Protecting minors is a civic obligation which is also finds it fulfilment in the utmost respect for human rights. It is an obligation, therefore, but one that is loaded with foresight, precisely because of the inestimable value it represents for the new generations. Upon reviewing the various articles of the El Salvador law which entered into force in 2011, the novelty stands out, with respect to the previous law which only highlighted the cases where this is missing, such as situations regarding survival, disability and abandonment. This new norm which refers to the guidelines of international laws provides for the protection of all children from their conception up to the age of 18, ensuring adequate opportunities for integral development and a life that reflects the standards of human dignity. As in many countries, also in El Salvador social phenomena that endanger these principles abound, precisely due to the typical vulnerability to which infants and adolescents are exposed. And as in any other place on the planet, also here the population is called to collaborate actively with the institutions to safeguard every human right, but especially those rights every child in the world is entitled to. In 2014, a Document drawn up by the Focolare “for the promotion of the wellbeing and protection of minors” had aroused in the Movement worldwide, a renewed awareness of this responsibility. Also due to this initiative, the El Salvadorean community of the Focolare is now giving its valid contribution to a widespread knowledge of children’s rights and of how we must act to promote their integral development and the psycho-physical-spiritual wellbeing of minors, while also denouncing certain hidden and subtle practices with which parents and educators involuntarily damage their harmonious growth. This action of the Focolare found support in the local Catholic Church which in turn encourages the associations to adopt all the means possible to help forestall any action that may infringe these rights. The Focolare’s training programme provides for a reading of the law in the light of evangelical love, in the perspective of concurring to form new generations that are increasingly aware and free to make their independent choices for values in life. This programme also includes the recent “ Up2meProject” created by the Focolare and adjusted to the various development phases. It is enthusiastic work carried out by adults, youth, adolescents and children, to open a dialogue on various themes that are ever more actual today.
Why are these words of Jesus so dear to us and why do they come back time and again in the Words of Life we choose each month? Perhaps it’s because they are the heart of the Gospel. They are what the Lord will ask us when in the end we find ourselves in front of him. On these words will hinge the most important exam of our lives; and we can get ready for it every single day. The Lord will ask whether we have given food and drink to whoever was hungry and thirsty, whether we have welcomed the stranger, whether we have clothed the naked, visited the sick and the prisoner… It is a question of little acts, which yet have the value of eternity. Nothing is small if done for love, if done for him. Jesus indeed did not just come close to the poor and marginalized; he healed the sick and comforted the suffering. But he loved them with a preferential love, to the point of calling them members of his family, of identifying himself with them in a mysterious solidarity. Today too Jesus is still present in whoever suffers injustice and violence, in whoever is looking for work or living in a risky situation, in whoever is forced to leave his or her homeland because of war. How many people are in pain around us for all sorts of other reasons and call out, even without words, for our help! They are Jesus who asks for concrete love, a love capable of inventing new ‘works of mercy’ in keeping with new needs. No one is excluded. If a person who is old or sick is Jesus, how can we not seek what could give the necessary relief? If I teach my language to an immigrant child, I teach Jesus. If I help my mother clean the house, I help Jesus. If I bring hope to a prisoner or consolation to someone who is afflicted or forgiveness to someone who has hurt me, I build a relationship with Jesus. And every time the fruit will be not only giving joy to the other person, but I too will feel a great joy. By giving we receive, we sense an inner fullness, we feel happy because, even though we do not know it, we have met Jesus. The other person, as Chiara Lubich wrote, is the archway we pass under to reach God. This is how she recalls the impact of this Word of Life from the first moments of her experience: The whole of our old way of thinking about our neighbours and loving them collapsed. If Christ was in some way in everyone, we could not discriminate, we could not have preferences. Our human notions that classified others were thrown up into the air: compatriot or foreigner, old or young, good-looking or ugly, nice or nasty, rich or poor, Christ was behind each one, Christ was in each one. And in reality each brother or sister was ‘another Christ’…. Living like this we realized that our neighbour was for us the path to God. Or rather, our brother or sister was like an archway that we had to go under to meet God. We experienced this from the earliest days. What union with God in the evening, when we prayed, or when we recollected ourselves after having loved him all day in our brothers and sisters! Who gave us that consolation, that inner union that was so new, so heavenly, if not Christ who lived the ‘give, and it will be given to you’ (Lk 6:38)of his Gospel? We had loved him all day in our brothers and sisters and here he was now loving us.’1 Fabio Ciardi 1 Chiara Lubich Scritti spirituali, vol. 4, (Rom3, 1995), 204-5.
