On 8 May 2021 at a traffic light in the city of Porto Alegre (Brazil), Lorenzo, aged 24, and his mother, Themis, saw a poor man with a sign: “I’m hungry, help me”. This is how the project “Troque-a-fome-por-flor” (Swap hunger for a flower) began. The result is a network of florists and volunteers that now employs more than 70 people and is also spreading to other cities in Brazil. https://vimeo.com/619912229
Statement by the Focolare Movement on the publication of the book “La Setta Divina” (The Divine Sect) by Ferruccio Pinotti (PIEMME Editions) The Focolare Movement has learned of the publication of the book “La setta divina” (The Divine Sect) by the journalist Ferruccio Pinotti (PIEMME Ed.), released today in Italian bookshops. The book comes at a difficult and crucial time in the history of the Focolare Movement: the transition from the founding period to the post-foundational phase. Throughout the history of the Church, this is a time that has often put to the test religious orders, movements and communities born of charismatic inspiration. Ferruccio Pinotti’s book wants to show that, even in the Focolare Movement, the initial zeal has sometimes led to misinterpretations of Chiara Lubich’s charism and/or to misleading actions. From the documents that Pinotti has obtained and published in the book regarding some of the internal debates within the Focolare Movement, there emerges, nevertheless, a growing awareness among the members of these and other inconsistencies in its history and the need to remedy them. However, the book does not seem to offer an objective and well-considered presentation of this charism, which is recognised by the Catholic Church. It does not take into account the commitment of many thousands of people who, inspired by the life and teachings of the foundress, devote themselves daily and generously throughout the world to creating relationships, healing wounds and overcoming rifts in every sphere of ecclesial and social life, in order to build a more fraternal and united world. We accept without reserve the fact that so much pain has been caused to the people who, in these pages, tell their stories of great suffering, disappointment, deception and abuse endured, and of those who did not wish to make their testimonies public. The Focolare Movement, in the persons of President Margaret Karram and Co-President Jesús Morán, expresses once again its shame and sorrow towards the victims and all those who have been wronged, its closeness and its desire to continue or begin a path of dialogue with them. It reaffirms its commitment to combat all forms of abuse and continue to improve its protection of children and vulnerable adults through ongoing formation of its members and leaders. It repeats its invitation to all those who have facts or stories of abuse to report them to the Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults (CO.BE.TU.) or to their respective Church bodies. Despite the partial, one-sided, sometimes inaccurate or reductive reading of the history, spirituality and activity of the Movement, we see this book as a further incentive in continuing the ongoing processes of conversion and renewal, remaining faithful to the founding charism and to the development of an open, free and critical dialogue within the Movement and with anyone who wishes to fully understand the Movement as it is today and collaborate with it.
Stefania Tanesini
The Word of Life for November 2021 invites us to be peacemakers. In this text, Chiara Lubich explains how to become one. Do you know who the peacemakers are that Jesus is talking about? They are not people we call “peaceful,” who only want a quiet life, who don’t like arguments. They might seem naturally inclined to get along with others, but frequently they secretly would rather not be disturbed or have any trouble. Nor are peacemakers those good people who, trusting in God, do not react when they are provoked or insulted. Peacemakers are those who love peace so much that they are not afraid to intervene in a conflict to bring peace to those involved. Only those who possess peace can be bearers of peace. First of all, we have to be bearers of peace by the way we behave in each moment, living in harmony with God and his will. Peacemakers strive to create bonds, to establish relationships among people, to resolve tensions, to alleviate the atmosphere of “cold war” that can often prevail in some family situations, at work, in school, during sporting events, between nations, and so on.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] edited by Fabio Ciardi, Opere di Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova, 2017, p. 196)
15 experts in law, formation and psychology, from different geographical and cultural areas. An independent team that collaborates and supervises both the safeguarding and protection of young people and cases of abuse of power within the Focolare Movement. This team took office on September 17 and its coordinator is the Italian lawyer Orazio Moscatello, a criminal and civil lawyer, expert in Family and Juvenile Law. The Commission for the Safeguarding and Protection of Young People and Vulnerable Adults (CO.BE.TU.) has been expanded and strengthened in order to offer an increasingly competent and comprehensive service to those who have suffered or are suffering abuse within the Focolare Movement and to those who wish to report that this is or has taken place. The new members will be able to intervene and make a professional contribution in two specific areas:
“The issue of abuse was one of the priorities dealt with by the Focolare General Assembly last January,” Orazio Moscatello explains. “The Assembly is aware of what has been done and is being done now in this field, but it has called for a renewed commitment to prevent abuse on the part of all members of the Movement, as stated in the final working document.“ In fact, point 2 of the text presents the conclusions and commitment of the Focolare for the next 5 years by stating: “We commit ourselves to strengthen what is already in place to prevent all forms of abuse – physical, sexual or abuse of power or conscience. We ask the victims for forgiveness and assure them of our complete support; with great sorrow, we recognize, all those situations in which we have not been able to protect them. We are committed to an even greater fostering of a culture of safeguarding and protection for all people, providing appropriate training and using clear communication.” Shortly after this declaration was drafted, Focolare President Margaret Karram arranged for the Commission for the Safegarding of Young People and the Independent Commission for the Protection of Adults to be unified into a single entity. In addition, to ensure the full independence of the commission, its members will not have roles of responsibility in the central or dispersed instruments of governance of the Movement,during their three-year term of office.
Stefania Tanesini
For further information or to report situations of abuse, contact: cobetu@focolare.org
181 bishops, friends of the Focolare Movement, from 45 countries of the world and from 70 Churches and ecclesial communities participated in the conference “Dare to be one. The gift of unity in a divided world” that took place from 23 to 25 September 2021. The background and meaning of this meeting through interviews with five of the participating Bishops. https://vimeo.com/620771973
Sophia Web Academy (SWA) constitutes an original way of providing training in the culture of unity; it is an experiment that IUS (Sophia University Institute) has begun and it aims to respond to the needs that many people are experiencing now. The course provides an advanced level of training and consists of two specific elements – culture and leadership of unity. It targets both people who already know the Focolare Movement and others who do not. Michele Zanzucchi, professor of communication at Sophia and coordinator of SWA, tells us about it. What is the mission of Sophia Web Academy? Sophia Web Academy (SWA) proposes to investigate and present the main conceptual and practical expressions of the charism of unity. It explicitly attempts to examine and compare the work of all those who have initiated cultural reflection that has developed from the mystical intuition of Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement. How did this idea come about? It came about during the pandemic. There was an increase in the requests for formation on the foundations of the charism of unity and it became obvious that it was possible to give satisfactory training online. In the Focolare Movement, there is a need for a twofold formation course for people who have leadership roles, both at central and local levels. These courses should offer participants adequate preparation for the challenges of our times so that they can correspond appropriately bearing in mind the great gift of the charism of unity they have received. The courses should also equip some of members as “managers” of groups of varying numbers of people. How is it structured? The first year of the online specialist course consists of a total of 700 hours – 180 lectures, 60 hours of work under the guidance of tutors or in dialogue with teachers, and 460 of personal study – corresponding to about 30 academic credits, spread over 8 months, from 28 November 2021 to 3 July 2022. Starting from a common base of about 44 hours of teacher centred education, the following 120 hours will be divided into two areas: “culture of unity” and “dialogical leadership”. Then, during the last “three days”, there will be 16 hous of interdisciplinary teaching and learning. What are the entry requirements? You can enrol in the course as a student or as an auditor. Students need to have a degree, participate in the lessons, are entitled to a tutor, sit the exams and will receive a university certificate. Auditors, on the other hand, can enrol without any special qualifications, attend courses, are not entitled to a tutor, do not sit exams and will receive a university extension certificate of attendance. As auditors it is possible to enrol in individual modules. The full course of study can be completed in one or two years. One of the two areas of study that SWA offers concerns the “culture of unity”. What are the goals to be achieved? One of the qualities of a leader in a rapidly changing world is wisdom. The specific task of Sophia, according to Chiara Lubich, is precisely that of ‘teaching wisdom’, which is also acquired by listening to the voices – and entering into dialogue with them – of those who have sought the truth throughout the centuries. For a leader, this means acquiring the ability to see far ahead and also to think strategically about the processes to be put in place today to prepare a more humane tomorrow. An essential part of the course is dedicated to Chiara Lubich’s experience and thought in the context of the Focolare Movement, a very valid contribution to the integral formation of leaders. How can the topic of “leadership” be linked to the notion of unity? SWA offers a space to know and learn about leadership which is strongly characterised by dialogue and service, attention to the least, communion, active involvement and flexibility. This will lead to an increased capacity for strategic decision-making and choice, team work and communication. The leadership course is based on 5 didactic units that complement each other in an organic way, combining theoretical and practical aspects. “Fundamentals of leadership”, “Group management”, “Personal development”, “Flexible Work”, “Types and models of leadership” form the basic elements of this innovative and engaging course. For registration and further information, contact: https://swa.sophiauniversity.org
Maria Grazia Berretta
New academic year of the University Institute inaugurated in Focolare’s little town of Loppiano (Italy) with integral ecology and its implications for the university being the central theme. The Sophia University Institute has one ambition: to reintroduce the pedagogical model used by Greek philosophers before Christ, like Gymnasium or Lyceum, into the university system where coexistence between teachers and students formed the fundamental educational impetus, but adding Christian values of the person and communion. This is no mean feat in a place of research and “integral ecology”. As Federico Rovea, a former student of Sophia, now a teacher, said: “Sophia means doing university, seeking the truth in an atmosphere of friendship”. This was experienced on 29 October 2021, at the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Italy), during the inauguration ceremony of the 2021-2022 academic year. Theme: “What are the implications for the university in an age of integral ecology?”. 
The President of the Focolare Movement, Margaret Karram, who is vice-grand chancellor of the Institute, reiterated in her address that “the objectives that Sophia proposes are high and engaging. They require everyone to give the best of themselves in a continuous openness to dialogue and listening, a place where intellectual commitment always looks for new ways to respond to the cultural needs of our time”. Speaking with some emotion the new rector, Giuseppe Argiolas, recalled the great challenges linked to the pandemic: “We have accomplished what in the past we imagined we would do over several years: 1) complete the 2019/20 academic year via Internet; 2) create the conditions for a high-level offer, with a professional platform; 3) offer a specific diploma for those who would like to study at Sophia but don’t have the means to come to Loppiano. This is Sophia Web Academy: Culture of Unity and Leadership through dialogue”. In a well-received speech, Valeria Garré, representing the students, emphasised three words: journey, commitment and openness: “Sophia is my home every time I realise that ecology is truly integral, also when it is not easy, and includes relationship, care for our environment and being faithful to completing a task”. Finally, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence (Italy) and Grand Chancellor of Sophia, focused on the meeting due to take place in February in Florence of a number of Bishops and Mayors from Mediterranean countries. “Our Churches feel the need to rediscover their own identity. Starting from the fact that we have the Mediterranean in common, every local Church and every government can adopt an attitude of listening to and welcoming the cry of humanity without being afraid of recognising the cry of Christ, his ‘Why?’ in this cry which has a political, religious, social, cultural, economic and ecological nature, a cry also for health, food and water”. The focus of the ceremony was therefore integral ecology. Professor Sergio Rondinara wanted to take up the ecological challenge by linking it to a deeper and more invasive anthropological challenge: “In the recent past the relationship between humanity and nature was balanced and often collaborative (we need only think of the agricultural and farming society). Today it has taken on a critical configuration which we commonly call the ‘environmental crisis’”. He explained how to get out of such a crisis, working on four levels: “the cultural anthropological level, the level of thought, the ethical level and the religious level, all pathways on a personal and social educational journey”. In the discussion, Prof. Mario Taccolini, from the Catholic University of Milan (Italy), highlighted his university’s experience of focusing on the need for an integral ecology, while Prof. Stefania Papa, from the Vanvitelli University of Campania (Italy), emphasised the need for university programmes to be driven by this vital culture. What remains is the conviction that integral ecology is not just a scientific or political objective, but a way of “being in the world”.
Michele Zanzucchi
On the feast of All Saints, Chiara Lubich invites us to seek holiness together in order to bear witness to mutual love even beyond the limits of our earthly life. We understood that we have been called to love our neighbours, but we can love a little or we can love a lot. People who love a little are those who limit themselves to loving their neighbours only in their own lifetime. People who love a lot are those who find the way to love their neighbours even after this life, for years and centuries afterwards. Since Christ was living in them, they remain here on earth as models that many can imitate. This is what the saints did. People are still meditating on their lives, their writings and their works even many centuries after their “departure” from this earth. Following their example, we can do the same. We can become saints out of love for our contemporaries and for those who will come in the future, to give them light and encouragement along their path in life for a very long time, and to fill their hearts with the flame of love. Therefore, we should strive towards holiness, certainly not for our own benefit but – as well as for the glory of God – for the sake of our neighbours.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Conversazioni in collegamento telefonico, [Telephone conversations] edited by Michel Vandeleene, Opere di Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova, 2019, pag. 430-431)
“Family Love: A Vocation and a Path to Holiness” is the theme of the Tenth World Meeting of Families promoted by the Catholic Church, to take place June 22-26, in 2022. Two married Focolarini, Marcelo Chávez and Pia Noria who coordinate the New Families Movement in part of South America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay) share their own story and the build up to this event. “As a child I felt God calling me to follow Him, even though I didn’t know what way I should take. After a time of discernment I understood marriage would be my way”, explains Marcelo Chávez, husband to Pia and father to three wonderful daughters. With Pia he found a vocation born from long years of friendship in which they shared the same ideal of life, leading to a a beautiful engagement journey and the great adventure of matrimony. They form a family which hopes to be a “living Church” alongside many other protagonists of the tenth World Meting of Families in Rome, Italy, from 22 to 26 June, 2022. The theme: “Family Love: A Vocation and a Path to Holiness” How are you preparing for this event which, in his introductory message Pope Francis has described as, due to the pandemic, bearing a “multicentered and widespread format”? When Pope Francis inaugurated the Year of Amoris Laetitia Family in March 2021 and announced that there would be a concluding World Meeting of Families in Rome, we immediately felt called to be present at this event. Then in July 2021, the Pope invited everyone to participate using a new format with all dioceses gathering families together for a local experience. In this, we saw how Rome was opening wide its arms to the world, towards all families no matter how far away, so no-one need be excluded. We realised we could experience this miracle of unity among families as protagonists and not as distant observers. So we’ll now participate in the Meeting in our own place, supporting the initiatives of our Archdiocese of Santiago del Cile, together with other ecclesial movements. As a family, what does it mean to follow a way towards holiness? On 6 September 2021 we celebrated 18 years of marriage. And we’ve never had any doubts, not even in the hardest of times. Our calling is and always will be to love one another as God wants. God has taken our “yes” at our word, and He helps us to go ahead. We see this way towards holiness in marriage as a shared journey, something we do together, united, both of us contributing to the sanctification of each other. How does Jesus support you in your life and what role does prayer have, particularly in this period of the Covid pandemic? Day by day, throughout the past 18 years, we’ve come to realise that the measure of married love is truly to give our lives for one another. Making ourselves available for this, with Christ’s grace, has allowed us to discover how our very differences can take on a new dimension. Naturally, there’ve been plenty of situations when we found it more or less difficult to resolve our differences. But whenever we found ourselves in conflict, we experienced a strong desire to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and to continue to love Jesus in these challenges. We need courage and great strength of will, entrusting ourselves to God, to the Holy Family, in order to face all the complex situations life can and does present. Prayer has always sustained us and keeps on sustaining us along the journey. It gives us strength and conviction that everything is the Love of God. Throughout the pandemic, in particular, praying as a family has been so important, as well as praying with the Focolare community and with other families. Even if we’ve been unable to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we’ve understood that we still meet Him and His love can manifest itself among us. In the press conference to launch the Meeting, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life said “Families are the seed to be sown in the world in order to make it fertile with real and credible witnesses of the beauty of family love.” How can this witness reach beyond the walls of the family home? We look to the Holy Family of Nazareth. The greatness and importance of being a family today is still to be found there: to become the place where Jesus can be born and be given to the world. We experience how the love of God manifest in our lives can never remain within our own families, but must radiate outwards as the basis for meeting other families, other married and engaged couples. Everything is an opportunity to love and to give God’s love. Journeying together with other families means building community, sharing goods, needs, worries and taking care of the needs of all.
