They come from the most varied backgrounds, lands and cultures: Albania, Ukraine, Georgia, Morocco, Senegal, Romania, Nigeria and Belarus. Like many of their fellow countrymen and women they are leaving behind dramatic situations, as well as their loved ones in the hope of finding work and a better future for their lives.
They have landed in Acquaviva delle Fonti, a town of the Bari province which, like other southern Italian towns, has become the destination or crossing point for many who are dreaming of a better life. The Focolare community here has for some time felt summoned by their presence: “We had it in our hearts,” they write, “to see to it that these many foreigners/immigrants would feel welcomed in our city.” Personal relationships were established, bonds of friendship that overcame barriers and mistrust. “Three years ago,” they say, “we decided to organize a festival that we could all share during the Christmas season, so they could breathe in a bit of family atmosphere instead of the loneliness and marginalization that many unfortunately experience.” Our friendship became deeper and deeper.And now the Christmas festival has become an annual tradition. In what we call the ‘festival of the people’ our friends now feel free enough to extend the invitation to other foreign friends, and we are more than happy to welcome them.”
This year fifty people of all ages and religious backgrounds attended: “The family atmosphere that had been established in previous years was immediately renewed. Spontaneously people began sharing experiences about the journeyand arrival in Italy, putting in common both the sufferings and the joys.”
The proposal to live the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – as a basis uponwhich to build universal brotherhood and as a common point we could all share even amidst the diversity of our religious beliefs was immediately accepted by all because we had already experienced how “mutual love demolishes every distance. At the buffet which was served in the evening, alongside dishes that were prepared by the local community, there were also dishes from a variety of other countries that our friends had prepared. What gave everyone the most joy that evening was certainly the fact that we had experienced what it means to be a family.”
At the end of the evening, Abdul from Senegal invited some people from the community to take part in a prayer meeting in a neighbouring town: “Great was his joy and surprise when he saw us arriving. There were 200 Senegal Muslims there, barefoot and seated on prayer rugs, reading the Koran. Abdul introduced us to his spiritual leader and, then, two days later he was again deeply moved as he thanked us for our visit.”
Another concrete gesture was the opening of a listening booth that is carried ahead by the entire community in order to identify people’s needs and to provide expertise, offering Italian lessons to children and their parents, for example, or assistance in resolvingbureaucratic problems, finding medical treatments, and so on.
“This experience of family,” they conclude, “and the fruits that have grown from it make us certain that a united world is no utopia, but a reality already very much alive amongst us.”
A young Turkish man named Fathi, living in Basel , intoned Surah 134 of the Koran: “And Allah loves the doers of good!” With these words he took everyone right to the heart of the day’s message: love for neighour. Imam Muhammed Tas, also fromBasel, told of his weeklong ski holiday with parish priest Ruedii Beck and two others: “Together we cooked for each other. We saw where it was most comfortable for each other in the apartment, for our prayer. We were like a family where you learn from each other. Thanks to these friends I learned to ski much better. In Autumn we plan to have another holiday together, this time inTurkey.”
Abdul Jabbar Koubaisy, vice-president of the Muslim League in Poland, also expressed his admiration of the following Muslim saying: “Anyone who does not know how to thank God’s creatures will neither be able to thank their Creator.” Paul Lemarie from the Focolare Movement’s International Centre for Inter-religious Dialogue told about a Mariapolis in Macedonia with 35 Catholics, just as many Muslims and a dozen Orthodox Christians. Finally, a young Catholic woman offered her following testimony: “This gathering has deeply changed me. Up until now I only took my own faith into account and refused all the others: atheists, Muslims, even Orthodox Christians. Now I understand: God let’s his Sun rise on everyone.”
The focus of the dialogue on June 23rd in Baar was the experience of community that is already possible when there is respect for the diversity. As a way of delving into this topic Imam Mohammed Tas introduced a video recording of a talk given by Chiara Lubich in 2002 at the congress for Muslim Friends of the Focolare Movement in Castelgandolfo, Italy. “Love is quite an important thing in our religion,” Tas emphasised. “If a person doesn’t love, it means that he or she has a problem in their heart . . . Thirteenth century Muslim poet Yunus Emore, states: ‘I love you for love of the Creator!’ With these words he expresses the deepest love that can exist in a human being.”
And speaking with the words of Chiara Lubich: “What is needed is love for neighbour, that love that you find in many different religious environments, in forms of mercy, benevolence, compassion, or solidarity. Love of neighbour which, for us Christians, isn’t merely a human sentiment, but enriched by a divine spark, is called agape, love of a supernatural origin.”
There followed in the afternoon a period of prayer in different locations according to religions and then group meetings for a deep and enriching sharing on the art of loving, forgiveness and the Golden Rule. Imam Mustafa Oezturk, president of the association that groups the most mosques inSwitzerland, stated in his final remarks: “We’re learning a new grammar here. The traditional one begins with the word “me,” then comes “you” and then, lastly, “him” or “her.” But the grammar of love for neighbor begins with the word “you” and then comes “I” or “me.” And “He” or “She” possess a right that must always be respected; that you only speak well of them.”
“This is an invitation to be with the Pope as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus.” “We willingly and joyfully respond to this invitation.” Wherever the Church is, that is where we must be. The WYD broadens your horizons. It changes you and helps you grow in the faith. And so we are strengthened in our daily difficulties: at school, at work, at home and so on. The WYD leaves a permanent mark in the hearts of all the youths who’ve ever attended one, and we are certain that the same will happen here as well.” The speakers are Maria and Leandro, two young people from the Focolare in Rio de Janeiro. They are on location and actively involved in the preparations of this grand world event, but they express a commitment that involves the Focolare in various ways around the world.
What awaits the pilgrims who will be there on July 22-28? There are five main events planned for this pilgrimage:
July 23: The World Youth Day Opening Mass in Copacabana.
July 25: Welcoming Ceremony with the Pope on the shores of Copacabana, first encounter between Pope Francis and the millions of young people from five continents.
July 26: Way of the Cross in Copacabanapresided by the Pope in the main park. The fourteen stations will retrace the path of Jesus with readings based on the great problems of today’s youth.
July 27: Prayer Vigil with the Pope at the Fidei di Guaratiba Campus. Among the fifty artistic groups that will animate this prayer vigil, there will also be the Gen Rosso international band that will present its musical “Streetlight” involving two-hundred youths from the Fazenda da Esperanca and other communities. Gen Rosso has been on tour in Brazil since May 2013: seven cities and more than a thousand youths have been involved on stage, in the presentation of the show to another ten thousand spectators.
July 28: The “sending out” Mass at ten o’clock, celebrated by the Holy Father, marking the end of the World Youth Day and announcing the location of the next WYD.
WYD week will be filled with many other events: the Vocations Fair where the Youth for a United World will also have a stand, along with many others who will be gathered together at the Youth Festival with a variety of presentations expressing their willingness to share the way they live the faith.
Among the more than three-hundred official events, on July 24 there will be a show presentation on “The Life of Chiara Luce,” the young Italian who was recently beatified and is one of the “intercessors” of WYD. The show has been put together by young people from the Focolare in Rio together with friends from other Catholic Movements, other Christian Churches and others who do not know much about Christianity. There is even a young Buddhist girl. They see the show as an opportunity to acquaint the WYD participants with the experience of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano who shortly before dying wrote: “The youth are the future. I can’t run anymore, but I’d like to pass my witness on to them, like in the Olympics. You have only one life, it’s worth it to spend it well.” Cidade Novahas published Franz Coriasco’s book on Chiara Luce (“Dai tettin in giu”) in collaboration with Aid to the Church in Need. Five-hundred-thousand copies will be distributed to the young people at WYD. On July 25 a prayer vigil and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be animated by the young people of the Focolare.
Pope Francis has many other activities scheduled for Brazil besides WYD. Among there is a visit to the Shrine of Aparecida; inauguration of the Integrated Care Campus at São Francisco da Tijuca Hospital, a center specializing in addiction recovery which is one of the main social focuses of the Rio WYD; a visit to a favela in northern Rio with the Varginha Community.
For more information on Gen Rosso in Brazil:
show at Aparecida with young people from the Fazenda da Esperança
Rede Globo (World network) presentation on the “Strong without violence” project
The critical issues of four contents were discussed in a rich exchange of views. The situation in Asia was presented by Andrew Reception, a Filippino who is president of the Association of Catholic Missiologists. In a continent where 52.8% of the world’s population lives and only 13.2% are Christian, the main challenge of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, which is unknown by the majority. This is carried out by means of cultural dialogue, which makes the local Church effectively present in the life of the people, and by means of dialogue with the great Asian religions, and work with the poor in solidarity with their struggle for a world that is more human.
A voice from another continent was heard from Martin Nizigiyimana, a Rwandan priest. He explained the current condition of the Church in Africa from a historical perspective ‘understanding even painful events as a growth crisis, which demands humility and cooperation to take responsibility in history for the kingdom of God in the world.’ In this context the Church is called to serve reconciliation, justice and peace. Africa is known for its problems, but now there is a new way of looking at the continent, suggested by Benedict XVI during the 2009 synod, which sees Africa as ‘an immense spiritual “lung” for humanity that seems to be in the midst of a crisis of faith and hope.’ In support of this there were three significant testimonies from the Focolare Movement in Africa: the work carried out as part of the new evangelization at Fontem in Cameroon, the school for inculturation at Nairobi in Kenya and the witness given by the permanent Mariapolis at Man in the Ivory Coast during the civil war.
From Latin America, linked via Skype from Buenos Aires, José Maria Poirier, the editor of the journal Criterio, offered an understanding of Cardinal Bergoglio before his election as pope: ‘He had a low media profile and was attentive to personal relationships. He was used to being in a position of responsibility and yet he constructed extremely fraternal relationships with both the clergy and laypeople. He had a culture of encounter and hence of dialogue.’ As insights into how his papacy would proceed, Poirier said, ‘Zero tolerance for abuse, clarity on the economy and Vatican finances, a change of style for the Roman Curia, inclination to build pastoral relations between the pope and the world’s bishops, concern for the poor, the people at the bottom of the pile, those who suffer as a result of social unrest.’
There were three interesting voices from European countries: Germany, Spain and Ireland each of with is going through challenging times in Church-State relations, particularly as regards the Roman Catholic Church. Christian Hennecke, head of pastoral mission in the north German diocese of Hildesheim, emphasized the economic difficulties, the need for growth in faith, the fall in numbers for all vocations. But it is precisely in this situation that new and promising ways of being Church are emerging. Hennecke said that among the ways ahead, which are a fruit of shared experience by Catholics and Protestants, there is a move to reinforce the Word of God lived in community.
But what is happening to the Church in Spain? asked Manuel Bru, a journalist and priest from Madrid. He too saw some significant points: the decrease in the Church’s public role, where laws are passed contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine; numerical decline, even among Movements; the abandoning of religious practice by young people and women; the loss of enthusiasm, and a feeling of weariness, among priests. How can the Church in Spain be better served? Bru’s reply was ‘By taking on board the new wave started by Pope Francis and focusing on the primacy of love in action.’
Bishop Brendan Leahy, the recently ordained Bishop of Limerick in Ireland, outlined some issues within the English-speaking world. Reference to the scandals of the last few years was unavoidable: ‘At times in the churches things happen that force us to take stock and move on in ways that we would never have done otherwise. In the present case there has been a discovery of the role of children and young people in the Church, not so much as the object of pastoral action but as rather as actors within the community’s life.’ In the face of a culture that is increasingly secularized there is a degree of polarization with the Roman Catholic Church: there are those who seek to follow the way of dialogue and those who seek to defend the faith from compromise. It is necessary to go beyond ideological outlooks, just a Pope Francis does. His style, the spontaneity of his actions and his freedom in expressing himself are striking even for those who do not go to Church.
These things are challenges, but they are also opportunities, where we can catch sight of ways ahead as we recognize the ‘signs of the times’. History needs to be rethought, therefore, ‘with a view that is grateful to the Holy Spirit who has led the Church throughout the ages,’ as Maria Voce affirmed as she opened the reflections of the two-day conference on 12th and 13th June. Behind the significant changes we are witnessing, the Focolare President invited people to ‘emphasize the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the continuous capacity of the Church to respond to ever fresh challenges.’
