Living the Gospel: «Forgiveus our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors» (Mt 6:12)

Mar 22, 2022 | Non categorizzato

Is it really possible to imitate God our Father in a love that truly forgives? It’s most certainly not easy. However, what can prepare the way for us to reach this point is to have received what Pope Francis calls “the grace of shame” in our lives and the subsequent joy that comes from having been forgiven. It’s a mysterious pathway which Lent indicates to us so that at the end of it we can arrive at unexpected places. Healing wounds One day someone surprised me with a really sharp personal criticism, which I didn’t think I deserved. I was deeply hurt and the attack burnt inside me afterwards. I was tempted to cut that person out. I no longer wanted to have anything to do with them. But I realised this attitude was not coherent with my choice to live the Gospel. How could I heal this wound? I turned to Jesus, and immediately his words came to mind: “Don’t do to others what you would not wish them to do to you”. For days I practised this motto with everyone I met, including the person who had so insulted me. And I noticed something healing within me, replacing any bitter thoughts. I experienced that sense of relief which can only come through forgiveness. (R. – Italy) Unconditional love For quite a while my wife and I had been arguing more and more. Who knows why? The smallest trigger, a word out of place, a something which was nothing, and we’d start to raise our voices, dragging up old grudges. One of those evenings, when the atmosphere between us was truly electric, I noticed our nine year old daughter sitting on the stairs and apparently playing with paper aeroplanes.  She was smiling, as was our younger son. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves! That got my attention, so I picked up some of the paper planes and showed them to my wife. Close up we could see that each plane was decorated with little hearts and messages like “We love you lots”, “You’re the best parents in the world!”, “We want to hear you singing!”. As my wife read them, I saw tears running down her cheeks. We looked at each other, ashamed of ourselves. We hugged and promised to rediscover our “yes” of love pronounced years ago. (M. – Portugal) The first step From when I was a teenager, my father and I could never get on. My mother suffered a lot over this, but we could never find a way through. Until one time, when I was travelling away from home, I confided in a friend who was an active member of a Catholic movement. He said that in difficult situations he would ask himself the question: “If I don’t love that particular person, who can do it in my place?” I returned home with these words ringing powerfully in my ears. Surprisingly I began to recall many occasions in which I could have taken the initiative to show love to my parents but didn’t. To make up for this, I decided to start with small things, helping out in little ways which before I always avoided. Basically, I noticed something inside me change. Twenty years have passed since then and now I have my own children. I understand the importance of taking the first step, as if the other person’s happiness depended only on me. (R.T. – Hungary)

Edited by Maria Grazia Berretta

(from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, anno VIII, n.2, marzo-aprile 2022)

Chiara Lubich: Boundless mercy

Mar 21, 2022 | Non categorizzato

In the Our Father, Jesus invites us to ask God to forgive our debts as we too forgive our debtors. It is the Word of life that we try to put into practice during this month of March 2022. Our love for our brothers and sisters must be full of mercy, even to the point of forgiveness. Jesus says that we must always take the initiative so that harmony and fellowship are constantly maintained. Therefore, he urges us to live the commandment of love of neighbour in a radical way. In fact, he does not say: ‘if you remember having offended your brother or sister’, but rather, ‘if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you.’ For Jesus, the very fact that we remain indifferent about any disharmony with our neighbour – even if we ourselves are not responsible for this disunity – is already a reason for not being acceptable to God and, indeed, being rejected by him. Jesus wants to put us on our guard not only against serious outbursts of hatred toward others, but also against any expression or attitude that in some way denotes a lack of attention or love for our brothers and sisters. … We should try not to be superficial in our relationships, and instead search the innermost depths of our heart, to be sure that we have eliminated even the slightest attitude of indifference or lack of generosity, every attitude of superiority or any intentional neglect of others. In everyday life, we can make up for any rudeness or impatience with an apology or a friendly gesture. If at times this isn’t possible, what counts is to radically change our inner attitude. Any instinctive rejection of our neighbour needs to be replaced by an attitude of welcoming, of full and total acceptance of the other, of boundless mercy, forgiveness, willingness to share and attention to their needs. If we do this, we can offer God all the gifts we want. He will accept them and take them into account. Our relationship with him will grow deeper and we will experience true union with him, which is our happiness, both now and in the future.