Maria Grazia Berretta
Blessed Chiara Luce Badano was born on 29th October 1971. Events held in various parts of the world will mark this day. In her birthplace Sassello (Italy), Holy Mass will be celebrated and there will also be the Timeout and the projection of an unpublished video interview with her parents, compiled by the Chiara Badano Foundation. Blessed Chiara Luce Badano would have been 50 years old today. 
She was born 50 years ago, on 29 October1971, and today she is a role model for thousands of young people. Chiara passed away just a few days before she was 19. ‘Luce’ (Light), the name added to her original one, was given to her by Chiara Lubich, wishing her a life in which she would be a bearer of that light which comes from God’s love. She met the Ideal of unity when she was a teenager and she became a Gen, a member of the young generation of the Focolare Movement. She always cared for others and she lived as a normal young girl, perhaps never imagining that she would have to face a very serious illness at the age of 17. If Chiara Luce were alive today, what would she be like and what would she have lived for? This is a question many of us ask ourselves because we feel that Chiara Luce is still so close to us, that she is one of us, even today. So we put this question to three of her closest friends, Chicca and Franz Coriasco and Cristina Cuneo, from the Chiara Badano Foundation. Chicca answered: “Based on the experience we lived with her, we imagine that she would absolutely be a normal young girl, but aware of the fact that by living the Gospel and Chiara Lubich’s ideal, one can do great things”. What would have been her priorities in life? Cristina emphasised: “We believe that it is today’s young people who can answer this question. In fact, in one of Chiara Badano’s last messages, that was almost a testament, she spoke of ‘handing over’ the torch to young people ‘like at the Olympics’. And this is what so many are doing today by their commitment to diminish inequalities and social injustice, to care for the environment, to safeguard the common good, in the most painful situations each one encounters. All the more so during this period of the pandemic emergencies. They try to heal open wounds as she tried to do throughout her life: in her own small way, but always very concretely”. Franz added: “In one of her essays she wrote: ‘Often, man does not live his life because he is immersed in times that do not exist: he is immersed either in the memory or regret of the past or projected into the future. In reality, man possesses only the present moment, that must be lived in its fullness, exploiting it to the full… In this way we become aware of the value of life, a precious gift that cannot and must not be wasted or burnt by sterile selfishness and useless ambitions’. The Timeout was a daily appointment for her; every day at midday she stopped to join many others in the world and pray for peace. This was a fundamental urgency for her, and we believe it remains so for all of us even today”. Chiara Luce was beatified on September 25, 2010 after the Church acknowledged the miracle of the sudden healing of a boy from Trieste (Italy). The first celebration to mark this event is to be held on October 28 at 20.00. (Easter Time – United States and Canada) and organised by New City Press, Living City and YCNA (Youth Center for North America). It consists of artistic pieces, interactive moments and speeches by people touched by Chiara’s testimony of life. The programme also includes a message from a witness who met Chiara directly. During this event, two new books in English are to be launched: “Blessed Chiara Badano. Her Secrets to Happiness‘ , addressed particularly to children, with its text by Geraldine Guadagno and its illustrations by Loretta Rauschuber, and ‘In my staying is your going. The Life and Thoughts of Chiara Luce Badano“, edited by the Chiara Badano Foundation. On October 29 at 18.00 (Italian time), Holy Mass will be celebrtated at her hometown, Sassello (Italy). This will be live streamed on the website chiarabadano.org. It will be followed by the projection of the video “Chiara Badano: a life of light” (directed by Marco Aleotti). In this video, which one can watch in the coming days on the website dedicated to her, there are unpublished interviews with her parents who talk about her and their family life. On Saturday 30th October, the liturgical feast will be held. At 12.00 (Italian time), the meeting place will be the cemetery of Sassello, where in unity with Chiara Luce there will be the Timeout: one minute silence to ask for peace in the world. This event will be live streamed. At 15.00 p.m. (Italian time) Bishop Luigi Testore will celebrate Mass at the Holy Trinity Church in Sassello. Father Gianni Califano, the postulator will also participate. At the end of the Mass, the award ceremony of the Chiara Luce Badano 2021 Prize will take place .
Lorenzo Russo
Chiara Lubich wrote that “Life can be a divine adventure,” and she suggested ways in which this can become true. We can learn to look at all that happens to us believing that everything is a sign of God’s love and that everything that happens to us can contribute to our good. All things work for the good of those who love God. God has his own plan of love for each one of us. He loves us personally, and—if we believe in this love and respond with our own love (this is the condition!)—he makes all things contribute to the fulfilment of his plan for us. It is enough to think of Jesus. We know how much he loved the Father and, if we think of him even for moment, we can see how he lived the Word of Life for this month to the full throughout his life. For him nothing happened by chance. Everything had a purpose. However, we see this Word personified in him in a unique way during the last days of His life; nothing in his passion and death happened by chance. For him, even the extreme trial of feeling forsaken by the Father worked for what is good, because, by overcoming this trial Jesus brought his Work to completion. The causes were perhaps not obvious. Those who made him suffer and die did not know exactly what they were doing. They did not know who it was they tortured and crucified. They were not aware of conducting a sacrifice, the sacrifice par excellence that would bring about the salvation of humanity. Jesus suffered at the hands of people who acted without this intention, but since Jesus loved the Father he transformed all these things into means of redemption, seeing in those terrible moments his ‘hour’ that had at last come, the fulfilment of his divine and earthly adventure. Jesus’ example sheds light on our own life: everything that comes to us, all that happens, all that surrounds us and all that causes us to suffer, can be understood as the Will of God who loves us or as being permitted by God, who loves us still. By doing this, everything will be more interesting for us in life, everything will have meaning; everything will be extremely useful. Let’s take heart. Our lives are still before us. We are still on the road. Life can still be transformed into a divine adventure. It’s enough to keep on loving and keep our eyes open for his ever marvellous will.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, Conversazioni in collegamento telefonico, [Telephone conversations] edited by Michel Vandeleene, Città Nuova, Roma, 2019, pp. 160-161)
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40). Gustavo Clarià, an Argentinean focolarino in Lima, recounts an experience that makes this Gospel passage come alive. It’s a story that communicates a sense of joy that comes from small gestures that break down walls between people and make others happy. The first time I saw him he was standing there, motionless, with something in his hands which, from a distance, I couldn’t quite make out. The double mask and the hat only allowed me a glimpse of his eyes. He caught my attention because he seemed to have no expression at all and was just staring into space. As I drew closer, I saw that he was holding a box of sweets. There was no doubt he was there to sell them, yet he did nothing, not even a gesture to offer them to the people who were passing by. I greeted him, but got no reply. When I left the church at the end Mass, I greeted him again, but there was no response. “This sad man must be my age,” I thought, “how unfair life seems sometimes. Yet God loves him immensely as he loves me.” I promised myself that I would always greet him, but was this really what he expected? After all, he was there to do his job and obviously hoped that someone would notice. I decided to buy something. I’m not in the habit of spending money on sweets or eating them at any time, but I had to start somewhere. I stopped in front of him and took an interest in the variety of his products as if I were in a big sweet shop. After careful consideration, I chose a mint chocolate. I paid, thanked him and said goodbye, without eliciting any reaction. Exactly the same thing happened for several days. I went away for about a month but then I returned and went to the parish Mass. He was still there, in the same place. I greeted him without expecting any response, but surprisingly, as he recognised me, a smile escaped his lips and he seemed happy to see me again. I could not believe it. During Mass, when it was time for the collection of offerings, I rummaged in my pocket and found a two euro coin. I was about to put it back in the basket when I thought: “Jesus identifies with the people who suffer the most. With two euros I can buy some more sweets.” On the way out I went to him and said, “What can you offer me today?” For the first time he looked at me and, with a complicit gesture, began to search in his box until he found what he wanted me to taste: “You will like it, it is a very good strawberry-flavoured chocolate and it costs two euros.” It didn’t seem real to me. It was the longest dialogue in the world. He had uttered a complete sentence just for me. I thanked him infinitely for his kindness and left happily. I can’t wait to see him again to confirm his choice: that strawberry chocolate was really good.
Gustavo E. Clarià
Signing a blank cheque, making a leap in the dark … trusting in God can often appear just too big a challenge to us and we don’t find the courage or strength to try. By recognising how small we are, asking help and allowing someone to take care of us with tenderness, we can find a way to recognise the providential Love of a Father who will never abandon us. And we in turn can circulate this love in the world. Sharing Our house was half-destroyed by an earthquake, so my children and I were sleeping out in the open air and we had next to nothing to eat. One morning I had literally nothing to cook, but placing my trust in God who is our Father, I set a pot of water on the fire. Just as it was about to boil, someone arrived carrying a bag full of fruit and vegetables. No sooner had I started to cook soup than another friend knocked at the door bringing us some meat and a little rice! When my children came home from school they couldn’t believe it and asked, “What’s happened, Mum? You told us there wouldn’t be anything to eat today”. So I told the whole story to them, and even though they claim not to believe in God any more, they heard how my prayers had been answered. However, it didn’t end there. After lunch, I felt drawn to ask Jesus to send me someone in need so I could share the food we’d received with them. The very next day I met a young man who asked me if I could give him a piece of bread. I welcomed him with love, and even if he was anxious not to abuse our hospitality because he could see how poor we were, I made him sit down at our table and I served lunch to him. (Lusby – Colombia) A circuit of Love Arriving at university one day, I bumped into an old man dressed in rags, nearly blind, covered in open wounds because he kept falling over. And he was so dirty. In him, I saw the image of Christ on the cross. I helped him up and asked if he’d like to take a bath. I went into the university compound and somehow found the courage to ask the Rector, a devout Muslim, for permission to use his own personal bathroom because it was the only one with a bathtub, so that the old man could take a bath with my assistance. He was certainly surprized by my request! But he not only agreed but also personally provided the old man with soap. I then escorted the old man to his home, bought him some food and gave his room a much-needed clean up. The next day the Rector called me to his office to explain my motivation for what I had done. I told him how the choice to love our neighbour united millions of people of all religions. He was very interested in getting to know more, and he gave a contribution to buy some essentials for the old man. That’s not all. Some of my fellow students who had witnessed the whole scene put some money together to buy new clothes for him. (Bassam – Iraq) Three cows For a while I’ve been helping a boy from a poor family I’d met during our mission to the Kakuma refugee camp in the north east of Kenya, paying his school fees. Sadly the moment arrived when I couldn’t sustain this help anymore and I told him of my own financial difficulties. A little while later this same boy appealed to me again for help, which made me suffer even more because I couldn’t help him. So I took the decision to sell the one cow I was keeping at my parents’ house and use the money for his schooling. Naturally he was delighted to get back to school. One day in the parish I’ve been serving for nearly a year, a group of parishioners arrived to visit me because they’d heard my father was unwell. Among the gifts they brought were not one but three cows! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought of the promise of the Gospel: “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. (Father David – Kenya)
collated by Maria Grazia Berretta
(from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, anno VII, n.4, settembre-ottobre 2021)
“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God”, (Rom. 8:28) is the word of life that we are trying to put into practice during this month of October 2021. In this text, Chiara Lubich helps us understand better what St Paul was writing to the Romans. God makes all things work together for those who love Him. … So things don’t work together for the good of everyone, but only for those who love God and respond to his love. God’s love for each of us is not something generic, but is instead deeply personal and special. He makes all things work for the good – that is, for salvation, true happiness and spiritual progress – of those who love him. Everything. So it is not only the Words of God or the sacraments, or the various ministries and other means he has established in the Church that work for our spiritual good. They obviously do. The Apostle clearly means something more. For those who believe in the love of God, and love him, the many circumstance that influence our existence are not simply a matter of chance, nor the result of the blind laws of nature, nor of human planning. Rather they are guided by his love; they are the many opportunities and means that God uses to bring to completion the work of our sanctification. God hides behind all the events of our lives. He is hidden, for example, behind a particular state of health, or a setback, or a sudden change of plan due to circumstances. He hides behind the particular conditions of our state in life, or a sudden spiritual trial, or a problem of any kind at work. He’s behind the fact that we happen to be in a particular place or with a particular person. For those who love God, everything, even the faults of our past life, acquires a positive meaning, because in all these circumstances we experience the love of God who wants to guide us towards holiness. … Above all, we should never stop before the merely external, material or secular aspect of things, but believe instead that every event contains a message through which God expresses his love for us. We will then discover that our life, which may seem to us like a piece of material full of knots and threads woven together in a haphazard way, is actually a marvellous design that God’s love is weaving on the basis of our faith. Secondly, we must trustingly and totally abandon ourselves to this love at all times, both in small and large things that happen in life. Indeed, if we know how to entrust ourselves to God’s love in ordinary circumstances, he will give us the strength to entrust ourselves to him even in the most difficult moments, such as when we suffer or experience illness, or at the very moment of death.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] edited by Fabio Ciardi, Opere di Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova, 2017, p. 297)
Just days before “Time of Creation” closes, some reflections and experiences on the contribution that we as citizens of the world belonging to different religions can offer for the protection of our planet and humanity, seeing creation as a point of encounter. Like “a sister, with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us “. These are the words with which the Holy Father, in describing our planet, introduces us to his Apostolic Exhortation Laudato Si. The Pope’s appeal is addressed to “all people of good will” and to believers of all faiths: “The majority of people living on our planet profess to be believers. This should spur religions to dialogue among themselves for the sake of protecting nature, defending the poor and building networks of respect and fraternity”.[1] Our home is in danger and the gravity of the ecological crisis we are experiencing requires a way forward for the common good. Digging deep, right to the essence of each faith is the way to discover, with wonder, that we are united in creation. It is the way to rediscover in the beauty of diversity that we are brothers and sisters living under the same roof. “Judaism teaches that we are God’s partners in creation,” explained Emily Soloff, Associate Director for Interfaith and Intergroup Relations at the American Jewish Committee. “We do not own creation,” she continued, “but we have a responsibility to care for and heal the world. (…) Shabbat is one day in the week when we intentionally reduce our energy consumption by completely turning off our computers, phones and other electronic devices. We don’t drive a car or shop on Shabbat. It is a day of rest.” Modernisation has gradually distanced us from seeing the earth as a manifestation of the divine, allowing man to triumph over nature. Mostafa El-Diwany, a Muslim doctor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Montreal in Canada said: “In Islam, as in the other Abrahamic faiths, the axis of being is the Unity of God; the Creator is the source of everything that exists (…). As such, every living organism and matter itself are imbued with the Sacred, and are consequently sacred. This notion in no way hinders the objective study of the physical world and humanity within it. (…) God has given men and women dignity over the rest of His creation by entrusting him with vicegerency. This is not a role that involves domination and exploitation but a position of responsibility (…)”. What appears to be an environmental crisis could therefore be seen as a spiritual crisis, an inability to reconnect with the divine and live in harmony with nature. Restoring order with creation “is at the heart of Buddhist precepts,” said Wasan Jompakdee, Co-founder Member and former Secretary General of the Dhammanaat Foundation for Conservation and Rural Development in Thailand. Recalling the work undertaken by Phra Ajahn Pongsak Techadhammo, founding monk, he said: “About thirty years ago he began to observe the disappearance of trees and soil in the mountains of northern Thailand. The high altitude reservoirs that fed the streams and rivers below were being damaged, causing the rivers to slowly dry up. (…) He took a radical step to reverse desertification, mobilising villagers to regenerate their barren land and restore the reservoirs. (…) Today, the arid yellow wastelands he protected are once again green with fruit trees. It is the logic of compassion for what surrounds us, for the space that has been given to us and that we must share. According to Hinduism, “nature,” said Meenal Katarnikar, a member of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Mumbai, “belongs to everyone, animals, people, gods and plants, and loves everyone equally. “In India,” he continues, “the rhymes of our childhood reflect our friendship with animals like cows, sparrows and crows. Every morsel with which the mother feeds the child is associated with ‘brother sparrow’ or ‘dear crow’, or ‘brother peacock'”. This brotherhood, so reminiscent of St Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures”, is only possible if we rediscover ourselves to be madly in love with creation. An impetus that concerns everyone without distinction, also in the Christian sphere where there are various Churches. Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I at the Halki Summit (Turkey) in 2012 said: “We Christians are called to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and neighbour on a global scale. It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the smallest detail of the seamless garment of God’s creation, even in the last speck of dust on our planet”[2].