In a letter dated June 24, 2013 from the International Christian Organization of Media (ICOM) based in Geneva, Switzerland, it states: “Today we are happy to announce that you have won an Honorable Mention in the category of the International Award for Interreligious Dialogue. The jury took the decision considering the value and the relevance of theme you have submitted. We hope that your efforts and contributions through the more and more challenging world of journalism will help better the humanity worldwide and the environment.” The letter was signed by Jean-Marie Scheerlink of the ICOM directing committee.
The international award for inter-religious dialogue honors and recognizes the services and contributions of a media professional, institute, publisher or publication (including a book) in the field of peace and co-existence among members of various religions and cultures. The award brings to light initiatives of media professionals or their institutions for the peaceful, happy and harmonious co-existence of peoples belonging to all types of religions and opinions. The award encourages the use of media for inter-religious dialogue and harmony by media professionals.
The Focolare New City Magazine writes articles and issues from the perspective of universal fraternity. It is committed to interreligious, ecumenical and cultural dialogues. It features profiles and interviews with people who are making a difference in the field of arts, economics, science, education, medicine and cultural life. It promotes peaceful co-existence, and respect for differences in religious and cultural beliefs. It plays the role of a catalyst in pursuing a peaceful and harmonious society particularly in the Philippine and Asian context. For his entry submission, Aranas submitted two e-book magazines of New City: January 2013 issue with its theme on the fragile peace process in the Southern Philippines in Mindanao (to see articles you may visit: http://newcityph.com/archive/1301/issues.asp); and the June 2012 issue with its theme on dialogue: a call for an education towards a culture of dialogue, one that build bridges and promotes peace: http://newcityph.com/archive/1206/issues.asp
The triennial awards honor outstanding media professionals, publications and institutions worldwide, and recognize their exemplary contributions irrespective of all differences. The international awards enhance and make journalistic and media works more valuable in diverse fields, and acknowledge the efforts of all participating journalists and media professionals as well as their milieu. They help guarantee freedom of expression and freedom of the media at all levels in spite of all types of pressures especially from political, business and religious leaders and authorities. The awards are recognition for lifetime and reference for professionals to consult issues that concern nations, continents and our world. They reconfirm the competence and consolidate the authority of the winners on their domains and topics that are of major relevance and extreme importance in the world affairs.
There were more than 2,000 entries and candidatures worldwide that participated this time. But only 25 winners were chosen for the awards and honorable mentions in eight categories: The Titus Brandsma is won by Anto Akarra (India): the Cardinal Foley for David Lindo (Panama), and honorable mention for Fr François Lespes (France); Jose Rebelo (Portugal);Christopher Lamb (UK): Robert Duncan (USA); Photojournalism: Francis Wong (Hongkong); Interreligious Dialogue : Yassine Mohellebi (Algeria); honorable mention: Andrea Krogmann (Germany): Jose Aranas (Philippines); Women Issues : Roselyne Sachiti (Zimbabwe); honorable mention: Sanga Boureima (Burkina Faso): Aftab Alexander Mughal (Pakistan); Educommunication: Italian Association for Media Education (President: Gianna Cappello, Italy); honorable mention: Franco Montesino (Argentina); Josephat Kioko (Kenya) : Victor Khroul (Russia); Solidarity with refugees: Juan Carlos Giraldo (Colombia): honorable mention: Jean-Baptiste Sourou (Benin): Reji Joseph (India), and Excellence in Journalism: Anne Matho (Cameroun): ;Christian Locka (Cameroun): Damian Avevor (Ghana): Sally Mbilu (Kenya) and Benita Sambu.(Congo DR)
The awards will be conferred to the winners at the World Media Congress to be held, for the first time in Central America, in Panama City, Panama from 29 September to 6 October 2013.
François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân (1928-2002) was arrested in 1975, a few weeks after he had been nominated coadjutor bishop of Saigon. He spent 13 years in prison, 9 of which were in solitary confinement. After he was set free he became president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (http://www.vanthuanobservatory.org/?lang=en) The following lines were written in 1980 in prison, 15 km from Hanoi. They are a kind of ‘spiritual testament’.
Beloved children,
I find I’m at a new stage:
tough, dark, endless. I meet here others who are also pilgrims; I look on them as friends, and on all the things that happen as priceless experiences. Because everything is grace.
In my night, populated by silence and solitude,
I think of each and every one of you, offering you all to God. God has given me the most beautiful moments of my life. Never were my prayers so heart-felt, nor mass so fervent, nor so favourable the chances to be united with God’s love and show love in the midst of hate and sow hope in the midst of despair. You can lose everything materially but, if God remains, you still have everything. God is Love. Love gives me courage to love as God loves.
I have nothing more.
But every day I offer the love of God to all in the heart of Jesus and Mary. I am by your side, caring for you and loving very deeply, because you have a prime place in my heart. I have left a few modest experiences in The Road of Hope. Read my most intimate thoughts in the light of the Word of God and of Vatican II. Meditate, read, work so that your heart may be filled with love and wisdom… Dry tears and cover over the weaknesses that come from circumstances and all that is lacking.
This is my testament,
following the example of Paul VI. ‘My programme is to fulfil the Second Vatican Council.’ Strive to set alight the flame of hope in the places that you live.
Like John XXIII
I consecrate the rest of my life to prayer, to sacrifice, to service. May Jesus, Mary and Joseph strengthen your footsteps along the road of hope. Excerpt: François Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Vivere le virtù [Living Virtues] (Rome: Città Nuova, 2012), 7-8.
“Today there is a real and urgent need to remember those who have done good. This is the much needed response to a culture that only has a memory for the aggression and negativity of the human person. These are the words of psychotherapist and educator, Michele De Beni who stresses the positive and important influence that educators can have on the development of a personality and its potential.
These issues are dealt with in the book, “Essere educatori” which is edited and published by Citta Nuova and was presented on May 3, 2012 at the University of Bergamo (Italy) – Department of Humanities and Social Sciences – where the figure of Chiara Lubich the educator was remembered and celebrated.
The book traces the unique teaching experience of the young Silvia Lubich (more known as Chiara) and deals with pedagogical issues that are very relevant today: the value of the tradition and innovation, the formation of conscience, the fields being opened by new knowledge, the need for new types of skills, the need for educational renewal, the centrality of the educational relationship, inclusion and dialogue.
The book comes with a DVD titled: “La maestra Silvia non aveva la matita rossa” (Miss Silvia the teacher didn’t have a red pencil) by Donato Chiampi. It contains reminiscences and previously unpublished events from ex-students and colleagues.
From Castello in Val di Sole where Chiara taught during the 1938-1939 school year, Caterina, Carmela, Dolores and Edda recall that in Chiara’s class which was comprised of 42 boys from all five classes, the teacher didn’t limit herself only to didactic activities.. In her class you also learned education, brotherhood and . . . how “to love one another.”
There were also students who were “failing” – theyrecall – but “until they reached the same level as the others, Chiaa would continue to repeat things for them and wait for anyone who was lagging behind. During her last week with us she continued to encourage us to remain united, to help each other, especially the elderly.” When the school year ended, Chiara continued to remain in lively contact with them through notes and letters.
CapuchinFather Contardo Zeni, an ex-student from the Institute for orphans where Chiara taught: “Miss Silvia was truly a mother for us! When she wanted to ask us a question she would say, ‘And you? What do you think? What do you say?’ Then she would respond based on the things you had said. She respected the personality of each boy. I now realize that she saw beyond human appearances, she saw the presence of God in each person. I will never finish thanking God for having allowed me the grace to have known such an exceptional human being.”
Brotherhood and the centrality of the human person are paradigms that should be brought back into the discussion about education. These will be the double tracks along which the international “Learning Fraternity” will move. The gathering will take place on September 8, 2013 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy and will welcome anyone involved in education: families, schools, catechists, group leaders, researchers and students of all ages.
“In my childhood my family instilled Christian values in me but with a specific Franciscan tinge. Thus when I felt that God was calling me to religious life as a Conventual Franciscan, my response was enthusiastic. During my novitiate and theological studies, which I completed near the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi, I was enriched with new awareness of the fundamental aspects of Christian life as incarnated by our Seraphic Father Francis. During those studies I was attracted in a special way by the Eucharist as a fundamental value for us in our Christian life. I considered the Eucharistic celebration to truly be the climax and the source of my Christian life. My study of theology and liturgy had confirmed this conviction.”
My contact with Chiara Lubich’s spirituality enhanced in me the contemplative dimension of my life, because it opened up for me new possibilities in living my union with God. In addition, Chiara helped me rediscover the value of neighbor, that is, my brothers and sisters individually and together – as a ‘gift’ (just as Francis says). This helped me feel more in tune with the Church, my Franciscan community, and my missionary aspirations.
After twelve years of missionary service in Indonesia, “I returned to my native country because I needed to rest and re-charge my spiritual batteries. I was fortunate to be able to go to the Focolare international spirituality center for men religious in Loppiano, near Florence. There, one evening during supper, I had a fierce discussion with another missionary about the value of the liturgy. I came out of the dining room with a troubled heart, and I found it hard to calm down. I felt that there was now a great distance between that brother and me. Then a thought came to my mind: “How can you say that you love God whom you do not see if you do not love the brother that you can see?” Therefore I asked myself: “Is the brother more important than the Liturgy? Yes, my brother is more important than the liturgy.” Before going to bed I went looking for that brother and I asked him to forgive me. I found peace again and our relationship was strengthened. It was on that day that I understood that the ‘liturgy of my brother’ is more important than the Eucharistic Liturgy.”
In June 2012 Fr. Tarcisio returned for the second time from Indonesia after only three more years of missionary service. “This time too I was quite exhausted. I was welcomed again at the spirituality center of religious. In the peaceful little town of Loppiano I gradually regained my physical and spiritual health. Notwithstanding the fact that I was living in that serene environment I kept thinking about the difficulties I would have to face in Indonesia with some of my brothers in community.”
“My provincial superior had invited me to forgive, and I thought that I had done that. However, the root of that suffering remained within me and sometimes I had negative thoughts about that brother and about myself too. Sometimes I felt like the spirituality center; the contrast between the sentiments within me and the environment around me was too strong. It was only after trying to live out the theme of the year which was ‘love of neighbor’, as presented by various Words of Life regarding charity, especially that of seeing Jesus in the other to the point of experiencing union with God, that I felt that my grudges and anger were starting to melt away. I experienced not only a new kind of peace but also a union with God that was truer and more profound. I was full of joy for coming out from that dark tunnel of my relationship with my brother.
Now, whenever I think about that brother, I feel that I have truly forgiven him completely. Not only that, but if God so wills it in the future that I should happen to be together with the same brother, I will do my best to show my gratitude for having been moved by God to journey along this new path of reconciliation to arrive at union with God.”
Around two years ago, in a timespan of about three months, my teeth began to deteriorate in a dramatic way. So I went to a dentist and asked for an estimate of the cost of the work that would have to be done. Heart attack! It was going to cost a good 10,000 Swiss francs. I discussed the decision with my wife and, given the urgency, we decided to accept the doctor’s estimate and proceed with the treatment. The cure lasted a few months and that gave us time to prepare for the important investment. On the second to last visit the dentist informed me that there were further complications and the cost would be raised to a total of 11,280 francs. To stay within the estimate, he proposed that I pay 1000 francs in cash. This proposal by the dentist probably came from his desire to help me save some money, since I’ve been one of his patients for a long time. I asked if I could give an answer at my next appointment, because I wanted to discuss the decision with my wife first. The amount already foreseen was already a lot for us and 1,280 more francs was quite a bit of money. The temptation to save some money was strong! The thought took over in my mind that a part of the money could be used to help someone, or that it could be given to charity and many other such excuses. In the end, however, we decided as Christians that it would be more correct to pay the full amount. As we gave our answer to the dentist, we tried to show love toward him, thanking him for his kindness toward us in order not to embarrass him, explaining to him the reason for our choice. Providence didn’t keep us waiting! Last April as I filled out my declaration of earnings report, I included the dentist’s bill. On June 8th the answer in the “Give and it will be given to you” arrived right on time, with the tax return for the fiscal year 2012. In the summary of the various items: federal, cantonal and communal, I saw that for the fiscal year 2012 my taxes were 1.611,25 francs lower than the year before. When I calculated the difference (1. 611, 25 – 1. 280) I had saved 331, 25 francs!”