“At the age of 19 I left my home in Abruzzi, Italy, to study aerospace engineering in Pisa. It was an exhausting but satisfying journey. In 5 years I finished the specialisation with honours and an internship in Germany that enriched my skill set even more. All of it thanks to the sacrifice and support of my family. After graduation I was anxious to find my place in the work world. But I had to deal with youth unemployment, which is 40% in our country, and with companies that at best offer only fixed-term contracts or consulting positions with quarterly or even semi-annual salaries. After a few months spent sending my resume in vain, I started thinking that maybe I had to apply to other areas of the industry. Or emigrate. But quite unexpectedly I received an offer from a company that represents Italy in the major European Consortium manufacturer of missiles and defence technologies. The idea of a real job in a major company like that was very tempting. After a successful telephone call I was invited to an interview with the technical staff. The environment was youthful and stimulating, serious and quite professional. Designing missiles didn’t really reflect my principles, but inside me I cradled the hope that I would be offered a job that wouldn’t involve me in the manufacturing of weapons. The interview went well. Just a week later, I was asked to sign a contract, it being understood that this was a job directly related to the production of missiles. I felt like my back was against the wall. On one side was a steady job with a permanent contract, a very good salary and possibility of a career. On the other side was my belief as a citizen, but first of all as a man committed to building a non-violent society based on respect for human rights, social justice, a correct balance amongst human needs, the natural environment and the use of resources. I’ve always believed in a society where the ambitions of a few don’t trample on the dignity and economic success of others, that they don’t make me forget that I am a human being. Things were further complicated by my colleagues from school who were pushing me to accept regardless of my moralizing, reaffirming their indisputable thesis that a 25 year old graduate cannot afford these days to refuse such a job with so many benefits. With a thousand arguments they were trying to put me in front of reality telling me how lucky I was and … irresponsible! Not least of all with this work I could relieve my family of their commitment and be able to support myself. Something else besides my conscience played a decisive role: the people who are closest to me, the family, my girlfriend and the Youth For A United World that I grew up with. They helped to mature in me the idea – which became clearer and clearer – that in order to build a supportive and non-violent society, you need to act concretely, paying personally and giving witness. This was my opportunity to do that. I told the company that I couldn’t accept their offer, clearly explaining my reasons. Naturally, it wasn’t an easy decision, especially since I didn’t have any other offers. But I didn’t let that stop me. I continued with my job search and in a few weeks I received other offers that led me to where I am now happily satisfied with my job as a civil aerospace engineer.” Source:Città NuovaSee also: Arms? No, thank you.
“Last March 13, the Ivory Coast and the entire world learned to their surprise that the seaside city of Grand-Bassam had been hard struck by unknown assailants and that it was difficult to know the number of victims,” write Jeanne Kabanga and Damase Djato from the Focolare in Abidjan. “One can imagine the slaughter with all the people that go there every week to rest on the shore in front of the hotel they call the star of the south. It is a place visited mostly by tourists of every provenance. Grand-Bassam had been the first capital of the Ivory Coasts and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Sight.”
