ‘you can be happy! This year there is running water. I had it installed, at my own expense! He ushered me into a small kitchenette; an unlit fireplace stood out in one corner. I was cold. It was starting to get dark: I looked for a light switch but there was none. (In the days that followed, I learned to use the carbide lamp and work and write by the light of that flickering tongue of fire). I sought out the priest that very same day (I learned that his church was the Pieve, the most beautiful of all the churches in the valley and the surrounding hills) and begged him to announce at Sunday Mass that school was starting. “But, signorina, it’s harvest time. Now there are chestnuts, then olives; the children help a lot with this work. School?” he added, “we’ll talk about that in January”. It all seemed impossible to me. I had learned some time ago not to shy away from difficulties. Quite the contrary. I had been told they serve as springboards, and I had seen that it was true. I found another way to let people know I had arrived. I spotted my pupils’ homes among the scattered, isolated cottages and went there. The first was Angiolino and Maria’s house. I am left with a vague memory of blackness and smoke from that one. There was Maria crouching in a corner among the ashes of the hearth (she had a sore throat), holding her arm over her face so that I wouldn’t see her. Angiolino was standing in the corner with his head down, following the conversation I was having with his mother. During the conversation I realised how much the people distrusted the school and the teacher even more. I listened in silence. I tried hard to understand the woman who spoke in a harsh, rancorous, almost incomprehensible dialect. I discovered that the boy had left school two years ago, without having completed his elementary studies, because of the mischief he was causing against the teachers. I just said a few things: I had come for them, the school was free and the children would have the afternoon off to help in the fields. “We’ll see,” said the woman, “I’ll send Maria”. As I was leaving I greeted the boy: “I would like to make the school beautiful for the little ones who come, if you can come and help me… I’ll be waiting for you”. There was no need for many more invitations. One by one the children arrived, the little brothers in pairs, uncertain, fearful. They had spread the word about school when they met for games, or in the fields, while tending the flock, or by being together in the woods collecting chestnuts. “Are you coming too? It’s nice, you know!” “It’s nice there, the teacher doesn’t hit!” The school soon became cosy with Angiolino’s valuable help. October’s nature offered rich ornamental material in the varied colour of its leaves. I established a relationship with each of the pupils and the pupils’ relationships with each other based on Jesus’ commandment: “Love one another…”. It was the basis for all the work that year. The school became a little paradise. The favourite book was the Gospel and those children’s minds, unused and closed to human reasoning, opened up to the logic of the Gospel with surprising spontaneity. The method was challenging. “Pro eis sanctifico me ipsum” (For them do I sanctify myself), Jesus had said, otherwise it would be ineffective. I realised at the end of the year that the evangelical life of those little ones had not remianed within the confines of the school, but had spilled out into their homes and their families. I realised this from the grateful greetings of the parents who had not remained indifferent to the breath of joyful life that the children brought back to them. The rough exterior that had made them seem insensitive disappeared from their souls and, unconsciously, that same life had entered them.
Experience of Luisa Del Zanna
[1] Bordignano, in the municipality of Firenzuola (Florence, Italy)
During her tenure as President of the Focolare Movement, (2008-2021), Maria Voce had the opportunity to meet Pope Ratzinger several times. She told us about her relationship with the emeritus Pope and her impression of the contribution of Pope Benedict’s pontificate to the Church and the world. “When I was received in audience in his study, it was to like going into the living room of a home, where you could talk and be welcomed with love, I would even say, with loving attention. At the same time with noble finesse, tact and delicacy”. At the news of the departure of Pope Benedict XVI, the memories of Maria Voce, former President of the Focolare Movement, immediately returned to 13th April, 2010, when, with the then Co-President of the Focolare, Fr. Giancarlo Faletti, she was received by the Pope. “It was the second year after the death of our foundress, Chiara Lubich. The Co-President and I went to consign the life of the Movement into the hands of the Pope. We realized that he was already very aware of many things. We told him about our trip to various Asian countries from which we had just returned. He was pleased to hear about our visit to China, which is an important frontier for the Church. He rejoiced at what the Movement was doing to help the process of reconciliation between the Chinese Bishops and the Pope. He gave us his blessing and encouraged us to continue on the way to holiness. Personally, I was always impressed by his fine kindness and at the same time his warm and familiar welcome. He had a great sense of harmony, perhaps due to his love for music, which was also evident in the way his study was furnished: a welcoming place like a home, sacred like a church”. Did you meet Pope Benedict XVI as President of the Focolare on any other occasions? “In 2008 he received Co-President Faletti and I, immediately after the General Assembly of the Focolare in which we had been elected, the first after the death of our foundress. He then invited me to travel on the same train as him, with many personalities, to the “Day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world” held in Assisi on 27th October 2011, twenty five years after the first event held by Pope John Paul II in 1986. Finally, I participated in his last audience on 27th February, 2013 after the announcement of his resignation.” What are your thoughts about his decision? “When he realized that he no longer had the strength to carry out his task, he had the courage to make room for others who, in his opinion, had more strength and opportunity to do better. A choice that, as I said at the time, offered a synthesis of his theological and spiritual reflection. He highlighted the primacy of God, the sense that history is guided by him. And he directed us to grasp the signs of the times and to respond to them by having the courage to make difficult but innovative choices. He gave a clear note of hope because of “the certainty that the Church belongs to Christ”. I think I am not mistaken in stating that the Church to which Pope Benedict always looked, even in making this choice, is a “Church-communion”, the fruit of Vatican II but also a vision, “increasingly an expression of the essence of the Church” as he himself had pointed out. And that “increasingly” tells us that we have not yet fully realized it and invites each of us to work in that direction with ever greater responsibility”. The day after his election as Pontiff, Chiara Lubich wrote: “From what I know about him, since he has special gifts for understanding the light of the Spirit, he will not fail to surprise and surpass every expectation”. In your opinion, what was the most significant contribution made to the Church by Pope Benedict XVI? What is he saying to the Church of today and to what the Synod is preparing for the future? “Pope Ratzinger understood the reality of Movements in the Church as the ‘springtime of the Spirit’. His speech, when still a Cardinal, to the Congress of Movements before the big meeting of Pentecost 1998 with Pope John Paul II, is fundamental. What he said in 1969 in a series of radio lectures is also impressive, thinking of today’s times; it reveals his profound spirituality and essentiality and a vision that must have remained in his heart throughout his pontificate. He said that very difficult times were coming for the Church, that its real crisis had just begun and that it would have to deal with major upheavals. But, the then Card. Ratzinger, also said that he was very sure about what would remain in the end: not the Church of political worship, but the Church of faith. It will no longer be the dominant social force to the extent that it has been until recently. But, he concluded, the Church will have a new blossoming and will appear as the home of humanity, where life and hope can be found beyond death”.
The theologian Piero Coda recalls Pope Benedict XVI and his extraordinary contribution to the journey of the Church in our time.Mons. Coda, in 1998 at the World Congress of Ecclesial Movements, the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Card. Joseph Ratzinger made a historic speech about the role of ecclesial movements. What, in your opinion, are the essential points of that speech? How much have those words contributed to changing the role of movements in the Church? Yes, it was indeed an historic speech! I was attending the Congress so I heard him give it. He had great theological competence and knowledge of the history of the Church, as well as the experience of the Council and then, in his role in the Vatican, he followed its implementation at the universal level. This allowed Ratzinger to clearly identify the meaning of ecclesial movements in the mission of the Church. His central point was to recognize the action of the Holy Spirit in the Movements. Throughout the centuries, in ever new ways and in subsequent waves, the Holy Spirit renews the People of God with the gift of charisms: from St. Benedict to the Mendicant Orders in the Middle Ages, from the Company of Jesus to the Missionary Orders in the last centuries, right up to the unexpected charismatic blossoming in concomitance with the Council. Hence the affirmation of John Paul II, in tune with the teaching of Vatican II, according to which the Church is built on the co-essentiality of the “hierarchical gifts”, the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders and of the “charismatic gifts”, the free bestowal of special graces of light and life among all the disciples of Jesus. On the occasion of the death of Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare, Pope Benedict XVI sent a comprehensive message of condolence. What was Lubich’s relationship with him? Chiara told me personally that she was very impressed by that speech of Cardinal Ratzinger in 1998 and was always grateful for it. He visited the Mariapolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo (Rome) on 8th December, 1989 and celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. He referred to the Gospel parable and said that he could see the growth of a large tree born from a small seed, in which all the birds of the sky find rest. The first years of the pontificate of Benedict XVI coincided with the last years of Chiara’s life: she could no longer meet him in person or rejoice in the fact that, a year after her death, in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Ratzinger mentioned the Economy of Communion. What does the thought and life of Pope Benedict XVI say to the Church of today and tomorrow, which the current Synod is helping to define? His unique contribution was to recall, with his authority as a man of God and a great theologian, a determining truth: the work of renewal put into motion by Vatican II needs to be developed in direct contact with the living nucleus of the Gospel of Jesus and in the context of the ecclesial Tradition. He stated this clearly in his magisterial speech to the Roman Curia in December 2005, the first year of his pontificate, when he defined the decisive key to interpretation of the conciliar event as being: “continuing reform”. It is no coincidence that the best-known book by the young theologian Ratzinger, which appeared in its first edition in 1968 and was translated into the main languages, bears the title Introduction to Christianity. This signalled that the launch pad for a prophetic leap forward is the faith of always, in Jesus. Nor is it insignificant that, as Pope, he dedicated three encyclicals to the theological virtues: charity, hope and faith. He strongly stressed the primacy of the first, because it evokes the very name of the God who reveals himself in Jesus. That Jesus to whom he dedicated a passionate trilogy as an invitation to the encounter with the living principle of faith, which is not a beautiful idea, but God Himself. Faithfulness, therefore, to the patrimony of faith but so that the richness and novelty of the Gospel may be released from it. This is the secret of the strength and enduring fascination of the magisterium of Benedict XVI. And you personally, what is the most beautiful memory you have of Pope Ratzinger? I met him many times, first as Cardinal and then as Pope. I always experienced his great cordiality and exquisite attention. I also had the opportunity to converse at length with him about theology, in the context of a series of seminars with other scholars, at an international level, when he was Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith. This made me realize (with increasing gratitude to God) the extraordinary contribution of wisdom he has given to the journey of the Church in our time. In agreement with Chiara, I shared the idea of the Sophia University Institute with Pope Benedict. He exclaimed, “A wonderful thing, if you can manage it…” Finally, I remember his joyful surprise when we met him during an audience with the first group of students and Caelison, a blind student, spontaneously confided to him: “We have found the light in Sophia!”.
Statement by Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement on the death of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI Respect, appreciation, and emotion fill my heart as I express deepest gratitude for the life and work of Pope Benedict XVI. I do so on my own behalf and on behalf of the Movement that he followed and accompanied with love and closeness . With the whole Church we gather around Pope Francis as we give him back to God, certain that he has already been received into the glory of Heaven and I will do so personally on the 5th January when I attend his funeral in St Peter’s Square. In May 2009, I had the privilege of welcoming Pope Benedict to Jerusalem, as I participated in various stages of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Two of those moments remain with me in particular: his words at the Holy Sepulchre, “Peace is possible here”. He continued, saying: “The Empty Tomb speaks to us of hope, the same hope that does not disappoint, because it is the gift of the Spirit of life.” Being able to attend a private Mass in the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem, celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI himself was very powerful for me. I sensed his fatherly tenderness and the greatness of his charity that was expressed in a gesture of gratitude for all that the Focolare Movement had done to help prepare for his visit. In 1989, when he was still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was invited by Chiara Lubich for a dialogue with the focolarine gathered for their annual spiritual exercises, in which I too was participating. He answered a wide variety of questions and at one point spoke words that I have never forgotten. Concerning the future of the Church and humanity, he said: “The final word in the history of the world will be communion, becoming communion, not only among ourselves but, by being incorporated in Trinitarian love, becoming universal communion, where God is all in all”[1]. Today, as our beloved Pope Benedict XVI has returned to the house of the Father, these words of his resound within me almost like a spiritual testament. They are words of extraordinary relevance, which today shed light and hope on humanity afflicted by conflicts of which we see no end. We were nourished by his enlightened thought, that of a great theologian who, while still very young, took part in the Second Vatican Council, He conveyed and presented over the years the newness of a Church as communion, formed of knowledge of the Word and charity translated into practice. Following his election as Pope, Chiara Lubich affirmed: ‘From my personal knowledge of him, and because he has special gifts with which to grasp the light of the Spirit, he will not fail to surprise us and exceed all expectations’[2]. Let us not forget the key role he played in 1998, when Pope John Paul II invited the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities to St Peter’s Square on the feast of Pentecost. On that occasion, Cardinal Ratzinger gave a very significant lecture entitled: “The Ecclesial Movements: a Theological Reflection on their Place in the Church”, in which he outlined the profile of the movements and new communities and their essential relationship with the Church. Some parts of his talk continue to be a great light for me and for the Movement, enabling us to be instruments of communion in the Church and Christ’s outreached arms towards humanity. He said: “(…) the Holy Spirit is quite plainly at work in the Church and is lavishing new gifts on her in our time too, gifts through which she relives the joy of her youth (cf. Ps 42:4 Vulgate). Gratitude for the many people, young and old, who accept God’s call and joyfully enter into the service of the Gospel without looking back. Gratitude for the bishops who open themselves up to the new movements, create room for them in their local Churches, struggle patiently with them in order to overcome their one-sidedness and guide them to the right form.”[3] Together with the whole Church, I thank God for the gift that Pope Benedict XVI has been for our time and I pray that we will know how to grasp and translate into life the depth of his theological thought, his faithfulness to the Gospel and the courage of a life of witness that can lead the Church on the paths of truth, fraternity and peace.