10 years ago the children of a class started with their teacher to throw “the cube of love.” Today, 10 years later, doing so are the children of all the classes of Trent. Their “acts of love” published on the municipality’s newspaper reaches the homes of the families in this city. Even this year the appointment for everyone was in Cathedral Square.
Let’s watch the news report with images taken by Paul Holnaider and Donato Chiampi.
On June 14-15, 2013, a group of 48 focolarini from 13 Christian Churches examined some important points of the spirituality of unity in relation to ecumenism. During the meeting we listened the story of Hanneke, a Dutch focolarina from the Reformed Church. “I grew up in a family that belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. When I was 13 years old my mother passed away and a rather difficult period in my life was begun. None of my family members went to church anymore, but I felt that I didn’t want to leave God. I always kept in contact with the local church community. When I was 21 years old I made the ‘profession of faith,’ which is quitean important step in the Reformed Church. There I committed to give my all for the building up of the Kingdom of God in the Church and in the world. On that day too, just as when I was very young, I felt that God wanted something more from me. In my searching I met the Taize community where I discovered a Christianity that was different from what I had known up until then, one that could be lived together with others. Shortly afterwards, through a colleague at work, I came to know the spirituality of the Focolare. My colleague never spoke about it directly, but I could understand from the way she lived that her life had a very strong spiritual dimI began to visit the focolare in Amsterdam. Once I arrived during a birthday party, something very simple. But there for the first time I experienced that spiritual presence of Jesus, and began to better understand the significance of the words: ‘Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt. 18:20). There I saw mutual love being practiced, and I began telling myself: I want to live like this too. At first I didn’t feel the difference between me (from the Reformed Church) and the majority of the others who were Roman Catholics. Only after a few years did I realize that we were different in the way we professed our faith, and many questions began coming to my mind. At times I didn’t feel understood. The key to continuing along this path I found in Jesus Forsaken. I recognized his countenance in the wounds of division between the Churches, in our different way of thinking, and this helped me to go ahead. I was transferred to Eindhoven in the south of Holland where most people are Roman Catholic. On the one hand I experienced great openness and, on the other hand, I learned to express my questions or difficulties when I saw things that didn’t that didn’t click with the mentality of the Reformed Church. This helped me in building truer relationships. Also within the Focolare Movement as a whole there are many of us from the Reformed Church in different vocations and callings. We have had beautiful experiences of coming to know each other, some trips to Rome for example. We also became aware that ecumenism is a journey that is common to us all, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic. For some years Christian leaders from several Churches and movements have been asking how they could give a witness of unity to Holland, rather than one of division. So a committee was set up that was called ‘We choose unity.’ A day of reconciliation among all the Churches was proposed, and 4000 people took part in the event. This work is being carried on today in the Dutch Global Christian Forum. What I find to be very important for Christian unity is listening, listening deeply to others. You really need to be empty of yourself in order to listen. Sometimes you think you know what the other person is trying to say, but first you must hear them out, listen well to what they’re trying to say. It’s living that teaching of St. Paul, putting yourself in the other person’s skin, in order to accelerate unity.”
Chicago April 27 – April 28, 2013. An event organised by the Focolare Movement in Canada and the United States. Copyright Focolare Movement (Rome), All Rights Reserved (more…)
What is happening to the Church today? How are the challenges of passing on the faith to new generations to be tackled, given the scandals that have arisen in several countries and the abandonment of the faith in Europe? How are the vitality and gifts emerging from the lands of Asia and Africa to be appreciated and welcomed?
These are some of the underlying questions that were discussed by the group of experts from the fields of ecclesiology and communications, composed of priests, religious and laity who are active in various environments in different parts of the world (in missiology, ecclesiology, education, new evangelization, youth culture). They gathered together in the middle of June at Castelgandolfo, Italy to identify the challenges both at a universal level and at a local geographical level where they take on different forms in different contexts but, when taken together, can help give a vision of what is being faced by the Church.
The voice of the sociologists cited issues at the macro and micro level which not only the Church but the entire society must take into account: the management of the complexity in the global scene, the new framework for relationships and the creation of social cohesion. The Pentecost 2013 event was given a second look and was seen as a call for the Movements to become involved as the Pope invited them to “go out” and meet the human person where he or she is to be found.
The event promoted by the Gens magazine on ecclesial life was held this third time on June 12-13. Focolare president, Maria Voce offered some opening remarks. She underscored how the “push given by the new Pope to be closer to all people, more sober, more simple,” for the Focolare Movement “should signify a renewed commitment to building up and showing the Church-communion which the charism of unity allows us to live; communion with God and with all humanity: continually going out of ourselves as Pope Francis invited us to, and which we also particularly feel we should do. We must be the Church-communion and present ourselves as such, even outside strictly ecclesial structures.”
Co-president Giancarlo Faletti recalled the “passion for the Church” that had always animated Chiara Lubich especially in the period just after the Second Vatican Council. He invited everyone to continue to recognize the action of the Holy Spirit who continues to guide the People of God.
The challenge of the new generations and education strongly emerged. One example was the recent Plenary Session of the Pontifical Council of Culture on emerging youth cultures, from which the elements that have matured through the active participation of young people, from the language of the younger generations to knowing and understanding the world of the youth for the transmission of the Catholic faith.
“Five words for my Church” was the suggestive title given to a presentation via Skype, by theologian Piero Coda from Sophia University Institute which he heads in the Focolare town of Loppiano, Italy. These five words or concepts “following, People of God, dialogue, spirit and ethos” were presented by him as the lines along which today’s Church will develop.
“In fact, the Holy Spirit is quite capable of generating new energies for responding to the most pressing questions of humankind (. . .) It is the Holy Spirit who brings the Church forward, and at times He does it with rather brusque changes. And we who are not always so pliable have the impression of having to remake everything from scratch. But we should rather look to this road that the Holy Spirit opens in the Church.”
The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
Someone who loves does not just avoid evil. Those who love are open to others, desire what is good, do what is right, giving themselves: to the point of giving their life for the person loved. This is why Paul writes that in love for our neighbour not only is the law observed but the whole law is ‘summed up’.
The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
If the whole law consists in love for our neighbour, we should see the other commandments as means to enlighten and guide us so that, in the intricate situations of life, we can find the way to love others. We need to know how to read God’s intention, God’s will, in the other commandments.
He wants us to be obedient, chaste, mortified, humble, merciful, poor… in order to carry out the commandment of charity better.
The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
We might ask, how is it that the Apostle does not mention love for God? The fact is that love for God and love for our neighbour are not in competition. The one, our love for our neighbour, is the expression of the other, our love for God. Loving God, in fact, means doing God’s will. And God’s will is that we love our neighbour.
The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
How are we to put this word into practice? It is clear: by loving our neighbour, truly loving our neighbour.
This means: giving, but giving without self-interest, to our neighbour. Those who use their neighbour as an instrument to achieve their own ends, even the most spiritual, such as their own sanctification, are not loving. We must love our neighbour, not ourselves.
It is certain, however, that someone who loves in this way really will become a saint, will be ‘perfect like the Father’, because that person will have achieved the very best a human being can achieve. Such a person goes to the heart of God’s will, puts it into practice. Such a person wholly fulfils the law.
And isn’t this the only thing we will be examined on at the end of our lives?
A workshop of dance, percussion, song and theatre. A new show by the Gen Verde Musical Group engages young people in workshops in which they are directly involved with the artists in the staging and performance.
On June 13-15, 2013, forty-eight young people from Tuscany and abroad were welcomed by the town of Loppiano, Italy, which is home to the musical group and Lionello Industrial Park. The young people were invited to be active players in the mounting and performing of the new show.
One young woman from Gen Verde commented: “The artistic disciplines naturally raise you to another level of communication through which deep and unexpected relationships can be born, creating dialogue in an encouraging atmosphere of sharing.”
Other members of the group went on to say: “The joy that was bursting from everyone’s eyes also derived from the discovery that you are able to give much more than you often expect from yourself. The end product was important because it was the result of everyone’s contribution.”
By the end of the day the teenagers had grasped how important it is for each person to be valued and no one excluded, they also grasped the “true” joy of sharing a common message with others.
“The mutual gratitude was unrestrained,” Gen Verde concluded, “It was difficult to leave each other after having had a little taste of what the new concert will be like.”
A travelling exhibit entitled “Chiara Lubich:protagonist of a new age” to commemorate the founder of the Focolare Movement five years following her death.
Some of the exhibition sites include the airport, public market, town hall, the legislative assembly and some charitable organizations. There is also great expectation for the exhibit in Redemption Park just one week before the World Youth Day.
The first exhibit took place on May 13-25, 2013 in the Main Hall of the Central Library at the Catholic Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul. The life and work of Chiara Lubich were presented by seven banners that portrayed the origins of the Movement, its first steps and the evolution of the evangelical lifestyle that today is manifested in numerous social activities.
Another banner presented the young people in the Movement. It showed a new generation of youths who are coming up with concrete proposals for the renewal of society, convinced that the daily practice of universal brotherhood will lead to the true human fulfillment that young people are frenetically searching for in so many ways in today’s world.
The family is also key to the transformation of society for the preservation of genuine values that give meaning to life and social relationships.
The exhibit also put on display the Economy of Communion project, which was launched during a visit of Chiara Lubich to Brazil in 1991. The proposal of the project is to operate economically sound companies while simultaneously seeking to combat social inequality and encourage a new business mentality.
From economy to politics. The Movement is also engaged in the field of politics, working to promote the common good by focusing effort on the political dimension of universal brotherhood. It sees politics as a service, which Chiara once described as the “Love of loves.”
Also in the field of social action there is the Family Solidarity Association which helps hundreds of children in one of the poorer quarters on the outskirts of the city. Similar projects have arisen around the world and are a source of great hope to many families that are spiritually and materially deprived.
A video presentation on the history of the Movement was projected on a large screen. There were exhibits displaying projects by individuals and groups of people based on the Golden Rule which is present in nearly all religions.
The exhibit continues in other cultural spots in the city of Porto Alegre, showing the figure of Chiara, “protagonist of a new age” and the implications of her charism of unity in various Church and social environments.
The Committee made up of eight members including the Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical-Lutheran Churches met at the Saint Egidio Community headquarters in Rome on 4thjune, 2013. The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss the fruits of the past year and try to understand together the next step to take. As Chiara Lubich liked to say, trying to see “the score written in heaven.”
In many of the 152 cities linked up on 12th May, 2012 a dynamic collaboration among local movements and communities of various Churches took place. In several countries, there is a national Together for Europe committee which acts as a network that continually encourages dialogue.
Andrea Riccardi (founder of the Community of Saint Egidio), quoting Pope Francis, emphasized the responsibility to continue to go out and avoid being self-referential. It is the “culture of encounter” – emphasized Maria Voce, President of the Focolare Movement also quoting Pope Francis – “the culture of friendship and openness to others that we experience on this journey of communion that gives hope to our continent and beyond.” Returning from a trip to Germany, Maria Voce tells of meetings with important personalities who see Together for Europe as a way of uniting hearts.
Gerhard Pross, YMCA, told, how at the Catholic Academy of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, representatives of the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Catholic Church and other churches met, on the 23rd May, 2013 thanks to the invitation of some movements and communities connected with Together for Europe.
Nikolaus Schneider, Chair of EKD (Evangelical Church in Germany), Archbishop Robert Zollitsch (President of the German Bishops’ Conference), Bishop Gerhard Feige, the regional Evangelical bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan, Serafim, in their speeches. Encouraged an open and intense exchange on ecumenical issues particularly timely for the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and in view of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. Some topics emerged:
The return to Christ as the centre point of what unites us, the re-elaboration of our common history at a local and national level that show signs of reconciliation and the importance of raising awareness to the sensitivity of the other Churches.
Rev. Christophe D’Aloisio (SYNDESMOS) presented an interesting vision of some of the Orthodox communities in Europe.