Chiara Lubich

 (Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] Città Nuova, 2017, p. 283)

Dominican Republic: Open arms and open heart

Mar 17, 2022 | Non categorizzato

A cultural exchange project breaks down the barriers between Haitian migrants and the community of La Romana in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is a country in the middle of the Caribbean Sea that shares the territory of the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Historically, it has a cultural value for the entire American continent, since it was there that Christopher Columbus landed on his first voyage. Both countries share cultural and historical roots, but also have contrasts that have separated them for centuries. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Political instability and internal violence have caused thousands of people to migrate to other countries. Every year thousands of migrants cross the border from Haiti to the Dominican Republic in search of a better future, creating tensions between the two nations. “It is estimated that there are about 2 million Haitians in the Dominican Republic. They come mainly to work in the cultivation of sugar cane, because there are several sugar factories here, “says Modesto Herrera, a doctor who is part of the Focolare community in the Dominican Republic. Although there is mutual exchange between these neighbouring peoples, there are also latent tensions and discrimination against Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. One of the biggest barriers is language, because in the Dominican Republic the language is Spanish, while in Haiti Creole is spoken. A few years ago, the Focolare community of La Romana began a project that aims to create bonds of fraternity with Haitian migrants living in neighbouring cities. “We work in the parish where there is a “Batey”, a rural community of sugarcane workers, mainly made up of Haitians,” says Sandra Benitez, a businesswoman. Although many had never visited the Batey because it is a remote area of the city, a group of young people and other members of the community decided to break down the barrier that has divided them for years and began to visit it. They gradually discovered that the Haitian community needed to be integrated into society. La Romana is known for its textile industry. “We saw the potential of young people and decided to work in the textile sector,” says Cristian Salvador Roa, who teaches sewing to the Haitian community. He adds: “It gives me great satisfaction to see that young men no longer wasting their youth, but becoming productive and who start to make the most of their lives by doing something productive.” “The best testimony we can give is that, given the barrier of language, the barrier of social bias, when that barrier is broken, we discover the great wealth that can be found in a culture or that can be found in sharing our human condition with others,” concludes Concepción Serrano, an industrial engineer.

Clara Ramirez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeyGvKnZJAs&list=PL9YsVtizqrYsxCVExqFc_vvuzCKyNbr43&index=4

Chiara Lubich: only the Gospel

Mar 14, 2022 | Non categorizzato

Everything passes, even life. Only the Gospel will remain forever, since it is not subject to the passage of time. Today, 14 March 2022, 14 years after Chiara Lubich’s death, we publish this text in which she hands over the Gospel to those who follow her on the path of unity. It is an invitation to live the Word in all our daily activities.    A thought constantly comes to mind: “Leave only the Gospel to those who follow you. If you do so, the Ideal of unity will remain. It is obvious that in the time in which you and the others are living, there have been useful concepts, phrases, and slogans that have made the Gospel relevant and applicable in modern times, but these thoughts, these sayings, these almost ‘words of life’, will pass away. When unity among Christians is almost achieved, ecumenism will no longer be a distant goal. When a certain degree of unity has been reached in the world, there will no longer be talk of a global person as an ideal to be pursued. When the predominantly atheistic world is permeated by the reality of God, atheism will no longer be so prominent. The spirituality of unity itself, which is now a medicine for our times, once having achieved its purpose, it will be placed alongside all the others arising from the various charisms given by God to the Church down the centuries. What remains and will always remain is the Gospel, which does not suffer the passage of time: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt 24, 35). This means all of Jesus’ words. I feel that we must certainly adapt ourselves with all our might to the times in which we live, following the particular inspirations that God gives us to bring about and cultivate the kingdom of God in ourselves and in those entrusted to us. But we must do all this knowing that life is transitory, knowing that there is eternal Life announced by Jesus in his Gospel. We must put in second place in our hearts all ideas and ways of doing things that are useful but not purely evangelical, and constantly renew our faith in the Gospel, which does not pass away.