Margaret Karram President Focolare Movemente
[1] Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s visit to the meeting of the women focolarini, answers to questions. Castel Gandolfo, 8th December 1989. Chiara Lubich Archive, in the General Archives of the Focolare Movement.[2] Statement by Chiara Lubich in the Focolare Movement’s Press Release of 20th April 2005[3] “Ecclesial Movements, a theological reflection on their place in the Church,” Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Proceedings of the World Congress of the Ecclesial Movements Rome, 27-29 May 1998.
Two milestones to experience cultural exchanges, form paths of inclusion through art and develop musical talents. Yann Dupont is a French teacher. He teaches at the Institution Sainte Catherine in Villeneuve-Sur-Lot, France. He had always dreamt of taking some of his students to Moramanga in Madagascar for a cultural exchange with the Antsirinala School. One day, by chance Dupont met Valerio Gentile from Gen Rosso and from a lively, simple and sincere dialogue, an idea was born. Why not go to Madagascar together, Gen Rosso and five of his students for a cultural and humanitarian exchange? And that’s exactly what happened! The French young people were included in the ‘train the trainer’ formation group and a number of young people interested in the performing arts also participated. They took as their motto the words they then put into practice during the workshops in Madagascar: “call by name, put yourself in the other person’s shoes, live one for the other with joy, start again”. It was an 8-day tour – thanks to the financial support of the NGO Edugascar – in November to 4 different cities: Ambatondrazaka, Moramanga, Antsirinala, Antingandingana. They spent their time between dance, percussion and singing workshops and concerts. Over 500 young people were involved. “We believe we’ve all experienced a little piece of a more united world here in Madagascar,” said Gen Rosso. “We have discovered a people who convey hope, patience, a sense of adaptation, serenity and courage in the face of life with all its daily challenges. Nancy Judicaelle, a young girl from Madagascar remarked: “On the one hand I am sad that my time with them was so short but I am so happy and deeply moved, and am experiencing an inexplicable joy”. Angel, one of the young participants added: “The concert was terrific because we had shared about music, the education of children and respect for the environment. It was a great show where even the children were able to make their contribution for our whole community”. The five French students continued the tour with Gen Rosso, stopping first at Antsirinala where they were welcomed – in a festive and friendly atmosphere – by a school of 200 children and young people twinned with the school in Villeneuve, and then on to Ambatondrazaka. Here they met the Focolare community – a true celebration because it was the first time Gen Rosso had landed in Madagascar. “I experienced incredible moments of cultural exchange that happened in a completely natural way between Gen Rosso and the humanitarian Madagascan people,” said Dumoulin Nicolas, a French reporter who was following the tour, “including a group of French students who were here for an exchange. It has been the adventure of a lifetime”. A stop in Lebanon Another important trip for the international band was the visit to the Lebanon for the HeARTmony. project. After their experience in Bosnia, this training programme made a stop in Beirut in November for young people interested in social inclusion methodologies for migrants and refugees through art. It spurred them on to strengthen intercultural skills and reflect on the causes and effects of migration in the Mediterranean. Adelson, Michele, Ygor and Juan Francisco – all members of Gen Rosso met with young people from Caritas Egypt, Caritas Lebanon and members of Humanité Nouvelle Lebanon. As they landed in Beirut they were warmly welcomed by members of the different focolares. The main aim of the trip was to learn how to use music and art as tools for bringing people together, especially people living on the margins of society, such as migrants, to make them feel welcome in a community. “Art is a powerful medium,” Gen Rosso’s Adelson commented, “music reaches places we often can’t reach with words. A person can feel loved and respond to love in many different ways”. The method is always the same: through singing, music and percussion workshops they try to bring out the participants’ talents as they work towards putting together the final performance. One evening, the band and project participants were invited to a party organised by the Focolare community in Beirut: making music together and getting to know each other. It was an opportunity to share some life experiences and find out more about what these young Lebanese people are going through today. “I want to leave, but I feel that Lebanon will only change if I have the courage to stay, if I put into practice what I have learnt,” one young girl said during the evening. “At this time, it is difficult to tell young people to stay, but this girl’s words struck me deeply,” continued Adelson. “I think this is where we can start again: putting love into the things we do in order to become protagonists of our own reality. Perhaps we won’t see the results immediately but I am sure that soon Lebanon will be reborn, like a phoenix”!
Recalling the emotions of an unforgettable year and the outlook for the New Year 2022 – a year that will be hard to forget. The war in Ukraine that could be compared to a virus for which there is still no vaccine, has affected all of us every day of this year that is drawing to a close. Yet, it has also been an opportunity for lots of artists to bring messages of peace and hope. And this is how the song ‘We Choose Peace‘ was born and recorded by Gen Verde, the international performing arts group, right at the start of the conflict in Ukraine. The video clip, recorded with young people from the little town of Loppiano and released during United World Week, has been particularly relevant throughout 2022, especially at various concerts around Europe. The band also recorded another song called ‘Walk On Holy Ground‘, written especially for followers of St Vincent de Paul but also for all those who feel called to follow Jesus. “To feel that I am looked at and loved by the One who has chosen me just as I am,” said Venezuelan singer Andreína Rivera from Gen Verde, “has given me the strength to go ahead with even more conviction.” This year was also marked by the concerts returning to squares and theatres, with various kinds of workshops, after a break of just over two years due to the pandemic. There have been several Gen Verde concerts in Italy and a special European tour. The strongest experience was the event held in the women’s prison in Vechta, Germany. “For the first time I was able to not feel like I was in prison. It was so beautiful,” said one of the inmates at the end of the concert. ‘I didn’t feel any difference. They were just like us. Some of them even had tears in their eyes. They really understood us.” Another one said: “Many songs were so appropriate for our situation, especially the song ‘On the other side’ because it helps not to judge those who are different from you”. Another inmate emphasised how “time went by so quickly and we didn’t want it to end. The stories in the songs are also my past and that is why I do not feel alone with my pain. Now I know that there are other people with the same stories, with the same pain, who have managed to find happiness”. We have been talking about our return after the pandemic. For Gen Verde, it was exciting to resume the Start Now Workshop Project, which is about meeting young people in the performing arts workshops and going on stage with them. “It’s been great to meet young people from different parts of Europe,” confided Raiveth Banfield from Panama who sings with Gen Verde. By sharing our experiences, so much light came back into their eyes. It was like a confirmation that it is worthwhile to live for universal brotherhood”. These words were echoed by two young Slovakian girls: “Before we came we didn’t really know what we were getting into. At first we didn’t even want to come out of ourselves but then in the workshops we discovered that we all had so much in common, even though we did not know each other and could not understand each other because of the different languages. We discovered that each of us has a little light inside us, despite the little obscurities. This experience is unforgettable: we will carry it with us for the rest of our lives.” Gen Verde is beginning to glimpse a 2023 that will be full of surprises and novelties. “We have been preparing for several months because it’s going to be full of trips, tours, concerts and also a few surprises,” says Alessandra Pasquali, an Italian singer and actress. “We can’t give away too much just yet because there are still things being worked out, so much work in progress”. Early on in 2023 Gen Verde will be back in Germany, then Austria and Romania, and in the summer they are going to Portugal for the World Youth Day, as well as various Italian cities including Assisi on 24 February where there will be a concert for peace.
Prayer is not only the best way to seek God but, more than anything else, it is the willingness to be found by Him. It is from this experience of grace that our strength derives and it is precisely in prayer that some young people of Peru, faced with a painful situation, found the answer. How can we live prayer? This is the theme on which the communities of the Focolare Movement are invited to reflect this year and it was the focus on 13th November, 2022, of the Gen2 day, which involved the youth realities of the Focolare Movement, connected in live streaming from many parts of the world. There were many experiences on the importance of prayer. They included one from a group of gen from Arequipa (Peru), told in a video through the words of Verónica, Alejandra, Anel and Katy. “We want to share an experience of love, unity and prayer that we have had recently and that concerns in particular a gen, our great friend, Pierina. A week after her birthday something unexpected happened, that shocked everyone: Pierina was diagnosed with an illness which has very serious consequences. We immediately understood the seriousness of the situation and that it would be a long and delicate process. We were very worried and felt that our hands were tied. What could we do? Suddenly the idea of saying a rosary and a prayer to Blessed Chiara Luce Badano for Pierina’s health came from our heart. Together with the Focolare community of Arequipa, we started to meet over the web every day at 8 or 9 pm. We saw how, slowly, this moment together produced unexpected fruits, in ourselves too. Every night this rosary was our strength. Although the situation continued to be complex, we put everything in the hands of God: Pierina’s health, her healing and also strength for her family. Months have passed and it has been wonderful to see how Pierina got out of intensive care and then started a slow recovery. We felt it was a sign that this prayer should continue. We realized that this precious space that we had carved out had become a moment to experience unity between us, in which each member could entrust not only Pierina’s life to God, but also bring their own pains, efforts, share and discover the beauty of the encounter with God. It was a beautiful experience, which is still a source of strength for all of us.”
Vinu Aram, director of the Shanti Ashram, visited the International Centre of the Focolare Movement (Rocca di Papa, Rome). It was a chance to reflect on the precious inheritance she received from meeting Chiara Lubich: to live in unity for a better world; a special occasion to wish a joyful Christmas to all those who prepare to live this feast. “I think our journey continues to have great significance. Just think of the first seeds, the work we have done together and our constant desire for a peaceful world. Where are we? Think of a family in which everyone has their own characteristic but where there is also cohesion. We trust each other, with respect and with much love”. These are words of fraternity spoken by Viru Aram, Indian and Hindu, director of the Shanti Ashram International Centre, a long-time friend and collaborator of the Focolare Movement. Her recent visit on 23rd November 2022, to see Margaret Karram, President of Focolare, at the International Centre of the Movement in Rocca di Papa (Italy), was an opportunity to strengthen this bond, reflect together on some issues that afflict this time and discuss common paths to make the world a better place. Vinu, what do you think the world really needs today? I think it needs real, honest listening. Today what is required of us is compassion and the humanization of our lived experience. We have done a lot, in some cases well, but sometimes the cost was high. We are in the middle of what has been called a confluence of crises and the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated everything. The virus did not discriminate but in an unequal world it prospered. I believe that it is necessary to act strengthened by everything we have done that is good, but also informed about what we can do better: respect for the environment, for human life and its sacredness. The way we live, the way we govern and share resources comes with a responsibility towards our children. They are our present and our tomorrow. It is necessary to do things not only differently, but with everyone’s interests in mind. Today there are many countries and regions of the world affected by violence and conflicts, some of them forgotten. As a teacher, what message do you give your children? I try to foster a mindset of peace in them, so that not only nations and communities can work for peace, but entire peoples. Peace is the fundamental foundation on which prosperity advances. But if you look at the world, the indicators of violence exceed those of peaceful life. Whether it is the social sphere, whether it is the economic sphere or something else. And every conflict in the whole world takes away the essential dignity of human life. What is needed are peace narratives. People have to believe it’s possible. We need experiences which enable young people and children to say: “Ah, if this works, we can do it too”. We need the right structures, sincere sharing and dialogue of the highest quality, that really lead to transformation. Then, as Mahatma Gandhi often said, in a gentle way, we can shake the world.
Maria Grazia Berretta
Activate English subtitles https://youtu.be/Sm3O6PbLE1A?list=PLKhiBjTNojHqtFwgi5TYI3T7zRvAuOZiD
Advent is a time for recollection, a time of waiting. It is a time that wakes us from slumber and surprises us with the incarnation of a God who makes himself “small” to come and dwell among us. The mystery of Christmas brings us back to the essential, and welcoming Baby Jesus into our lives becomes an opportunity for each one of us to convert ourselves again and look at our daily lives with gratitude. A charity that is always new Ever since the conflict broke out in Ukraine, we have been involved in collecting food and clothing and welcoming refugees. A chain of prayers for peace also began in our parish. We took in a Ukrainian mother with two children. Since the Ukrainian language has Slavic roots, there were no problems there, even if English is practically our common language… but how were we going to organise life for these people who were so completely disoriented? There are already five of us in the family, so we asked relatives and friends if they would help with our guests. It was about organising places for them, something we had never done before. After the first few days which were easy in some ways because of the novelty of the situation but difficult in other ways, we noticed how our children, all teenagers, adopted a sense of responsibility that they had not demonstrated before. They began helping with the household chores, shopping, accompanying someone to the doctor, teaching a few Slovakian words, cooking, ironing. The pain our guests were feeling was the sense of suspension, the lack of horizon. We found that embracing this silent pain was not only a good way to help someone else, it also helped us to live our faith better and transform it into a charity which is ever new. (J. and K. – Slovakia) God is paying you a visit As a widower, I no longer had a reference point for the future. My two daughters, who had already moved out of home, had their whole lives ahead of them. Should I remarry? My problem was not just that I didn’t have a partner, but the bigger question on the meaning of life. I started drinking, more and more. One day a Bangladeshi boy appeared at my door selling socks. Seeing me in such a sorry state he offered to clear up the kitchen and started washing up the piles of dishes and crockery until there was some semblance of order. As I was drinking the coffee he had made for me, I asked him about himself. He told me he was looking for work in Austria in order to be able to support his elderly parents and a sick brother. In short, he moved in with me a few days later. Besides helping me with the housework, I found him other little jobs with friends. Whenever he saw me getting restless, this good and simple boy would try to distract me. I can honestly say that he saved me. Through him, I really felt that God had come towards me, had come to visit me. (F.H. – Austria)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VIII, no.2, November-December 2022)
Message from Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, on the occasion of Christmas 2022 Activate English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGt4KlwM9N8 I wish everyone a very happy Christmas, and I’ll do so through a poem I wrote recently. Come Lord Jesus, hurry and come, The whole world can no longer cope! A dark night has come down, The Star has disappeared from the sky. Who will guide us now to Bethlehem, To meet the Prince of Peace? Who will help us rekindle in many hearts the flames of a love that burns and becomes art? It’s Christmas. Come back, come to us Lord Jesus. We want to welcome you like we have never done before. More than ever in the past, we want to recognise you in those who suffer: the poor, the lonely, those in despair, sick or abandoned. Grant that we may hear the cry of those who no longer hope, of those who no longer believe! Grant that we be people of peace. Give us strength. Give us the courage to echo the angels and like them proclaim: joy, hope, peacefulness, fraternity!