The meeting had a full agenda. Look at the “existential suburbs/outskirts”: this is one of the priorities. On the morning of June 5th, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity met the Steering Committee of Together for Europe: he encouraged their projects.
«We are fine. Greetings from Damascus and Aleppo! At this moment a group of us is at a meeting of young people who have been meeting regularly since the last two months in a parish because they want know more about the Ideal of unity.
Of course, the “night” that has come over the country is getting even darker, we do not know how long we will be able to resist, both in terms of stress and economically. The prices are sky-high, the great majority of people think only of obtaining food because everything else is surplus; and for people who are used to work this is a big slap on the face because they feel that their dignity has been trampled by this war.
In many localities and districts, we live side by side with danger. When we leave the house, we wonder: will we be able to come back home? Then there are two bishops as well as two priests who have been kidnapped, and we know absolutely nothing about them. So we pray unceasingly for them, as well as for the other abducted people.
But in this “night”, we can assure you that there is a very strong light. They are the words of Jesus and the teachings of Chiara Lubich that repeat to us to live the present moment, to love, to remain united and to keep the living spiritual presence of Jesus among us.
And so the miracle happens, and it really amazes us: we live “outside of ourselves”, for the others. We only think of loving, to be continually at peace in the face of resentment or even anger that can be felt in our hearts, to improve relationships among ourselves and with everyone. This helps us to live with a certain normality. It gives us peace and many of us feel that this is our place, because it’s right here where we can bring unity and serenity. This is what people thirst for.
A young man who is doing his military service and works in the office, in a place that is often attacked, told us that during one of the last, very strong attacks, while escaping with his colleagues to go to the shelter, he realized that one of them had been shot and had fallen to the ground. For a moment he doubted: “Should I go back to love this brother or should I continue to run?” In his heart he heard a clear voice telling him: “Don’t be afraid, I’m with you.” He went back, took off his shirt to stop the blood flowing down the leg and under the blows waited for the ambulance to arrive.
In this moment that we feel united to you all, I want to thank for every bit of help that reaches us in various ways and that moves us every time. They are a sign of that family atmosphere that accompanies us always. They are very precious, and they allow us to let Jesus in our neighbour feel that love that each one of you has for Him, to console Him, to give Him the strength to endure and not despair.
If we are here it’s because you and so many others with you are living for us. Therefore a huge thank you, thank you and a special greeting from everyone here, from Syria.»
Maria Voce, on behalf of the thousands of people connected via internet, answered, «We are also here because you live for us, and we continue to be united and bringing everything ahead together, praying and sustaining you in every way we can!»
Anyone who wishes tosend concrete aid to Syria through AMU (Action for a United World), may find the bank coordinates on the website AMU-Syria Emergency.
The Verona, Italian city, had been struck with bad weather, placing waterways in danger of overflowing and flooding. On May 17th while in the basement of his home, Giuseppe was swept away by a mass of mud and water that had built up in the Mezzane Stream, causing it to burst its banks. Along with local civil volunteers and law enforcement workers, many members of the Focolare Movement were also among the first to respond in saving Giuseppe and his wife, Maria Grazia. They had both belonged to the Movement for many years.
This immediate and spontaneous response, shoveling and clearing, was also an expression of gratitude towards Giuseppe, who had given himself out of love for his wife and two daughters, for other families, at work and in the parish.
“His was a life (. . .) given in love. We would like to live this moment in the company of God who is a Mystery of Trinitarian Love. We would allow ourselves to be comforted by His Word of truth.” These words were spoken by Bishop of Verona, Giuseppe Zenti during the funeral Mass at the cathedral on May 21st.
On that day the entire region of Lavagno gathered around Giuseppe and his relatives. Bishop Zenti purposely returned from Rome where he had been working for the Bishops Conference, in order to preside at the Mass that was concelebrated by 14 priests, in the presence of the Prefect of Verona, the President of the Province, the Mayor and numerous representatives from Law Enforcement.
Giuseppe was a generous man, full of love,” Bishop Zenti said in his homily, “his family can testify to this, the parish where he helped out especially as a catechist with his wife and in civil society as well. All of you who have come here in such great number can testify to this. The inspiration behind his life given in love was the Focolare family to which he belonged, whose charism is precisely the concrete actualization, in the ordinariness of life, the Lord’s own command: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ I’m here with you,” the bishop continued, I am also enveloped in the dark silence of the soul, like the one that enveloped Jesus on the Cross: The earth grew dark. . . My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Upon this silence let us allow the Word of God to resound, as a lamp that illuminates our steps before this great mystery for man, especially before the great mystery of death.”
In a letter read by the Prefect, President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano expressed his “nearness and affection to the Maschi family who have been hit with such a great loss. With them, also all the citizens of Lavagno who have suffered loss and damage because of the flood that struck the region.” The same sentiments were expressed in the telegram from the President of the Council of Italian Ministers, Enrico Letta.
On the heels of Pope Francis’ continuing invitation to allow ourselves to be surprised by the love of God that is always new, thirty-two bishop friends of the Focolare from Korea, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan and Sri Lanka, gathered to meet in Seoul, Korea on May 22 – 25 in order to immerse themselves in a living experience of the “Church-communion.”
The nations of the Asian continent vary in language, ethnicity, religion and traditions, and the situations being lived by the Church also vary widely. The bishops saw in this variety of forms and situations an opportunity for mutual enrichment: “We gave much time for spiritual communion and getting to know each other,” they write. “It revealed a great wealth of life that is producing many concrete experiences that arise from living the Gospel in many different settings: seminaries, parishes, among the marginalized, the disabled and the poor. Love for Jesus in our brothers and sisters was the motivation that urged us to draw near to our neighbours, seeking to soothe their wounds.”
They also reflected on the New Evangelization. This asks us for a personal conversion and a new proclamation of God’s love to the Asian people through dialogue with the wide range of religious traditions. It also calls for radical openness to those who suffer.
The final Mass concluded with a solemn pact of mutual love and the commitment to love the other’s diocese as one’s own truly seemed to crown the sharing they had experienced. Many of the bishops promised to make better use of the rapid means of communication such as Skype and video-conferences.
Moderator of these gatherings of Bishop Friends of the Focolare, Archbishop of Bangkok, Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, described how the experiences made in the daily conquests of life created brotherly relationships of deep communion among the participants, allowing them to experience the presence of the Risen Christ among all. This presence gave new joy and strength for taking up the ministry of service in each one’s diocese, with the love of pastors who are near to their flock, following the example shown to us by Pope Francis.
Life, Love, Light, or rather, life, love, light. This trinomial that has been connected to the name of Chiara Luce Badano since the day of her beatification is still running on the Web thanks to a website officially dedicated to the young woman from Sassello (Italy) – www.chiaraluce.org. The site is being visited and appreciated by people of all ages. In recent days the site has been added to with new graphics, content and services.
Among the novelties, the long-awaited section entitled LOVE, which regards the spirituality that Chiara Luce lived, some updates about the projects that are being brought ahead by the Chiara Badano Foundation, the section on “At Sassello” regarding the Centre of Spirituality at La Maddalena, a small hamlet in Sassello, which was the birthplace of Chiara Luce. The “Publications” link provides news editorials, CDs and DVDs. The languages have also increased with the addition of Portuguese. The common denominator of the site is the desire to spread the message of this young witness of the Gospel to “make her bright light shine on the lampstand.”
Chiara Luce is also on Facebook . Her Facebook page is widely appreciated with over 54,000 contacts. But beyond the numbers, the life and depth of Chiara Luce continues to uplift and to spread: “I’m feeling a bit down,” one person writes, “and then you appear with that candid expression on your face and that genuine smile of yours, your eyes filled with love. And like magic my heart is calmed. Thanks.”
For as long as Christian churches and communities have been divided, there are those who have looked for ways to heal the fractures. Callan Slipper offers five ways for Christians to approach one another on the path toward unity. (1) Recognize the need; (2) Start from being united; (3) Proceed one person at a time, with love; (4) Don’t make yourself the measure of truth. Truth is a person. It is Jesus; (5) embrace the cross, and let Jesus’ love transform division. His observations come from years of experience with ecumenists, and his optimism that unity is inevitable is evidence that faith and hope undergird the challenges that abide our daily choice to build Christian unity by the way we love one another. Available from New City Press (NY) (more…)
Stefano Comazzi is responsible for the projects section of the Action for a United World. Recently he visited some of the main localities of Burundi that have been reached by the projects that are being brought ahead in the provinces of Ruyigi, Kayanza and Bujumburu. he was accompanied by the local counterpart of Action for a United Worldt, CASOBU. He recounts:
“In the rural areas of Bujumbura, in the Commune of Mutimbuzi, there is a camp for displaced people called ‘Maramvya’ where one of our projects is underway that provides assistance to families. The displaced families have been forced to move two times in the course of a month, settling first in an area on the outskirts of Bujumbura – a swamp – then on land near to the airport in the Commune of Butirere. The new settlement, however, is farther from the city and more difficult to reach.
For around four months families have been assigned lots upon which they can build their houses. I was able to see that some have already begun to put up a few simple little houses made of mud and straw. But many are lacking the necessary means and the land will be sold at a low price to speculators who are interested in building large Real Estate.
At the time of my arrival a session was being held beneath a large tent, the collection of personal information by a young woman from CASOBU so that families and children could be registered in the Commune and have access to health and educational services.
This registration process is rather complicated because the people passed under the administration of two previous communes. So each individual has to be checked again in order to see if they had been registered previously or not, and the eventual changes made to their documents. This is all done manually and is therefore very tedious and time-consuming.
The water situation, there is only one public distribution point, with only one fountain about half a kilometer from the settlement, I saw a small crowd of women and children there. From what they say, it seems that the queues begin early in the morning at around three o’clock and go on for many hours. We spoke with the mayor and learned that there is a study underway on a project for the entire north region of the city, with adequate pipe diameter and flow rate, and a tank for collecting water right next to the field. Nevertheless, while awaiting the project to be realized, CASOBU will examine other possible short-term solutions that will alleviate at least some of the difficulty of the local population to provide water for itself.
When we let ourselves be stripped of our faith in God, we are subject to the worst possible swindle. But even where we have not been stripped of our faith in God, we have sometimes lost him just the same because we have forgotten him. And we frequently pay the price for these long stretches of forgetfulness, as basically we have forgotten our being human. We are in a house we no longer recognize as our own, and indeed it has become a jail. We are with others, who we no longer see as brothers or sisters, and the link between us is composed of secret mutual exploitation. We go to a school, read the papers, observe what science produces, and the truth has become twisted for us, so that we end up not knowing the object and doubting the subject, and are treated and treat others as mere figments.
This forgetfulness is summed up in our forgetfulness of God. If we recognize God, we become free with respect to the people of this earth. These people then become our brothers and sisters, and the only attitude we owe them is love. Rediscovering the human person, we come back to seeing the person’s dignity. In a person’s limitations we see the greatness, even while realizing the wretchedness. He or she may collapse, but will remain God’s offspring. The wretchedness belongs to the individual, but the greatness of the individual is conferred by One who is greater. This One wants us in our trials to grow as ourselves, to use misfortune to exercise the great virtues, justice, charity, piety; to value death as giving life, financial poverty as giving spiritual richness, to such a point that our heritage should be the heritage of the spirit, and that our dignity does not depend upon our financial condition, but upon our strength of character, our heroic resignation, our victory where, for us and in us, evil leads back to good.
If we pass through wretchedness and become wretched also in our souls, if we react to the negative and become ugly, if we collapse prostrate in despair and utter exhaustion, we foolishly squander our efforts, soiling our tears without dignity, starving our soul. Heroic love transforms pain into joy, our sufferings into tools for spiritual exercises: misfortunes place before each of us the demand for holiness, and, that is, for perfect humanity, made perfect by grace.
Excerpt from Igino Giordani, La rivolta morale [The Moral Revolt], (Rome: Capriotti, 1945)
One well-known rabbi who took part in the meeting promoted by the Focolare and held at the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo, Rome, explained that the history of mutual understanding between the two religions developed along three levels of interaction.
Level zero in which the members of both religions meet and come to know one another. Level one is a further step in which there is mutual respect and understanding. Fear of being interpolated by the “other” no longer exists.