Chiara Lubich

(Chiara Lubich, in La Parola di Dio, [The Word of God] Città Nuova 2011, pp. 112-113)

Vatican Council II and the charism at the service of unity

Mar 12, 2022 | Non categorizzato

Concluding on day two in the splendid setting of Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio with day one at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy was the conference entitled “Vatican Council II and Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity”.  With topics ranging from synodality to the commitment to peace and dialogue between individuals and peoples, the event forms part of an extraordinarily topical debate. The great wave of new ecclesial movements which reached a peak under the pontificate of John Paul II certainly originated in the pre-conciliar period. It subsequently found its raison d’être in the Vatican Council, in particular by the value it gave to the Catholic laity, redefining the Church’s presence in the world (Lumen Gentium) and highlighting the centrality of the Word shared in communion (Dei Verbum). The post-conciliar period then saw a qualitative and quantitative explosion of those movements, valued in their inception and developed by Paul VI then applauded and supported by the Polish pope with his magisterium. A story of unity and distinction, particularly in the Church of the second half of the 20th century, which found its maturest expression in the charism of Chiara Lubich, a charism at the service of unity within the Church and of humanity. Testifying to the relevance of the charism at the service of unity, in the complex and at times convulsive moments we are living, the conference was part of the great movement of solidarity with victims of the war in Ukraine and with all people of peace who are working in Ukraine and Russia, Europe and Asia, everywhere. Councillor Alessandro Martini reminded us of this on a day when Florence was hosting an international demonstration for peace. For these reasons, since the Focolare Movement appears to be the first and most widespread ecclesial movement of the conciliar period, an international conference was organised by the Sophia University Institute and the Chiara Lubich Centre to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder which then had to be postponed twice due to the pandemic. The title was: “The Second Vatican Council and Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity: Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium“. The venue was the Theological Faculty of Central Italy in Florence on 11 March and the Salone dei Cinquecento at the Palazzo Vecchio on 12 March. The conference was sponsored by the Comune di Firenze, with participation from the Italian Theological Association, the Theological Faculty of Central Italy (FTIC), the Paul VI Institute, the Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre, Città Nuova, the Abbà School and of course the Focolare Movement. The scientific committee was composed of Alessandro Clemenzia (FTIC), Piero Coda (Sophia University Institute), Florence Gillet, João Manoel Motta and Alba Sgariglia from the Chiara Lubich Centre. At the Vatican Council’s closing ceremony, in November 1965, Chiara Lubich summarised in a meaningful prayer what is perhaps the Council’s most striking note, the Church born from the presence of Jesus among his own: “Oh Holy Spirit, make us become, through what you have already suggested in the Council, a living Church: this is our only desire from which everything else will follow”. It is in this spirit that the conference set itself the goal of launching an detailed investigation aimed at understanding, on the one hand, whether and how the Council’s message found a fruitful place of interpretation and development in the experience brought about by the charism at the service of unity; and, on the other hand, whether and how the flowering of ecclesial life promoted by the charism of unity were made possible and propitiated by horizons opened up by Vatican II. Attention was centred in the first stage on Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium, in order to bring into focus the convergent profiles and the contributions of conciliar doctrine and the inspiration of the charism of unity around the crucial link whereby the Church is born and grows as the historical incarnation, in the breath of the Spirit, of the Word that “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). The conference programme was particularly dense, as often happens when it is the result of serious work of conception and preparation. A river of words that, little by little, took on their full meaning, thanks to the wide-ranging contributions of the scholars. On the first day, Piero Coda, former Dean of the Sophia University Institute spoke on the theme “A chronological and kairological coincidence: a council and a charism. Towards a theological discernment of the correlation between Vatican II and the charism of unity”), Paolo Siniscalco of the University La Sapienza of Rome (“Chiara Lubich at the time of Vatican II”) and the Istrian-Pisan theologian Severino Dianich (“The event of Vatican Council II event: sacrament…of the unity of the whole human race”). Coda highlighted how the charism at the service of unity has made a very decisive contribution to Church history by way of communion based on the crucified, abandoned and risen Christ. Siniscalco, for his part, wisely and with historical accuracy retraced the various stages of Chiara Lubich’s existential adventure before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council. Dianich, on the other hand, with his characteristic clarity and frankness, gave an interpretation of Vatican II as the cradle for a more secular and communitarian reinterpretation of the Gospel. On Saturday 12th, the conference moved to a civic setting after the first session took place in an ecclesial setting, as if to reaffirm the charism’s double operational worthiness at the service of unity. In the prestigious venue of Palazzo Vecchio, in the Sala dei Cinquecento, where a number of Focolare meetings have been held since 1964, and where Chiara Lubich herself received honorary citizenship of Florence in 2000, the current President of the Focolare, Margaret Karram, opened the meeting, stressing the importance of Florence as the venue, in memory of Giorgio La Pira, the saintly mayor, a man of peace and the “living Church”. Back in 1974 Chiara Lubich with Cardinal Benelli founded the Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre named after him, thus creating and inseparable link between his name and the city on the river Arno. Florence as a city of peace, therefore, with special ties with the Middle East from which Margaret Karram originates as a Palestinian with an Israeli passport. “We work to weave relationships of peace everywhere, the most precious good that humanity can have”, said the president of the Focolare Movement. She was echoed by Card. Cardinal Giuseppe Betori who was absent for health reasons but who said in his message: “The experience of dialogue, at all levels, that characterised Chiara Lubich’s life, was based on an evangelical intuition about the relationship between interiority and exteriority, where relationship with the other was the causal and consequential extension of intimate union with God”. As the conference continued in Palazzo Vecchio, Vincenzo Di Pilato (FTP), commenting on Dei Verbum, addressed the theme: “The alphabet to know Christ. The Word of God, a permanent event of salvation in Dei Verbum“. Florence Gillet, from the Chiara Lubich Centre, dealt with a theme on the borderline between history and ecclesiology: ‘The Word of God in Chiara Lubich: the living presence of Christ that generates Church’. This was followed by a round table with Giovanna Porrino (IUS) on “The Word in the life of the Church”, Declan O’Byrne (IUS), “The Word and the Spirit”, Angelo Maffeis (FTIS) on “The Word of God as a principle of unity” and with the evangelical theologian Stefan Tobler (USBL) on “A mysticism of the Word as the way to ecumenism”. This was followed by the third and final session of the conference, dedicated to Lumen Gentium, with an eagerly awaited talk by Bishop Brendan Leahy (Bishop of Limerick, Ireland) on “The Church and the Marian Principle”. The following round table saw interventions from Alessandro Clemenzia (FTIC / IUS), “The Church from the Trinity”, Assunta Steccanella (FTT/TV), “The Messianic People”, Erio Castellucci, Bishop of Modena-Nonantola and Vice-President CEI, “Episcopal Collegiality and Synodality of the Church” and Cristiana Dobner (Discalced Carmelite), “The Charisms in the Mission of the Church”. Finally, the theologian Yvonne Dohna Schlobitten of the Gregorian University spoke on the theme of “An icon of Vatican II ecclesiology”. On 11 and 12 March, the Sala dei Cinquecento, full of warlike symbols in the large paintings on the walls, heard words of peace from La Pira, Bargellini and Lubich, and thus hosted an event that showed how the Church and civil society can bear witness to communion and dialogue, stimulating politics to make peace and peace-building its own goal.