In a few days it will be Christmas. It’s a celebration when we can meet up as a family and renew relationships, regardless of the lights and the gifts. God became a child and was born in the poverty of a manger. At Christmas 1986, Chiara Lubich invited the communities of the Focolare Movement to go out towards those who are suffering the most. Today too, we have many brothers and sisters who are having to live in situations of suffering and they are waiting for us to share with them and to bring them comfort. Today the warmth of the Christmas spirit makes us all feel more like a family, more united as one, more like brothers and sisters, so that we want to share everything, both joys and sorrows. Above all, we want to share the pain of those who, due to various circumstances, are suffering. … Suffering! Suffering can at times overcome our entire being, or occur suddenly and mix bitterness with the pleasant moments of our day. Suffering caused by an illness, an accident, an ordeal, a painful circumstance. … Suffering! … If we look at suffering from a human standpoint, we are tempted to look for its cause either within us or outside of us, for example, in human malice, or in nature, or in other things. … And all this might be true, but if we think only in these terms, we forget something more important. We lose sight of the fact that underlying the story of our lives is the love of God who wills or permits everything for a higher purpose, which is our own good. … And didn’t Jesus himself, after inviting us to take up our cross and follow him, then affirm, “Those who lose their life” – and this is the apex of suffering – “will find it”?[1] Suffering, therefore, brings hope of salvation. So what can we say today to our friends who are struggling with pain and suffering? … Let’s approach them with the greatest possible respect, because even though they may not think so, in this moment they are being visited by God. Then, inasmuch as we can, let’s share their crosses, which means to truly keep Jesus in the midst with them. Let’s also assure them that we are continually with them, and assure them of our prayers, so that they will be able to take directly from the hand of God whatever makes them suffer, and unite it to the passion of Jesus so that it can produce the greatest possible fruit. … And let’s remind them of that marvelous Christian principle of our spirituality, by which suffering that is loved as a countenance of Jesus crucified and forsaken can be transformed into joy. May this be our … Christmas/OR commitment – to share every suffering with our brothers and sisters who are suffering the most, and offer our own sufferings to Baby Jesus.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, Conversazioni, Città Nuova, Roma 2019, pag.265-268) [1]Mt 10:39.
The Evangelii Gaudium Centre (CEG) has opened the inscriptions for the Training Course for Synodality, a concrete contribution to respond to the Church’s call to walk together. The Evangelii Gaudium Centre (CEG) which is linked to the Sophia University Institute, is offering a Synodal Training Course which will begin in 2023. It is a course which has been developed in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the Synod and with other training centres and academic institutes in Italy and beyond. But why talk about synodality? Prof. Vincenzo di Pilato, Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Pugliese Theological Faculty in Italy and coordinator of the CEG, explains:
Prof. Vincenzo di Pilato
On 16th October, Pope Francis announced his decision to hold the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in two sessions. The press release states, “This decision stems from the desire that because of the breadth and importance of the theme of the Synodal Church, it should be the subject of prolonged discernment not only by the members of the Synodal Assembly, but by the whole Church”. This is the challenge to which the course endeavours to respond: to combine walking ‘together’ with ‘all’ walking, as best as possible. We are experiencing this at the level of dioceses, parishes, movements, congregations, everywhere: synodality without life in the Spirit is reduced to outmoded and inconclusive assemblyism. We need ‘houses and schools of communion’, but also ‘gyms of synodality’ in which to learn to listen to and follow the Holy Spirit. Easier said than done! The course would like to be at the service of this other challenge: to bring spiritual experience and theological and human sciences together. This is the desire of the Pontifical Dicasteries, in particular those engaged in formation. On various occasions they have proposed courses of this kind, open to all vocations. The General Secretariat of the Synod itself was particularly involved in the initiative. In fact, we have the honour that Cardinal Secretary Mario Grech will open the Course on 17th January, 2023. Professor, how will this course take place and to whom is it addressed?The course will take place over three years. There will be 4 sessions each year (3 academic modules and a residential meeting). They will deal with issues linked to the ongoing synodal process. You can sign up for the whole year or for a single module. The official language will be Italian, but there will be simultaneous translations into Spanish, Portuguese and English. It is a course for all members of the People of God, from bishops to pastoral workers, from priests to nuns, from seminarians to lay people. For this year, we will keep the course online. Where possible, we recommend participating in groups from the same community, parish or diocese so as to make the course a real “gym of synodality”. Two or more participants, who will be able to dialogue with each other in a synodal style, will become “multipliers” of the course, or of its main themes, in the community to which they belong. During a meeting with the various ecclesial realities linked to the Focolare Movement, the Co-President, Jesús Morán, spoke about the spirituality of communion (citing the Novo Millennium Ineunte of Saint John Paul II) and synodality as two distinct moments which are however linked to each other,. Can you elaborate on this concept? We are preparing for the next Jubilee in 2025, with a prolonged synodal journey unprecedented in the history of the Church. In the aftermath of the last Jubilee of the Year 2000, St. John Paul II recognized that “much has been done since the Second Vatican Council, also with regard to the reform of the Roman Curia, the organization of Synods, and the functioning of Episcopal Conferences. But certainly much remains to be done” (NMI, 44). What did he mean by that “much remains to be done”? I think it was not a rhetorical expression for him, but a prophetic one. In 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis said: “The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church of the third millennium”. This is the mutual convergence between these two Jubilees: on one hand, the “spirituality” of communion which allows us to penetrate into the highest contemplation of the mystery of God the Trinity, preserved within and among all creatures; on the other hand, synodality as a “path” on which to remain, following the example of Jesus and Mary, mingled together, participating “in this somewhat chaotic tide that can be transformed into a true experience of fraternity, into a caravan of solidarity, into a holy pilgrimage” (Evangelii Gaudium 87). It is clear, therefore, that there is no spirituality of communion without synodality and vice versa. Communion which leads to unity is the mystery of God revealed to us by Jesus Crucified-Risen and forever present in the destiny of humanity; synodality is the way that allows us to make it visible “so that the world may believe” (Jn. 17: 21). What does all this mean concretely for each of us and what are the steps to live this call? First of all we should feel that we are part of a single people, not a group of individuals standing next to each other like pins in a bowling alley or passengers in a lift. Addressing young people, Pope Francis explained it this way: “When we speak of ‘people’ we must not think of the structures of society or of the Church, but rather the group of people who do not walk as individuals, but as the fabric of a community of all and for all, who cannot allow the poorest and the weakest to be left behind: ‘The people want everyone to share in the common good and for this reason they are ready to adapt to the pace of the last one in order to arrive all together’” (Christus Vivit, 23). Here we are: walking together without leaving anyone behind, recognizing the presence of Christ in everyone who passes by us. This is the root of the equal dignity and freedom of each of us. Feeling one people is the premise, but also the purpose of synodality, just as Jesus is, at the same time, the Way and our travelling companion. The Holy Spirit dwells in every member of God’s people, as in a temple, and the only law among all must be the new commandment, to love as Jesus himself loved us (cf. Jn. 13: 34). We hope that the Course will be a stretch of road embarked on together, with our eyes fixed on the horizon of the Kingdom of God, which we meet whenever there is a neighbour to love.
God’s faithfulness is unshakable, like a rock, and this is the revelation of salvation not only for the people of Israel after the exile, as Isaiah announces, but for each one of us. Trusting in the Lord therefore means building our existence by going right to the root, because the deeper the foundations, the higher we will be able to build; the more we trust in Him, the more solid our actions will be.Family tensions When my brother D. who was angry at how he had been treated by R. (another brother) decided he no longer wanted to see him, I felt that at our age – we are all over 70 – we ought to be more merciful. That is when I had the idea of bringing the family together for a picnic in Jells Park, on neutral ground. But R. did not show up on the date agreed. All I could do was pray that his stubborn heart would mellow. A few days later I called him. I discovered he had not been well and had not eaten for some time. I replied that I would bring him a good soup. When I arrived at his place, he was grateful above all because I had not judged him. Later that day when I got home I called D. to let him know and he said he was prepared to visit his brother if I arranged it. The following Sunday, when the two of them met, there was some initial awkwardness but after a while they started talking quite normally. In the end R. invited us for dinner. I am really happy with the result and hope that my small contribution might heal certain tensions in the family. (Gill – Australia) Tipping Before the recent increase in salaries for doctors and medical staff, it was common practice in Hungary for doctors to be given a tip for their services, like a predetermined fee. As a chief surgeon, as a matter of principle I did not want this to happen, not least because I knew that lots of people of limited financial means were having to borrow the forints for the doctors. That is why I refused to accept, even though everyone else was, until a colleague pointed out that not accepting a tip could be taken by the patients as a sign that I had not done the operation well. One day, seeing an elderly lady pull out the usual envelope for me, I said to her: “I as a doctor am at your service and I’m paid for it, but if you would be more comfortable to accept my offer, I suggest you give it to a family in need”. She thought about it for a while, then taking my hand said: “Doctor, what you’ve just said to me proves to me that you really care about people. I thank you and, if you agree, I would be happy to help someone in need with you”. (P.M. – Hungary)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VIII, no.2, November-December 2022)
Imagine a young girl in love, in love with a love which is the first love, the purest one, a love which is still undeclared, but which begins to enflame her heart. A joy which is so special, difficult to experience again in a lifetime, a joy which is secret. A few days before December 7, I was told to make a vigil the night before, beside a crucifix, in order to prepare myself the best way I could for my marriage with God, a marriage which was to take place in the most secret manner. That evening I tried to make this vigil, kneeling beside my bed before a metal crucifix which my mother has now. The next morning, I woke up at about five o’clock. I put on the best dress I had, a simple dress, and I set out on foot crossing the city towards the church. A storm was raging, so that I had to walk my way pushing my umbrella ahead of me. I felt that it expressed the fact that in the step I was taking I would meet obstacles. When I reached the church, the scene changed. An enormous door opened. I felt a sense of relief and of welcome, almost like the open arms of that God who was waiting for me. The little church was beautifully decorated. Against the background stood out the statue of Mary, the Immaculate. Before Communion I saw, in an instant, the meaning of what I was about to do. I could never turn back to the world. I was getting married. I was marrying God. I remember that opening up my eyes to what I was doing was something immediate and brief, but so strong that I shed a tear which fell on my missal. I made a long thanksgiving. I think I ran all the way home. I only stopped, I think, near the bishop’s house to buy three red carnations for the crucifix which was waiting for me in my room. They were to become the sign of the feast day of all of us. This was it. Even with the most promising predictions on December 7, 1943, I could never have imagined what I see today. Praise to God, glory to Mary, Queen of a Kingdom which has literally invaded the world.
Chiara Lubich (Extract from “Today the Opera turns thirty”, Rocca di Papa, 7 December 1973)
Activate English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i80L6Srdh8&list=PLKhiBjTNojHqNPFPXKJgyiqn8c7NKZ0ME
A volume of Chiara Lubich’s works entitled “Letters” has been on sale in Italian bookshops for several months. We spoke to Florence Gillet from the Chiara Lubich Centre, a theologian and scholar of the Focolare Movement’s founder who edited the publication.
Florance Gillet
Arriving at the Chiara Lubich Centre, near the International Focolare Centre in Rocca di Papa (Italy), I am warmly welcomed by Dr Gillet who invited me into the meeting room. Everywhere there are cupboards containing plaques and objects commemorating honorary degrees and gifts received by Chiara Lubich during her trips to different countries around the world, as well as numerous books on the foundress of the Focolare Movement translated into various languages, some of which have been written or edited by Florence Gillet. As we start talking, her accent reveals her French origins. She tells me that she came across the charism of unity at the end of 1965. Three months later she was at the international little town of Loppiano in Italy, to go into depth about the ‘ideal’ she had been looking for for so long and eventually found. Studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University took her to Rome where she was one of the first women to attend the university. She then returned to Paris for a few years then back to Rome. Her face lights up when she recounts her experiences in a number of African countries where she set up “temporary focolares”, so called because they are only there for a certain period of time. In 2008, she was invited to join the Chiara Lubich Centre, founded in that year, to study and work on publications of the writings of the Focolare Movement’s foundress concentrating right from the start on the cornerstones of the Spirituality of Unity. “Letters 1939 – 1960” which she edited was published recently as part of a series entitled The Works of Chiara Lubich. “There is great variety in these letters”, explains Florence Gillet. “Some are pure spiritual direction; then there are the updating letters; letters of consolation; letters that flow from Chiara Lubich’s soul, especially those written to her sister which are very deep and strong. But they all have something in common. First of all, the literary genre, namely that they are all letters. Secondly, you find something of Chiara’s ‘soul’ in each one of them, the way she knows how to ‘make herself one’, as St Paul says when he declares ‘I have made myself all things to all people’. Even in communicating her secret, since the clear reference to Jesus forsaken is evident everywhere’. What can this volume be compared to? This is the question Florence Gillet asks herself in the introduction and she responds with a very eloquent image: “If it were a garden, it would be an English garden without geometric shapes or symmetries but where nature is poetry and freedom with rigour and order. If it were a road, it would be a path, at times adventurous but one that is well-marked, with a clear destination and an experienced guide. If it were a house, it would be hospitable, with many interconnecting rooms, each in harmony with each other, warm and open”. The book contains 338 letters (a selection of the many letters written by Lubich) that bring the reader into direct contact with the early years of the nascent Focolare Movement and the development of its charism. “I advise everyone to make the effort,” Florence continues, “to start reading from the introduction, to grasp the key to the reading, and then continue with the letters, one by one, in an orderly way, letting them ‘speak to the heart'”. The reader will find letters to individuals, letters to nascent communities, letters to members of her family; They will find other letters that are more doctrinal, in which Chiara explains her Ideal. “Producing this book has been a fascinating project,” she concludes, “and I think readers will find it fascinating too”.