Dialogue at the second level proposes that the persons involved are disposed that the other – Christian or Jew – has a genuine influence with their own religious convictions and is prepared to allow them* to be positively transformed.
This, of course, does not mean to question the religious identity of each person and even less “syncretism.” This proposal consists in allowing each party to use a spiritual language that allows everyone to come together.
“I must say that I have attended many such interreligious events over the years, but never have I taken part in one like this. It has been rare in my life to see together (as I have seen here) 4 rabbis from different currents of Judaism and a large group of lay experts discussing common themes of dialogue (30 from Argentina, USA, Italy and Uruguay), working with a totally unique methodology.
Usually each participant speaks of one’s own religion, comments on one’s own texts, and cites one’s own authors. Here the Christians commented on Hebrew texts and Hebrews commented on Christian texts. They did not draw on the wealth of ideas of philosophers or theologians who are famous in their fields, but they were rather examinations that focused on the impact these documents had produced on the readers themselves, a spiritual impact, in particular, and of deep substance.
The texts of Hebrew spirituality and texts of the spiritual patrimony that have been left to us by founder of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich, were examined through a different lens than usual.
I use a metaphor from the world of cybernetics. It is now known that the web 2.0 will soon open new forms of communication through internet. Dialogue 2.0 is also a step forward. This will mean giving up the securities we’ve acquired until now in order to integrate the same elements as always, but in a new way. This will be more adapted to the building up of newer and deeper forms of interreligious encounter and, ultimately, a more fraternal society. We’ve experienced it during these days.
A group of Focolare volunteers from the Spanish communities recounts: “It seems only yesterday that we began to work with the “Brotherhood with Africa” project. It was in April 2009. To help the project grow we had organized several activities in the region of Murcia, which concluded with a benefit dinner. Now we are holding the fifth edition.”
The project began in Budapest in 2006 during the Volunteersfest, an international event that gathered thousands at the Hungarian capital. The title of the event was “The world is but one country. We are waves upon the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden.” There a project was launched for promoting academic scholarships for African students from different areas, along with an idea of making one’s own city a place in which the culture of brotherhood shines. One group of volunteers that attended from Aljucer decided to act on the proposal.
“We felt called upon, and in 2007 began to obtain legal status for an association that would help achieve our goal: making Aljucer a place that promotes a culture of brotherhood. Many activities followed, even with other associations, but our main project continues to be the “Brotherhood with Africa” project.” Every year we put up posters. Local businesses help to spread the project by donating products that can be raffled off at the benefit dinner. The monies collected are added to the scholarship fund.
“The benefit dinner is a yearly event that everyone looks forward to. We are joined by new people every year. We never had more than 90 dinner guests before, but this year we had 125 – quite a number for a country like ours which has been hit by so many crises.” During the evening there was a presentation of the project: the number of scholarships thus far, the amount of money that has been collected, the academic areas in which the scholarships have been applied and the experiences of students. Following the presentation there was the gift drawing and conclusion with some local performing artists. Among the artists, for the first time, was Carlos Pinana di Cartagena, a ‘flamenco’ guitarist and professor at the Conservatory of Murcia. Together with four of his students he offered us a fine concert of ‘flamenco’ guitar music.”
“We were happy,” the animators of the event say, “because we believe that these events served a bit in promoting a culture of brotherhood. A culture that makes us equals, that makes us feel that we are brothers and sisters, which is a sufficient reason to work for each other, with each other.”
“As United World Week was being celebrated in Jerusalem, we also held a few activities here in Manila” say the Youth for a United World in the Philippines. The internet link-up with the Holy Land was the launching point for a week filled with events. Ten projects, called ‘fragments of universal brotherhood’ were presented. This took place on May 4th and involved Manila, Baguio and other Philippine cities. The week began with a celebration of unity, called “Bridge”. Everyone, linked up with Jerusalem and with the Youth for a United World from other Philippine cities, then set out for the various projects around the city: from nutrition programs to environmental projects, from hospital visits to projects in favor of the less fortunate. 379 young people signed up from Manila alone. They went to Sulyap ng Pag-asa, a residential center served by the Focolare in the crowded and deprived areas of Quezon City. The Youth for a United World carry out regular activities in favor of nutritional assistance. At the Sinag Hospital, which desires to respond to the invitation of Jesus to love the poorest, they have experienced that by spending their time with the patients, their own problems seemed small. Another activity took place at Boys Town, a home for hundreds of street children, run by the Department of Welfare. There they met children between the ages of 8 and 17. They spent time together, caring, singing and dancing. The Youth for a United World were also invited to share their secret, “the art of loving.” The children in turn offered some of their own songs and dances. The Munting tahanan ng Nazareth is a centre for the physically and mentally handicapped. One Youth for a United World explained: “With our visit, we wanted to share God’s love that is present in all of our hearts, no matter who we are.” Young women who have been victims of abuse live at Marillacc Hills where, for some time, young women of the Focolare have been going to visit them. Because of the trust that has been built, the centre also allowed the young men to take part in the activity. Then there were the ongoing projects in the Bukas Palad (open hands) centres, social projects of the Focolare that were begun to respond to the widespread poverty. With their motto, ‘Freely you have been given, freely must you give,’ they are providing services in the fields of health, education and community building. The young people went to both the Social Centre in Tramo, Pasay and Tambo, Paranaque, and in La Union in the north. In the first centre they took part in an ecological project to clean up a creek, which involved many of the local youths who were also happy to make their quarter a more clean and livable place to live. In the second center in the north of the Philippines they created six workshops, from kitchens to basketball matches involving 55 children. Other activities in the north included an ecological project for cleaning Pagudpud, a popular tourist destination. There was also Fazenda U-Day in Masbate, where people were invited to come with their friends for a few hours of music and experiences on how to live and promote brotherhood. At the conclusion of the week, the young people met again for a day entitled, “Bridge 2.0, a project for unity.” It was the moment, now that the activities were over, to make a commitment for the future. By adding their signatures to a large bulletin board, each one could commit him or herself to be a bridge for a united world. The Philippine Youth for a United world underscored it, borrowing some words from Focolare president, Maria Voce when she spoke to some youths gathered in Loppiano, Italy, on May 1st : “Once you’ve built a bridge, if no one walks over it, it’s useless. The purpose of a bridge is to unite. It’s there inviting you to cross it and meet. Don’t become weary. The bridge is there for this reason. Taking the first step means turning toward the young people around you, those next to you, saying or showing that you are truly disposed to do something for them and with them.”
«I am a doctor specialized in infectious diseases, and I’ve been in contact with HIV positive and AIDS patients for the past 30 years. I deal with this pathology in the hospital where I work in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo.
I learned very early on in life to participate in the transformation of the society I live in. Thus one of the objectives of my life has been to create a new and just society in which the human person is the focus and there is concern for all members of the community. I decided to become a doctor in order to put myself at the service of my brothers and sisters.
When I finished my studies in medicine, I found myself having to face a tremendous challenge: working conditions were increasingly degrading, earnings were negligible. The material earnings for a doctor did not lead to professional conscientiousness and honesty. The only way to survive was to work in international organizations or in private clinics.
Many of my medical colleagues emigrated to Europe or to the United States. At one point I was tempted to do the same. After talking it over with my wife, we decided to stay in our country and accept the situation: poor patients, difficult working conditions, lack of materials and at times, insidious corruption.
I found courage in working together with doctors of the Focolare Movement and others who, like me, had the patient’s well-being at heart.In the beginning we were frightened by the possibility of being infected by the virus: poor hygienic conditions and inadequate healthcare structures did not offer any guarantee. During that period, our country was immersed in a socio-economic and political crisis. We no longer received any international aid. Then the war broke out with the load of dramas that every conflict brings. It was very difficult to treat the patients with AIDS, but we continued and it was really an opportunity to live love in a concrete way.
Our activities concretely focused on the treatment and prevention of AIDS.
With regard to the treatment of AIDS patients, with the help of AMU, we were able to build a complete healthcare facility with a lab for analyses. Furthermore, a treatment program began based on specific medicines, finally available also in Africa and guaranteed to everyone, including the poorest. Everything was the result of recent choices made by the UN to implement strategies aimed at defeating AIDS.
With regard to prevention, a systematic formation program began for educators and advertisement specialists aimed at intervening on the psychological, sociological and moral levels with young people and families, so as to bring about a change of behaviour in the population. The main content of the courses consists in giving complete and correct information on the transmission and prevention of the virus.
In fact, some think that it comes from manipulations of lab tests; others see it as coming from God because of sin, almost like a sort of punishment. These ideas, often linked to the African culture, are very difficult to weed out. This is why we try to go more deeply into the origin of the illness, the effects of the virus on the immune system and the means for preventing AIDS.
Besides the development of productive activities to improve basic nutrition, we also tried to guarantee psycho-social support for the patients and their families».
In this series of inspiring meditations, Chiara Lubich shows us that living in the present is our way to be connected with the unlimited, with eternity.
Suffering can strike anyone at any time – an illness or accident, a separation or divorce, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job. No one would suggest that you should seek out suffering. And, no one would say that you should love suffering. In fact, suffering is not a being and, therefore, cannot be loved. More details Available from New City Press New York(more…)
«The first feast, the first trip, the first appointment, the first dance … one never forget them! We are moved when we remember the first-time events, bringing either a smile to our face, or a tear. This is what I feel when I recollect my first Mariapolis that just ended.
I had received the invitation from a dear friend and despite doubts and uncertainties, I decided to participate. When I reached Esmeraldas – a city inhabited mainly by Afro-Americans, with a special tradition, cuisine, and rhythm – I knew perhaps 10 people of the 350 who were attending the Mariapolis. Therefore I felt a “total outsider”.
I had to share a room with two strangers, praying that they didn’t snore, and then I attended meetings, round tables, moments of interaction with people I’d never seen before… but listening to their experiences, their dreams, the way in which they sought their happiness and that of their neighbours, I too got the necessary confidence to step out of myself and speak about me.
Among the various meditations, the one that impressed me most was a letter that John Paul II had written to Chiara where he invited the members of the Movement to be “apostles of dialogue”. How could we do it? By listening to and opening ourselves up to our neighbour. I remembered my father, who will soon turn 85 and is now without friends because many are already in heaven. I understood that I could be his friend, listening to the things that interested him: I can’t speak with him about the iPad or the Internet, but all the same I can love him and spend more time with him».
The title of Mariapolis read: “The other from me, another me”. A strong experience related to this was the visit to the inmates at the women’s prison, which led to the falling of many prejudices and indifferences, and to the discovery that we always have something to gift: love.
But the Mariapolis was not only about commitment and meditations. I enjoyed, as only on a few occasions in the past, the talent night where everyone displayed their artistic talents. Besides, the Afro mass was wonderful: the exact representation of the joy that exists in our hearts when we participate in a meeting with God.
When I returned to my home town, although I came back with an empty stomach for not having eaten the famous traditional fish-based dishes such as the corviches or the encocado, my heart was completely filled with love. We were told that the Mariapolis really begins when we get back home to our everyday routine. And so I have tried to put into practice what I had learned, particularly trying to see the face of Jesus in the many brothers with whom I interact during the day.
I can confidently say that Esmeraldas was my first Mariapolis, but it will certainly not be the last.