Msgr Joseph Spiteri
On the same day, 180 people were together in Abidjan to underscore the timeliness of the message of Chiara Lubich who had been awarded the UNESCO Peace Education Prize in 196, and had died on March 18, 2008. Amongst the guests were the Apostolic Nunzio in the Ivory Coast, Archbishop Joseph Spiteri and Imam Diaria. Every year, at his invitation, the Focolare community takes part in the celebration of the Maouloud ( birthday of the Prophet). “From their words – and proceeding from the Chiara’s invitation to the political deciders to live the art of loving as a true therapy for out times – we rediscovered our common duty to exert ourselves with fidelity to love without distinction, to not get lost in fundamentalism, but to cultivate hope and mercy.” “Our tendency, instead,” the Nunzio pointed out, “is to put judgement before mercy,” whereas “if Muslim and Christians love one another,” the Imam insisted, “the world would be saved.” Young people at the event told of their efforts to collect signatures for peace: After they had carefully prepared quotes from Ghandi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Chiara Lubich and the Dalai Lama, they distributed them on the streets. “It wasn’t easy to approach the adults and present our project,” What moved everyone the most, were the testimonies of the little children because they were so concrete and showed their commitment in being “messengers of peace” in their own environments. “One day, at home,” Marie Lucie recounted, “my youngest sister hadn’t washed the dishes. So, at lunchtime we couldn’t eat. I had told her to do them, but she didn’t want to. I said to myself, if I washed them I would be doing an action of peace. That’s what I did, and we ate.” “At school,” Prince reported, “some of my friends were making fun of another boy who seemed weaker, insulting and beating. Another boy and I decided to intervene, speaking to them, telling them about the ideals of peace that we believe in and asking them to let him be.” They stopped and are now friends.” Within such a context, the presentation of the Economy of Communion which, in the Ivory Coast has already made some moves and turned out to be a possible antidote to the poverty and misery: small actions like Firmin’s teaching activity a quarter of Abidjan. And the signature campaign for peace brought out the personal commitment of each person. “It was only when we got home,” Jeanne and Damase continue, “that we learned from the television news about the attack in Grand-Bassam. After a day of listening to talk about peace and experiencing peace, we feel a clear call to be workers of peace, putting into practice what we learned and, above all, living peace within and amongst ourselves in order to give it to the people around us. It seems to us that this is the only way we will be able to give our contribution to defuse terrorism and every sort of hatred.”
“A providential circumstance led me to examining in depth the reality of Jesus who, after his abandonment and death on the cross, rose from the dead. Not only, but I had the opportunity to meditate intensely with my mind and heart on many details of Jesus’ resurrection and on his life after the resurrection. I was dumbfounded (this is the exact word) at the majesty, the magnificence that emanated from this divine event, by the uniqueness of the risen Lord, by this supernatural fact which, as far as I know, is unique in the world. For this reason, I cannot help but highlight it again this time. … The resurrection is what most characterizes Christianity, what distinguishes Jesus, its founder. The fact that he is risen! Risen from the dead! Not in the way that others rose, like Lazarus, for instance, who then, when his time came, died. Jesus is risen never to die again. He continues to live, also as a man, in heaven, in the heart of the Trinity. Five hundred people saw him! And he certainly wasn’t a ghost. It was him, really him. He told Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (Jn 20:27). He ate with his disciples; he spoke with them; he stayed with them for as long as forty days. He had renounced his infinite greatness out of love for us and he had made himself small, a man among men, like one of us. … In rising from the dead, he broke, he surpassed, all the laws of nature, of the entire cosmos and, by doing so, he showed that he is greater than all that exists, greater than all that he created, greater than all that can be imagined. Consequently, even if we have just an intuition of this truth, we cannot help