On 21st November, 2022, at the International Centre of the Focolare Movement (Rocca di Papa- Italy), a meeting entitled “People of God, Crossroads of Diversity. Many nodes, one network” took place. It brought together the different ecclesial realities linked to the charism of unity. “We are a portion of the Church with different colours, with different shades of colour, as many colours as there are charisms, ministries, places of birth and peoples. Our task is to build unity in this diversity, above all to give rise to communities in which the Gospel is lived in a full way”. These are the words of Sister Tiziana Longhitano, of the Franciscan Congregation of the Poor, Coordinator of the Centre for consecrated members of the Focolare Movement, who was one of the participants at the meeting, which brought together people from many countries and vocations. There were about forty present in person and about 600 connected via zoom. It was an opportunity to share and to discern what the next steps on the beautiful journey which began in April 1982, in the Nervi Hall, in the Vatican, with the Congress “The Priest today, the Religious today”. About 7,000 Priests and Religious participated in that event in which, through testimonies from all over the globe, they highlighted the fruits of meeting the charism of unity and the renewal it brought to many religious communities and parishes. Today many realities continue to reap those fruits, a symptom of an ongoing process, not only within the Focolare Movement, but throughout the Church; realities illuminated by a “prophecy”, as Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, defined it, in her intervention: “a prophecy that has made its way and continues to mature to increasingly become a reality which is shared (we hope) and practiced throughout the Church”. Throughout these 40 years, dioceses, parishes, priests and various charismatic communities have shared experiences and generated communities in the light of the charism of unity, presenting themselves no longer as individual pieces of the Church but as a single body, a people that lives the culture of communion, listens to each other and walks together. Suffice it to mention the important development of the Parish Movement and the Diocesan Movement in recent years and the commitment of priests, religious, consecrated persons and lay people in the Synodal Journey. There were many experiences shared during this event. From Brazil, Desi, a married Focolarina and Matheus, a seminarian, told how the call to synodality and to work in synergy with all the realities of the Focolare Movement led to the birth of some pastoral Congresses that focused on listening, knowledge and formation. Desi said, “Our hearts are expanding towards our aim, ‘May they all may be ONE’. From Ecuador we heard the testimony of the Apostolic Nuncio, Msgr. Andrés Carrascosa and of some priests of the Archdiocese of Quito who, following a retreat, decided to start a group to meditate on the Word of Life: Father Ramiro Ramirez said, “I have had a deeper experience of the Word. It has become more alive in me, I have learned to understand the Gospel better (…) and also my brother priests (…). Father Charles Serrano added: “I heard that there would be a meeting of about 15 priests and that the Nuncio would be there. When I arrived I met priests in need of healing, fragile, suffering and broken-hearted. I felt like that too (…).The first time I attended, I thought I would be mad to go back, now I think I am mad, because on the second Tuesday of each month I cannot wait for the meeting (…). The Church today needs to live fraternity in order to strengthen itself, as Sister Maria Inês Vieira Ribeiro, connected from Aparecida (Brazil), said, “to form a people at the service of the Kingdom of God, protecting life, especially in the places where there is most suffering”. This is why the diversity of each reality becomes the true wealth of the Church which, despite the difficulties of this time, regards her children as the possible saints of tomorrow. This is the experience of the young people of the “Charisms for Unity” Movement, who, from getting to know the Ideal of Chiara Lubich, wanted to put their charisms in contact. From this idea, during the pandemic they had a series of Zoom meetings, a kind of workshop, to share experiences, put the Gospel into practice and encourage each other to live out their consecration with enthusiasm. They called it, “Saints together, on Earth as in Heaven”.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted Focolare president Margaret Karram and co-president Jesús Moran, as well as other members of the Focolare community, on 28 November, offering a guided tour of the Ecumenical Centre, and discussing unity, reconciliation, inter-religious bridge-building, Faith and Order, and communications, among other issues of interest. WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed appreciation for the many past collaborations between the WCC and the Focolare, most recently the Focolare’s participation at the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe. Sauca said the WCC recognizes the importance of cooperation and mutual support between the WCC and the Focolare to serve together under the new paradigm of the pilgrimage of justice, reconciliation, and unity. “Christians of different churches belonging to Focolare have been part of delegations of their respective churches and in other capacities at WCC assemblies,” noted Sauca, who summarized a long history of cooperation between the two groups. “Your commitment to promoting the dialogue between Christians, Jews, and Muslims as well as your engagement in a sustained dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians are inspiring assets for the worldwide movement of Focolare and beyond,” said Sauca. Staff from the WCC and representatives from the Focolare movement also discussed past and future areas of collaboration, and shared their experiences related to unity and ecumenism. Karram shared her warmest greetings and expressed great joy to be visiting the WCC, 20 years after the last visit of Focolare founder Chiara Lubich visited the WCC. “Twenty years ago, Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, came here at the invitation of the then-general secretary Konrad Raiser and Prof. Ioan Sauca,” said Karram. “I am very grateful to be with you all here today to commemorate this anniversary. I give praise to God because I am aware I am walking on ground that I hold sacred.” Karram assumed the WCC of the willingness and of the ability of the Focolare movement to continue walking together. “I want to add not only walking together—but we have to hold hands—not only walk together but hold hands, side-by-side. I want to promise this.” Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay WCC general secretary-elect, commended the many ways in which the Focolare community and the WCC have exchanged ideas and insights over the years. “Our collaboration has been on different levels,” he said.
Remaining lukewarm before the proclamation of the Word is like remaining “blind, naked and unhappy” (Rev 3:17).However, God continues to knock at our door of man, especially in the darkest moments of life; just as a father seeks his son, God does not tire of chasing us and those who listen to his “call” experience full joy.Providential solution When our children were young, and even during their adolescence, outings and trips together were always occasions for celebration. When we were left alone, we realized that we had changed, as if we had taken different paths and had grown apart. It was difficult to talk to one another without giving offence. We realized that we needed to find a new way of communicating and decided to go to a psychotherapist. When I shared this with a friend, she confided to me that she had experienced the same situations with her husband and that they reached the brink of divorce. The providential solution they found was to become part of a community in their parish and to get involved in works of charity. I suggested this to my husband and he agreed. Since then our lives have changed: giving our time and energy and opening our doors to others, we have found not only a way to live but a way to communicate. We also experience greater joy with our children and grandchildren. (F.D.A. – Croatia) The Value of Becoming One After my architectural studies in Florence, I went home for the holidays to my small village in the Tuscan hills where my parents were renovating the old family farmhouse. After I had a look at the plans, I expressed some concerns both about the actual condition of the building and the changes necessary to preserve the original structure. My brother, however, reacted badly, accusing me in front of everyone of wanting to be a know-it-all. I wanted to show that I was right, but since from a group known in Florence that was committed to living the Gospel I had learned the value of “making yourself one with others”, as St Paul said, I put my ideas aside, to avoid arguing. When the time came to start the work, the foreman explained that the project could not be carried out as it was and recommended some changes, which coincided with those I had suggested. At this point, my mother, explained: “You see, my son, when you’re here, we’ll always think of you as a child and that’s why we don’t accept what you have learned. Try to understand your brother”. (C.G. – Italy)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year VIII, n.2, November-December 2022)
This is one of the pages from the diary of Irene, a young editor of Teens, a magazine of the Città Nuova publishing group, which is made by teenagers for teenagers. Through her eyes and her words we learn of a journey in a country marked by divisions and we get to know the project “Harmony among peoples”, which, thanks to art and dance is spreading beauty and hope to the new generations in Bethlehem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6rF91sFMdo
In recent months, Pakistan has been hit by floods that have claimed many lives and destroyed much infrastructure. The Emergency Coordination of the Focolare Movement, through AMU (Action for a United World) and AFN (Action New Families), took immediate action to ensure initial assistance and basic needs were met. The floods’ destructive force caused extensive damage to communities in Pakistan affected, which began to be unleashed on this territory as early as mid-June 2022, bringing a third of the country to its knees. Many consequences still affect the population today. For this reason, the Emergency Coordination of the Focolare Movement, with AMU and AFN, upon learning of the emergency, launched a fundraiser to support the provision of food parcels, clothing and sanitary products to about 500 families in the localities of Nowshera in northern Pakistan; Tando-Alla-Yar and Kotri in Sindh; Sangar in southern Pakistan; and other localities still being assessed. Many have mobilised to respond to initial requests for help and to assess the most urgent needs on the ground. In the face of the ever-increasing number of displaced people, aid shipments were organised in the first few weeks and continue to this day. Despite precarious transportation, most of these families have already been reached. In addition, some members of the Focolare Movement on the ground are directly involved not only in the preparation and distribution of parcels, but also in providing medical care for those who need treatment and medicine to fight primarily typhoid, dengue, cholera and malaria. “On October 16, 2022, we went to a village in Haji Hafiz Shah Goth, about an hour’s drive from the city of Kotri, and set up a medical camp there,” says Fabian Clive, a member of the Focolare community in Karachi. “The doctors there examined 200 people including children, women and men. Most people do not have the opportunity to have regular medical check-ups, either because they are quite expensive or because they do not have access to the city. “Our goal is to set up medical camps in the different areas of Sindh that have not yet had this kind of assistance. There is a widespread call to responsibility and a great willingness to make a contribution.” The situation remains alarming even some weeks later. As water levels drop, the enormous severity of the devastation, compounded by malnutrition and disease, has emerged. The needs of the communities are increasing, changing every day. So carrying out response actions, continuing to embrace this country, is a shared goal. If you too would like to contribute to the Focolare Movement’s Emergency Coordination for Pakistan fundraiser, you can donate at the following:
Contributions for this made to the two current accounts will be handled jointly by AMU and AFN. Tax benefits are available for donations in many European Union countries and others around the world, in accordance with local regulations. Italian taxpayers will be able to obtain deductions and deductions from income according to the regulations governing non-profit organisations, up to 10% of income and to a limit of €70,000.00 annually, excluding donations made in cash.
The merciful are those who are able to forgive others and often even themselves. However, mercy is not just an inner disposition, it is the way that unites us with God. His immense love for us is not a feeling but an action; the act through which each of us is ‘reborn’. Living in peace It was not the first time I had noticed trespassing on my land. I had never had any enemies and my father had taught me how to build good relationships, but on this occasion I wanted to see clearly what was going on. I asked Our Lady for help and one night I went into the orchard with another farmer. As I suspected, at a certain hour I saw my neighbour arrive with two sons armed with fruit boxes. The plan was to photograph them in the act: bewildered by the flashes, the three of them immediately ran off, leaving the harvested fruit on the ground. The next day, towards evening, our neighbour’s wife asked my wife if she would kindly destroy the photos and not press charges against her husband. As agreed, my wife replied: “I don’t know what photos you are talking about, my husband has been away for two days”. From that day on, things started to change with unusual kindness and a willingness to help with the picking… During one of the breaks, the neighbour admitted he had come to get some apples ‘to try them’ and had seen flashes. I replied: “Strange things have been happening in the village for some time. What’s important for us is to live in peace”. (V.S.E. – Italy) A real change When I retired and looked back on my life all I could see was a total failure! I never got married because my parents were against my choice of a guy who was good but not one of our ‘rank’. My relationship with my brothers and sister had almost completely broken down because of an inheritance that according to them had been unfairly divided. I could call myself rich but what a void has been created in and around me! While I was in hospital a niece came to visit me who said something that really troubled me: “The trouble with you Aunty is that you are possessed by evil. Every trace of goodness in you has disappeared”. When I was finally discharged, I looked for a priest in whom I could confide what was distressing me. When he had finished listening to me, it seemed to him that I somehow wanted to take revenge on life, on family, on everyone, so he urged me to start thinking more of other people by celebrating relatives’ birthdays with gifts, taking an interest in the neighbours’ news, writing to former students. They were small gestures but steps towards the light. In desperation I put his suggestion into practice. It is hard but I really feel something is changing. (G.I. – Spain) Friends in sickness While my mother was in hospital I got to know her roommate, Klari who was at the same stage of cancer and undergoing the same series of chemotherapies. They had become friends, but something was dividing them. As a young woman, Klari had been a communist activist and did not accept the Catholic faith my mother professed. They did not argue, but you could feel that neither of them wanted to let go of their own beliefs. Nevertheless, my mother was always available and to help Klari who had no relatives she had involved us in the family with her needs – just little things, like dealing with some paperwork for her, phoning friends, etc. When their health started to deteriorate for both of them, each reacted differently to the illness. A great peace shone out from my mother, who always remained attentive to her friend. Klari, on the other hand, became impatient and aggressive, but before she went into a coma, she thanked my mother for the way she had always been by her side. She had now become one of our family. (P.F.H. – Germany)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta (taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VIII, no.2, November-December 2022)
Presentation to the European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium) of a document aimed at expressing a common social ethic, which contains the shared positions of Christians and Marxists. It is the result of an eight-year journey or we could even say one which has been going on for two centuries. “A project of transversal dialogue” is how Dialop defines itself. Christians and Marxists in Europe have been working on it for some years. After a meeting in the Vatican of some representatives of the European Left with Pope Francis, it took a decisive step forward (see Dialop: Christians and Marxists working together). The event took place on 8th November in the Altiero Spinelli building with the presence of 40 people from 9 countries of the Union and others who followed the streaming. The presentation of the position paper, “In search of a common future in solidarity” was supported by the Left Group of the European Parliament, in collaboration with the Movement for Politics for Unity Movement and New Humanity, The document, on common positions in Socialist Christian dialogue, was written by Prof. Michael Brie, President of the Scientific Committee of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and by the Belgian sociologist, Prof. Bennie Callebaut of the Sophia University Institute. It analyses how, as antagonists in the past, Christianity and Marxism are faced with another wall to break down, that of wild capitalism and how they find surprising affinities in the present. In the message and in the person of Pope Francis they also find a figure who unites, a leader and a traveling companion. The paper states, “We are working on projects guided by shared visions in common struggles“. The document declines what these projects are, indicating some topics being explored: “an economy of life; a caring community; a policy of transformation in solidarity; a world in which there is room for many worlds; the dignity of every individual in a world rich in common goods; and together for peace”. The inevitable question of how, when it comes to discussion, these are expressed in practice, was formulated by Prof. Léonce Bekemans (Jean Monnet Chair, University of Padua). Walter Baier, from Transform!Europe, one of the initiators and coordinators of Dialop responded: “We work on three levels: dialogue as a cultural initiative in order to become a think tank; involving people in the work for solidarity, as happened with initiatives for migrants and refugees; arousing political involvement especially for building peace”. Marisa Matjas, Portuguese MEP of the Bloco de Esquerda, vice-president of the Party of the European Left in the European Parliament, was the hostess. She vividly remembered the words of Pope Francis to the members of the European Parliament in 2014, which were “said when we needed to hear them most”. “He spoke to us about keeping democracy alive in Europe, about employment and workers’ rights, about education, about migration, at a time when the EU was ignoring the massive movements of people coming from Syria; he also spoke about the dignity of human rights, we have many things in common that we need to work on together.” In his opening remarks on “Common paths towards a global, just and fraternal society”, the theologian Piero Coda said, “Today we need, like the food we live on, vision, spirit and covenant. It is time to hope and give hope ‘in the plural’. This is what Dialop invites us to do”. A plurality that requires wider alliances, not only the Catholic world, but the whole Christian world, with an ecumenical dimension; not only Christianity, but all religions; not only the left, but the various political ideologies that are committed to the common good and the defence of the environment. Citing the document, he said that there must be an initial effort to put aside any claim of “having the monopoly of the truth”. “Together with Marxists and Christians, a transformative and transversal social ethic must count on the contribution of other actors and traditions who are present in our continent and have different world views”, reiterated Fr Manuel Barrios Prieto, Secretary General of COMECE, recalling the concept of human fraternity, starting with the signing of the Abu Dhabi document of 2019 and the encyclical “All Brothers”. A renewed commitment to dialogue resumed in Brussels, with a momentum of inclusiveness, aware that dialogue is a ‘ work in permanent progress’.