After having spoken in Buddhist temples and at the Harlem mosque, Chiara Lubich was happy to be able to address the Jewish brothers and sisters. She said, “It’s a great joy for me to meet with you today, you who are part of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. A great joy, because [ …] I’ve never had the lucky chance of meeting in such large numbers those whom I consider, along with the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, to be my elder brothers and sisters and to honour and love them as such”. The 150 people present sang Shalom, the song of peace. Everything was done in an atmosphere of ceremonial sacredness, punctuated by the Words of God from the Old Testament and from the awareness of assisting at an event that – as it was said – signified the “closing of an era and the opening of another: that of unity”. In the front, a large chandelier with 7 arms (the menorah) with the candles solemnly lit one by one: the first represented light, the second justice, the third peace, the fourth benevolence, the fifth brotherly love, the sixth harmony. Chiara and the President [of the B’nai B’rith, Dr. Jaime Kopec, editor’s note] were invited to light the seventh one placed at the centre: This is the candle of truth, the seal of God, the heart of life. As soon as it was lit, Chiara turned towards the president and proposed to make a pact of unity in that moment. And he replied: “This is a pact”. Then, in his speech, in which he addressed Chiara as “sister”, the president explained it to everyone as “a pact of loving one another, of faith in looking ahead to the future, of burying centuries of intolerance. It’s not easy, but only the brave undertake difficult ventures”. “Unity is achieved in respecting the diversity”, added Mario Burman [responsible for the B’nai B’rith’s interreligious dialogue, editor’s note]. “A new era begins”. And then directing his gaze towards Chiara, “Chiara, Argentina needs your message”. “I am here”, affirmed Chiara, “with brothers and sisters with whom we share a genuine faith in the one God and we have in common the priceless heritage of the Bible in what we call: the Old Testament. What can we do? What can we consider? If a simple Golden Rule (do unto others what you want done unto yourself) is able to gather us together with the followers of other religions in brotherly love, if not always in God, at least in the faith of a superior Being, what could happen if the Lord began to clarify that it is His will to establish even among us, Jews and Christians, a brotherly relationship? ( …) I was enlightened by many divine truths that fill your Jewish tradition and which we share. Truths that can become the bonding agent between our and your spiritual life. (…) I dreamt in this way to be able to live together these truths and to give a new hope to the world with our deep communion, with our collaboration”. Taken from “The menorah lights – with Chiara Lubich in Argentina and Brazil”, Città Nuova Ed., Roma, 1998, pp. 132,34.
After a pastoral experience as an assistant parish priest that lasted for eleven years, my bishop, before entrusting me with the parish, gave me the opportunity to spend four months in the little town of Loppiano, at the Formation Centre for us diocesan priests. Here I found myself with around twenty priests and seminarians coming from various parts of the world to live an evangelical experience of communion, based on the spirituality of unity. In the beginning, it was not easy among us priests to communicate due to the language barrier. For example, when Yvon from Madagascar arrived, he only spoke French. In order to communicate with him, I had to translate from Italian to English, and then Peter from the US translated from English to French. It was rather laborious, but we did it in a brothers spirit and we understood each other very well. At this school of life, everything is done in harmony: praying, meditating, enriching lessons of theological, biblical, and pastoral care insights in various fields; but also work in the garden, in the kitchen, mopping the floors, translating into various languages, teaching the Italian language, playing football … This opening up to activities other than those typical to priests, and even doing many jobs involving manual labour, as Jesus had done for thirty years in Nazareth, makes this course a true integral school. For example, serving in the canteen on Sundays, together with the religious and the laity who also live this experience, welcoming the numerous visitors to Loppiano with a good lunch, setting the tables and then washing the pots, dishes, etc… a great number of things that one is able to do only together with the others, and with gusto. It’s only a detail of the activities that take place out here, but for me it was all new and it was a beautiful teaching. The fact of working in the carpentry section from Mondays to Fridays, made me appreciate Saturdays and Sundays in a different way, as my people did in the parish. To work in the handicrafts section (painting, smoothing, wood processing), it was necessary to learn to use well one’s senses of sight, hearing and touch; and to proportion muscular strength, otherwise you risk ruining the pieces or the machinery. Handicrafts is a school of attention and delicacy, fundamental characteristics in life, especially in that of a priest. Even daily Mass acquired a different flavour altogether. For example, to offer one’s work at the time of the Offertory is much more concrete when your back hurts from spending the morning bending to hoe the ground or to sandpaper a piece of wood… Besides, dealing with the house work all together has helped me to overcome doing things half-heartedly. There were certain things that I had always done but discussing it with the others and asking their opinions helped me discover that there was a better way to do them. It means that it is not just enough to do good, you need to do it well! I feel very enriched by these few months lived in an “integral school” of life. The manual work made me understand more the life of my people, and what it means to witness one’s faith at the workplace. And I rediscovered the royal priesthood of every Christian that must lie at the basis of my ministerial priesthood. (Article taken from Gen’s – the magazine of ecclesial life)
I come from Brazil, the fifth of a family of six children, two of whom were born from the previous marriage of my father, who was then left a widower. I was just one year old when dad left home, leaving behind my pregnant mother who was unable to take up a job because we children were still quite small. Since we had no close relatives and our father did not contribute to our livelihood, the situation turned critical. Practically we had nothing to eat and many bills to pay! Mum decided to sell some of the furniture in the house to cover the immediate needs and we remained only with the essential things.
Lizomar Dos Santos
One of my acquired step brothers had a grocery store from where mum took what we needed to eat. But since we couldn’t pay him, he came one day and took away the fridge. For the same reasons they first cut off our electricity supply and then also the gas. For years we lived using oil lamps and cooking with firewood. Often some neighbours helped us out with whatever little they had. Meanwhile, our father had three other children with another woman. For us it was really hard not to receive his love, but mum always taught to respect him as our father. Whenever we saw him she’d tell us: “That’s your father. Go to him to ask for his blessing”. I worked as a street vendor till I was eighteen. Often I hid myself when I saw a friend, because I felt ashamed. I have also worked as a farmhand and a bricklayer. Then, in 2000, I was summoned to work as a volunteer at the Ministry of Justice where, seeing my commitment, they employed me at the Tribunal Secretariat. I even managed to complete my studies and graduate in Arts. One day, a friend invited me to a meeting of the Focolare Movement to which he belonged. Out there I discovered that Jesus, who had suffered and experienced the abandonment on the cross, could give meaning to my own personal sufferings and to those of my family. I believed that everything could have a meaning, and that my pain had served to make me a more humane person, sensitive to the sufferings of others. This discovery led me and leads me to a personal encounter with God, to whom I decided to dedicate my life, serving my brothers and sisters on the way of the Focolare. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————— Video: meeting of the movements, associations and lay groups, in St. Peter’s Square with Pope Francis.. Introduction: Songs and testimonies (Contains the testimony of Lizomar Dos Santo)
“I teach the Italian language in the northern suburbs of Paris, a disadvantaged area in socio-economical terms, with a multicultural student population. There’s rampant drug peddling. Normally, teachers at the beginning of their careers come out here, and then, having gained points, ask for a transfer to less demanding schools. I could have done so too, but I decided to stay – I’m out here since twelve years – to give the children the same quality of teaching as the best schools in Paris.
It was tough in the beginning. I was insulted by the students and once they even wrecked my car with kicks. Not knowing how to react, I was on the defensive … Then gradually I learnt to accept my pupils, even through a dialogue with their families, with the certainty that school is also the place to have positive experiences that further human development. Many of my colleagues arrive unprepared into this reality: some have a nervous breakdown, others continuously send students to face the council of discipline. I try to support them.
What’s important is to help children deal with their aggressiveness and remain calm in the classroom. It takes time to communicate in an appropriate manner, to let them know that I respect them, and at the same time, setting limits, always giving special attention to those who, through an unruly behaviour, express their difficulties. I’m reminded of S. who has five siblings, one of whom is physically challenged. Since the mother works throughout the day, he needs to take care of him. He’s unmotivated at school. He knows that I’m close to him to help him overcome his grief, and to encourage him to give his best.
One of my objectives is to appreciate everyone’s participation. I set the rules at the beginning of the year. For example, no one has the right to ridicule the others. Gradually an atmosphere of respect is established, wherein each one is free to speak up. Preparing a good lesson depends on me, but also on them if they actively involve themselves.
From a didactic point of view, the interdisciplinary cultural projects are of primary importance.
They conclude each year with a school trip funded, besides the appropriate bodies (Municipality, General Council, Banks), by small self-financing activities.
It is a beautiful experience of fraternity for the boys to come out from their own environments that condition, judges and marginalizes them. They almost become different people and their positive potential comes forth. For example, Y is passive and characterless in class. Speaking with him I discovered that the teachers and his father for years told him that he was a good for nothing and he ended up believing them. He displayed a hatred for history in the classroom but while in Sicily he displayed sensitiveness to artistic beauty: has been fascinated by Greek theatre in Taormina and the Roman aqueduct in Syracuse.
I don’t know if what I do will have a positive result. I’ve learnt not to expect immediate results. Even when a boy doesn’t change, the most important thing is to continue to believe in him, without delving on what is not going right, but to recognise all the positive aspects that he possesses, thereby appreciating him and giving him a sense of gratification.
And then I have a good relationship with many colleagues. It’s important to listen, talk, and share experiences.
The same holds true while giving a sense of direction. To someone who wanted to become a chef I said: “You are lucky to have clear ideas. It’s rare. Be ambitious, and aim to obtain a good training”. He was accepted in one of the best culinary schools in Paris. Giving me the news has added: “I’ll create some recipes and one of them will be a tiramisù dedicated to you”.
“We reached Mariapolis Piero (Nairobi, Kenya) on the 10 May morning, and were welcomed as only the Africans know how: with smiles and hugs without reserve for all! This is because they place the person at the centre of their days, and we discovered this through their lives, and the stories of their tribes that were presented during the School of Inculturation. It was enriching to enter into all these cultures and to discover commonalities and things which distinguish them. Besides those who had come from the sub-Saharan Africa countries, there were around fifteen young people from countries neighbouring Kenya: Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, as well as Madagascar, Zambia, Angola, Malawi … two from South America who are living for a period of time at the small town, and 5 of us: me, Chiara, Giulia, Aurelio and Paula. They explained to us how the project was conceived and two activities were proposed: to reach the Samburu people in the Savannah and to live with them for 4 days, interviewing them and learning about their roots and understanding their cultural heritage; to help out at the various nutritional centres in Madare, in the slums of Nairobi, and at Njabini, a village 2600 meters above sea level. A group comprising 8 of us decided to take up the second activity. One the first day we were welcomed in a chapel made of tin sheet, which functioned as a Nutritional Centre by day and as a Temple of God in the evening. The reality of the slums was quite overwhelming. There’s a situation of absolute poverty, of a social degradation that’s quite inhuman, and yet the dignity of the person is elevated, it does not give up and clings to that one certainty: God is Love. Some Italian sisters, who have been missionaries to Madare since the seventies, affirmed the strong faith that was present, and how this leads to mutual help. The person responsible for the nutrition centre herself was born and grew up in the slums. Now, having embraced the spirituality of unity, she started this activity wherein, besides ensuring a minimum education and two square meals a day, she teaches children the art of loving through the dice of love. On reaching home these children lightened up the entire family, challenging one other to a competition of love, which even made life spiritually fuller. The following day we went to Njabini. After 3 hours of travel, we were greeted by a family composed of mama Julia, papa Joseph, Mary, Absunta and Anthony. They belong to the Kikuyu tribe. We stayed with them for 3 days, helping out in the household chores, in the fields, and with the cattle. On the last evening, during a moment of sharing, I felt that this had now become my family, and I have no longer felt a “mzungu” (white) in their midst! And mama Julia confided in us: “Before you arrived I thought I have four children. Now I feel I have 8 more! “. It doesn’t feel like I’ve returned home because I believe that the trips are one-way. Something in me has changed forever: I’m enriched with a culture diametrically opposite to mine, and more aware of the strengths and weaknesses of my way of living. One thing’s for sure, I’ve made the “Ubuntu” philosophy my life philosophy: I can realize myself as a person only in the moment I enter into a relationship with the Other and I place him or her at the centre of my life. Which, after all, refers to that love of brother preached by Someone more than two thousand years ago and which our Chiara has always reminded us of. (Elena D. Italy) (Elena D. – Italy)
Ribeirão Preto, the new technology hub with 700,000 inhabitants. In recent years many people have migrated here from other Brazilian States in search of work. New apartments blocks are being being erected, each housing thousands of people. This was the case with the parish of Fr. Luis, where in April 2011 a large residential apartments block was built to house 4000 people. He decided along with the parishioners to take the first step toward the new inhabitants, even before they arrived, so that they had immediately someone to turn to. Fr. Luis recollects: “In those days, the beatification process of Pope John Paul II was in progress. For us, his life represented everything that we desired for our community: an openness to dialogue with all, welcoming, willing to forgive”. Therefore, they decided to entrust themselves to his protection “trying to characterize the new community on the life of the Gospel according to Chiara Lubich’s spirituality of unity”. Even profitable activities were initiated, such as a cooperative that collected recyclable materials. The proceeds were divided into 2 parts: for those who worked there and for the rent of the premises. Others began to sell hot dogs, giving a portion of the proceeds to cover the cost of the chapel. The pastor narrates: “The sale of hot dogs took place in a neighbourhood inhabited by drug dealers. Those who went to sell them tried to give priority to the love of neighbour above all, welcoming everyone and recalling the words of Jesus: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.” This resulted in many people visiting the chapel and participating in the activities that took place therein». And furthermore, the coffee served after mass on Sunday mornings: “After mass we set a table with coffee, tea, sweets…. The people gather around and we speak on many topics. It is a beautiful moment of an exchange of experiences, mutual understanding, and the sharing of joys and difficulties”. “We’ve also started at the chapel a course of catechesis wherein we seek that the children not only know God but also feel loved by Him, even in the difficult situations of life they sometimes find themselves in. Every month we meet with those who want to participate and animate the community. They are always joyful moments of intense dialogue and brotherhood”. Fr. Luis and his parishioners’ work is demanding, but fruitful. How do they plan to go ahead? “We feel motivated to continue – concludes the parish priest – because we have witnessed an increase in mutual help and the people feel that the apartments block is truly everyone’s home”.