Maria Grazia Berretta
[1] Pope Francis, Encyclical Laudato sì, 201. [2] Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, Speech Global Responsibility and Ecological Sustainability: Closing Remarks, I Halki Summit, Istanbul, Turkey, 20 June 2012
The project to defeat world hunger which was initiated by the Focolare Movement’s Youth for Unity is continuing. On Saturday 16 October 2021, hundreds of young people will gather together as a sign of their commitment to this cause. This event will be live streamed from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm. (Italian time). 
“From now onwards, we commit ourselves to this goal with great confidence and enthusiasm. We feel that we are now part of the Zero Hunger generation. It’s like a dream to imagine that we are contributing to a world in which there will be no hunger in a few years time.” This is what Elena and Agnese, representatives of the Focolare Movement’s Youth for Unity said at the Food and Agriculture Organisation in June 2018. Elena and Agnese together with 630 other girls aged 9 to 14 from 16 countries sat in the large plenary hall (see video) of the headquarters of the United Nation’s FAO in Rome, Italy. The FAO had sent a very clear invitation to the Youth for Unity: “Young people, we need you: help us defeat world hunger.” On 25 September 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations approved 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and committed to their implementation within 15 years, (2015-2030). The second goal is Zero Hunger Fame Zero: eradicating hunger from our planet. These girls signed cards, pledging their commitment to become the first Zero Hunger citizens. That day marked the start of a global race of love from Youth for Unity with the objective of Zero Hunger. In Venezuela, for example, the situation is daunting. Poor families are more afraid of hunger than of the Covid 19 pandemic. However, thanks to a Centre for Nutrition, the young people are able to help a group of families. Also, in 2017, a network of medical professionals, psychologists, nutritionists and a number of parish priests began a project to help others to build more positive and peaceful social relationships based on the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” A different initiative is happening in Thailand where young people distribute seeds to friends and their families to plant organic vegetables and help them save money as we suffer from this global crisis. In Argentina, Fran is part of a group called ‘Corazones solidarios’, young university students who go out onto the streets every day to offer breakfast to people who are homeless. He says, “When you approach these people, their faces change, they welcome you with open arms and make a place for you in their hearts. Every morning, we leave home with bags that are full of provisions: we come back with empty flasks and happy hearts.” In Portugal, the boys from Lisbon go to a neighbourhood where there are many families who are living in difficult and challenging circumstances. A “race of love” began to provide blankets and tinned food. Some people also offered to cook pasta and rice. As soon as this was delivered, providence arrived with more food to distribute to other families. These and other testimonies will be recounted during the live streaming – suitable for children, young people and adults – on Saturday 16 October 2021 from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm.(Italian time). The live stream will be translated into 12 languages, just access this link. The #testacuoremani charter of commitment Youth for Unity have devised eight pathways to help others learn about this way of life. These pathways can be lived by individuals or groups. There is also a charter of commitment – to use head, hands and heart – to actively promote this way of life. Head. We use our heads to study and become well informed. The more I know about the reality in which poor people are living, the more effective my commitment will be. Heart. Let us listen with our hearts to the cry of those who suffer: let us increase awareness both in ourselves and in others. I cannot defeat world hunger alone, but I can involve as many people as possible in order to reach this goal. Hands. Let us open our hands to the gift of hospitality, let us take concrete action on a daily basis to defeat hunger. Let us commit ourselves to avoiding all types of waste.
Lorenzo Russo
A guarantee of love.The certainty that everything in life makes sense. In this sentence from the letter to the Romans (Rom. 8:28), Saint Paul, reveals to us how much every human experience, from the most beautiful to the most complicated, is part of a greater plan, a plan of salvation. The key to accepting this idea is to entrust ourselves to the Father and trust him. The road to happiness I played the violin on the street, not to make money, but because I had realized, playing during the holidays, that it makes people happy. So why not broaden the circle? One day a lady who from her dress, even though’ respectable, looked very poor, listened to me for a long time, apologizing for not being able to put even a coin in my violin case. She was shy when I suggested that she take what she needed, but in the end she accepted some coins: “I’ll buy bread”, she said and left in tears. The next day I played on the same street but put up a sign: “For those in need”. Many took a few coins, but many left banknotes. As I was about to leave, the lady who had given me the idea appeared. I told her what had happened and that if she would accept it, the sum raised was for her. She told me about the financial turmoil that had reduced her family to poverty. Then I met her sick husband and an unemployed daughter who is now my wife. Making others happy is the way to happiness. (O.A. – France) Trust in God On the occasion of the baptisms of our daughters, we usually had very simple parties, wasting nothing, welcoming friends and relatives to our home. Since we always received money as a gift, we allocated a part for a project in favor of newborn babies in an African country. I remember the baptism of our third child: at that time both my wife and I were out of work so it was difficult to decide whether or not to send the money we received (250 euros). Then we trusted in God and sent it. A few months later we heard that they had prayed for that very amount; moreover, that money, which arrived just when they no longer had anything to breastfeed babies, was enough for three months … We were very moved! At that time, not only did we lack for nothing, but my wife, who needed some clothes just then, received a gift of a coat, a dress, a jacket, two skirts and three times as much money! (D.P. – Italy) Memory of a friend A characteristic of my friend Urs was his strong communication skills: with a smile and with stimulating words, he shared personal experiences of his relationship with God. At work, on the train, in a hospital room, during sports or on vacation … every opportunity was good to establish relationships that were not superficial. Many remember his ability to listen, to be close to people, especially to those who suffer. He was an animator in Zurich, of a group of young people involved in an initiative in favour of drug addicts. Thanks to him over 30 of them have recovered and several have approached a life of faith. At the end of his life, when suffering due to a cancer, Urs did not let himself be discouraged. He repeated, “Everything is the love of God, everything, absolutely everything”. And despite such an uncertain future, he was calm and confident. He had two other friends in the same condition and they supported one another. He said: “I have given everything to God without ifs and buts… and he has fulfilled his promises in me: the hundredfold already on earth. I am happy”. These words sum up what he meant to us. (F. – Switzerland)
compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta
(Taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VII, n.4, September-October 2021)
Although this father could finally afford to buy a house for his family, he did not have the physical ability or financial resources to renovate it himself. The community around him acted. 
“Many people came to help me, and in three days we were able to redo the roof and replace the earth and straw ceilings with plasterboard ones.” These are the enthusiastic words of Janos Kalman, who is Serbian and a Hungarian citizen, a father of three. There is something extraordinary about the work being done on his home. Until recently, he lived in a dilapidated house without water in the middle of unused fields. His dream had always been to have his own property, but he could never afford it. Thanks to an injury payout and the generosity of many, he was finally able to raise the money to purchase a home. This gave rise to another problem, however – it badly needed renovating. “I wished I could have fixed it,” he says, “but I knew on my own I could never do it.” After an accident at work, Janos used crutches for 10 years. Lately he has started walking again, but he still can’t bend one knee. He needed help. This is how the Focolare community got involved, putting into practice the motto ‘Dare to care’ from Youth for a United World. (See unitedworldproject.org/daretocare2021.) “We decided to make a list of the people who were most in need,” explains Cinzia Panero, a member of the Focolare in Serbia. “Some were in financial difficulty, others sick, and still others without a home.” Among the latter was Janos. He says there is still work to do, “but the help I received is a great gift to me.” One other important fact sets this story apart: Janos’ house is located in Vojvodina, an autonomous region of Serbia made up of various ethnic groups (Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romanians, Croats, with the majority Hungarian-speaking). Some people from the Czech Republic contributed to the renovation works as well, collecting money for the necessary material and sending two volunteers to Serbia. They did this with some care. Those who contributed financially, for example, included a personal message addressed to those receiving the amount sent. Those benefiting responded with heartfelt gratitude. It was a gesture that helps to build a sense of family, beyond the distance – true teamwork between different cultures. “In addition to helping someone in need,” said one of the volunteers, “I felt that I was also helping myself get out of my comfort zone.” We can reach out to others to build a home. In doing so, we all become a home.
By Laura Salerno
We are in times that we must walk together, in the synodal style. In this passage we are asked to put love for our brothers and sisters first, with every brother and sister, but especially with those we work with, study with, live with. All our responsibilities can be … summarized in helping our neighbour. This is confirmed by one of those sentences of Scripture that centre on love and that strike a chord within us: “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Gal. 5:14 NRSV). If that is how things are, then our striving towards holiness means focussing all our attention and all our effort on loving our neighbour. For us, striving towards holiness is not so much about trying to be rid of our faults one by one, as about loving, thinking of others, completely forgetting ourselves. … But we know that whoever loves their neighbour, whoever lives for others, soon realizes that it is no longer they who live, but Christ lives in them. Christ lives in their hearts. And who is Christ? Who is Jesus? He is holiness. We find holiness in Him, whose presence emerges within us because we love. Our holiness comes as a consequence of loving, and we cannot reach it any other way. If we were to seek after holiness for its own sake, we would never reach it. So let’s love then, and nothing else! Let go of everything, even the attachment to holiness, striving only, only, only to love. It’s the only way to be able to make a gift of our holiness to Mary one day. … Let’s set off again, as if today were the first day of our revolution of love, the first day of our Holy Journey. Let’s set off again, not thinking of anything else, because love sums up everything. Let’s try to love every neighbour as ourselves; and do so by “immersing ourselves” in every situation.
Chiara Lubich
https://vimeo.com/623446995 (From LUBICH, C; Edited by Michel Vandeleene, Conversazioni in collegamento telefonico, Cittá Nuova, Roma, 2019, pp. 120-121).
Preparations are underway at diocesan level for the World Youth Day. A journey towards 2023 when young people will gather around the Pope in Lisbon. That’s right. Young people are among those who have suffered most in this period of health emergency. Their external life and outreach were suddenly cut off. They could not go to school, university, work. They were cut off from social life and from friends. But it is also true that young people were the first to set solidarity in motion, to fight for life, to instil hope, to be builders of peace, to care for the environment. Pope Francis listened to them, he heard from them how much they have lived and are living at this time. A few days ago he issued his message for WYD 2021 with an invitation calling for action: “Stand up! I appoint you as a witness of what you have seen”. He says, “When a young person falls, in some sense all humanity falls. Yet it is also true that when a young person rises, it is as if the whole world rises as well”. He challenges them with the story of the young Paul, who while on his way to Damascus to arrest some Christians, was surrounded by a light “brighter than the sun” and heard the voice of Jesus calling him by name, “Saul! Saul”. Almost as if today Pope Francis wants to call every young person by name. And he retraces with them Paul’s path of witness of Christ. In conclusion, he says to them, Arise! Testify with your experience, to the love and respect it is possible to instil in human relationships. Arise! Uphold social justice, truth, human rights. Testify to the new way of looking at things that enables you to view creation with eyes brimming with wonder, that makes you see the Earth as our common home and gives you the courage to promote an integral ecology. Testify that we can always start again and that Christ is alive. “I see this message as a great challenge for us young people,” Klara María Piedade, 27 years old, a young woman from Brazil, confided to me. “I think it is an answer and a confirmation that we really must be responsible in becoming protagonists of the united world, of a more fraternal world”. Klara is one of the young people who this year are at the Focolare’s “Young People for a United World Centre” in Rome. Since last May they have been busy on various fronts in favour of caring for our common home, echoing the Laudato Sì. Dare to care – Dare to take care. This is their programme of which they are the main promoters. “We must be protagonists”, Klara reiterates, “not only in words but with our actions. We will change the world if we take this first step. It is very important to network with those who are already doing something”. The date of the next World Youth Day which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal in August 2023 has just been announced. Meanwhile, in November this year, on the feast of Christ the King, the WYD will be celebrated in all the dioceses of the world. A path of preparation open to the surprises of God, “for he wants to light up our path”.