One of the first married focolarini and co-founder of the New Families Movement, Danilo Zanzucchi died serenely on 16 November 2022 at the age of 102 in his home in Grottaferrata (Rome), surrounded by his wife Anna Maria, their five children (Chiaretta, Michele, Mariannita Giovanni and Francesco) and some of their 12 grandchildren. Danilo was the eldest son of a respected family from Parma (Italy). On his trips to Milan to work on the first constructions he designed, he met the charism of unity through Ginetta Calliari, one of Chiara Lubich’s first companions. He was already a fervent Catholic, involved in politics and the diocesan president of the Italian Catholic University Federation and subsequently of the Men of Catholic Action. The impact with the charism led him to make an even greater commitment to God and to wish to base his life on living the Gospel. Anna Maria, his fiancée shared this choice. Around them the first community of Parma was born. They were greatly attracted by the innovative vocation of married focolarini pioneered by Igino Giordani. They decided to leave the promising career of an engineer and the privileges of a comfortable life to move with their then four children, as a family-focolare to Rome and devote themselves full time to the Focolare Movement. One of Danilo’s first assignments was the completion of the building in Rocca di Papa destined to become the Mariapolis Centre and, later, the international headquarters of the Movement. He then went to work for Città Nuova publishing house. He worked closely with Chiara and played a major part in the formation of generations of married couples from different continents who, like him, wanted to follow in the footsteps of Giordani. In 1980, Anna Maria and he were invited as auditors to the Synod on the Family and in 1981 Chiara Lubich asked them to be part of the Central Council of the Movement, with the role of coordinators of New Families worldwide. In the 1980s, they also received a Papal appointment as consultors and, subsequently, as members of the Vatican Dicastery for the Family. Because of these responsibilities Danilo and Anna Maria met Pope Wojtyla several times. They also appeared on TV in Italy and in worldwide broadcasts to share their experience and their work at the service of the family. In the time of Benedict XVI, their collaboration with the Holy See increased to the point that he asked them to write the text for the Way of the Cross (2012) which took place at the Colosseum and over which he presided. Danilo received many talents which he rendered abundantly fruitful. His long life is a hymn of glory to God stretched out in time. The entire Focolare Movement, in particular the host of married focolarini and the myriad of families from all over the world, for which he was an example, a confidant, a lovable and secure point of reference, are deeply grateful to him with a gratitude that pays homage to his humanity. He was a giant of righteousness, tenderness, simplicity and wisdom. Thank you Danilo for continuing to be that evangelical child which shone through your very being, your words, your exquisite humour, your paintings, the countless cartoons that you improvised (often on paper napkins) and which gave joy to all of us.
A look at the world with the aim of spreading “good news”. This is what animates the Teens International editorial offices scattered in various parts of the world and supported by the Città Nuova publishing group. A space created by teenagers for teenagers, where they can exchange opinions and ideas; they can be trained in the production of contents for various media and can find together communication models that are guided by true values. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Gj7BG4Nu4&list=PL9YsVtizqrYsxCVExqFc_vvuzCKyNbr43
The Gospel text chosen for the month of November 2022 encourages us to practice mercy towards our brothers and sisters. In this passage from 15 October 1981, given during a worldwide telephone conference call, Chiara Lubich invited all listeners to revive this merciful love characteristic of the early days of the Focolare Movement. It is an appeal that today too can help us to grow in our personal journey of union with God and with the community. What I want to focus on today is unity. Unity must triumph: unity with God, unity among all people. The way to achieve this is to love everyone with that merciful love which characterized the Focolare at its beginnings, when we decided that each morning and all through the day we would look upon every person we met at home, at school, at work, everywhere as a new person, brand new, deliberately not remembering any of his or her shortcomings or defects, but covering everything over with love. … to reach out to everyone we meet with complete “amnesty,” universal pardon, in our hearts; and then to “make ourselves one” with them in everything except sin and evil. Why should we do this? To obtain the same wonderful results the Apostle Paul was seeking when he said: “For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more. I have become all things to all people” (1 Cor. 9: 19,22). If we “make ourselves one” with our neighbour, as Paul recommends, which will be easier when we have this forgiving attitude, we will be able to pass our “Ideal” on to others. And once this has been accomplished, we can have Jesus present among us, the risen Jesus who promised to remain with us forever in his Church, and who allows us to almost see and hear him when he is in our midst. This must be our principal work: to live in such a way that Jesus may live among us – Jesus, who is victorious over the world. For if we are one, as time goes on many will be one, and the world will someday be able to witness unity. So, let’s create cells of unity everywhere, each a focolare – a hearth, burning with love: in our family, on our block, with our playmates, with the people at work or at school – with everyone we can. Let’s kindle fires of love everywhere
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Conversazioni [Conversations], a cura di Michel Vandeleene, Opere di Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova, 2019, pp. 63-64)
The Focolare Movement adheres to the “Fossil Fuels Non-Proliferation Treaty,” signed by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, the European Parliament, the Parliament of World Religions and more than 2900 scientists, academics, associations and representatives of different religious beliefs. “We, the undersigned, call on governments around the world to adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a matter of urgency, to protect the lives and livelihoods of present and future generations through a gradual and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels in line with the scientific consensus not to exceed 1.5ºC warming.” These are the words of introduction to the letter signed by more than 2900 scientists, academics, associations and representatives of different religious beliefs, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development and the European Parliament. The Focolare Movement has also joined the effort to ask world leaders for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Oil, gas and coal are the main cause of the climate crisis. The world already has enough renewable energy potential to comfortably expand energy access for all. Yet dependence on fossil fuels continues as experts sound the alarm about how coal, oil and gas are a detriment to our public health, biodiversity, world peace and our climate. Although the Paris Agreement set a crucial global climate target, many governments have continued to approve new coal, oil and gas extraction even though burning these fossil fuels would result in emissions seven times greater than those consistent with keeping warming below 1.5°C. To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement there is a need for international cooperation to explicitly stop the expansion of fossil fuels. This is why considerable momentum is building behind the proposal for a Fossil Fuels Non-Proliferation Treaty. On Monday, Nov. 7, 2022 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, COP27, the global climate conference began with the participation of more than 140 heads of state and government. During this event, a conference entitled “The Right to a Healthy Environment: Faith and Ethical Perspectives” was held, organized by the Parliament of World Religions, in collaboration with UNEP Al-Mizan (a UN project with several Islamic organizations on the environment). The right to a healthy environment is supported by the ethical teachings of the world’s faith traditions on justice and valuing nature. Experts and religious leaders discussed this topic from the perspective of religious ethics and shared values, culture and advocacy, and call on world leaders gathered in Egypt to sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The speakers at the inauguration of the new academic year of the Sophia University Institute (SUI) pronounced words of encouragement and stimulus. They included the Grand Chancellor Cardinal Betori, Deputy Grand Chancellor Margaret Karram, Rector Declan O’Byrne and Prof. Mauro Magatti, Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.The official start of the year is a major event for any academic community. In the times we live in, with the complex challenges of culture and society that emerge from the pandemic and the return of war on European territory, it is a very important occasion. This year, 350 people attended the opening of the 2022/2023 Academic Year of the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Figline-Incisa, Valdarno-Italy). The title of the event, the 15th so far, was: “Paradigm shift: the university of the future”. As usual, Sophia wanted to take the opportunity to try to open up new paths, to present something of the “versatility” that is a constitutive part of her heritage. The Grand Chancellor, his eminence Card. Giuseppe Betori, who has accompanied and supported Sophia’s journey from the beginning, said that Sophia “is beginning to enter the time of maturity”. And he recommended “always drawing on the charismatic roots at the base of the Institute, roots from which life emerges”, including academic life. The Vice Grand Chancellor, Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, emphasized the renewal that, after the initial phase, characterizes the current moment of the Institute. She said, “We note that a new generation of teachers, who have trained academically in this Institute is taking the baton from those who started. I am referring to the Professors of the ‘first hour’ to whom all my esteem and gratitude goes. They are those who, with courage, left the prestigious positions they held in other universities to give life to Chiara Lubich’s dream: to create a university institution at the service of the Church and humanity, which would give cultural and academic consistency to the charism of unity, to contribute to the realization of ‘that all may be one’ (Jn. 17:21)”. The mission of the SUI appears of no secondary importance in this historical moment of “fragmentation of knowledge and opinions” which requires attention and dedication: “Only by listening to God’s Wisdom, only by letting ourselves be shaped by it and by working, starting with ourselves, to ensure that it is transformed into culture, we will trace the way to answer the many questions of contemporary thought and we will be able to help heal the wounds and immense pains that afflict humanity”. The student representatives, Merveille Kouatouka and Valentina Alarcón, proposed six words in their short presentation: welcome, listen, discover, contemplate, dare, desire. They are the six verbs that the students wanted to choose in their study of a subject that is not usually found in universities: “sharing” (a subject for which Sophia gives university credits, because it is an expression of the lifestyle that the Institute wants to promote). They said it is, “An invitation to open a path to create and be, a ‘place’ in which to share Wisdom and mutually nourish each other. We like to recall Benedict XVI’s invitation in Caritas in Veritate: ‘Truth is logos that creates diá-logos and therefore communication and communion'”. Prof. Declan O’Byrne is the recently appointed third Rector (Acting) of SUI, following Prof. Piero Coda, Rector until 2020 and Prof. Giuseppe Argiolas, Rector since 2020. In his speech, he focussed on an expression present in the 2014 Strategic Plan, which spoke of Sophia as the “university of the future“. He posed the question: “In what sense can such a statement be made?” It doesn’t mean that “Sophia pretends to be some kind of model of what other universities can be”. Rather it means “thinking of Sophia as a university which serves the future. In other words, shifting attention from the already to the not-yet”. And, again and above all, “Sophia, in continuity with the mission of the Church, must be able to direct its work towards the future and must know how to overcome the rigid distinctions between disciplines, but also to connect the trans-disciplinary effort to a vision informed by the destiny of all things to become one in Christ”. In his address, Prof. Mauro Magatti, Professor of General Sociology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and a friend of Sophia since the beginning, reflected on the idea of the university. He said: “Social life cannot be understood without taking into account the ability to accept a deviation from the plan, a quantum leap with respect to constraints that would seem to configure an impasse, or an unshakable determinism. In this sense, the spirit can be thought of as something which is capable of “infinite in the finite”, of “infinitizing” through projections that open lines of flight and spaces of freedom beyond the factual”. He said: “We need new knowledge and therefore a new university (…) To live in the time of complexity, it is necessary to recognize, enhance and cultivate an open, multidimensional, widespread, embodied reason, in constant dialogue and questioning with what is non-rational, a-rational, and supra-rational”. “Live in the time of complexity” is the invitation of Prof. Magatti. Sophia’s Academic Community and its vast array of friends accept the challenge.