“Knowing how to observe” is perhaps the first creative act for Ciro. It could give rise to the impulse of recognising the Beautiful that surrounds us, even if often hidden behind the appearances of ruin. This is how Roberto Cipollone presents himself on his website. He is an ingenious Italian artist who has his workshop at the international little town of Loppiano (Florence).
We interviewed him on his return from the inauguration of an exhibition in Japan:
How was your art received in the Land of the Rising Sun?
“The reception was splendid with the typical Asian courteousness. I visited Kyoto thanks to a Tuscan agency that collaborates in furthering relationships between Florence and that Japanese city. I was pleased to find that the set-up organised by them fully matched what I had desired. Someone commented that it seemed like Ikebana done in iron.”
How do you live the creative act?
“For me the creative process is like a kind of therapy. More than with words, I express myself through the transformation of common objects, which when arranged in a certain manner, even astonish me. This process results in something that amazes, which creates emotions.”
From where do you get your inspiration?
“I draw inspiration mostly from nature, from the material I find, where at times there are traces of life; especially objects that come from the world of farming. Naturally also from readings, from some film that I’ve seen, images that I grasped through only a glimpse…, or things that amaze you, which you then put into form.”
The locations you choose for your exhibitions are often odd…
“Until now I chose to hold exhibitions even in unusual locations: for example on the water, or in the open and in the most varied situations. And you hear the reactions of people, at times unprepared to receive an artistic message in these ways. They are positive reactions that help in changing man, who would not have lived without art.”
Certainly, there is art and art…
“Rather, it is not said that from the beginning art developed for the wellbeing of man, but I believe that man, even before eating, needs beauty. I try to greatly respect the work others have done, especially that in the farming sphere, which at times is even governed by necessity, but where beauty was not excluded, as well as the desire to pass on these values to others. Beauty understood not in terms of affectation but as message of profound values.”
The exhibition is currently underway in Kyoto from 21 May to 9 June.
Although I grew up in Rome, Italy, I wasn’t a church-goer, because my religion seemed very abstract to me, very far removed from my everyday life. What mattered most to me were my studies, my career, my friends, just having a good time.
Very few people around me seemed really fulfilled; instead, I saw many who were disillusioned, sad and alone. I asked myself how a person could really be happy in life.
In 1999, when I was 21 years old, while studying Humanities in Rome, I met a fellow student who was a member of the Focolare. I was touched by the way he and his friends treated me. I felt that they accepted me as I was. Moreover, I was impressed by the fact that Christianity wasn’t just a theory for them. They shared how they were living the words of the Gospel in their daily life, or how they had experienced God’s love, and this made them happy.
One particular Gospel phrase really struck me: “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me.” I could love God present in every neighbour.
At home, with my family, I just tried to listen more and to be more patient, particularly with my father with whom I’d had frequent arguments. I’d then spend more time with my mother, who was often alone at home, and tried to help her with some household chores. My family noticed that I was trying to behave in a different way and our relationship gradually began to change. Reciprocal trust developed among us; my mother would ask me for advice and she began to confide in me even if I was the youngest in the family. One night, I remember, my older sister and I stayed up late talking; we spontaneously recalled many past grudges and arguments which we hadn’t really forgiven, but had only tried to forget. For the first time we deeply forgave each other, from the bottom of our hearts. We then embraced and felt a great joy.
Living the Gospel, the world around me started to change, because I myself was changing. I felt drawn to give my life to God.
But there were also many occasions at work to live God’s words. Once, at the school where I was teaching, we had a student who had received very poor grades. My co-teachers and I decided to suggest that she take a different course which would be more in line with her interests and skills. Her father was furious with us; he accused us of discriminating against his daughter.
Some colleagues, to shift the blame, told him that I was the teacher who wanted to fail her. So she and her father came to my office and he was really angry – ready to assault me physically! Nonetheless, I was sure that I could love them in that situation by being sincere and overcoming my fear.
First of all, I tried to listen without interruptions. Later on I explained my side, and why I had made that decision for the good of his daughter. I actually spent more than two hours with both of them. Finally, he realized that racism was not behind the decision, but we had made that decision for the good of his daughter. Assuring me that she would try her best the following year, he added, “I’m an immigrant; you are one of the few who has treated me with respect and without arrogance.” Then they invited me for a cup of coffee, and we talked as if we were close friends.
A few months ago I transferred to the Focolare in Tokyo and I have begun studying Japanese. I try to love Japan as my own country, and I want to discover Japanese culture and history, its food, and its beautiful nature. Naturally, I still have my Italian “identity” but this becomes enriched in the relationship with the Japanese people. Here I find that people express themselves differently, through their silence, or with concrete deeds. It’s therefore quite a challenge to build relationships more through actions than through words.
Colinas de Guacamaya is a rundown district of Valencia, an major industrial city of Venezuela. As in other parts of the world, many parents have nowhere to send their children during working hours.
Several years ago, Ofelia, a Volunteer of the Focolare Movement, started Arcoiris preschool in the garden of her own home. Here children receive personal attention and are given the basics to be properly prepared for primary school.
There are about 40 children who come to the kindergarten and their ages range from four to … fourteen! Indeed since, for a whole host reasons unconnected with their own choices, many children do not attend normal school, the decision has been made to offer them the chance to carry on learning within a preschool environment.
Some time ago there was a shootout between the police and the organized crime gang in control of the district. It was not the first time; six people had already been killed. But this time it was right next to the preschool.
Ofelia said, ‘To stop the children being frightened we got them to sing. Then, when their mothers, full of worry and fear, came to collect them I spoke to each of them, trying calm them and explaining that they had to keep control of themselves for their children’s sake. I invited them to pray together for the violence to end.’
And Ofelia went on to say, ‘The next day the children and I cast the “cube of love” and when the face turned up that said “love everyone”, the children asked, “What, gang members too?” and “Even the police?” We then asked the children to pray freely and what they said was beautiful in its innocence. A four-year-old girl asked that there should be no more guns in the world and a boy asked God to help him love more and to change the hearts of the criminals.’
Another area of work for Arcoiris is the relationship with the parents. It is very important because the children are in the preschool only for a few years and so their experience, however positive and rich in values, is temporary. Their parents, on the other hand, have a long time to form them as persons.
This year the preschool looked at the theme of ‘How can we communicate with our children?’. In the various workshops activities for the parents were run by the teachers themselves, who had generously accepted to spend a whole Sunday dedicated to this. They were aware that they were making a real investment in the future of their students.
Arcoiris is a small seed of hope in a violent suburb of Venezuela.
But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. Peter advises them not to give in to the instinctive reactions that such situations provoke, but to do what Jesus would do. He urges them to respond with love and to see such difficulties and lack of understanding as a grace, that is, something God allows so they can demonstrate the true Christian spirit. Besides, like this with their love they will be able to bring to Christ even those who do not understand them. But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. Some people use this sentence and others like it to accuse Christianity of encouraging excessive submissiveness, dulling people’s consciences and making them less active in the struggle against injustice. But this is not so. If Jesus asks us to love those who do not understand or who treat us badly, it is not because he wants to make us insensitive to injustice. Far from it! It is because he wants to teach us how to build a truly just society. This can be done by spreading the spirit of true love, beginning ourselves to be the first to love. But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. How should we live the Word of Life this month? There are many ways today in which we too can be misunderstood or treated badly. They range from a lack of tact and rudeness to malicious judgements, ingratitude, offensive behaviour and real injustices. We can say this: even on all these occasions we have to give witness to the love that Jesus brought to earth for everyone and so, also, for those who treat us badly. The Word of Life this month wants to tell us that, even in the legitimate defence of justice and truth, we ought never to forget that our first duty, as Christians, is to love others. We have to treat them with that new attitude, made of understanding, acceptance and mercy, which Jesus had for us. In this way, even when we defend our ideas, we will never break relationships, never give in to the temptation to resent others or to take revenge on them. Acting like this, as instruments of Jesus’ love, we too will be able to bring our neighbours to God.
Chiara Lubich
(First published May 1990)
Each month a Scripture passage is offered as a guide and inspiration for daily living. This commentary, translated into 96 different languages and dialects, reaches several million people worldwide through print, radio, television and the Internet. Ever since the Focolare’s beginnings, founder Chiara Lubich (1920–2008) wrote her commentaries each month. This one was originally published in May 1990.
Read more: Brandl, Gary and Tom Ess, OFM. “Trustworthy Witness,” The Gospel in Action: A New Evangelization Day by Day, New City Press, 2013, p.54–61. Lubich, Chiara. Christian Living Today: Meditations, New City Press, 1997 Lubich, Chiara, “Even Our Enemies,” The Art of Loving, New City Press, 2005, p.41. Next month’s Word of Life: “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Gal 5:14)
It was July 1991. Chiara Lubich was travelling in Brazil. She was struck by the ‘crown of thorns’, the slums or the favelas, surrounding the huge cities she visited. In response to the people’s conditions of poverty, she launched a project: the Economy of Communion. When she returned to Italy she spoke of this inspiration to several business people. Her words, recalls Luigi Delfi who was present, ‘challenged entrepreneurs to embrace the philosophy of sharing a third of their profits with those who are most poor. This intuition of hers was, for me, overwhelming.’
Luigi had had a thirty-year experience as a designer in a firm making lighting equipment. He saw a secret harmony in it because ‘to have a good light you need prisms that are distinct from one another but at the same time solidly united.’
Chiara’s proposal seemed to Luigi like a personal call. ‘It immediately grabbed me,’ he said, ‘because I come from a family that knows the value of sacrifice.’ Luigi became one of the founder members of ECIE, the first Italian business to follow the principles of the Economy of Communion.
An association at a distance grew up with Chiara, consisting in letters asking advice and swift replies on how to proceed. ‘Every step I took with the new business was considered with her,’ he affirmed. Chiara taught him how not let his characteristic of being like a small volcano of light be suffocated by egoism and how to give himself to others as he continued to be creative and effective.
Over time his firm became the most important international supplierfor themotorcycle industry of lighting equipment, with contacts from Japan to the United States. Luigi’s wife and his daughter, Erika, joined his team.
The challenge is still there, especially in the current economic crisis. ‘This is the reason why today the Economy of Communion as proposed by Chiara,’ Luigi said in conclusion, ‘is increasingly necessary and is a call to each of us in the first place as persons, because it makes us able to offer our own contribution within the economic sphere.’
Source: ‘Da una scintilla un vulcano di luce’ (‘From a Spark a Volcano of Light’), by Mariagrazia Baroni, Città Nuova, 25 May 2013, pp. 38-39.
It was entitled “Misa trovera del Abandonado”: it’s composer, Dr Jesús Lozada, Cuban poet and writer, wished to express with the rhythms of trova and with deep and inspired texts, his filial love and gratitude for Lubich. The trova is a traditional Cuban rhythm, associated with the figure of the trovadores, travelling musicians. Through his writing, Lozada expressed his understanding of Jesus’ cry on the cross: ‘Why have you forsaken me? ‘. This is one of the pillars of the spirituality that derives from the charism of unity, and that can “enlighten economics and politics, theology and philosophy, science and art”.