but see him as God. We cannot help but do as Thomas did and fall down on our knees in adoration before him, confessing in all sincerity: “My Lord and my God.” … And I saw with new eyes what he did during those fabulous new days on earth. After an angel came down from heaven, overturned the stone of his sepulchre and announced his resurrection, the risen Lord appeared first of all to Mary Magdalene, the former sinner, because he had become man for sinners. Then we find him walking along the road to Emmaus. Great and immense as he was, he becomes the first exegete and explains the Scriptures to the two disciples. Then we see him as the founder of his Church, laying his hands on his disciples to give them the Holy Spirit; we hear him saying extraordinary words to Peter whom he places as the head of his Church. Then he sends the disciples into the world to announce the Gospel, the new Kingdom he founded in the name of the Most Holy Trinity from where he descended and to where, with his coming ascension, he will return. … And, because he is risen, the words he said to us before his death acquire unique brilliance and express indisputable truths. First and foremost, the words announcing the fact that we too will rise. I knew it and believed it before, because I am a Christian. But now I am doubly sure: I will rise, we will rise. …” Chiara Lubich, In unità verso il Padre, Città Nuova editrice, Roma 2004, p.102-105
“The tragic mystery of the death on the Cross, when even Heaven and earth darken in horror and tremble, was poured forth upon the poor women beneath that gibbet.” The Father had abandoned the Son; the Son had abandoned the Mother: Everything crumbled into horror and darkness. Only that woman remained standing, and she was entrusted with abandoned Humankind. Our destiny was in Her hands just as it was on that peaceful day when She spoke her first fiat. When the Father turned his gaze on those horrific hills that had become the pivot point of the universe, He saw Humankind clinging to that woman, under the gory and bloody sacrifice of the man-God. “Martyr, and more than a martyr,” says Saint Bernard. Beneath the Cross, Mary. We can truly say that Jesus somehow needed Her not only to be born, but also to die. She was there in that moment on the Cross when, abandoned by every person on earth, He felt abandoned by the Father in Heaven. Therefore, at the foot of the Cross he turned to the Mother: the Mother who had never deserted Him and who had triumphed over nature so as not to fall in that trial under which any woman would have crumbled. As Goethe seems to sense in Faust, on Calvary Mary and Jesus were joined in a “single suffering.” Then, when the Son had died, the Mother continued to suffer. The dead Jesus was placed upon her lap: more helpless than when He had been a child. A dead God on His Mother’s lap! Right then, yes, she was queen. Since Jesus recapitulated humanity, [He] was all humanity of all times – guarded on the lap of Mary, who in that desolation appears as the Mother and Queen of the human family that walks the paths of sorrow. Her greatness was equal with Her anguish. But as we see, Her regality was nothing but a primacy in suffering: the only way for her to be the closest one, immediately next to the Crucifix. If you think about Mary’s torment beneath the Cross, about the pain of the Mother upon the destruction of Her Son, willing victim of the sins of the world and of all the sufferings of all humankind, you can sense the immensity of the tragedy she endured, a cosmic tragedy. And you can measure our narrowness when we dedicate to her only a few sentences, a few brief prayers, a few gritty words . . . It seems to us a waste of time to meditate on, to weep over [it]: and we risk Eternity. Since inserting yourself into that suffering is to include yourself in the Redemption. Let’s take our place with her beneath the Cross, choosing the role of a victim over that of an executioner, embracing suffering over the charm of wealth, the Cross over vice: so that we can then be with Mary in bearing on [our] lap, the bloodless body of Jesus, the Mystical Body that persecutions bleed to death. Always, during the hours when the Church is being executed and Christ suffers in Christians, you see Her again, Mary gathering the lacerated body to Her bosom. And since Christ recapitulates Humanity, he identified with Humanity, so that the Church appears as Mary herself who gathers in the peoples in the midst of wars.” Igino Giordani, Maria modello perfetto, (Rome: Città Nuova, 2001), p.124-129.