The greeting of Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, to the men and women volunteers in formation, who were meeting together in Castelgandolfo on 5th November. She expressed her joy in sharing with them the beautiful letter she had received from Pope Francis. Activate English subtitles https://youtu.be/izLQ6PkQsHA
On 29th October 2022, the Feast Day of Blessed Chiara “Luce” Badano, her hometown, Sassello, opened its doors and gathered to remember this young woman whose testimony continues to inspire.On 29th October 2022, Blessed Chiara Badano would have celebrated her 51st birthday. A young girl in love with God, who at the age of 17, discovered that she had a bone tumour yet, even in illness, she never stopped believing in God’s love. Many young people, children and adults came to her hometown, Sassello, in the province of Savona (Italy) which is surrounded by woods and beautiful hills, to remember her on her birthday which coincides with her Liturgical Feast Day. Thirty-two years after her death, her witness continues to spread and the fruits of a life lived in light inspire many to go beyond obstacles, to feel caressed by God’s Love even in difficulties and pain and to give their lives for those in most need.The day began at midday at the chapel of the Badano family in the Cemetery, where many people from various countries gathered around Chiara’s tomb for the “Time-Out”, a minute of reflection to ask for peace all over the world. It was a simple but profound moment of meditation and prayer, in which Maria Teresa, Chiara’s mother, Daniele Buschiazzo, the Mayor of Sassello, Msgr. Luigi Testore, the Bishop of the Diocese of Acqui and the members of the Chiara Badano Foundation took part. The Mayor said, “29th October is generally a moment that enriches the whole community. And the fact that it is especially young people who recognize Chiara as an important point of reference, makes us even more proud. Every year this is a stimulating event for our Municipality and our community, addressing as it does, important issues. This year, the topic is peace”. In the afternoon, at the Parish of the Most Holy Trinity, in the centre of Sassello, many participated in the Mass, celebrated by Mgr. Testore, assisted by Fr. Enrico Ravera, the Parish Priest of Sassello. The Bishop said “Chiara shows us precisely what it means to welcome the Love of God and constantly discover this Love. So she was able to live her short life above all with this perspective, leaving us a very strong imprint that each of us can take back: discovering the Love of God and letting ourselves be guided by this Love to build our own lives”.5th “Art Award”Immediately after Mass, the Chiara Badano Foundation announced the names of the winners of the 2022 “Art Award”, which gives young people the opportunity to illustrate with their own talents how much the story of Chiara Badano, her ideal and her lifestyle has fascinated, attracted and inspired them.This year’s winner in the “Children’s” category (10-16 years) was Manuel Arduini di Cattolica (Italy), with a drawing inspired by Chiara, entitled “The path to light”. Manuel explained, “What inspired me in this design was Chiara’s faith in the Church and in God”. In the “Youth” category (17-35 years), the winners were Guilaine, Darlene, Ashura, Evasta and Erica from Burundi. These 5 girls from the Chiara Luce Centre of the Focolare Movement in Bujumbura, wrote the words for a song (based on traditional music) and prepared a choreography that expresses the joy of getting to know about the life of Chiara “Luce” and how her example helps them in their lives.The Jury also made a special mention of a song by a group from Bujumbura which was entered in the Children’s category. Chiara Cuneo, Counsellor at the International Centre of the Focolare Movement received the award and the certificate and also brought the greetings of President Margaret Karram and Co-President Jesus Morán.Before concluding the award ceremony, Pasquale Capasso and Martina Bolino from Arzano (Italy), winners of the youth category for the year 2020, performed their winning song, “Here for Eternity” as in 2020, due to the pandemic they could not participate in person. Pasquale Capasso explained, “Having reached the last page of the book on Chiara, “From the rooftops down” written by Franz Coriasco, I thought that this is a story which should continue. I know lots of young people, like me, like us, trying to spend their lives serving others with their talents. And so, the experience of this song must surely be a common experience, with others and friends… and this song came out, which is a stimulus to carry on the witness that Chiara left us, because it is a commitment that we all feel we have to take on. Martina Bolino added, “It started a bit like a game… we joined in this game and the result was a kind of crazy joy that is contagious, so we’d like to thank those who invited us to take part”.“Chiara Luce Badano Solidarity” AwardAt the end of the award ceremony for the winners of the 2022 “Art Awards”, there was also the presentation and launch of the new “Solidarity Award”: an annual initiative to promote solidarity projects in all parts of the world, which will be linked to the artistic award. Cristina Cuneo, a member of the Chiara Badano Foundation, said, “From an early age, Chiara showed a true passion for the most in need, the weakest, the most marginalized in society, the elderly and in particular children. For this reason, inspired and encouraged by Ruggero Badano (Chiara’s father) and Delfina Giribaldi, the Foundation, has decided to establish the ‘Chiara Luce Badano Solidarity Award’, in accordance with its statutory mandate to support and encourage projects for the promotion of positive actions aimed at the weaker sections of the population”. The deadline for submitting projects is 20th January, 2023. The regulations of the competition are on Chiara’s website. For more information on Blessed Chiara “Luce” Badano: www.chiarabadano.org
Going to meet your neighbours, loving them completely, often means retracing your steps, even when you think you are in the right. It means putting your weapons away and preferring acts of kindness.Dad’s return For work reasons, my husband had been away for a whole week which meant that I had to manage four children at home on my own, as due to Covid-19 the schools were closed. In a discontented way, I kept thinking: “Was it right for him to take on so much?” Anxiety started to build up inside me which I knew would burst out when he came back. At a certain point, however, I noticed that our youngest child was carefully preparing a drawing to give to her father when he came home. That kind gesture made me think and it was a real examination of conscience for me: “What about me? How will I welcome him? Will I attack him with my recriminations, listing all the burdens I have had to bear?” That child’s drawing was an opportunity to change direction and to decide, together with the children who were enthusiastic about the idea, to welcome their father with a party, preparing good things to eat and decorating the house. When my husband arrived, he was taken by surprise. Tired, but happy to be home, he said: “You don’t know what it means for me to have a family like this!” (M.S. – Hungary) Healing relationships Years ago my relationship with a neighbour broke down. My efforts to reconcile with him were futile. Recently, I realized that the feast day of the Saint after which he is named was coming up and I had an idea. But first, since he had moved, I had to do some research to track him down. The morning of his name day, a little nervously, I went to his house with a basket of gifts. His wife answered the door with a cordial welcome, “Look who it is! I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you at first” and she called her husband. I was wondering how he would react. But I could never have imagined his huge embrace as he said: “What a gift you have given me by coming to visit! I was mean to you, but you know, sometimes I can’t control my temper!” In the living room, we had a friendly conversation for about two hours. And when it was time to leave, he offered me some produce from his fields. I thanked God for this meeting that brought joy to us both: only He could instil in me the courage to dare and to believe in the good that is hidden deep in the heart of every person. (E.B. – Italy)
Compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year VIII, n.2, September-October 2022)
On Oct. 4, 2022, the docufilm “The Letter,” created by the Laudato Si’ Movement, was presented at the Vatican. It offers a perspective of how to act for the good of our “common home” and is now available for free on Youtube Originals in 12 languages. Arouna Kandé is a young Senegalese student born in a small village who used to work on a farm with goats and chickens but because of the gradual destruction of the environment the young Muslim was forced to leave the village. The young man explains how rising sea levels in the coastal town of Saint-Louis have already forced thousands of people to leave their homes. “My family in Senegal,” he says, “has done nothing to cause the drought in our village or the flooding in the city. We are being affected by the choices made by other people. However, the future is coming, it is mine, and I will make good use of it.” In the docufilm “The Letter,” presented by the Laudato Si’ Movement, of which the Focolare Movement is a partner, Arouna Kandé’s story is intertwined with the stories of Brazilian indigenous chief Cacique Odair Dadá Borari, 14-year-old Indian activist Ridhima Pandey, the Asners – an American couple, both marine biologists, and Irish woman Lorna Gold, all of whom are extremely active in safeguarding the environment. With a personalised letter leaving the Vatican and being delivered to each of them, a journey begins through their own lives until they return to the Vatican where Pope Francis engages in a dialogue with them in an atmosphere of intimate confidence and deep listening. Finally, the action moves to Assisi, to places made famous by St. Francis. There, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa offers a unique perspective for understanding the Franciscan roots of the message behind the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, dedicated by Pope Francis to care of the common home. The film was presented at the Vatican on 4 October, on the feast of the saint of Assisi, in the presence of its protagonists, director Nicolas Brown and his team along with the producers. In the Synod Hall, Arouna Kandé explained the importance of raising awareness of these issues. He spoke of schools being washed away by the waters and hundreds of boys having nowhere dry to rest, forced to sleep on their feet for days. The boy told of moving to a coastal town where the sea level is rising. He has not given up: he is now a university student and is setting up a new NGO to lead the next era of sustainable development in his country. Arouna is thus witnessing to the thousands of people who have firsthand experience of the climate crisis and have the knowledge to solve it. Ridhima Pandey, a 14-year-old Indian high school student, who has also participated in demonstrations to hold governments accountable for their climate action. She founded an NGO to help young women become climate activists. Ridhima said that future generations of young people will be the ones who suffer from global land abuse and neglect. “Our generation – the young people – is and will be the most vulnerable.” “The Letter” is a film to be watched in families, communities and schools because the message each of the protagonists receives is directed to every person on the planet enabling us to realise that we can all do our small or large part to care for “our common home” as Pope Francis calls it in Laudato Si’. The film will be available on Youtube Originals on 2 November 2022 in 12 different languages.
The Second Vatican Council opened on 11th October, 1962.Sixty years later, we reflect on this historic and exceptional event in the life of the Church. “The Council now beginning rises in the Church like daybreak, a forerunner of the most splendid light. It is now only dawn. And already at the first announcement of the rising day, how much sweetness fills out heart.” These are the words spoken by Pope John XXIII on 11th October, 1962 at the conclusion of the solemn celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica, which ushered in a new era. Sixty years have passed since the opening of the Second Vatican Council, an ecumenical Council, that was universal, and a moment of great communion to face, in the light of the Gospel, the new questions posed by history and to respond to the needs of the world. The work of the Council, subsequently continued by Paul VI, lasted until December 1965. Just a month before the closure of this conciliar event Chiara Lubich, Founder of the Focolare Movement, wrote: “Oh! Holy Spirit, through what you have already suggested in the Council, make us become, a living Church: this is our only desire and everything else serves for this”[1]. These words are the fruit of the growing fervour that already animated the Movements and the new pre-conciliar Ecclesial Communities; an indelible sign of that “hermeneutical circularity which, by virtue of the action of the Holy Spirit in the mission of the Church, is established between the magisterium of a Council like Vatican II and the inspiration of a charism, like that of unity”[2]. But today, how should we view this anniversary? Vincenzo Di Pilato, Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Puglia (Italy), tells us about it. Professor Di Pilato, what dreams inspired the desire to hold this Council? On 25th January, 1959, the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, starting from the firm decision to convene a universal Council, Pope John XXIII tried to explain his intentions using terms that have become highly significant today, such as: updating, signs of the times, reform, mercy, unity. In the months before the opening of the Council, the Pope expected it to be an epiphany of the Lord (cf. Ex. ap. Sacrae Laudis, 6th January, 1962), which would lead Rome to become a new Bethlehem. As the Magi once did, the Bishops of the whole world would come to worship Jesus in the midst of his Church. Roncalli dreamed of a synodal Church, a Church leaving “the closed enclosure of its Upper Room” (10th June, 1962); a “Church of all, especially of the poor” (11th September, 1962) because the “purpose” of the Council coincided with that of the Incarnation and Redemption, or “the union of heaven and earth… in all forms of social life” (4th October, 1962). Why pause to reflect on this recurrence today? It is not an event like any other, but an indispensable occasion for a renewed awareness before a time of special graces. The Church, perhaps a little overburdened by her two thousand years, is encouraged to return to “dreaming”, that is, to relive that event again today, in the Spirit of the Risen One, with the certainty that He is here and will be “until the end of the world” (Mt 28: 20). What could the synodal process undertaken by Pope Francis mean other than to perpetuate Pentecost at all times and in all places? Moreover, in the period before and, above all, after the Council, the growing vitality of new Movements, such as the Focolare Movement and other aggregations of the faithful and Ecclesial Communities, have fostered a greater understanding of the principle of co-essentiality between the institutional dimension and the charismatic dimension of the Church. It is important to remember this synergy of the Spirit which ensures that the Church is never left alone in the face of the immense challenges that arise from time to time on the journey of history. In a word: the Church is the place of fraternity where the Kingdom of God begins, whose boundaries go far beyond those of the Church herself. Is the “co-responsibility” of the laity in the Church, a word attributable to the Council, still an open path… Yes, it is certainly a discourse in the making and is equivalent to recognizing the fundamental equality of all the baptized; to reviewing the relationship between priests and laity; to appreciating the circularity of vocations; to putting in place all the structures of communion and forms of synodality that are already possible; to focusing on episcopal collegiality and in the presbytery itself (between the clergy and the bishop); to discovering the co-essentiality of ministries and charisms; to promoting full reciprocity between men and women in the Church; to engaging in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue; to opening up an authentic relationship of dialogue with the surrounding world, with culture and cultures, to valuing capacity and willingness to listen, that familiarity with Christ gives us and refines in us; to promoting new attempts to give life to small lively local communities. In a word: to allowing Christ to emerge not only in what we say, but in the relationships we build with each other and at all levels.
Maria Grazia Berretta
[1][1] C. Lubich, Una nuova Pentecoste, from her diary, 11 November 1965, in La Chiesa, edited by B. Leahy and H. Blaumeiser, Città Nuova, Rome 2018, p. 69.[2]Piero Coda, on the occasion of the Convention “The Second Vatican Council and the Charism of Unity of Chiara Lubich”, Florence, 11-12th March 2022.