Carlos Mana
A conference held by the Faculty of Theology, Innsbruck, Austria that took place after several years of intellectual and existential preparation 
“Look at all the flowers” is an unusual title for a theological conference and, especially, in such a prestigious context as the Faculty of Theology in Innsbruck which many people identify with the name of Karl Rahner who is buried in the large Jesuit church that divides the two wings of the Athenaeum. It was significant that such a large number of people (about 100) attended this conference in the prestigious Leopold Saal and about 150 more were able to follow online from other continents. This was not an isolated event but the conclusion of a journey that began almost a decade ago on the occasion of an Islamic-Christian conference organised by the Focolare Movement and based on an exchange of experiences of dialogue of life. Two professors from the Austrian theological faculty – Roman Siebenrock and Wolfgang Palaver – present on that occasion showed great interest in this experience of dialogue. In the following months, in contact with the spirituality of the Focolare, they also visited the new Sophia University Institute and the Movement’s International Centre for Interreligious Dialogue. Hence the idea of forming a research group with academics from the two religions to explore aspects of spirituality from the two perspectives developed Since then, every year, at the end of August, this group – called cluster – made up of around twenty people from different backgrounds has met regularly for a few days. From the outset, it was not just an intellectual and academic activity but also an existential exercise that has gradually built up deep personal, cultural, religious and intellectual relationships. In recent years the group’s interest has focused on some of Chiara Lubich’s texts of a more mystiical nature. The passages, including the one that gave the conference its title, have been studied in depth from both Christian (Catholic and Reformed) and Muslim (Sunni and Shia) perspectives. At the end of this process, it was decided to organise an academic conference to share the richness of these reflections. The conference that has just taken place opened up this experience to an academic public. Whilst this event was Germanic in origin – the vast majority of the participants were Austrians, Swiss and Germans and this was expressed in the style, language and categories of thought prevalent in this part of Europe – the spiritual heritage of Lubich was very present and was able to bring together thinkers of different ethnic and cultural origins and both religious and non-religious people: Catholics, members of the Reformed Church, Muslims and Marxists. Stefan Tobler, a theologian from the Reformed Tradition offered a reflection on the passage that gave this event its title. This was followed by other reflections and round table discussions from which emerged the experiences of intellectual and spiritual communion that these Christian and Muslim academics have been living for years. An artist from Geneva who took part in the proceedings noted that the group who took to the stage to perform in different voices were a tangible witness to the communion among the participants. This is something that is rarely found in academia but which characterised the conference. It brought an important dimension: communion of thought and spirit. Moreover, the presence of Catholics, Reformed Church members, Marxists and Muslims offered a remarkable cross-section of schools of thought and of academic but also cultural and religious sensitivities which it is not easy to find in today’s world of strong polarisation even in academic and cultural spheres.
Roberto Catalano
Memories of Anna Fratta (Doni) from Lucia Abignente, an Italian Focolarina who joined her in Poland for several years. A life of complete “giving”, true to the name given her by Chiara Lubich. “An abyss of humanity”, “a ‘maestro’ of life”, “a small great woman”. Just three of the many reactions to the news that Anna Fratta, known throughout the Focolare Movement as ‘Doni’, reached the house of the Father on 24 September 2021. She herself would no doubt feel rather uncomfortable about these epithets, shying away as she did from any kind of praise. She was always measured in her own words, which, few as they were, came out as ‘distilled’ wisdom. Her temperament, reinforced by her life experiences, made them such. The youngest of six, in her childhood she was no stranger to the dimension of suffering, particularly when she lost of one of her sisters. From a very tender age, she already began to pose profound existential questions about the meaning of life, and gradually drifted away from belief in God, seeking her answers elsewhere. Later on, the study of medicine, which she undertook in a spirit of rebellion, showed itself to be providential. She found herself fascinated by biology, which had a significant impact on her interior progress. In nature she discovered a relationship of reciprocity and of service she could not explain, a law of love which she came to understand one night. “After a dramatic and painful interior struggle” she described how she accepted “there is a Being who contains love within”. It was a decisive turning point, followed by her meeting with God in the charism of Chiara Lubich. Not long after this, Doni perceived that God was calling her to follow Chiara in the way of the Focolare. Doni was among the group of Focolarini doctors who, at the invitation of the Catholic Church, went behind the ‘Iron Curtain’, where she lived for thirty years (1962-1992), firstly in the DDR (former East Germany) and then Poland. She worked silently and effectively in bringing Focolare communities to life there, following their growth and progress with awe and gratitude to God. From this region which suffered from lack of liberty and the impossibility of regular contact with the Focolare Center in Rome, Italy, she was then transferred right to its heart, living in Rocca di Papa, Rome, as part of Chiara Lubich’s own community house. With Chiara, she shared profound, luminous, eventful years, accompanying her at an international level and then, with great love and dedication also through the last part of her earthly journey. The design of God on Doni continued through her wise contribution as General Counsellor for the aspect of “spirituality and prayer life” of the Focolare Movement. At the same time, alongside Gis Calliari, Eli Folonari and others of the first Focolarine, she lived total self-giving in welcoming countless visitors to Chiara Lubich’s home, transmitting the light of the daily life they had shared with Chiara. Later she moved to the Focolare little town of Loppiano, Italy, due to an illness which progressively reduced her physical capacities. A profound interior coherence linked all her actions. “Love, we know, disarms. Our speaking was such that anyone could listen, friends and enemies alike,” she recalled, aware that in those years behind the Iron Curtain, the secret Police followed them assiduously. “Love, love, only love, and filling my suitcases with this love. It’s all I’ll be bringing with me!” she wrote in recent years, as she prepared herself for the final journey. No wonder then, that her professional activity had earned the respect of the authorities. In the DDR she was awarded three medals in honor of the work she did and for the “collective” she built up. Even clearer how her life transmitted the love of God to many. Perhaps the secret lies in her constant intimate relationship with Mary, particularly in the Desolation and ‘yes’ at Golgotha opening her arms and heart to humanity. This was the example Doni followed. On 15 September back in 1962, just after crossing the Berlin Wall, she wrote, “There’s nothing to lean on here. And if you don’t keep your gaze on Mary at the foot of the Cross, you’ll fall down. There are times I feel like I’m suffocating and the only thing to do is pray to Mary. It’s the only way so that slowly, slowly the emptiness becomes a fullness, and the pain is transformed into peace. These are the most beautiful, most precious moments of the day, because in suffering I find an ever more intimate and profound relationship with Mary, and through her with all her children”. Maybe here lies the secret of her fruitfulness, of her life of complete “giving”, true to the name Chiara Lubich gave to her – Doni (“gifts” in Italian).
Lucia Abignente
Today, 4th October, is the feast of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, and the concluding day of the “Season of Creation”, the annual celebration of prayer and action for our common home. Together the various Churches and ecclesial communities around the world unite to protect and defend creation. Chiara Lubich invites us in this text to have a right relationship with the environment. … Proposals are being made from many quarters to heal our sick world. … Young people are particularly sensitive to this issue and feel the need for radical changes in our relationship with the environment, in the relationship between individuals and states, and in the application of scientific knowledge. They also realise that environmental protection and peace-building are only possible if practised on a global scale. They are convinced that to reach the ideal of a united world, the primacy of people over science and technology must be highlighted. … This means making a practical contribution, even a small one, to solving major problems. Our young people have understood this and have already started various initiatives that express a personal and collective ecological awareness in many respects, for example in the purchase of products that do not have a negative impact on the environment, in removing waste that pollutes the environment and in all choices that derive from a deep respect for nature. It is by starting with small local problems that a moral conscience is formed, which can then tackle problems on a global scale. After all, ecology is a challenge that can only be met by changing mind-sets and forming consciences. Many in depth scientific studies have shown that there is no lack of technical and economic resources to improve the environment. What is missing, however, is the additional mindfulness, a new love for humanity, that makes us all feel responsible for everyone, in the common effort to manage the earth’s resources in an intelligent, just and moderate way. Let us not forget that God the Creator has entrusted the earth to all men and women, and not just to one people or one group of people. The distribution of goods in the world, aid to the poorest nations, solidarity between North and South and between rich and poor is the other side of the ecological problem. … The Bible, in its account of creation, teaches us that only in harmony with God’s plan do nature and human beings find order and peace. If people are not at peace with God, the earth itself is not at peace. … If we discover that all creation is a gift from a Father who loves us, it will be much easier to find a harmonious relationship with nature. At the same time if we also discover that this gift is for all members of the human family, and not only for some, we will be more careful and respect something that belongs to the whole of humanity, present and future.
Chiara Lubich
(Letter from Chiara Lubich to Nikkyo Niwano – 1990, in POLI, R. e CONTE, A., Vita, salute, ambiente tra speranza e responsabilità, [Life, health, environment: between hope and responsibility] Cittá Nuova, Roma, 2021, pp. 32-34) Good practice and activities: http://www.unitedworldproject.org/daretocare2021/
The Focolare Movement is a partner of the Laudato Si’ Movement for the Care of Creation. Tomas Insua, the Executive Director, speaks of the great synergy in the commitment to improve our common home. 4 October 2021 marks the end of “Time for Creation”, an initiative of prayer and concrete action to safeguard and protect our common home, which runs every year from 1 September till that date. An appeal is being made by 46 religious leaders from around the world – including Pope Francis – for concrete action on climate change and a worldwide initiative entitled “Faith Plans for People and Planet” is being launched. faith plans for people and planet – Bing . The Focolare Movement is a participant. We talked about this with Tomas Insua, Executive Director of the – Laudato Si Movement , a worldwide network of associations and movements working together for ecology and the environment. What is the synodal path that the Laudato Si’ Movement wants to lead towards ecological conversion? You used to be called “Global Catholic Climate Movement”, why the change of name? The Laudato Si’ Movement is a new reality in the life of the Church. It was founded only six years ago, in 2015, just before the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. The name “World Catholic Climate Movement” was too long, not everyone remembered it. Moreover, the climate crisis, which will continue to be a huge priority for the Movement, is not our only way forward. In the last few years, for example, we have also started to work on the biodiversity crisis and more. A synodal process of discernment and dialogue between the different realities that make up the Movement – among which is the Focolare Movement – has therefore begun. After two years of work, the new name, Laudato Si’ Movement, has emerged, because Pope Francis’ Encyclical and its contents are at the heart of everything we do. What are your plans for the future? Among the various projects, the most short term one is the “Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition” Home – Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition (thecatholicpetition.org). It is important to sign it because from 1 to 12 November 2021 there will be the big UN climate summit (COP26) in Glasgow, UK. World leaders can set meaningful targets to protect creation. It is our responsibility to make the voices of the most vulnerable heard and to mobilise on their behalf. During this “Time of Creation”, it has been wonderful to see how many activities have taken place and are still going on at the local level, around the world, thanks to Laudato Si’ circles. It is a sign of hope that is developing at grass roots level and growing partly because of the awareness of the crisis of our common home but also because of the the desire to take action. On 26 August 2021 you met the President of the Focolare Movement, Margaret Karram. What was your reaction to this meeting and how can the Focolare interact with your Movement? The meeting with Margaret was beautiful. I was with our president, Lorna Gold. For me it was wonderful to get to know the reality of the Focolare. What I really liked was the parallelism between the two movements. The Focolare Movement is obviously much bigger and has existed for much longer. We are a very young reality, but in some aspects we are similar to the Focolare: we share a commitment to dialogue between different Churches and dialogue between great religions. In fact, among us in the Laudato Si’ Movement there are those who live the Catholic faith, but at the same time we have animators belonging to different Churches and different religions. Learning from the Focolare’s experience of dialogue is a wonderful gift.
Lorenzo Russo
An example of integral ecology: young people and communities united for the protection of mangroves 
“A habitat which has been destroyed, burned, attacked by waste and pesticides. This is what the mangroves here are becoming. We want to help our land and our people.” These are the words of Sirangelo Rodrigues Galiano, a 49-year-old focolarino of Brazilian origin, but now by adoption, Ecuadorian. He lives in the province of Esmeraldas, an Afro-Ecuadorian region in the north of Ecuador, known as the green province. Tropical climate, heavenly beaches, abundant biodiversity. It is above all the existence of the mangroves that create such a unique natural habitat, which is now in danger because of man. Mangroves are plant formations consisting of huge roots, periodically covered by the tides. These features allow the creation of a very original habitat, teeming with animals and plants which cannot be found elsewhere and which are now at risk of extinction. Sirangelo moved to Ecuador from Brazil in 2016 when this area was badly affected by an earthquake. Thanks to AMU (Action for a United World), FEPP (the Populorum Progressio Ecuador Fund) and Fundación Amiga, the Sunrise project was established, of which Sirangelo is responsible. This project brought aid to 3 villages destroyed by the earthquake, Salima, Ten August and Macará, whose inhabitants are still grateful for everything they received. Sirangelo recounts, “A few years after the earthquake emergency, other disasters are now looming: for example the climate crisis and the situation of young people who are often forced to leave because they are out of work or become victims of the drug trade.” This gave rise to the Sunrise+ programme which involves cleaning, mangrove reforestation and ecological education. “About 400 young people have taken part. We meet regularly to clean and raise awareness in the whole community. The activity started with young people, but now we want to involve everyone. “One of the main partners in this new initiative was the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition in the Muisne region, which is working together with the government and four other NGOs. It is interesting that it was the young people who suggested how to organize Sunrise+. Through the 6X1 methodology , 6 steps for 1 goal: observe the context and the problems; think of possible solutions; involve; act; evaluate the work; celebrate. All this in the quest for peace. Sirangelo concludes, “Our goal is to be alongside the population. Today it is mostly young people who ask us for help and we try to be there with and for them. They love their land, but often have to leave it. We want to help them stay and find new opportunities, starting from the preservation of the natural resources. Thanks to them, a change of mentality is being triggered for the preservation of our Planet, our common home.”