At the beginning of the 1970s the world was already interconnected through “the irreversible encounters between peoples and civilisations the world over, that had been made possible through a veritable explosion of means of communication and massive technological development”. While highlighting the positive in all this, Chiara Lubich warned those young people that “today not everyone is well prepared for this encounter”, which was often destabilising because people realised their way of thinking was not the only one. She invited the young people not to confuse absolute values, those linked to what is Eternal, with their own mental structures. As people’s certainties were shattered, Chiara offered them a model to follow, a key that would open the doors to building a new world. “We may wonder how to live in this terrible present day when a mysterious earthquake seems to shake-up the noblest of values, like enormous skyscrapers that crumble and crash into one another. Is there a practical answer …, a sure means we can rely on so as to contribute to generating the world of the future? “Is there a type of global-person who has felt within them this terrible earthquake which threatens to destroy everything that was thought untouchable up to now? Is there someone who almost believed that absolute truth itself was leaving him to his own destiny, throwing him into the greatest confusion? Is there a global person who was able to overcome this terrible trial, paying for a new world which he found anew within himself and which he generated for others? Yes, such a person exists. But it is easy to understand this person couldn’t be merely a human being, but had to be the Human being: it’s Jesus forsaken. “His humanity, which was perfect, yet weak and subject to suffering and death, is the symbol of every human structure, which, within its limits has been able, throughout the centuries, to give humankind something unlimited, such as the truth. “On the cross, close to his physical death, and to his abandonment, which was his mystical death, Jesus experienced the destruction of all his humanity, of his being man; of his bodily structure, so to speak. At that moment, the Father mysteriously allowed that Jesus doubted even God’s presence within him, as though it had vanished. This is why he cried out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). “But since he is God, precisely in this cry, Jesus had the strength to overcome this infinite suffering. By so doing He gave his weak, mortal flesh the power of immortality, bringing his risen body into the heart of the immortal Trinity. Moreover, with this extraordinary act of accepting the most frightening destruction ever known to heaven or on earth, Jesus gave humankind the possibility of rising again in the next life, with the resurrection of the body, and rising again in this life with a spiritual resurrection – when we love Jesus Forsaken – from any death or destruction in which people might find themselves. “Jesus Forsaken … is the reliable leader for all young people in this century. When he is loved he offers those who follow him the spirit of truth, in the same way as he made the Holy Spirit descend upon the apostles after his death.” Chiara affirmed that “by following him they will find the strength not to fear any situation, but to face it with confidence. It is a confidence which knows that every human truth and the Truth itself, which is the Kingdom of Heaven, can find, also with their help, new mental structures on a worldwide level.” And she ended: “It is up to you to welcome him into your hearts like the most precious pearl that you can receive; for your spiritual life, for the peoples you represent here; but above all for that new world which must see all people united; for the new world which will be home not only to many peoples, but to the people of God”. Source: Chiara Lubich, Colloqui con i gen 1970-74, Citta’ Nuova, ed, 1999, pp 73-83.
“I’ve never been so close to the site of a terrorist attack. Nowadays we are somewhat accustomed to seeing such catastrophes everyday on the news but passing in front of the metro station only a few minutes before and thinking that it was so close by and not knowing exactly what to do is quite another thing. I’m a firm believer that a united world is possible. Through my commitment in New Humanity, but mostly through the small daily actions, I try to live and act in a spirit of fraternity that is also expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But, as the news came and the howling of sirens intensified outside my window, I was blown away. Okay, it was all so close by, but still what could I do? Stay put and respond to all the messages from friends and relatives who were asking for news? Should I take to the streets and go to help who knows who and how? Should I keep working as if nothing had occurred? It was surreal, and I found myself disoriented and helpless. It also made me question the meaning of it all. What could have moved them to push some young people like me to hate to the point of being ready to sacrifice their lives in order to kill so many defenseless passengers, chosen at random and pressed into a packed metro car? I wondered what crime I would had committed that I should have to die with them. I could not find any satisfactory answers in any of the theories I had learned at university in political science class. What did give me some light was the memory of the previous evening spent with several youth who are engaged in living the same commitment as me, and during that evening we had promised another time to be instruments of brotherhood and dialogue for the people around us. Trying to put aside my confusion, I realized that, in those moments, it was (almost) as if I was experiencing the war in my own skin, all the more reason to be a peacemaker beginning with the people who were with me at the moment. Colleagues, friends and acquaintances… in spite of the terror and shock, I slowly began to realize that I was not the only one to think so. Everybody – each in their own way we’re dealing with their emotions – none of them found words of hate for what had happened, but everyone was convinced that dialogue was the only way possible to respond to such insane acts. The words spoken by Chiara Lubich, founder of New Humanity and the Focolare Movement, when she was awarded the UNESCO Peace Education Prize in December 1996, seemed truer to me than ever. “Anybody who would like to clear today’s mountains of hatred and violence finds themselves in front of an immense and weighty task. But what is impossible to millions of isolated and divided individuals, seems possible once they make mutual love, mutual understanding and unity the essential activity of their life.”