To be authentic witnesses without ever giving up.Living the Gospel in our daily lives requires us to put aside our fears and go beyond our limits and convictions; trusting in the gifts that God has given us because it is there that our strength lies.No hard feelings The Mass had ended. While Don Carlo, our parish priest, was giving a special blessing to one of the parishioners who had celebrated his 90th birthday that day, I was intent on taking some photographs of the occasion. His sister, who had come from French-speaking Switzerland, was also present at the ceremony. As I left the church, I approached her and asked for her mobile number so I could send her the whole set of photos. She gladly gave it to me, thanking me. Later, while I was out, she rang my house. My husband answered the call and on my return, he said to me: “Why are you talking to her despite everything she did to us?” He was referring to old disagreements between that lady and us. The response that came to me was “Why not? I don’t want to leave this world with a grudge against someone! The truth is that we are all brothers and sisters even if sometimes we forget it.” My husband did not reply, but I saw that it made him think. (Loredana – Switzerland) The exam I live in Florence with four other friends, also university students who, like me, wish to live their lives according to the example given by Jesus. The apartment where we live is very humid and to warm up we use a wood-burning stove. This is not the only difficulty which however becomes an incentive to really love each other. For example, I was preparing for an exam with a colleague who had very different study routines and methods to me. I thought of giving up and suggesting that we study separately. But when I talked about it to the others, they advised me to persevere, to try to understand my classmate better. I realized that I should continue to love him. There were still plenty of tense and discouraging moments but he told me that he liked coming to study with us because he felt there was a different atmosphere. In the end, the exam went well and he wanted to celebrate in a pizza restaurant, not only with me, but with all of us. He said, “We passed the exam because of the way we loved one another but also because of the understanding of your friends”. (Gioacchino – Italy)
Compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year VIII, n.2, September-October 2022)
The deep personal encounter with God in prayer redefines our entire existence. Recognising Him as the author of grace gives us the opportunity of loving as children, of losing ourselves in His gaze, until we become living prayer.…As we know, our spirituality is both personal and communitarian. It leads us to extend our love vertically, as people say nowadays, towards God, and horizontally towards our neighbors. And keeping the balance between these two loves is what leads us to holiness. For some of us it’s easier to develop the horizontal dimension of love – and so there is the tendency, at times, to engage in constant activities – rather than developing the vertical dimension. It’s true that we usually direct all that we do to God – we love others for him, we work for him, we suffer for him, we pray to him. But if it is true that by continually “making ourselves one” with our neighbors we have often reached the point of loving them with our hearts too, can we be just as certain that we love God not only with our will, but also with our heart? At the end of our lives, we won’t be able to present ourselves to God together with others, with the community; we’ll be alone. Can we be sure that in that moment all the love stored up in our hearts during our lifetime will spontaneously pour out, as it should do, to the one we ought to have always loved, the one we will meet …and who will judge us? … That moment will come for us too, and keeping it in mind, we should try from now on to improve our relationship with God as much as possible. … In fact, we can love God as servants do, doing all that the master wants, without speaking to him at all. Or we can love him like children, with all our heart, full of the Holy Spirit, filled with love and trust in our Father. This kind of trusting relationship leads us to speak with him often, sharing all our concerns, our resolutions and our plans. We experience the trust and the divine desire that makes us eagerly look forward to the time which is only for him and be in contact with him in a deep way. This is prayer, true prayer! We have to aim at this, to the point that we become living prayers. The theologian, Evdokimov, said something beautiful about prayer. He said: “It’s not enough to say prayers; one must become prayer, be prayer, grow into being a living prayer.”¹ Grow into being a living prayer, be prayer, as Jesus wants, since he said: “Pray always”². I believe that the hearts of many of us contain a real wealth of divine love that can transform our lives into authentic prayer, that can make us grow as a living prayer. We only need to make use of it at the right moment. So, during this period, let’s make the commitment to speak often with God, even in the midst of our activities. Let’s try to improve in this. Saying “for you” before every action already transforms it into prayer. But that’s not enough. Let’s start to have an ongoing dialogue with him, whenever possible. Only in this way, at the end of our life, will our love for God fall from our lips in words similar to those of the saints. …
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, Conversazioni, Cittá Nuova 2919, pag. 551-553)
1. P. Evdokimov, Ortodossia, in Aforismi e citazioni cristiane, cit. p. 153. 2. Cf. Lc 21, 36.
15 projects selected for the Seed Funding Program, a micro-financing programme that supports and encourages significant and promising integral ecology initiatives worldwide. The Focolare Movement, FaithInvest and MundellEarth support the project.. Today the world is facing a complex social and environmental crisis, and people are mostly eager to find solutions to deal concretely with this problem. Acting for the good of our “common home”, as Pope Francis likes to call the earth, listening to “the cry of the poor, of the planet and of the new generations”. The Focolare Movement has also decided to play its part and has realised to be responsible for studying in depth the problems afflicting the world and to engage itself in concrete actions. With this desire to find strategies from an integrated approach, the Seed Funding Program (SFP) was born in partnership with FaithInvest and MundellEarth. The SFP is a micro-financing programme that aims to sustain and encourage significant and promising initiatives in different parts of the world towards the realization of local ecological plans within the Focolare communities to journey together towards an integral ecology. From the Philippines to Argentina, of the 33 projects that responded to the call, 15 were selected to receive the funding and develop their work with environmental and social aspects in their communities. The projects are youth-led, with intergenerational efforts, placed in their local communities, oriented towards integral ecology and motivated by spiritual values. During the SFP Kickoff meeting that took place on September 3rd, all the participants were able to be inspired by each other’s projects – from recyclable carpentry cooperatives to the integral formation of the youth. A great moment of sharing was also attended by Catherine Devitt (Faith Plans Programme Manager of FaithInvest) John Mundell (President of MundellEarth) and Etienne Kenfack (Focolare Movement Advisor for the ‘Physical Life and Nature’ aspect).
The experience of Jenny López, director of the Chiara Lubich Centre for the Elderly, in Lámud in the Peruvian Amazon. The story of her meeting with L. One morning, I was working in my office in the Council Buildings when I received a file asking for help in authorising the admission of an elderly woman to our centre. The file only carried the name of the person, L., and the document number. I asked for a more complete report and an updated diagnosis of the person’s state of health. I was told that that the elderly woman had been a victim of domestic violence and physical abuse caused by members of her family. She, a vulnerable person, had bruised arms, was unable to move and was in a state of total abandonment. It was prudent that she be removed from her home and country. I was the person in charge of Casa Hogar, that is the ‘Chiara Lubich’ Centre, and I asked the local authorities to speed up the paperwork for this case because I felt it was urgent. The court needed to make a ruling to permit the elderly lady to leave her home but the judge was on holiday. At that point, I decided to assume all reponsibility for the case and to offer to admit the lady immediately. It took us seven hours to reach her on the bumpy roads. We found her alone in her little house, asleep, almost dying. I approached her and called her name but she did not answer. I immediately signed the document that allowed us to move her from her home. We spent that night in a hostel. I could not sleep, my mind and soul were focused on what might happen. I got up early and offered all my fears to God in prayer. The next day I asked for the assistance of a social worker to take over from me so that I could return home to my husband, my children and my elderly parents, but no one was available at that time. It was difficult to decide what to do but I felt inside that I should not give up. L.’s life, hanging by a thread, depended entirely upon our little efforts.. And so another day passed. I whispered to L.: ‘You are suffering like Jesus on the cross and I am here with you. If you have to go to heaven, you will not be alone, I will accompany you’. I spent the night with her, then, the next morning, the doctors arrived. They took care of her and gave her fluids: only then could we transfer her to the Hogar where everyone welcomed her with great affection. However, 23 doses of a very strong medicine were needed. I made the rounds of many pharmacies and, finally, one seemed to have some but the assistant doubted that they had sufficient. However, when he looked in the box, there were indeed 23. He was very surprised: ‘That’s how it is when you walk with God,’ I told him happily. After that long journey, L. was able to rest. A few days ago God called her to himself, surrounded by the love and prayers of us all, and having received the anointing of the sick. Inspite of the sadness we feel, everyone is left with a sense of joy because they have loved this dear old lady who suffered so much, but who leaves a trail of love and prayers from people all over the world. Her brief presence among us came as a gift that we felt we needed to approach “on tiptoe” but also with a renewed trust in God. Jenny López Arévalo (Lámud, Amazon, Perù)
The Focolare Movement has published a Mission Report of ‘Communion in action’ for the period 2020-2021, an information tool to communicate the main actions and interventions of this reality around the world. It is a detailed document that is useful for everyone to live and walk together towards unity and fraternity becoming a reality.For the first time ever, the Focolare Movement is publishing a Mission Report and has decided to do so in the light of this period of crisis and uncertainty that bears the aftermath of the pandemic and the open wounds of the many conflicts around the world. But it is precisely when the greatest and most common problems appear that a feeling of true fraternity and solidarity seems to emerge between people.Therefore, rather than being a simple report, this Mission Report aims to give the reader an explanatory narrative of the actions and interventions of the Focolare Movement, highlighting what unites and what still needs to be improved. The Mission Report places particular emphasis on the key element that is evident from the name itself: communion.The lifestyle proposed by the Movement, in fact, is based on the choice of putting love into practice which is rooted in the Gospel. A love that – as the founder of the Focolare Movement Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) said – means loving everyone, being the first to love, “getting into the skin of the other”, in such a way that this love extends until it becomes reciprocal, until it reached the point of becoming communion.In this perspective, the document aims to highlight the effects of communion itself, of what one has and is, in a voluntary and free sharing. At the same time it seeks to make of itself an instrument that opens up dialogue and communion, as President Margaret Karram said in her introductory speech:“It is with these sentiments that I wish to offer it to you all so that it too can become an instrument of dialogue, to build bridges and spread a culture and the practice of fraternity. It is so close to my heart that we may learn to live this communion, this exchange better and better, in a relationship of reciprocity that makes us sisters and brothers and promotes an authentic family where diversity enriches us and binds us in a harmonious unity”.
Stefania Tanesini
To read the Mission Report of Communion in action click here
Drawing closer to another person means diminishing the distance between us and them: it means losing that space that is ours alone. It means putting aside what we have to do and embracing the other person’s life. It also means choosing the last place in order to serve.A demanding patient On the ward where I was working as a nurse, there was a lady in a single room who constantly demanded attention for every every little need. I could see that she was suffering: perhaps she felt the end was approaching. One day, after rudely sending away the priest who, as a chaplain, was visiting the patients, she had a notice written on the door: she did not want visitors, especially priests. Every morning, as I started my shift, I felt I wanted to love Jesus who was suffering in that lady and so I tried to satisfy all her wishes: I straightened her pillows, I brought her glasses of water, I opened the window more and then I closed it, etc. One day she asked me: ‘How can you be so patient with me?’ I pointed to the crucifix hanging on the wall: ‘He is the one I follow: he sets the example’. From then onwards, the relationship between us grew. One night, she was very unwell, she insisted that the nurse on duty should phone the parish and ask a priest to come immediately. Shortly afterwards she went to confession and received Communion. When I arrived at work, she was quiet. At ten o’clock she passed away. (Vreni – Switzerland) Making the world smile Mohammed is not yet 22 years old. He is Kurdish from Iraq and has already lived in Sweden for a few years. Now he has come to Italy because he needs to attend to his documents. His eyes are clear and bright. I ask him to sit down in the office and begin to explain how the Caritas dormitory where he will be staying temporarily works. Thanks to English, we manage to understand each other. I try to take an interest in him and his family, in his reasons for leaving his homeland and his short but already intense past. I forget about the painful situations that I had encountered before his arrival. When he came in, he seemed tired and tense, now I see him slowly relax. He often smiles. At the end he tells me: “In six years, I have never met a person who welcomed me like you did this morning. You made my stress go away.” And he thanks me. He asked me to write my name on a piece of paper, but at the end of the interview, he greets me and calls me ‘Dad’. (S.U. – Italy)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta
(from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, VIII, no.2, Sept-Oct 2022)
Eventually, I arrived and saw three stone houses in a row, and further up, at the top of a tree-lined lane, the church with its bell tower. I greeted an old man, sitting with a pipe in his mouth, on the doorstep. I told him I was the teacher. He got up and moved to accompany me. We went through a bumpy door into the second of the row of houses, all of which were owned by the old man; the first was the shop that stocked everything (except for a few things I didn’t have which I really could have done with). There were hobnailed boots, matches, mousetraps (all kinds of mousetraps), stale bread, notebooks, everything. We climbed a ladder and entered the school. It was a large room with a few desks stacked in a corner (I had never seen such desks: six children could have fitted in one of them), a splintered chair, a broken blackboard. That was all the furniture. – Over here is your house,’ the old man explained to me, ‘you can be happy! This year there is running water. I had it installed, at my own expense! He ushered me into a small kitchenette; an unlit fireplace stood out in one corner. I was cold. It was starting to get dark: I looked for a light switch but there was none. (In the days that followed, I learned to use the carbide lamp and work and write by the light of that flickering tongue of fire). I sought out the priest that very same day (I learned that his church was the Pieve, the most beautiful of all the churches in the valley and the surrounding hills) and begged him to announce at Sunday Mass that school was starting. “But, signorina, it’s harvest time. Now there are chestnuts, then olives; the children help a lot with this work. School?” he added, “we’ll talk about that in January”. It all seemed impossible to me. I had learned some time ago not to shy away from difficulties. Quite the contrary. I had been told they serve as springboards, and I had seen that it was true. I found another way to let people know I had arrived. I spotted my pupils’ homes among the scattered, isolated cottages and went there. The first was Angiolino and Maria’s house. I am left with a vague memory of blackness and smoke from that one. There was Maria crouching in a corner among the ashes of the hearth (she had a sore throat), holding her arm over her face so that I wouldn’t see her. Angiolino was standing in the corner with his head down, following the conversation I was having with his mother. During the conversation I realised how much the people distrusted the school and the teacher even more. I listened in silence. I tried hard to understand the woman who spoke in a harsh, rancorous, almost incomprehensible dialect. I discovered that the boy had left school two years ago, without having completed his elementary studies, because of the mischief he was causing against the teachers. I just said a few things: I had come for them, the school was free and the children would have the afternoon off to help in the fields. “We’ll see,” said the woman, “I’ll send Maria”. As I was leaving I greeted the boy: “I would like to make the school beautiful for the little ones who come, if you can come and help me… I’ll be waiting for you”. There was no need for many more invitations. One by one the children arrived, the little brothers in pairs, uncertain, fearful. They had spread the word about school when they met for games, or in the fields, while tending the flock, or by being together in the woods collecting chestnuts. “Are you coming too? It’s nice, you know!” “It’s nice there, the teacher doesn’t hit!” The school soon became cosy with Angiolino’s valuable help. October’s nature offered rich ornamental material in the varied colour of its leaves. I established a relationship with each of the pupils and the pupils’ relationships with each other based on Jesus’ commandment: “Love one another…”. It was the basis for all the work that year. The school became a little paradise. The favourite book was the Gospel and those children’s minds, unused and closed to human reasoning, opened up to the logic of the Gospel with surprising spontaneity. The method was challenging. “Pro eis sanctifico me ipsum” (For them do I sanctify myself), Jesus had said, otherwise it would be ineffective. I realised at the end of the year that the evangelical life of those little ones had not remianed within the confines of the school, but had spilled out into their homes and their families. I realised this from the grateful greetings of the parents who had not remained indifferent to the breath of joyful life that the children brought back to them. The rough exterior that had made them seem insensitive disappeared from their souls and, unconsciously, that same life had entered them. 