Laura Salerno
For more information, see the full article here
Helping hope to bear fruit. This was the seed that Pope Francis planted during his apostolic journey to Budapest on 12 September, at the concluding mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, just before traveling to Slovakia. The highlight of this brief stop was the Statio Orbis, “a pause for commitment and prayer” in which the individual churches united in communion with the pope around the Eucharistic mystery to deepen their faith. Some Focolare members who were present at the event tell of their experience. The famous Chain Bridge holds Buda and Pest together by leaping the Danube, an evocative image recalled several times by Pope Francis during his recent apostolic visit to Hungary. Among the themes of this trip, which concluded in Slovakia on September 15, were suppression and martyrdom, the evangelizing mission and, of course, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. The latter are only possible if, at the foundation, there is ‘a great desire for unity,’ as the pontiff stressed in his speech during the meeting with representatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches and Jewish communities. “We are not fully aware of how special the presence of so many Christian denominations is in Hungary,” says Eszter, 47, who is married and mother of 5 children. She is director of Città Nuova Publishing House in Hungary (Új Város) and editor of the column on spirituality in the online magazine of the same name. “The Focolare Movement here already does important work in terms of both ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, but we can and must do more. The pope’s joy spurs us on to make more use of this specific calling of ours. “Living for our brothers and sisters means rediscovering that unity and Jesus Forsaken are two sides of the same coin, and this journey can only be taken on by nourishing ourselves on the Eucharist.” It’s a shared uphill path to be followed together. This is the unity that this people has so badly needed to hear, explains Ágoston, a radio presenter who has worked in recent years as director of communications for the Eucharistic Congress. “I have never in my life had such a strong desire for unity as I do now. Unity understood, of course, as dialogue with the representatives of the various religions, but also as a rapprochement between us, members of the Focolare, Hungarian men and women. “It seems to me a great challenge to strive to defend values, and at the same time seek a relationship with the people around us. Recently it seems that these factors are mutually exclusive, but this is not true. We must have more courage in approaching one another, accepting the risk.” It is for this reason that Pope Francis in the heart of Europe, ‘ploughing’ through places that have suffered the violence of totalitarianism, invites everyone to become ‘roots’ – roots of peace that, by stirring the soil of memory, are capable of nourishing it and making the future sprout. This hope also lives in the heart of Gergely, a young Hungarian father, who is editor of Città Nuova. “I was very struck by a phrase the pope said during his final homily in Heroes’ Square in Budapest, at the conclusion of the International Eucharistic Congress. The Eucharist urges us to ‘break ourselves for others’. I need the Eucharist as spiritual nourishment. “It is a very powerful way to get out of ourselves, and thanks to it, we are less and less willing to ignore each other. When I come out of church and have a discussion with my wife after Holy Communion, I immediately feel the difference. “Jesus loves me no matter who I am, so how can I not see someone else with his eyes? The discussion becomes a deep conversation that ends in reconciliation. We should see the other as someone to serve, love and accept, and I am sure the Eucharist can help us in this challenge. “I have always experienced the presence of so many churches in Hungary as enriching, and my dream is to be united with all of them. I would always like to focus on what really binds us, and this is what Chiara Lubich’s charism has taught me over the years: to build bridges and find Jesus in every person.”
Maria Grazia Berretta
Lebanon: a group of Focolare youth are finding ways to support the Lebnenele (= “my Lebanon”) initiative, which emerged from the October 2019 protests. Through this initiatve, young students have set themselves to help families most in need. The Youth for a United World of the Focolare Movement in Lebanon have made a commitment to support families most in need in their country, in collaboration with the student-led Lebnenele (“my Lebanon”) initiative which grew from the popular protests of October 2019. At that time, thousands of citizens, including a high proportion of youth, took to the streets to protest against the government imposition of new taxes on goods and services such as fuel, tobacco and online telephone calls. The protests led to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri on 29 October 2019. During one of these protests, a group of youth – later to give rise to Lebnenele – noticed an obviously poor person handing out handkerchiefs to whoever needed them. This inspired them into action. Joelle Hajjar is one of those young people who were part of the Lebnenele project from the start. “In that moment,” she recalls, “we started to open our eyes to see the needs of families around us. We decided to start helping them with donations we could receive from friends or through social media”. After the terrible explosion in Beirut on 4 August 2020, which caused such damage to the surrounding population, this group of young people decided to extend the Lebnenele initiative to express true affection and care towards their own nation in difficulty. They set themselves a goal of collecting enough donations to provide food parcels for 50 families at Christmas. Thanks to the solidarity built up around them, they were able to go beyond that target and help 76 families. This convinced them the initiative must not end but should keep on growing so it can help more and more families. And so it proved to be. Fund-raising activity to provide essential goods to families in need is continuing to this day. George and Salim, two members of the Youth for a United World group in Lebanon, explain, “We decided to help Lebnenele by setting up a market for second-hand goods: bags, clothes, scarves, costume jewellery, and so on, all in good condition. By selling these things, we’re raising good money to buy essential items that we give to Lebnenele. In this way we know the items reach many Lebanese families who really need them”. Joelle concluded, “The Focolare youth are supporting us in many ways, raising money in their market activity and helping to prepare the goods to give out. With them, we share a desire to communicate the Ideal of unity to these families, to create a solidarity and unity among us which can last”.
Laura Salerno
https://youtu.be/zXS2fl4ytYU
The Word of Life for September invites us to be servants of all. It is the condition for being the first. If we want to be great, we must make ourselves small in front of our brothers and sisters, attend to their needs, be there for them. If he who is Lord and Master washed the feet of others (it was a task performed by slaves), we who want to follow him, especially if we are hold positions of responsibility, are called to serve our neighbours with just as much concreteness and dedication. This is one of the paradoxes of Jesus’ life. We can understand it only if we reason that the characteristic attitude of Christians is love, a love that leads them to put themselves in the last place, to become smaller than the other, as a father does when he plays with his little girl or when he helps his older son with his homework. Vincent de Paul called the poor his “masters” and as such he loved them and served them because in them he saw Jesus. Camillus de Lellis tended the sick, washing their wounds and making their beds “with the same affection,” he wrote, “that a loving mother has for her only child who is ill.[1]” Closer to our times how can we not remember Blessed Teresa of Calcutta who bent down to help thousands of dying people, making herself “nothing” in front of each one of them, the poorest of the poor? “Making ourselves small” in front of others means trying to enter as deeply as possible into their minds and hearts to the point of sharing their sufferings or their interests, even when these things might seem to be of little importance, or even insignificant to us, while for them they are everything at that moment. … “To live the other” means, therefore, that we cannot lead lives focused on ourselves, being filled with our own worries, our own concerns, our own ideas, and all that has to do with us. We need to forget ourselves, to put ourselves aside in order to pay attention to the other person, to make ourselves one with all our neighbours to the point of reaching them in their actual situation and lifting them up. We need to help them come out of their fears and worries, sufferings, complexes and disabilities, or simply to help them come out of themselves and go towards God and towards their brothers and sisters. This helps us find together the fullness of life and true happiness. People in government too, and those in public administration, (“leaders”) at every level, can also fulfil their responsibilities as a service of love, so as to create and safeguard the conditions that allow love in all its forms to blossom. … From the moment we get up in the morning until we go to bed at night, at home, in the office, at school and in our neighbourhoods, we can always find opportunities to serve and to be grateful when we ourselves are served by others. Let’s do everything for Jesus in our brothers and sisters, without neglecting anyone, but always taking the initiative in loving. Let’s serve everyone! It’s only then that we are “great.”
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] edited by Fabio Ciardi, Opere di Chiara Lubich, [Works of Chiara Lubich] Città Nuova, Roma, 2017, pp. 717-719) [1] Cf. Scritti di San Camillo, [Writings of St Camillus] Il Pio Samaritano, Milano-Roma 1965, p. 67.
It was a decisive call to “dare to be one” in the current state of fragmentation that the world is experiencing; and to continue on the path of friendship that has already begun. The Pope’s words to the delegation of Bishops of various Christian Churches.
© Vatican Media
© Vatican Media
© Vatican Media
Stefania Tanesini
The second day of a meeting of bishops from various churches, friends of the Focolare, under the banner of unity 
The darkness of the catacombs was brightened by the candlelight. People from various churches appeared in the corridors, walking as the words of a prayer of the first Christians resounded. They gathered around the altar of the small chapel, where the united community shared bread. Holding hands, with a spontaneous prayer they asked for the gift of unity. It was a foretaste of the ‘pact of mutual love’ that is renewed at every meeting of bishops who are friends of the Focolare. “The covenant strengthens our unity, our covenant, and urges us to maintain it in our relationships with brothers and sisters, in our countries or wherever we are,” said Bishop Nelson Leite of the Methodist Church of Brazil. “The covenant has changed my life. It has motivated me and led me to accept other people, to live with them, to learn to listen to them and to be able to establish a dialogue, even if we are different.” It was a sacred and moving moment, symbolically enclosed, as if in a chapel. The 170 bishops of various Christian churches participating in the “Dare to be one” conference are typically scattered throughout the world, yet here there were no more distances or electronic media, which allowed the connections. Those same catacomb candles gave light to their new commitment of unity. “We want the New Commandment of Jesus to be the foundation of our relationships – ‘that loving one another’, we want to be the foundation of our fraternal relationships,” said Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Limerick (Ireland), and one of the moderators of the meeting. With the awareness that, if it is put into practice, Jesus can fulfil his promise, “Where two or more are united in my name, there am I present in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). “We long for Jesus to be able to give us this gift,” Leahy said, “so we would like to promise him that we want to continue to live in love with one another, to love each other’s diocese and community as I love my own, to love each other’s Church as I love my own.” 
If there is mutual love among Christians, it is the strongest and most credible witness to the world around us. Jesús Morán, co-president of the Focolare Movement, said: “Yes, our unity, the unity of all Christians, could be a decisive contribution to the transformation of the world. This is an ethical imperative that cannot be postponed.” Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, concluded the two days by expressing the desire of many participants to keep moving forward – “to create a great network that will help us connect together, living cells united in the name of Jesus. “Who knows how many initiatives could emerge to renew the life of our churches in the one Church of Christ!” She invited everyone to join together to ask God the Father to enlighten the way forward by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. The words of the prayer taught by Jesus harmonised together in so many languages, like a symphony rising to heaven that floods the hearts and minds of everyone, sealing the pact of unity just made.
Carlos Mana
Messages from Card. Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Justin Welby, Primate of the Anglican Church, and Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, to the Bishops of various Churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement during the conference “Dare to be one”. “Abide in me and I in you” (John 15:4). An eloquent image, that of the vine and the branches that accompanies Jesus’ invitation to His disciples. A call to “remain” in order to bear fruit, the same call that nourished the International Conference of Bishops friends of the Focolare, from different Christian Churches, held in Castel Gandolfo in these days, entitled: “Dare to be one. The gift of unity in a divided world”. In his message to this meeting, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that receiving this gift in the context of an Ecumenical commitment, “is part of the mission of Bishops which is to be at the service of unity but not only of the unity of their own Church, but of the unity of all those who have been baptized in the name of the Triune God. Baptism unites us to Christ and makes us members of his one body”. Encouraging the Bishops of the various Churches who are united in following the way of mutual love to face the challenges of the world, he underlined the fundamental role that prayer plays, saying: “We Christians are not capable of achieving unity with our own strength alone. We Christians are capable of producing divisions, as history and, unfortunately, even the present still demonstrate. Unity, on the other hand, can only exist as a gift. (…) we must always reflect on the fact that that Jesus did not command unity from his disciples, nor did he request it from them, but he prayed for unity”. Aiming to be one in Him and with our brother means becoming a living flame, a lantern, a source of light that attracts whoever is next to us. This is the true meaning of this meeting: to bring that light out into the world. Such a hope is also expressed in the words of the Most Reverend and Honorable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury: “‘Dare to be One’ touches the lives of many Christians, encouraging them to grow in mutual communion. (…) The world has never needed Christian unity as much as it does today. In times of environmental crisis and global pandemic, not to mention the many economic and political challenges facing the world, it is increasingly clear that no one is safe until everyone is safe and that our actions really do affect each other. Unity among Christians can be the cement that consolidates the solidarity of human beings, to become, therefore, the foundation of lasting solutions”. In order for “all to be one” it is therefore necessary to make concrete choices, to live dialogue, to take care of others, recognizing them as brothers. The message to the Bishops at the meeting from His Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome, Ecumenical Patriarch, outlined a route which, thanks to the pages of the Gospel of Matthew (Mt.14:24-33) gives hope and comfort: “In the course of history the boat of the disciples of Jesus has encountered contrary winds and storms; even among the disciples of Jesus themselves, oppositions, enmities and persecutions often burst out and still arise. (…) In the parable, Jesus walks on the water going towards the disciples (…): “Courage, it is I, do not be afraid”. (…) If we have courage, then we will not be afraid to enter into dialogue with one another, because we all belong to Christ (…). When we are no longer afraid, we will not need courage, because we will be one of the only One, gathered around the banquet table with the Bread and Wine of He who will say to us, “It is I”.
Maria Grazia Berretta
Announcing an international live streaming event, Saturday 25 September 2021, with a choice of six languages, to launch a new formation program – developed by the Focolare Movement – dealing with affectivity and sexuality, to promote harmonious human development in all its aspects, aimed at children, youth and parents. “Up2Me has given me a greater understanding of who I am, both emotionally and physically, and of the kind of life I want to build for myself, as well as showing me the importance of relationships with others”. “The program has really helped me relate to girls. It’s taught me to respect them. I’m more willing to help in the house, and I can work together with my mother and my sister now, without feeling I’m belittling myself”. “This experience allowed me to speak with others of my own age about issues which are important to us. I could express myself freely, without the fear of being judged badly”. This is just a taste of the feedback from the hundreds of youth in various parts of the world who have participated so far in Up2Me, the education pathway on affectivity and sexuality that aims at the harmonious development of the person in all its dimensions. The program is based on “person-relationship”. Being-in-relationship is part of the essence of being human, the ontological foundation to full growth, respecting the characteristics of their age group, which sees the children and youth as protagonists of conscious choices and capable of livng positive relationships. 
Saturday 25 September 2021, at 2.00pm (Italian time) offers the opportunity to find out more by joining a live streaming event through this link, with simultaneous translations in six languages: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portughese and Italian. Developed within the Focolare Movement, Up2Me has been piloted so far in 28 countries. It grew from the need frequently expressed by children and youth who find themselves facing big issues like life, health, sexuality, modern life styles, emotions, future life choices … without adequate tools to deal with them. Parents often feel unprepared to respond to these questions. So social media can become the main source of information, without addressing the value of the whole person. “I never found these things on the internet!” exploded one girl after an Up2Me session on knowing the beauty and complexity of one’s own body. Up2Me aims to respond to these challenges and help parents through this phase of accompanying children and adolescents in a program of integral formation. What are the main themes dealt with? For children: emotions, the body, friendship, life and death. For pre-adolescents and adolescents: the beauty and complexity of one’s own body, the wonder of birth, respect for human life and for the planet, personal hygiene, abortion, contraception, assisted reproduction techniques, addictions, pornography, gender studies, healthy life styles (sport, nutrition, rest), internet opportunities and issues, the importance of the spiritual aspect in human life, mass media, bullying, friendship, emotions, falling in love, one’s life project. For parents of pre-adolescents and adolescents: educating in times of crisis, authority and strictness, good communication, adoloscence, the age of opportunity, how to talk about sexuality with your children, addictions (substance, pornography, smartphone), life style (alcohol, smoking, food), new media. The formation program is also directed at those who hope to become Up2Me tutors via participation in an international training school covering theory and practical experience. Up2Me has a central coordinating team which works internationally with various local teams. An international multi-disciplinary Scientific Committee harnesses the professional expertise of academics in psychology, pedagogy, medicine, theology and law.
Lorenzo Russo
The meeting of the Bishops of various Churches that are friends of the Focolare began on Thursday 22nd September. On Saturday morning they will be received in audience by Pope Francis. “We must have the courage to take risks”, “The testimonies give us the courage to be one”, “We have witnessed an experience of lived ecumenism”: these are some of the initial impressions of the 181 Bishops from 70 Churches and 45 countries gathered on the first day of the meeting of Bishops from various Churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement. 