Michele Zanzucchi

At the birthplace of Chiara Luce Badano

Mar 10, 2022 | Non categorizzato

On 6–7 March 2022 Focolare’s president and co-president were in Sassello, Italy, the birthplace of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano in the province of Savona. It was an intimate, personal meeting with Chiara Luce and the foundation that protects and promotes her memory. Things change after you visit Sassello. The young Chiara Luce can certainly be known through books, documentaries or her massive presence on social media. But if you are lucky enough to go to Sassello, everything changes. This is because at the cemetery, or through her mother Maria Teresa and friends, the relationship with her immediately takes on a personal quality. That is exactly what happened on 6–7 March to Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán when they went there. It was one of the first off-site trips by the Focolare president and co-president, one year after the General Assembly that elected them. This private visit came from a desire to know Chiara Luce, but not just that. “During these days I understood the extraordinary nature of Chiara Luce, the roots of her holiness,” commented the president, who was able to embrace Maria Teresa Badano, meet the Bishop of Acqui Mons. Luigi Testore and meet members of the Chiara Badano Foundation. These were important days, with an atmosphere of growing affection, dialogue and sharing. It was a time to rebuild relationships of trust, collaboration and take a look together at numerous challenges and future projects. It was a brief visit, marked by precious anecdotes from Maria Teresa, who recalled pieces of Chiara Luce’s daily life, such as her constant and total openness to welcome anyone who came to visit her – right up to the last days of her life. At the cemetery, meeting Chiara Luce face to face, “we entrusted to her, first of all, peace in Ukraine and in the many places where conflicts are not in the media spotlight,” said Jesús Morán,  “and then all young people, for whom she is an extraordinary and extremely necessary model, today more than ever.”