Did you meet Pope Benedict XVI as President of the Focolare on any other occasions? “In 2008 he received Co-President Faletti and I, immediately after the General Assembly of the Focolare in which we had been elected, the first after the death of our foundress. He then invited me to travel on the same train as him, with many personalities, to the “Day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world” held in Assisi on 27th October 2011, twenty five years after the first event held by Pope John Paul II in 1986. Finally, I participated in his last audience on 27th February, 2013 after the announcement of his resignation.” What are your thoughts about his decision? “When he realized that he no longer had the strength to carry out his task, he had the courage to make room for others who, in his opinion, had more strength and opportunity to do better. A choice that, as I said at the time, 
On the occasion of the death of Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare, Pope Benedict XVI sent a comprehensive message of condolence. What was Lubich’s relationship with him? Chiara told me personally that she was very impressed by that speech of Cardinal Ratzinger in 1998 and was always grateful for it. He visited the Mariapolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo (Rome) on 8th December, 1989 and celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. He referred to the Gospel parable and said that he could see the growth of a large tree born from a small seed, in which all the birds of the sky find rest. The first years of the pontificate of Benedict XVI coincided with the last years of Chiara’s life: she could no longer meet him in person or rejoice in the fact that, a year after her death, in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Ratzinger mentioned the Economy of Communion. What does the thought and life of Pope Benedict XVI say to the Church of today and tomorrow, which the current Synod is helping to define? His unique contribution was to recall, with his authority as a man of God and a great theologian, a determining truth: the work of renewal put into motion by Vatican II needs to be developed in direct contact with the living nucleus of the Gospel of Jesus and in the context of the ecclesial Tradition. He stated this clearly in his magisterial speech to the Roman Curia in December 2005, the first year of his pontificate, when he defined the decisive key to interpretation of the conciliar event as being: “continuing reform”. It is no coincidence that the best-known book by the young theologian Ratzinger, which appeared in its first edition in 1968 and was translated into the main languages, bears the title Introduction to Christianity. This signalled that the launch pad for a prophetic leap forward is the faith of always, in Jesus. Nor is it insignificant that, as Pope, he dedicated three encyclicals to the theological virtues: charity, hope and faith. He strongly stressed the primacy of the first, because it evokes the very name of the God who reveals himself in Jesus. That Jesus to whom he dedicated a passionate trilogy as an invitation to the encounter with the living principle of faith, which is not a beautiful idea, but God Himself. Faithfulness, therefore, to the patrimony of faith but so that the richness and novelty of the Gospel may be released from it. This is the secret of the strength and enduring fascination of the magisterium of Benedict XVI. And you personally, what is the most beautiful memory you have of Pope Ratzinger? I met him many times, first as Cardinal and then as Pope. I always experienced his great cordiality and exquisite attention. I also had the opportunity to converse at length with him about theology, in the context of a series of seminars with other scholars, at an international level, when he was Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith. This made me realize (with increasing gratitude to God) the extraordinary contribution of wisdom he has given to the journey of the Church in our time. In agreement with Chiara, I shared the idea of the Sophia University Institute with Pope Benedict. He exclaimed, “A wonderful thing, if you can manage it…” Finally, I remember his joyful surprise when we met him during an audience with the first group of students and Caelison, a blind student, spontaneously confided to him: “We have found the light in Sophia!”. 
In 1989, when he was still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was invited by Chiara Lubich for a dialogue with the focolarine gathered for their annual spiritual exercises, in which I too was participating. He answered a wide variety of questions and at one point spoke words that I have never forgotten. Concerning the future of the Church and humanity, he said: “The final word in the history of the world will be communion, becoming communion, not only among ourselves but, by being incorporated in Trinitarian love, becoming universal communion, where God is all in all”
“For the first time I was able to not feel like I was in prison. It was so beautiful,” said one of the inmates at the end of the concert. ‘I didn’t feel any difference. They were just like us. Some of them even had tears in their eyes. They really understood us.” Another one said: “Many songs were so appropriate for our situation, especially the song ‘On the other side’ because it helps not to judge those who are different from you”. Another inmate emphasised how “time went by so quickly and we didn’t want it to end. The stories in the songs are also my past and that is why I do not feel alone with my pain. Now I know that there are other people with the same stories, with the same pain, who have managed to find happiness”. We have been talking about our return after the pandemic. For Gen Verde, it was exciting to resume the 
Many consequences still affect the population today. For this reason, the Emergency Coordination of the Focolare Movement, with AMU and AFN, upon learning of the emergency, launched a fundraiser to support the provision of food parcels, clothing and sanitary products to about 500 families in the localities of Nowshera in northern Pakistan; Tando-Alla-Yar and Kotri in Sindh; Sangar in southern Pakistan; and other localities still being assessed. Many have mobilised to respond to initial requests for help and to assess the most urgent needs on the ground. In the face of the ever-increasing number of displaced people, aid shipments were organised in the first few weeks and continue to this day. Despite precarious transportation, most of these families have already been reached. In addition, some members of the Focolare Movement on the ground are directly involved not only in the preparation and distribution of parcels, but also in providing medical care for those who need treatment and medicine to fight primarily typhoid, dengue, cholera and malaria. “On October 16, 2022, we went to a village in Haji Hafiz Shah Goth, about an hour’s drive from the city of Kotri, and set up a medical camp there,” says Fabian Clive, a member of the Focolare community in Karachi.
The event took place on 8th November in the Altiero Spinelli building with the presence of 40 people from 9 countries of the Union and others who followed the streaming. The presentation of the position paper, “In search of a common future in solidarity” was supported by the Left Group of the European Parliament, in collaboration with the Movement for Politics for Unity Movement and New Humanity, The document, on common positions in Socialist Christian dialogue, was written by Prof. Michael Brie, President of the Scientific Committee of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and by the Belgian sociologist, Prof. Bennie Callebaut of the Sophia University Institute. It analyses how, as antagonists in the past, Christianity and Marxism are faced with another wall to break down, that of wild capitalism and how they find surprising affinities in the present. In the message and in the person of Pope Francis they also find a figure who unites, a leader and a traveling companion. The paper states, “We are working on projects guided by shared visions in common struggles“. The document declines what these projects are, indicating some topics being explored: “an economy of life; a caring community; a policy of transformation in solidarity; a world in which there is room for many worlds; the dignity of every individual in a world rich in common goods; and together for peace”. The inevitable question of how, when it comes to discussion, these are expressed in practice, was formulated by Prof. Léonce Bekemans (Jean Monnet Chair, University of Padua). Walter Baier, from Transform!Europe, one of the initiators and coordinators of Dialop responded: “We work on three levels: dialogue as a cultural initiative in order to become a think tank; involving people in the work for solidarity, as happened with initiatives for migrants and refugees; arousing political involvement especially for building peace”. Marisa Matjas, Portuguese MEP of the Bloco de Esquerda, vice-president of the Party of the European Left in the European Parliament, was the hostess. She vividly remembered the words of Pope Francis to the members of the European Parliament in 2014, which were “said when we needed to hear them most”. “He spoke to us about keeping democracy alive in Europe, about employment and workers’ rights, about education, about migration, at a time when the EU was ignoring the massive movements of people coming from Syria; he also spoke about the dignity of human rights, we have many things in common that we need to work on together.” 
The impact with the charism led him to make an even greater commitment to God and to wish to base his life on living the Gospel. Anna Maria, his fiancée shared this choice. Around them the first community of Parma was born. They were greatly attracted by the innovative vocation of married focolarini pioneered by Igino Giordani. They decided to leave the promising career of an engineer and the privileges of a comfortable life to move with their then four children, as a family-focolare to Rome and devote themselves full time to the Focolare Movement. One of Danilo’s first assignments was the completion of the building in Rocca di Papa destined to become the Mariapolis Centre and, later, the international headquarters of the Movement. He then went to work for Città Nuova publishing house. 
He worked closely with Chiara and played a major part in the formation of generations of married couples from different continents who, like him, wanted to follow in the footsteps of Giordani. In 1980, Anna Maria and he were invited as auditors to the Synod on the Family and in 1981 Chiara Lubich asked them to be part of the Central Council of the Movement, with the role of coordinators of 
Danilo received many talents which he rendered abundantly fruitful. His long life is a hymn of glory to God stretched out in time. The entire Focolare Movement, in particular the host of married focolarini and the myriad of families from all over the world, for which he was an example, a confidant, a lovable and secure point of reference, are deeply grateful to him with a gratitude that pays homage to his humanity. He was a giant of righteousness, tenderness, simplicity and wisdom. Thank you Danilo for continuing to be that evangelical child which shone through your very being, your words, your exquisite humour, your paintings, the countless cartoons that you improvised (often on paper napkins) and which gave joy to all of us. 
The official start of the year is a major event for any academic community. In the times we live in, with the complex challenges of culture and society that emerge from the pandemic and the return of war on European territory, it is a very important occasion. This year, 350 people attended the opening of the 2022/2023 Academic Year of the 
The 
Prof. Declan O’Byrne is the recently appointed third Rector (Acting) of SUI, following Prof. Piero Coda, Rector until 2020 and Prof. Giuseppe Argiolas, Rector since 2020. In his speech, he focussed on an expression present in the 2014 Strategic Plan, which spoke of Sophia as the “university of the future“. He posed the question: “In what sense can such a statement be made?” It doesn’t mean that “Sophia pretends to be some kind of model of what other universities can be”. Rather it means “thinking of Sophia as a university which serves the future. In other words, shifting attention from the already to the not-yet”. And, again and above all, “Sophia, in continuity with the mission of the Church, must be able to direct its 
work towards the future and must know how to overcome the rigid distinctions between disciplines, but also to connect the trans-disciplinary effort to a vision informed by the destiny of all things to become one in Christ”. In his address, Prof. Mauro Magatti, Professor of General Sociology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and a friend of Sophia since the beginning, reflected on the idea of the university. He said: “Social life cannot be understood without taking into account the ability to accept a deviation from the plan, a quantum leap with respect to constraints that would seem to configure an impasse, or an unshakable determinism. In this sense, the spirit can be thought of as something which is capable of “infinite in the finite”, of “infinitizing” through projections that open lines of flight and spaces of freedom beyond the factual”. He said: “We need new knowledge and therefore a new university (…) To live in the time of complexity, it is necessary to recognize, enhance and cultivate an open, multidimensional, widespread, embodied reason, in constant dialogue and questioning with what is non-rational, a-rational, and supra-rational”. “Live in the time of complexity” is the invitation of Prof. Magatti. Sophia’s Academic Community and its vast array of friends accept the challenge. 
Chiara’s tomb for the “Time-Out”, a minute of reflection to ask for peace all over the world. It was a simple but profound moment of meditation and prayer, in which Maria Teresa, Chiara’s mother, Daniele Buschiazzo, the Mayor of Sassello, Msgr. Luigi Testore, the Bishop of the Diocese of Acqui and the members of the Chiara Badano Foundation took part. The Mayor said, “29th October is generally a moment that enriches the whole community. And the fact that it is especially young people who recognize Chiara as an important point of reference, makes us even more proud. Every year this is a stimulating event for our Municipality and our community, addressing as it does, important issues. This year, the topic is peace”. In the afternoon, at the Parish of the Most Holy Trinity, in the centre of Sassello, many participated in the Mass, celebrated by Mgr. Testore, assisted by Fr. Enrico Ravera, the Parish Priest of Sassello. The Bishop said “Chiara shows us precisely what it means to welcome the Love of God and constantly discover this Love. So she was able to live her short life above all with this perspective, leaving us a very strong imprint that each of us can take back: discovering the Love of God and letting ourselves be guided by this Love to build our own lives”. 5th “Art Award” Immediately after Mass, the Chiara Badano Foundation announced the names of the winners of the 2022 “Art Award”, which gives young people the opportunity to illustrate with their own talents how much the story of Chiara Badano, her ideal and her lifestyle has fascinated, attracted and inspired them.
This year’s winner in the “Children’s” category (10-16 years) was Manuel Arduini di Cattolica (Italy), with a drawing inspired by Chiara, entitled “The path to light”. Manuel explained, “What inspired me in this design was Chiara’s faith in the Church and in God”. In the “Youth” category (17-35 years), the winners were Guilaine, Darlene, Ashura, Evasta and Erica from Burundi. These 5 girls from the Chiara Luce Centre of the Focolare Movement in Bujumbura, wrote the words for a song (based on traditional music) and prepared a choreography that expresses the joy of getting to know about the life of Chiara “Luce” and how her example helps them in their lives. The Jury also made a special mention of a song by a group from Bujumbura which was entered in the Children’s category. Chiara Cuneo, Counsellor at the International Centre of the Focolare Movement received the award and the certificate and also brought the greetings of President Margaret Karram and Co-President Jesus Morán. Before concluding the award ceremony, Pasquale Capasso and Martina Bolino from Arzano (Italy), winners of the youth category for the year 2020, performed their winning song, “Here for Eternity” as in 2020, due to the pandemic they could not participate in person. Pasquale Capasso explained, “Having reached the last page of the book on Chiara, “From the rooftops down” written by Franz Coriasco, I thought that this is a story which should continue. I know lots of young people, like me, like us, trying to spend their lives serving others with their talents. And so, the experience of this song must surely be a common experience, with others and friends… and this song came out, which is a stimulus to carry on the witness that Chiara left us, because it is a commitment that we all feel we have to take on. Martina Bolino added, “It started a bit like a game… we joined in this game and the result was a kind of crazy joy that is contagious, so we’d like to thank those who invited us to take part”.