Brendan Leahy, a Catholic Bishop from Ireland and Matti Repo, a Lutheran Bishop from Finland are the moderators of the meeting. After greeting the participants, mostly connected through an internet link with 15 simultaneous translations, they gave the floor to Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare who said: “My wish, which is also a certainty, is that this meeting will strengthen among all those present, that wonderful reality of mutual listening and acceptance, in which the Holy Spirit becomes the protagonist of our relationships. He alone is capable of bringing about renewal in ecclesial and social structures, he knows how to pave the way and make every process of reconciliation constructive. Your presence at this Congress is in itself a sign of the times, it reveals the concern of each one for unity, a horizon that is not so far away because the life of the Gospel we share, makes it tangible among brothers”. Bishop Christian Krause, former President of the Lutheran World Federation explained the genesis of the meeting and then referred to its title: “‘Dare to be one’” (…) is a humble contribution to a dialogue and an ongoing initiative to share, to understand each other and to keep the message of Jesus among us on the road to peace”. He then invited everyone not to focus on protecting their institutional power, but “to open the doors to sharing the charism of unity and the Eucharistic hospitality of the children of God. Therefore, for heaven’s sake: ‘Dare to be one’!”. The programme included time to meet in linguistic groups to get to know each other and exchange first impressions. Then there was a presentation of the life of the Word of God in the Spirituality of the Focolare Movement. Sarah Finch, an Anglican focolarina read a passage from Chiara Lubich, which was then enriched by input from Lutheran bishop Dr. Matti Repo, Syrian Orthodox focolarina, Dr. Mervat Kelly, and Catholic focolarina, Dr. Sandra Ferreira. Then, some the Bishops themselves offered testimonies that illustrated what had been said. It was a series of personal experiences that demonstrated their commitment to building unity between the different Churches. In various pastoral situations, it was both moving and concrete. Chiara Lubich’s words which had just been read, resounded: “A fruit is that the Word makes us one: it brings about unity. As in plants that are grafted, two peeled branches, due to the contact of the two living parts, become one, so two souls, peeled of the human by living the Word of Life, are better consumed in one.” Four hours with participation from Australia to the USA, from Brazil to Ukraine, from Madagascar and through European and Asian countries, with a variety of time zones and of political and social conditions. The meeting continues for a second day on Friday, 24th September and then on Saturday 25th September, the participants will be received in audience by Pope Francis.
Carlos Mana
Synodality, ecumenism and peace are the themes that will engage 170 Bishops from 44 countries of the world and from 70 Churches and ecclesial communities who will meet from 23rd-25th September in Castel Gandolfo (Rome). Pope Francis will receive them in audience on 25th September. “Dare to be one. The courage of unity in a divided world” is the title of the next international conference of Bishops of different Christian Churches who are friends of the Focolare. The title aptly expresses the urgency that Bishops feel in these times when the pandemic has aggravated rifts, violence and old and new forms of loneliness all over the world. “To this we add the unjust distribution of wealth and poverty, the dramatic gap between freedom and oppression, the growing threats to the natural environment. All this prompted us to passionately formulate this appeal: “Dare to be one!”. We address it to ourselves and to our fellow Bishops so that it can be taken on in our respective Churches and communities”. This is how Bishop Christian Krause, former President of the Lutheran World Federation, one of the initiators of this event, summarized the significance of the conference. Mgr. Brendan Leahy, Catholic Bishop of Limerick (Ireland) who is the coordinator, explained, “This event is promoted by the worldwide network of Bishops of various Churches that are friends of the Focolare and who have been meeting regularly for 38 years to deepen their communion on the basis of the spirituality of the unity of the Focolare. The goal is to be united in Christ and if there is the presence of Jesus among us, the journey towards unity is assured ”. The meeting will have a blended mode: 10 Bishops will be physically present in Castel Gandolfo (Rome), while 170 will follow the conference online, alone or in small groups, in compliance with health rules. On 25th September they will be received in audience by Pope Francis, who, via streaming, will be able to communicate with all the participants, also those connected from afar. The following will intervene in the Conference: Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement and Jesús Morán, Co-President of the Movement; Nelson Luiz Leite Campos, Bishop Emeritus of the Methodist Church in Brazil; Stefan Tobler, Reformed theologian, Professor of Evangelical Theology at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania); Piero Coda, Catholic theologian, member of the Joint International Commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, lecturer at the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Italy). The programme will offer insights into the spirituality of unity of Chiara Lubich, testimonies of life offered by Bishops of different Churches inspired by the Word of God, the mystery of Jesus Crucified, abandoned and risen, the charism of unity and its incarnation in the wounds of contemporary humanity. The central moment and certainly the most characteristic of the conferences of the Bishops who are friends of the Focolare is the “Pact of mutual love”. It is a solemn commitment to love one another on the basis of the invitation that Jesus makes in the “new commandment” (cf. Jn. 15:17). The Bishops will therefore undertake both to share the gifts offered by the Church of the others and to share their pains and joys, feeling them as their own in order to make the process of unity between the Churches ever closer and visible. Bishops friends of the Focolare: from the 1980s to today In 1982 Klaus Hemmerle, Catholic Bishop of Aachen (Germany) began promoting meetings of Bishops belonging to different Churches. Since the 1960s, many Bishops, who made the spirituality of the Focolare their own, were committed to walking together towards unity and promoting it at all levels. The words of the then Pope John Paul II to a group of Catholic Bishops friends of the Focolare on the occasion of an audience, represented a further encouragement to the organization of periodic meetings with Bishops of different Churches. Today these gatherings take place periodically in places that are symbolic of ecumenical dialogue. An itinerary that is not only spiritual, but also a concrete opportunity for the Bishops to get to know and welcome one another, offering each one the opportunity to experience the Christian life of the various Churches.
Focolare Communications Office
Stefania Tanesini
On 10th September the Municipality of Grottaferrata (Rome, Italy) posthumously conferred honorary citizenship on Chiara Lubich, an award that tangibly renewed the friendship between the founder of the Focolare Movement and this place she held so dear, where the first centres of the Movement were located. Margaret Karram, current President of the Movement received the plaque. A “mother city”, a place to “gather people with different vocations into a single people”. This was Chiara Lubich’s inspiration, which led her to perceive in the area of “Castelli Romani” a fertile ground where everything could flourish and, specifically, in the city of Grottaferrata (Rome-Italy), a new home for the Focolare Movement, after her hometown of Trent and Rome. In 1959, in Grottaferrata, a meeting room was inaugurated at Villa Maria Assunta, a beautiful house made available to the Focolare Movement by the Marquise Rossignani Pacelli, sister of Pope Pius XII. A house that soon became the heart of the Movement, the lively and fervent “Mariapolis” or “little town of Mary”. While continuing to reside in Rome, Chiara Lubich spent some periods in Grottaferrata during the years from 1956 to 1964. 
Images of a story guided by God and recalled by Margaret Karram, the President of the Focolare Movement, on the occasion of the ceremony of conferring the posthumous honorary citizenship of Grottaferrata on Chiara Lubich on 10th September. Present at the event: Luciano Andreotti, Mayor of Grottaferrata, Angelo Viticchiè, former Mayor of the city, Sergio Lubich, nephew of Chiara, and Veronica Cimmino, Mayor of Rocca di Papa. The ceremony was followed by the screening of the docufilm “Chiara Lubich: Love wins everything”. Also present were the director of the film, Giacomo Campiotti, the artistic producer Saverio D’Ercole, the producer Luca Barbareschi and the actress Valentina Ghelfi. A sense of community and fraternity pervaded the appointment, which had already been scheduled for 2004 and then postponed due to Chiara’s illness and death. As the Mayor of Grottaferrata recalled, these values, rooted in the life of the Movement, could also become a unique “means of communion” for the public life of a city, where the “search for the common good” remains the main objective. What seems an arduous journey finds its confirmation in “unity through love” and in the unpublished words that Chiara would have liked to use in receiving this recognition, which come back to us thanks to the voice of Margaret Karram: “I would like to propose the Art of Loving to all those present and in particular to the citizens of Grottaferrata so that, if they wish, we can help each other live it and spread it everywhere “. A legacy which is for each of us and of which each, in his or her own small way, becomes the guardian, today as yesterday; an experience that, as the President of the Focolare Movement concluded, “does not stop at the borders of our cities, but extends in relationships of collaboration with other Municipalities, creating an ever brighter network of cities which give a witness of fraternity”.
Maria Grazia Berretta
On 17th September 1948, Chiara Lubich met Igino Giordani, whom she later called Foco, for the first time, in Rome, Italy. She was a Franciscan tertiary and was accompanied by some religious from the various Franciscan families. Giordani was 54 years old and already successful in the political and cultural fields when he met 28-year-old Chiara Lubich and recognised her charism. Giordani immediately joined the Focolare and, because of his contribution to the development of the Movement, Chiara Lubich considered him a co-founder. Here is the story of that meeting from Giordani’s diary. “Seeing a Conventual, a Friar Minor, a Capuchin and a man and a woman from the Third Order of Saint Francis united and in agreement, seemed to me already a miracle of unity, and I said so. The young lady spoke; (…) and at the first words I felt something new. There was an unusual quality in that voice: the quality of a deep and sure conviction born of a life in touch with God. (…) When, after half an hour, she had finished speaking, I was caught up in an enchanted atmosphere, as if in a cloud of light and happiness; and I would have liked that voice to continue. It was the voice that, without realising it, I had been waiting for. It put holiness within reach of all; it removed the barriers that separate the lay world from the mystical life. It brought out the treasures of a castle to which only a few were admitted. It brought God closer: it made him feel like a Father, a brother, a friend, close to humanity.(…) Something happened within me. It happened that my juxtaposed pieces of culture began to move and become animated, joining together to form a living body, nourished by a generous blood: the blood with which Saint Catherine burned? Love had entered and taken hold of my ideas, drawing them into an orbit of joy. What had happened was that the idea of God had given way to the love of God, the ideal image to the living God. In Chiara I had found not someone who spoke of God, but someone who spoke with God: a daughter who, in love, conversed with the Father. (…) Everything was illuminated. Pain took on a salvific meaning, or was resolved into love. Life appeared as an adorable design of God’s will and every moment of it became full and had its own beauty. Nature and history unfolded in rich patterns of harmony and wisdom. And to live this new life, to be born in God, I did not have to renounce my doctrines: I only had to place them in the flame of charity, so that they might be enlivened. Through my neighbour, I began to live God. Grace flowed freely, the barriers between supernature and nature collapsed. Existence became a whole adventure, consciously lived in union with the Creator, who is life”.
Igino Giordani
(Igino Giordani, Memorie di un cristiano ingenuo, [Memoirs of a naïve Christian] Rome, 1984, pp. 147-154).
People living in the Focolare Movement’s little town of Victoria in Man, Ivory Coast, have shown great tenacity during the pandemic. Covid 19 did not stop the activities of the Health Centre or the Nutritional Centre. The Movement’s extraordinary Communion of Goods has helped to support many people in need. Monica Padovani is an Italian focolarina, 53 years old, who has lived in Africa for twenty years. She has been working in the little town in Man for two years as a professional educator and activities coordinator at the Focolare’s Supplementary Nutrition Centre (CNSF). Before the pandemic she had shown great courage in rescuing and bringing new life to this project; when covid hit, her ingenuity and boldness enabled it to remain the “beating heart” of the area.. The creation of a workshop for the production of masks which could not be found on the market ensured indispensable services for the sick at the CNSF and the adjoining Medical Centre, and the financial aid received was essential for their continuation.. How has Victoria been affected by this emergency and how has it continued to be a chain of love during this time? There have been many challenges this year but we are really happy to be able to say that we have overcome many of them. The restrictive measures taken in the country at the beginning of the pandemic made it possible to contain the spread of the disease in the area surrounding the capital, Abidjian. In Man, where our little town is located, the consequences are mainly of an economic and social nature and have unfortunately affected an already fragile situation, making a particular impact on the poorest sectors of the population. Fortunately, the activities of the Health Centre and the Nutrition Centre have continued, albeit at a slower pace, and the aid received has supported various emergency activities, also allowing the employment of an additional nurse. With a strengthened team, cases of child malnutrition have been better addressed, a large number of mothers in need have been supported and concrete responses to the various challenges have been made. Helping seems to have been your way of “embracing” others. Is there any experience that is particularly close to your heart? Each case is unique but among the many, the one of the little girl born prematurely was particularly moving. After the birth, the baby weighed just one kg and the parents were referred to a paediatric department with the urgent need for a thermal cot. Due to various difficulties, it was not possible to meet this need and it was at the CNSF that they received first aid. The baby and her mother were helped to feed for the first time and they were assured of a calm and peaceful environment where they could stay warm and be carefully monitored. Thanks to these small gestures, the little girl is healthy; she has gained strength and weight and will soon celebrate her first birthday. Has the verb ‘to nourish’ taken on new meanings during the pandemic? The term “nourish”, in our daily experience at CNSF, certainly has a broader meaning. It is certainly about food, prevention and the fight against malnutrition. However, ‘feeding’ is also about giving what that person really needs at that moment, such as advice, encouragement, special attention. That’s what Covid emphasised: more attention to the other person. This is how we have understood that things that are often ‘simple’ in our eyes can be vital for others.
Maria Grazia Berretta
This is a call to us, too – to have an open mind and heart in order to recognize and care for the needs of others; to use our talents, our time, for the common good at home and beyond. It is an invitation to put ourselves last in order to be first, to encourage everyone toward the inevitable future: universal brotherhood. Listening for hours Loving a neighbour sometimes means simply listening… even for hours! It happened to me this morning, when around 9:30am a friend who spends most of the year abroad came to visit me. He told me about his father who had recently passed away, his caregiver, various family problems, and about how abroad, in order not to miss Sunday Mass, he travels two hours each way to reach the chapel where it is celebrated in Italian… It was after 12 noon when we said our goodbyes. Only then did I realize how much time I had spent listening to him. (Umberto, Italy) Kitchen competition Each time I came home from work, I would always see how tired my wife was. I asked God how I could help her, and one evening, during dinner, I came up with the idea of a weeklong competition in the kitchen. Each of us had to prepare a different dinner (together with my grandmother there are exactly seven of us). Even our third son, a teenager who was typically content with things as they are, got hooked on the competition. Once the week had passed, one of our daughters suggested we continue, even giving grades. Here it became even more fun. With great joy I noticed my wife relieved and happy to see her children in action. Once, talking about it among ourselves, she told me that she was discovering new and unexpected sides of our kids. (B., Slovakia) That look said it all I had retired earlier than I had planned to be near my wife, who had been feeling ill for some time. Unfortunately, she was suffering from a degenerative disease. Day after day I saw her abilities diminish, her speech, her movements… Where was the wonderful woman with whom I had dreamed of a happy life, a large and beautiful family, a commitment to be an open home for all? Now she was there, motionless. She moved her eyes, and that look said it all. My faith was not a living one, partly because, as a philosophy teacher, I know the tricks of the mind and how it deceives us. But since the conversation with my wife had become silent, I sensed that she was happy if I prayed beside her, for her, with her. Two months ago she passed away in silence. She left behind so much good, which both I and our children cannot quantify. She sowed a seed of light in us. When the illness initially appeared, she had said: “Life is now uphill. I would like to walk it with you. But God asks me to know how to say thank you with my life.” (P., Italy)
Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta. From ‘Il Vangelo del Giorno’, Città Nuova, year VII, n.4, September–October 2021
Those were Pope Francis’ words to the members of the various associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities on 16th September. We asked Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán for their impressions. It is about looking to the future while keeping our feet firmly set in the present. This is the beginning of a path of discernment suggested by Pope Francis to the members of the various associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities at the audience held on 16th September. 