Stefania Tanesini

The thread that unites: a Council and a Charism

Mar 9, 2022 | Non categorizzato

On 11^th -12^th  March 2022, a Conference entitled “The Second Vatican Council and the charism of the Unity of Chiara Lubich” will be held in the heart of Florence (Italy). It is being jointly organized by the Chiara Lubich Center and the Sophia University Institute and can be followed via live streaming in Italian and English. On 11^th-12^th  March 2022, Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, will host a Conference entitled The Second Vatican Council and the Charism of Unity of Chiara Lubich. Starting with a careful analysis of the conciliar event, the aim is to go to the heart of this itinerary, a moment, that was fixed in history and continued over time. They will be two full days that, thanks to the presence of numerous personalities and experts, will open up a journey of investigation and study, outlining the vital link between the charism of the foundress of the Focolare and Vatican II. There will be three important sessions: A chronological and kairological coincidence: a Council and a charism; The Word becomes Church; The Church becomes Word. Vincenzo Di Pilato, Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Puglia,  and Florence Gillet of the Chiara Lubich Center, theologian and expert on the founder of the Focolare, are speakers at this Conference. We asked them about the event. Prof. Di Pilato, what, in particular, will this Conference highlight ? Originally, the conference was part of the centenary celebrations for the birth of Chiara Lubich (1920-2020). However, due to the global health emergency it was postponed until now. The objective was and remains, to probe the productive reciprocity between the charism of unity and the two Constitutions promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, on the Revelation of God and on the Church: Dei Verbum and Lumen gentium. How much have the two documents found a fertile place of interpretation and development in the ecclesial experience aroused by the charism of unity? And vice versa: how much was the flowering of ecclesial life promoted by the charism of unity made possible precisely by the horizon opened by the extraordinary event of the Council? These are the basic questions that will accompany the dialogue between the participants. It should be remembered, however, that it was Vatican II who reiterated this essential unity between hierarchical gifts and charismatic gifts (cf. Lumen gentium, no. 4). Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI went so far as to speak of the “coessentiality” of these gifts, while recently Pope Francis stressed how the action of the Holy Spirit produces “harmony” between the different gifts, recalling charismatic aggregations to missionary openness and synodality. Dr. Gillet, what questions led you to organize this conference? One may wonder if it is too daring to parallel two such different events. What relationship could there be between an ecumenical Council that saw 3,000 bishops and great theologians intervene with prophetic visions for the Church and a charism given to a young woman twenty years earlier, from which a worldwide Movement was born? To answer this, let us first note the harmony in their origin: the Holy Spirit who wanted to speak to the world on the threshold of the third millennium. Then these are two ongoing events that must increasingly fertilize each other: the Second Vatican Council has not yet been fully received, even if its reception is now significantly in progress in the synodal process desired by Pope Francis. The Holy Spirit still has surprises in store. The charism of unity has also yet to reveal all its potential. It must be translated into life in the people of God. In short, it is only at the beginning as the Pope also said during his visit to Loppiano in 2018. Prof. Di Pilato, how can we reread Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity in the light of what is happening in the world today? If the pandemic seemed to be the deadly context in which the conference should initially have been held, the decision to postpone it suddenly catapulted us into another, no less dramatic scenario. In this sense, the paradigmatic experience of Chiara Lubich and her first companions in Trento, during the Second World War, offers us a key to interpreting the conference. Everyone is aware of the role that the Word of God assumed for those young women at a time marked by the collapse of the ideals with which they had grown up. The light that emerged from the pages of that little book of the Gospel that they carried with them during the bombings, guided them to heal physical and existential wounds, to inspire millions of people in the world and to involve them in the realization of God’s dream: universal brotherhood, “that all may be one”. And it was the Word of God translated into social commitment on behalf of the poor and the most needy that generated a living Church, as their Bishop of that time was able to confirm, with amazement and great joy. Even today, while everything seems to collapse again under the blows of a short-sighted and forgetful policy, there is nothing left in our hands but the Word of Life, the only thing capable of regenerating the Church. And it is on this witness of life that the Church can become for the whole world, an authoritative Word of peace and unity. To follow the event via live streaming: https://live.focolare.org/firenze2022.