“The orientation of the Gospel of St. John, and also the others, converge in the phrase which has lately taken on a deep and infinite meaning for me: “That they all be one, as you Father are in me and I in you, so that the world may believe.” (John 17,21). This is how we should live. […] These are the coordinates of the unity that is particularly dear to me: unity in our parishes, unity in the various services and ministries, unity between the clergy and the laity, and between presbyteries. Unity becomes credible only if it demonstrates that we are not the patrons, but that only He is the Lord. This unity in the context of priestly ministry is something I particularly hold dear. Likewise I must mention unity of the Church, unity with those who are outside the confines of our Roman-Catholic Church, unity among all those who identify themselves with faith in the only God, the Living God and, therefore, with the Jews and Muslims. That unity between the Church and society is where one does not run parallel to or contrast with the other, but where the Church and society enter into a mutual relationship, bringing to light that unity which God gives for leavening society, with that leaven which makes man free. It is unity that makes man fully man, since he can become man in the full sense only where God has the right to be fully God, and thus can endow us with all He wishes to give us. And He wants to give us nothing less than His intimate mystery: Trinitarian unity. But this is not a simple plan, since we do not progress much only with plans. Instead it has to become life […]. Also I have to start living this unity. It is due to this that I trust the fact that all of you dear brothers and sisters can help me, and that we can do so mutually.” Bishop Klaus Hemmerle Cited from: W. Hagemann, Klaus Hemmerle. Innamorato della Parola di Dio. (In love with the Word of God), Città Nuova ed., Roma 2013, pp. 337-338
“I’ve never been so close to the site of a terrorist attack. Nowadays we are somewhat accustomed to seeing such catastrophes everyday on the news but passing in front of the metro station only a few minutes before and thinking that it was so close by and not knowing exactly what to do is quite another thing. I’m a firm believer that a united world is possible. Through my commitment in New Humanity, but mostly through the small daily actions, I try to live and act in a spirit of fraternity that is also expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But, as the news came and the howling of sirens intensified outside my window, I was blown away. Okay, it was all so close by, but still what could I do? Stay put and respond to all the messages from friends and relatives who were asking for news? Should I take to the streets and go to help who knows who and how? Should I keep working as if nothing had occurred? It was surreal, and I found myself disoriented and helpless. It also made me question the meaning of it all. What could have moved them to push some young people like me to hate to the point of being ready to sacrifice their lives in order to kill so many defenseless passengers, chosen at random and pressed into a packed metro car? I wondered what crime I would had committed that I should have to die with them. I could not find any satisfactory answers in any of the theories I had learned at university in political science class. What did give me some light was the memory of the previous evening spent with several youth who are engaged in living the same commitment as me, and during that evening we had promised another time to be instruments of brotherhood and dialogue for the people around us. Trying to put aside my confusion, I realized that, in those moments, it was (almost) as if I was experiencing the war in my own skin, all the more reason to be a peacemaker beginning with the people who were with me at the moment. Colleagues, friends and acquaintances… in spite of the terror and shock, I slowly began to realize that I was not the only one to think so. Everybody – each in their own way we’re dealing with their emotions – none of them found words of hate for what had happened, but everyone was convinced that dialogue was the only way possible to respond to such insane acts. The words spoken by 