The Holy Father made a surprise appearance at the meeting with the moderators of associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities, organised by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life. Margaret Karram, president of the Focolare Movement, and Jesús Morán Cepedano, co-president of the Movement, also participated in this time of reflection on the theme: “The responsibility for governance in lay groups: an ecclesial service”. “It was a great surprise”, said Margaret Karram, “to see that the Holy Father came right at the beginning of the meeting. He gave a wonderful talk, which was very rich in content and clarified many things. He gave a precise interpretation of the general decree that was promulgated by the Dicastery last June on the renewal of positions of governance in ecclesial movements and new communities.
Jesús Morán, Margaret Karram and Giovanni Ramonda (Moderator of the Pope John XXIII Association)
“After the Pope’s speech,” said Jesús Morán, “we can’t just read the Decree. We must read it adding the words he said this morning. It is like a small treatise on how to exercise governance in the light of the Gospel.” “We have experienced a profoundly ecclesial event of great fellowship,” added Margaret Karram, “with some very deep contributions. In the coming months, I think we will have to study this important topic also to live our charism better”. Jesús Morán added, “We must recognise and affirm the great love and care shown by the Dicastery to the movements. Their intention is to safeguard the charisms and this was shown by the Pope, who reiterated his thanks to the different ecclesial realities present several times, especially for their commitment during this time of suffering for all humanity”. To access the full transcript of Pope Francis’ speech: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2021/september/documents/20210916-associazioni-fedeli.html
Not only freedom and equality. Twenty years after the collapse of the Twin Towers, Chiara Lubich’s comments on the attack that changed the fate of the world are more relevant than ever, reminding us of the only possible way to peace. On the day after September 11 [2001], many of us felt the need to reflect deeply on the causes, but above all to work towards a true, responsible and definitive alternative to terrorism and war. … Today, whether we are in New York or Bogota, in Rome or Nairobi, in London or Baghdad, many of us are asking if it is possible to live in a world of peoples that are free, equal and united; peoples that not only respect one another’s identity but are also mindful of each other’s particular needs. … In many places around the world today, a cry of forsakenness rises up from millions of refugees, millions of people who are hungry, millions of people who are exploited, millions of workless people who are excluded and seemingly “cut off” from the body politic. It is this separation, and not only the hardships and economic difficulties, which makes them even poorer and increases their desperation. … Considering the challenges of the present and future of humanity, liberty and equality by themselves are not enough. Our experience teaches us, and we believe that there is need for a third, long forgotten factor in political thought and practice: fraternity. Fraternity can generate projects and action in the complex political, economic, cultural and social fabric of our world. Fraternity brings peoples out of their isolation and opens the door to development for those who are still excluded. Fraternity shows the way to peacefully resolving differences and relegates war to history books. Fraternity in action allows us to dream and even hope for some kind of sharing of goods between rich countries and poor countries, since the scandalous economic inequality in today’s world is one of the main causes of terrorism. The deeply felt need for peace in humanity today shows that fraternity is not only a value, not only a method, but is a global paradigm for political development. This is why a world that is ever more interdependent needs politicians, businesspeople, intellectuals and artists who put fraternity – as a tool for unity – at the centre of their thought and action.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, Message for the first World Interdependence Day, Philadelphia, USA, 12 September 2003 in Discorsi in ambito civile ed ecclesiale, [Talks given in civil and ecclesial contexts] edited by Vera Araujo, Città Nuova, Roma, 2020, pp. 111-113)
Solidarity shared on 9/11 by Catholics, Muslims in Indianapolis (USA) continues In the days following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many American Muslims experienced an angry and sometimes violent backlash from their fellow Americans because the men who hijacked the airliners that day had been Muslim extremists. The Nur-Allah Islamic Center in Indianapolis had multiple bombing threats made against it in the days after 9/11. So, when the Muslims of the center gathered for prayer on the Friday after the attacks, they knew that they could become the victims of an attack themselves. But they weren’t alone. 
Joining them that day were some of their Catholic friends who were members of Focolare, an international lay ecclesial movement in the Church that, among other things, promotes greater unity in the broader human family. “It was a very emotionally moving experience,” said Nur-Allah member David Shaheed, who has also served as a Marion County judge since 1996. “They felt connected to us. They felt that we were friends and neighbors. They put their lives at risk to be with us at such a historically tumultuous and scary time.” John Mundell, a member of St. Pius X Parish on 9/11, was part of the Focolare group that came to Nur-Allah on Sept. 14, 2001. “That experience was probably one of the most sacred moments of my life,” he said. “When we walked in as a group and they saw us, you could tell by the look on their faces that they realized that what we had established was real. There was nothing fake or superficial about it.” The Focolare members knew that choosing to stand with their friends at Nur-Allah after bombing threats had been made against their center potentially put their lives in danger. But their mutual relationship was important enough to them that they accepted that risk. “Our Catholic faith called us to be there with them,” said Mundell, now a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis. “This was where the rubber met the road. In your gut, you know what the right thing to do is, but you then have to say, ‘Yes, we’re doing it.’ ” Thankfully, no attacks happened on that day. But some members of Nur-Allah so appreciated the solidarity shown to them by their Catholic friends that they joined them for Mass two days later at St. Pius X Church. “It was reciprocal love,” said Mundell. “You reached out in love and then received this kind of wave [of love] back. It was a sacred feeling. Somehow there was the presence of God in this relationship we had established.” That relationship had started in 1997 and followed the example of Chiara Lubich, the Italian foundress of Focolare, who had reached out to W.D. Muhammed, the leader of a branch of Islam in the United States made up primarily of Black Americans. In the years that followed the start of the relationship in Indianapolis, the members of Focolare and Nur-Allah hosted meetings of Catholics and Muslims that drew people from across the Midwest. One had taken place in Indianapolis less than two months before 9/11. But the events of that day quickly deepened their relationship in ways that they could not have imagined. “There are times when God calls us to unity through pain,” said Michael Saahir, the resident imam of Nur-Allah. That, for him, is an enduring lesson of 9/11, one that he is concerned is being forgotten as the years pass. “Too often, when the pain subsides, we forget,” Saahir said. “We tend to forget too easily. Or we don’t even take time to study the lessons that come from it. And the oneness of the human family is the main one.” In recent years, members of Focolare in Indianapolis have become more aware of the pain experienced by their Black Muslim friends because of their race. “We’re not perfect as Americans, as Catholics in embracing this idea of universal brotherhood and sisterhood,” Mundell said. “We have a long way to go. There’s a racial aspect that we need to continue to work on and listen to.” Focolare and Nur-Allah members are making efforts so that the lessons of 9/11 and other lessons are remembered. In the months and years that have followed that day, people from both faith communities have been invited to parishes across and beyond the archdiocese and to universities to speak about their interreligious experience and relationship. When Mundell started receiving these invitations, he began to recognize a significance to the simple personal bonds that had been created with his Muslim friends in 1997. “It made us realize the uniqueness of that relationship and that it was no longer meant for just us,” he said. “It was meant to be shared with everyone.” “People need to see a model or example,” said Saahir. “I’m grateful that our relationship with Focolare is a model, not just for Muslims and Catholics, but for anyone to see that this is doable and has longevity.” Mundell and Saahir hope that the longevity of the relationship between their two communities will continue into the next generation. “It’s like passing on your faith,” Mundell said. “The next generation has to take it on as their own. They have to have their own experience. “This is something that we’ll be doing for the rest of our lives. The relationships have to be continually renewed and rebuilt”.
By Sean Gallagher for “The Criterion”, 3 September 2021
Serving the Church in Central and Southern Indiana Since 1960
Even though the disciples had many frailties and fears, Jesus had confidence in them and called them to follow him and to share his mission – to serve everyone. To serve, not so much as a slave who is forced into work but as a free person who generously offers his or her skills and strength. Solidarity in support of the Roma people The pandemic has exacerbated the social problems in our area. One of the most serious challenges is housing: many people do not know what to do and live in situations of distress and even serious degradation. When, as a parish, we helped a Roma family to move from a damp, dilapidated shack into a more dignified home, the action helped to overcome certain preconceptions.The gesture seemed to communicate the idea that if Fr Peppino and the other parishioners welcome Roma foreigners, it means that they are people like us whom we can and must help. This created a sense of solidarity and there was almost a “competition” to find ways to help. Some people donated furniture, others transported and assembled it, other people took care of the contract for the house and others the utility supplies. When M., a Roma mother of two beautiful children, came back from the hospital where she had been admitted for Covid-19, she told me: “I am touched and I wanted to thank you because I have never felt as loved as I do by you and the whole community.” (Don Peppino – Italy) Do unto others… At school, I had a classmate who never made any effort and very bad at maths. I repeatedly urged him to study harder but to no avail: nothing changed. He failed his first semester exam and was humiliated in front of everyone, so he cried. Although he had not listened to my advice and it was his own fault, I kept thinking of the sentence “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and I decided I would help him. I offered to tutor him in maths. He was surprised and delighted and immediately accepted. It was not easy to bring him up to an acceptable level, but a small miracle happened: he achieved a high mark at the end of the second semester! (Radu – Romania) Proximity About ten years ago, when living in Syria had become difficult for us Christians, we asked ourselves whether we should stay. Many relatives and friends had chosen to leave, and from the news we had received, they seemed to have found peace in other countries and were far from the noise of combat, terror and danger. Yet, even if we do little,we felt that that our presence here, day after day, corresponds to a real mission. It is not so much a matter of witnessing to faith or fidelity to one’s homeland, but of proximity, the proximity of which Pope Francis speaks. We are certain that for our children, too, this situation, even if it is not easy, will prove to be a great teacher of life. (V.M. – Syria)
by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VII, n.4, September-October 2021)
The Focolare Movement is involved in various countries around the world in welcoming Afghan refugees. In Italy, to date, about 400 people have offered to open their doors to the refugees. There has been an immediate response from individuals, families and entire communities, from the cities of Milan to Ragusa. The Focolare Movement in Italy has launched an appeal to welcome Afghan refugees brought to our country by the first air bridges. Since 26th August, through the local Focolare communities and many people involved at various levels in local or national networks, an invitation was issued for the reception and accompaniment of immigrants. The appeal calls for: an assessment of the possibility of opening not only the Centres of the Movement, religious institutes, rectories, parish buildings, but also private homes; the identification of those who would be willing to collaborate for this emergency by supporting the arriving refugees; collaboration with local authorities and organizations. It’s all work in progress, which aims to combine private initiative with the reception systems set up by the Ministry of the Interior, and which is already taking its first concrete steps in line with what Pope Francis expressed in the Angelus on Sunday 5th September, that all Afghans “whether at home, in transit or in the host countries”, may “live with dignity, in peace and fraternity with their neighbours”. It did not take long for responses to arrive: some people offered their professional experience, others their own homes, or empty houses. Among the first to respond to the appeal was a nurse from Bergamo who said: “In between my shifts, I am available to help in any way”. Others offered their legal, health, or education-related skills. A family from Lombardy, with five small children, offered to host a child. Not just families, but entire communities are responding to the Pope’s invitation to open rectories and churches. Religious orders are discerning how to participate: for example, a group of religious from the Vesuvian countries. Then there are entire focolare communities, such as in Pesaro, Milan, Cosenza, who have come together to join forces and find a suitable place where they can welcome people. Contacts continue with some organizations and cooperatives with similar ideals, which can support and sustain this family-like welcome with relevant means, such as the “Fo.Co. Cooperative” (Chiaramonte Gulfi, RG) and the “New Ways for a United World Association” (Rome). In Marino, (Lazio), reception is already underway by the cooperative and non-profit organization One city is not enough, which acted immediately. Since the very first days of the emergency, some Afghan families have been hosted at the Mariapolis Centre of Castelgandolfo. On 28th August, people in several cities in Italy took part in the initiative promoted by the Economy of Francesco in favour of the rights and freedom of Afghan women. Alongside all these actions, funds are being raised, small and big amounts: one person unable to open their home had their family jewels evaluated so as to contribute to associations that could use the money locally for specific needs that cannot be covered with State contributions. The bank account is the one already in use for the Covid Emergency. Contributions can be made with the indication, WELCOME AFGHANISTAN.
Maria Chiara De Lorenzo
Words such as perfection and holiness may seem like unattainable goals, but Chiara Lubich, starting from a statement by St Bonaventure, reflects on how it is possible to walk towards them, starting from the simplest gestures of everyday life. I found a thought on holiness attributed to St. Bonaventure, which many of us know, but perhaps we have not yet lived to the full. (…) This thought aroused in my heart a great desire to put it into practice with all of you. Aren’t we striving to become saints together? I’m referring to a statement made by a saint who was well versed in different ways to go to God. He boldly affirms that a person will go further on the way to God in forty days if they never stop, than another in forty years, who stops every now and then ‘in the vale of imperfections and venial sins’. Isn’t it wonderful? Of course, I asked myself: “What do imperfections and venial sins consist in?” We could make a long list of them. Undoubtedly, they are the opposite of perfection. And what does perfection consist in? In living charity: “Charity is the bond of perfection,” says Paul (Col. 3:14); “May they be perfect in unity,” we find in John (17:23). If charity is lived together, it becomes mutual: “I give you a new commandment,” says Jesus, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn. 13:34). And so this is the way we should always live, so as not to remain in the vale of imperfection and venial sins, and if we forget or fail to do so, we can begin anew. (…) Where should we begin? At home. Yes, at home, starting in the morning so that we begin the day well. At home, also because at times we make the effort to live mutual love with others, at meetings and congresses, but then, when we go home, because we are tired we are sometimes impatient with our brothers or sisters. We lose control and… good-bye mutual love! Let’s keep it in mind. If we do this, then in forty days, on November 30th, we will certainly have progressed spiritually and made a noticeable contribution towards our holiness and that of the people.