Maria Grazia Berretta

Press Release Program bochure

Chiara Lubich: the beauty of Christianity

Mar 7, 2022 | Non categorizzato

The Word of Life for March 2022 invites us to put into practice a phrase we recite every day in the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. But how can we forgive? Forgive. Always forgive. Forgiveness is not forgetfulness, which often means reluctance to face a situation. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness, whereby we ignore an injustice we have suffered out of fear of the stronger person who committed it. Forgiveness does not mean saying that something serious is just a trifle or that something evil is good. Forgiveness is not indifference. Forgiveness is a conscious act of will, and therefore, a free act. It consists in accepting our neighbours as they are, despite the wrong done to us, just as God accepts us sinners, despite our faults. Forgiveness consists in not responding to an injury with another injury, but in doing what Paul says: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”^[1] Forgiveness consists in offering the person who has wronged you the opportunity of a new relationship with you. It makes it possible for both of you to start over again and to experience a future in which evil does not have the last word. … You should act this way, first of all, towards those who share your faith – in your family, at work, at school, or in your community, if you belong to one. And you know that even people who live in the same household often hurt one another because of differences in personality, nervous tension, or other causes. Therefore, you must remember that only a constantly renewed attitude of forgiveness can maintain peace and unity among everyone. You will always tend to think about other people’s faults, to remember their past, to wish they were different from the way they are. Instead, you should develop the habit of seeing them with new eyes, of seeing them as new people, accepting them always and immediately and just as they are, even if they do not repent or change. You may say: “But that’s hard!” And you are right. However, this is the beauty of Christianity. In fact, it is not by chance that are you following a God who, as he was dying on the cross, asked his Father to forgive those who had caused his death. Take heart! Start living like this. I assure you that you will experience peace and joy that you have never known before.

Chiara Lubich

(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] Città Nuova, 2017, pp. 218-219)  [1]     Rom 12:21.

Next door

Mar 4, 2022 | Non categorizzato

Living next door to one another and being strangers. This is what often  happens. All it takes is courage and  simple actions to begin to really get to know one another.  This is what the Scariolo family did. “Meeting other people  is  mutually enriching –  beyond cultures, religions and ideologies. When we do this, we discover that the other person was created as a gift of love for us and we for them.” These are the words used by Adriana and Francesco Scariolo, Swiss focolarini, who have been married for 42 years, to describe a particularly enriching experience they had a few months ago. “We live in Canton Ticino, in the Italian part of Switzerland, and for a year and a half we have been living in a building that consists of thirteen flats. In the days leading up to Christmas 2021, we thought we could  go door-to-door to share Christmas greetings. The surprise and gratitude of all the neighbours was great: ‘I was the first tenant to come to live in this building and this has never happened before – it’s the first time someone has come to wish us well at Christmas,’ said one of them. ‘We are Muslims, but we want to wish you a Merry Christmas too,’ added another. We also distributed an invitation to everyone to celebrate the end of the year in our home and to wish them a Happy 2022. So on 29 December we held an aperitif-dinner with three families, one Muslim and two Christian, one Evangelical and one Catholic, respecting safety regulations and wearing masks. It was a nice occasion when everyone got to know one other quite spontaneously. ‘It’s good to know that there are neighbours to help out, to say hello to,’ said the husband of the Muslim woman. ‘It makes us feel less alone.’” Is this something you have done before? “Yes, it’s not the first time we’ve tried to create relationships with other people in  apartment blocks. It all started many years ago when we heard about the ‘neighbours’ party’, an initiative proposed to give people a chance to meet each other. We realised that we also needed a bit of courage and imagination to do our part, so we tried. The first thing we did was to take advantage of the new year and put a greeting card in the letter boxes, then, depending on people’s reaction and by  making more friends, we organised a lunch in the garden all together before the summer. Then we left that block of flats for a 7-year volunteer programme working abroad.  When we came back, since we are in this new building, we wanted to keep up the tradition.” What surprised you about their reactions? “Seeing their smiling faces. They didn’t expect it, especially in such a sensitive period because of the pandemic. It also seemed like a gift to be able to end the last days of 2021 with a moment of socialising after so much isolation, a sign that gives hope and does not dampen the desire to love others and build fraternal relationships. On 2 January 2022, we were waiting for other families who had said they would like to come to us. Due to the social distancing, it was not possible to host them at the same time as the others. Some were affected by covid and therefore could not come, but the dinner with them is only postponed until better times.” What does it mean for you to meet your brother or sister? “It means reaching out to today’s humanity through simple, everyday gestures of love. For example, helping the neighbour who sometimes has problems with the TV, listening to the couple who have just had a baby, breaking down the walls of indifference  and anonymity that the pandemic has increased because they are obstacles to relationships. Jesus’ phrase “Whatever you do to one of my least brothers, you do to me” challenges us. So every neighbour is really the person God puts next to us to be welcomed and loved. And who is closer than our neighbours?”

Maria Grazia Berretta