Chiara Lubich
(Chiara Lubich, Conversazioni in Collegamento telefonico, Rome 2019, p. 561-562)
An interview with Stefania Papa, the new head of EcoOne, the Focolare’s environmental agency. She describes the Focolare’s participation in ‘Season of Creation” anche…’ and various ecology projects. From 1 September to 4 October, ‘Season of Creation’ will be held throughout the world. It features both prayer and concrete actions to safeguard and protect our common home. Stefania Papa is the new head of EcoOne, a cultural enterprise from the Focolare Movement that promotes a network of teachers, academics, researchers and professionals working in the environmental sciences. We interviewed her about the Focolare’s commitment to ‘Time for Creation’ and various ecology projects. What is ‘Season of Creation’? It is a specific period that goes from 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to 4 October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. It will be a time in which various churches around the world come together to pray and promote concrete actions to safeguard and protect our common home. This year’s theme is: ‘A home for all? Renewing God’s Oikos.’ And Oikos in Greek means home. Why is it important that it becomes more and more an event for different churches? To answer this question, I am reminded of an ancient African proverb that goes like this: ‘If you want to go fast, run alone. If you want to go far, do it together with others.’ Pope Francis himself in the encyclical ‘Laudato sì’ says, ‘We need a confrontation that unites us all, because the environmental challenge we are living, and its human roots, concern us and touch us all.’ We need to ‘unite the whole human family in the search for sustainable and integral development’.[1] We can only do this by coming together, seeking ever-closer collaboration and communion among the various Christian churches in the world. It’s been six years since the pope’s ‘Laudato si’’. Yet there is still a long way to go… Many other actions have been started and carried out, but much remains to be done. The task at hand may seem difficult, but we can still reverse some negative trends, adapt to minimize damage, restore crucial ecosystems and better protect what we have, starting with rethinking housing solutions and social mobility, sorted waste collection and in many other fields. But the road taken is the right one. And Pope Francis’ encyclical marks the point of no return. There is also a petition to sign. What does it include? It is an important opportunity that is offered to us to strongly ask world leaders to urgently commit to the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis. In fact, two very important events will be held soon: 11–24 October 2021, the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15), where world leaders will set significant goals to protect creation; and 31 October–12 November 2021, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), where countries will announce their plans to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Focolare Movement is a partner in the Laudato Si’ Movement. How does Focolare commit to ‘Season of Creation’? The Focolare Movement has always been committed to the environment. For the ‘Season of Creation’ in particular, it has participated and is participating in the initiatives of the Catholic Church, such as the Laudato Si’ action platform of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development (through the New Families Movement) and in events promoted by the Laudato Si’ Movement, formerly the Global Catholic Climate Movement, to which it adheres. In addition, the last General Assembly of the Focolare concluded in February 2021 and relaunched ecological changes for members and structures, with small, medium and large activities (such as financing international projects, and development partnerships with Action for New Families, United World Action, etc.). At the same time, there is an ongoing commitment by all Focolare members to divest from fossil fuels. Just this year, in fact, the youth of the movement committed to pathways entitled ‘DareToCare’. It’s a campaign that means to take charge, take an active interest and give importance to the most fragile, the planet, institutions, our city, our neighbours and the problems of our society. Last May, the NGO New Humanity was also accredited as an observer at the United Nations environmental governing body, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the United Nations agency that deals with all global environmental issues. New Humanity carries out its environmental protection activities in particular through the EcoOne cultural enterprise. In addition, I would like to mention the partnership created between the Focolare Movement and FaithInvest, an international organization that works to help religions develop long-term strategic plans for the environment. In the cultural and educational field, there are several conferences planned that are promoted by EcoOne. There is also EcoOne’s participation in the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) and projects in schools, such as the one recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education called ‘Giving to safeguard the environment’.
Lorenzo Russo
[1] Pope Francis, encyclical letter Laudato Si’, 13–14.
The pandemic is still ongoing, while the economic and social crises generated by it are worsening. The environmental situation in the world is dramatic and conflicts in some areas of the globe do not seem to diminish. And so, what can be done? For Chiara Lubich there is only one remedy: universal fraternity. To make humanity a single family and to do so by starting from the small, concrete, daily steps that each of us can take. In the face of the multiple difficulties in the relationships among people with such different mentalities, among peoples that are so different, cultures that are so distant from one another and religions distorted by the presence of extremists, there is only one remedy: universal brotherhood, to make humanity one family in which God is the Father and all people are brothers and sisters. How can this be done? Who is qualified for this task? There is no doubt about it: there is someone who also died for his ideal, but who then rose and made it possible for everyone. It’s Jesus. We must aim at bringing him back on earth, through us, by being another Christ, another incarnate Love, Holiness, Perfection, as he is. Now is the time in which to resolutely strive for perfection. But what does perfection consist in? Recently I re-read a paper on the spiritual life in which there were wonderful words of great Church Fathers and saints. Perhaps we already know these things, but it will be helpful to remember them now. All these eminent figures in the life of the Church agree that perfection consists in never stopping our growth, because whoever does not go forward, goes backward. And, considering that we are on a journey of love, perfection consists in always growing in charity. Let’s love, then and always love better, always better. How? By keeping before us our perfect model: … God who is Love. … St. Francis de Sales says: “St Francis de Sales says: “Whoever does not gain, loses; whoever does not ascend, descends; whoever does not win, is defeated”* We are struck by the radicalness demanded by love. But everything in God is radical. … Is it difficult? Is it easy? Try it and see. Give yourself to the will of God in each moment, to others, to the brother or sister you must love, while working, studying, praying or relaxing, while doing any activity. And we must continually improve in this: otherwise we will go backwards. To help us do this, we can say with every action, even the most simple and commonplace: “This is the most beautiful thing I can do in this moment.” … In this way we too will train ourselves for the task that awaits us and which is typically ours: universal fraternity.
Chiara Lubich
From “Conversazioni in collegamento telefonico” [Telephone link up conversations] Citta Nuova ed. p. 620 – Castel Gandolfo, 27 September 2001 * St Francesco di Sales, Trattato dell’amor di Dio, [Treatise on God’s love] III, 1, Città Nuova, Roma 2011, p. 222.
Loving first, selflessly, always, immediately and joyfully. This is an opportunity to incarnate the Art of Loving in our lives. It is from there that – as if drawn to it – fraternal communion springs forth, bringing new life and changing our world. Physiotherapists In the centre where I work, the number of requests decreased because of Covid, and many hours of the day were empty as a result. I obtained permission to help in a department of infected people. Other colleagues later followed my example. One day, one of them confided to us that his way of serving had never been so humane and engaging. “Only now have I realized what a gesture of solidarity means, a caress, even if you have gloves on. I feel like I’ve discovered a more human dimension to my work. I would like my children to do this service, because it is a real school of life.” (H., Czech Republic) Staying close When Pope Francis speaks of “closeness”, it seems to undo all the rules we have made for ourselves to live a certain way. For him, it’s all about the other person and our capacity to welcome them. I was talking about this once in the office. One of my colleagues was contrary to the idea, since according to her it is precisely this no-rules attitude that is ruining the Church. I listened to her, astonished and discouraged by how certain she was in condemning the pope, despite being an intelligent woman and, in her own way, a practicing Catholic. Since that day I avoided the subject, and whenever she would attack me with some article about the pope, I would try to deflect the conversation. The day before yesterday, on the phone, she told me that she couldn’t come to work because of problems with her anorexic daughter. As soon as I could, I went over. In fact, the girl’s life was at risk. My wife is a psychologist and, using various tricks, managed to spend time with her. Now the daughter is better, and she is often at our house. My colleague wrote me a message. “Now I understand what the pope means by the word ‘closeness’.” (C., France) I’ll go My elementary school teacher told us about a soldier, perhaps in the Alps, who was a bit exceptional: he would do any job, even the most unrewarding, saying to his superiors, “Vago mi” (I’ll go). This went on until “Vago mi” (as he was now nicknamed) never came back, killed in action. That death, the end of a life lived with altruism, struck my imagination as a child. I wished I could have been like him. In short, “Vago mi” became my model of someone who spends his life for others. And this was many years before I came across the one who gave his life for us and meaning to mine. (Joseph, Italy)
Edited by Lorenzo Russo
From “Il Vangelo del Giorno,” Città Nuova, year VII, n. 4, July–August 2021).
Prof. Sureshchandra Upadhyaya has recently passed away. Indian teacher and scholar, profound connoisseur of Hindu culture. He met Chiara Lubich in 2001. The face adorned with a white beard that reached his belt. A small man from whom clear and essential thoughts emanated. Prof. Sureshchandra Upadhyaya was a person with a vast culture and profound spirituality. He was an expert in Sanskrit and Hindu culture which he continued to study and spread also through his teaching activity. The meeting with Chiara Lubich and her charism in 2001 marked the beginning of a deep spiritual and intellectual friendship which included other Indian academics. Prof. Upadhyaya was a leading exponent of the “Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan” of Mumbai, the Institute of Indian Culture, present throughout India. He joined it in 1960 at the age of 28 as a Sanskrit teacher, then, in 1972, he was promoted to academic director and continued his career with great passion, guiding many students with their PhDs. He received numerous awards, including: the “Eminent Vedic Scholar” award of the University of Mumbai (India), the “Certificate of Honour” of the President of India, the “Eminent Sanskrit Scholar” award of the Government of Country and the “Best Teacher Award” of the Government of the Indian State of Maharashtra. On 5th January, 2001 in Coimbatore (India) in the hall of the Nani Kalai Arangam College, the award ceremony of the prestigious “Defender of Peace Award” to Chiara Lubich took place. There were 500 people present, mostly Hindus, a qualified audience including Prof. Upadhyaya. After listening to Chiara, he said, “As long as there are people like this, God is with us and one day the earth will become heaven. All faiths seek the truth and truth is nothing but love and peace as Chiara tells us ”. Another time he said: “Chiara Lubich tangibly reveals to me that God can be experienced through profound unconditional love. As soon as you love God, you also love yourself and others as God loves the whole of creation. As you spread your love, your experience of God deepens within you and overflows out of you. Loving then becomes your very nature, like the flowers that emanate their fragrance all around. Driven by love and compassion, it flows effortlessly, self-forgetful, like waves that dance in the divine ocean. Let us be inspired by Chiara’s commitment to live by loving one and all, to experience the presence of God inside and outside of us and to feel happy beyond all measure ”. On 12th August, 2021, Prof. Upadhyaya finally reached the bliss of “Ananda” (the pure state of joy and happiness) about which he often spoke.
A.M.A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ID42kDSgrY Here is the memory of Prof. Upadhyaya written by Roberto Catalano, professor of theology and practice of interreligious dialogue at the Sophia University Institute in Loppiano (Italy) http://whydontwedialogue.blogspot.com/2021/08/uppadhyaya-ji.html
Chiara Lubich reminds us that we are all called to dialogue. And if we spend parts of our day alone, we can do everything for the sake of our brothers and sisters, like true “apostles of dialogue”. … Each time we are in contact with one or more brothers or sisters, directly or indirectly, by means of a telephone call, a letter, a job carried out for their benefit or prayers said on their behalf, we all feel that we are involved in an unending dialogue, that we are called to dialogue. How? By being open to our brothers and sisters, by listening, empty of ourselves, to what they want, to what they say, to what worries them, to what they desire. Once we have done this, we give what is desired and what is appropriate. And if there are times and hours that I must dedicate to myself (eating, resting, dressing, and so on), I can try to do all these things in view of my brothers and sisters, always mindful of those who await my love. In this way and only in this way, by continually living the “spirituality of unity” or “of communion”, can I effectively contribute towards making my Church “a home and a school of communion”; I can further the unity of the Church with the faithful of other Churches or ecclesial Communities; and I can achieve, together with people of other religions or cultures, ever larger spaces of universal fraternity. … Let’s feel that we are “apostles of dialogue” and live accordingly. A 360 degree dialogue, certainly, but starting out on the right foot: by loving every neighbour we meet, and the measure of our love is the gift of our life.
Chiara Lubich
Taken from: “Conversazioni in collegamento telefonico” Citta Nuova ed. pag. 667, – 2004
A reflection by Anna and Alberto Friso. For decades they worked alongside Nedo in his generous and hugely competent commitment to serve the world of family life as a married focolarino. 
“Two driving ideas conditioned my life growing up: the need to consecrate myself totally to God and an instinctive creative love for beauty and art, combined with the unshakeable conviction that I would do something truly important with my life”. This is how Nedo Pozzi described his ambitious life-project, which he confided to us too during the almost forty years we shared at the Focolare’s international centre. Firstly we worked together in the field of “Family Life”. Then his distinctive gifts as a communicator, man of culture and of rare sensitivity, led to him being entrusted with other even more arduous and complex tasks. In 2000 he played a key role in developing a Focolare network (NetOne) for those active in the field of communications and media. Later, he was asked, with Vera Araujo, to coordinate the Focolare Movement’s dialogue with contemporary culture. Throughout this period, he wrote articles and books for Città Nuova publishing, he contributed research for Focolare founder Chiara Lubich’s public discourses, and delivered presentations at numerous international conventions. Nedo was born in Mantova, Italy on 6 July 1937 and grew up along the shores of Lake Maggiore. He never lost his capacity to dream bold dreams. At barely 20 years of age, he met Angela and thus began a passionate love story. Years later, at the many courses for engaged couples they animated, Nedo would candidly declare that quite obviously it was he and Angela who had invented falling in love! They got married early one morning with only 2 witnesses present. No need for expensive tastes, their wedding banquet was two sandwiches and a beer at Milan station! In this way their life’s adventure together joyously took off under the station’s arcades, which still today evoke the feeling of a cathedral in the world. All too soon, however, reality failed to live up to the dream and the first signs appeared of a crisis to threaten everything. At this point Nedo was introduced to Focolare by a married couple he knew. This proved to be the discovery of true Love, with a capital ‘L’. Love which gives of itself freely, a love composed of forgiveness, of living for the other person, a love with God at its root. From this moment on, the ideal of unity became the essence of their love for one another. They discovered how giving oneself to God and to their neighbors can open up the possibility for married people too to consecrate themselves to God. At separate times, both Nedo and Angela responded to the calling to become married focolarini. And this marked the fulfillment of the first of Nedo’s two yearning desires: to be all for God. He seemed to let go of his second passion – beauty, because he couldn’t imagine how to reconcile these two apparently contradictory callings. His life became a crescendo in love as he daily dedicated himself to others and humanity. He found himself called “directly and vitally to pay in person in each moment”, as he described it. And it was precisely through this process that Nedo’s thirst for beauty became satisfied, in the discovery that Beauty with a capital ‘B’ is hiding within every neighbor, be they famous or forsaken. All of us who have been fortunate enough to be around Nedo and penetrate, through his intuitive reflections, the mystery of his and our own life, can testify that in Nedo the profound contrasting passions which dominated his adolescence have truly been reconciled. With his departure on 12 August, 2021, after eight years of an illness which gradually eroded his intellectual and relational capabilities, we have lost a giant of wisdom and of charity, a man of profound faith and passionate openness to others. But we, like Angela and as their daughter Paola declared on behalf of siblings Pierpaolo and Daniela, will remember him as the tenderest spouse and father, loyal friend and an intellectual who lived and worked, as he himself said, to open up “a glimpse of the Absolute”.
Anna and Alberto Friso
formerly responsible for the New Families Movement