Augusto Blanca, a noted Nueva Trova composer and songwriter, set the words to music, while Leonardo Barquilla did the musical arrangement for the choir and orchestra.
This was the basis that lead to an experience of artistic sharing, wherein Lozada involved some of the most significant musical personalities on the Island. They were engaged in several days of work, to give the best of themselves, guided only by a great love and devotion.
The concert was held on the 24th May in the beautiful Dominican church of San Juan Letrán, in the Vedado district. The audience – more than 300 people – included the Apostolic Nuncio in Cuba, Archbishop Bruno Musarò, representatives from the ecumenical sphere, delegates of some embassies, and many artists. The event’s multifacetedness was grasped by Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement, who in a message send “wished all those present to experience that atmosphere of true fraternity that Chiara had always promoted and in which the Focolare Movement is engaged. Thus, even through music, we can help forge bonds of esteem and collaboration throughout the world”.
The program displayed an ensemble performance by 16 musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra directed by maestro Leonardo Barquilla, together with the international renowned Exaudi choir, directed by the soprano Maria Felicia Pérez. Her voice, one of the most beautiful of Cuba, was moving in the interpretation of “Maria de la soledad”, which expressed the pain of a mother on the death of her son. A rousing standing ovation sealed this artistic fellowship; the musicians involved expressed their determination to continue the artistic sharing embarked upon.
Cuban journalist, Germán Piniella, commented in one of the leading newspapers on the Island: “The merit of this first mass composed by a Cuban trovadore, is the ability to move both believers as well as those who are not. After all, both can share the artistic sensibility in front of an artistic fact of this significance, following the saying that “giving is better than receiving”; something that every honest mind can accept”.
The commitment within the Constituent Assembly that would have decided the fate of post-war Italy, a commitment to peace and the support for the most needy, the commitment to ecumenism: these are some of the affinities between the two figures of Giordan and La Pira deeply linked by harmony and friendship, which were highlighted at the conference “Igino Giordani and Giorgio La Pira: virtues and politics” held on the 25th May in Florence. There were about 250 people, including some of Giordani’s family members and many young international students from the La Pira Centre, dedicated to the mayor who governed Florence from 1951 to 1964. The centre, which was entrusted by cardinal Benelli from its very inception to the Focolare Movement, has become an important place for dialogue and fraternity within the Tuscan capital city.
Giordani was one of the most important politicians and intellectuals of post-war Italy, but also “co-founder” of the Focolare Movement. He is known within the movement as “Foco”. He did his utmost to promote a politics based on service to the community and fraternal dialogue. “It’s an initiative that could undoubtedly appear today as daring,” said Alberto Lo Presti, president of the Igino Giordani Centre, in his speech. “Though, of course, – he continued – it wasn’t to a lesser extent during the parliamentary experience of Giordani, at the height of the cold war. What led him to such daring was the encounter with the ideal of unity of Chiara Lubich on the 17th September 1948. An ideal that Lubich gave to the world, and that Giordani knew also how to convey within politics”.
The promotion of peace and European integration were among the cornerstones of Giordani’s parliamentary career, as analyzed by Prof. Bagnato, professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Florence: “The essence of his pacifism – he recalled – lies in his vocation to dialogue on an international level, as well as on the internal and relational one”. It’s a vocation that led the Honourable Giordani to promote numerous initiatives (such as the first bill for the objection of conscience and a parliamentary understanding to defend peace), working both with members of the party, as well as with those who were then diametrically opposed.
The event, which saw the participation of the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, opened with the greetings of the Archbishop of Florence, cardinal Betori. What followed was a succession of presentations by various scholars – from Prof. Luppi, professor of Contemporary History at the Sophia University Institute, to Prof. Monticone, historian and former national president of the Catholic Action. The event also hosted the Florence May Festival Orchestra.
At the end of the event, one of the young students present shared: “I find completely relevant and necessary, now as never before, the desire that marked Giordani’s way of understanding politics: ‘There is a need for saints in Parliament! “.
The wisdom of this collection is remarkable. It is mystical and practical at the same time. Chiara Lubich says, “We can’t go to God alone, but we must go to him with our brothers and sisters, since he is the Father of us all.” Bill Hartnett’s foreword sets up the book beautifully, noting that each aspect of the spirituality of unity insists upon the presence of our neighbor. The neighbor is never an obstacle between the twosome of me and God but a sacred “archway” through whom I come into God’s presence, and through whom God comes to me. Indeed, the neighbor is a necessity if we are to have mutual love, the profound love that is receptive to the grace of unity. The pages also have a constant presence of Mary as a perfect model of neighborly charity. “Love is only mindful of the beloved – like Mary.” And, “We can’t imagine Mary staring at herself. Mary looks to Jesus.” Each phrase from Lubich offers a new color for the palette you use to love your neighbor, and you’ll find that the book sends you forth with a heart ready to love as Jesus loved. Available from New City Press Philippines(more…)
The beatification of Fr Pino Puglisi on May 25, 2013, is becoming a symbol of the struggle against the Mafia and modern forms of slavery. The young people of the Focolare are also working to build up the rule of law.
‘I cannot do this! I cannot make us, my brothers and sisters, into slaves!’ The words of Pope Francis at the Angelus on 26 May come to mind and they echo John Paul II’s powerful and passionate words in 1993 against Mafia members in the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento, only a few months after the murder of Don Puglisi. Twenty years after his death, Fr Pino Puglisi has been proclaimed ‘Blessed’ in Palermo in Sicily.
He was slaughtered on 15 September 1993 by contract killers from the Mafia family in control of the Brancaccio district where Don Puglisi lived and worked ceaselessly as the Parish Priest of St Gaetano’s church. He ‘educated the young in the Gospel’ and helped them escape lives of crime, as Pope Francis recalled. Among the 80,000 participants at the beatification ceremony, there was a large group from the Focolare Movement, many of whom were young people from various parts of Sicily.
The ceremony in Palermo had been planned for a long time. In fact, Youth for a United World worked for months in the ‘Cantiere Legalità’, a project to establish the rule of law run by Progetto Italia, and they were looking forward to meeting one another on this occasion of celebration. They hoped to have a further experience of solidarity with the people of Palermo and elsewhere committed to building up the rule of law. While Fr Puglisi was being beatified in Sicily, about a 100 young people from the ‘Cantiere Legalità’ were meeting together in Milan to discuss the issue of the Mafia, looking at its roots and ways of operating and studying strategies to combat it.
The next event for Italian young people belonging to the Focolare Movement will be in Caserta (29 July – 2 August 2013). Here they will share their experiences and insights from the last few months as they have considered three themes to do with the rule of law: care for immigrants, the environment and work.
The commitment to legality in Sicily by the Focolare began long ago. Chiara Lubich herself in Palermo in 1998 spoke on this very topic in response to questions from several people. She urged those who were seriously committed to working for the common good to unite, starting from Catholic groups and Movements, and promote a ‘civilization of love’. She hoped they would consolidate and raise the profile of the work done on a daily basis to overcome the destructive presence of the Mafia.
What happened in the following years certainly bore fruit. Both Youth a United World and Youth for Unity were on the same coaches as young people from other groups and associations. They all shared the same longing for a world where people are united and live as one family.
Even more than this, showing the network built up over the years in Palermo, young people (who were of every age) wanted to go on two significant visits. The first was to the association Libera where they found out more about their work in Mafia-controlled places. The second was to the Community of Sant’Egidio who gave them a chance to talk with people who actually knew Don Puglisi. At this second event the Youth for Unity from Palermo explained what they were doing in their city and in particular in the Brancaccio district. They said they had painted some excellent murals in the very square where Fr Puglisi was killed, and even after months no one had touched them. In bold letters they had written: ‘The Golden Rule: Treat others as you want them to treat you.’
After attending the deeply moving meeting of the Movements, new associations and communities with Pope Francis at Pentecost, Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-President Giancarlo Falletti travelled to the south of Germany.
On 24 May, in Freiburg, they met Archbishop Rober Zollitsch, the President of the German Bishops’ Conference. Archbishop Zollitsch was interested in the work and spread of the Focolare Movement in Germany and in the world. He encouraged the Movement to give its contribution to the Church and to society.
In that very friendly atmosphere Maria Voce spoke of the commitment of the international community of the Focolare in the field of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue. She explained to the Archbishop that in countries where they are, the Focolare centres always try to meet local needs. ‘For that reason our little town in Ottmaring has an explicitly ecumenical character.’
The Archbishop heard about the priests who live Focolare spirituality and he emphasized how important it can be for all priests to be involved in a living spiritual community. He was delighted with the faith formation courses that the Movement offers in the south of Germany to young people: ‘In a society where there is often a lack of courage in making decisions and taking commitments, it’s important that young people have witnesses to faith in their own environments.’
The Archbishop also said how impressed he was by the previous day’s meeting in Stuttgart of bishops from various churches and representatives of the Movements in the ‘Together for Europe’ network. Among those present at the meeting was Nikolaus Schneider, the President the German Evangelical Church. The warm relationship among the Movements and the communities that organized the meeting, one of which was the Focolare Movement, had struck him: ‘They told us about the pact, the covenant of mutual love that they made during one of their first meetings. And you could feel that this love was alive among them, that this pact shapes their relationships even today.’
The Focolare’s strong point, in the Archbishop’s opinion, was in managing to motivate people ‘not only to live and confess the faith, but also to share their experiences with one another, to speak of their faith. We lack this in Germany! Indeed, here the faith is often reduced to a private matter.’
He concluded by expressing his hopes and an observation: ‘The contribution of the Movements is an enrichment also for our parishes. The Movements, like the Focolare, can inspire a great many persons to live a genuine and active life of faith. They are a gift of the Holy Spirit for our times.’
Professor Mohammad Shomali is very active in the field of interfaith dialogue. He is Dean of Postgraduate studies at the Department of International Affairs at Jami’at al-Zahra and is also the Director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies, Qom, Iran. He has been instrumental in organising events with Benedictine monks, Mennonites and has taken three delegations of post-graduate Iranian students to Rome to have spiritual contacts with Christianity. He was recently in Rome with a group of women students. We publish an extract of an interview with him.
Recently, you led a delegation of young women students to Rome. What was your and their experience?
In May 2013, my wife and I accompanied a group of ten women currently doing post-graduate studies at Jami’atul Zahra, the largest Islamic seminary for women in Iran in the city of Qom. This was my 7th visit to Italy but I can say that it was the most successful (…) as over time you establish trust and you have a deeper level of friendship and dialogue.
What is your experience of dialogue within the Focolare Movement; what are the characteristics of this dialogue?
(…) For us, the Focolare Movement served as a gateway to Christianity. With our Focolare friends we feel at ease as they have a deep sense of commitment to God, a profound love for God and humanity, and at the same time they have a great openness. (…) You feel that they do their best to accommodate you ; they make you feel that together we can work for the good.
I am sure that this charism of Chiara – her spirituality – was a gift from God in the 20th century and our hope is that it will continue to bear fruits in this 21st century. I very much also liked the idea of unity in that we should act as a community; we should think together, we should plan together, we should work together, and it’s very similar to what I think is the core message of Islam, especially in the school of the Ahlulbayt (Shia Islam) that we very much focus on the love which must exist between believers.
Therefore I find the spirituality of the Focolare very interesting. What they preach and what they exhibit in their character both confirm that we can achieve a lot if we have genuine love for God and for neighbour.
From Castello in Val di Sole where Chiara taught during the 1938-1939 school year, Caterina, Carmela, Dolores and Edda recall that in Chiara’s class which was comprised of 42 boys from all five classes, the teacher didn’t limit herself only to didactic activities.. In her class you also learned education, brotherhood and . . . how “to love one another.”
Around two years ago, in a timespan of about three months, my teeth began to deteriorate in a dramatic way. So I went to a dentist and asked for an estimate of the cost of the work that would have to be done. Heart attack! It was going to cost a good 10,000 Swiss francs. I discussed the decision with my wife and, given the urgency, we decided to accept the doctor’s estimate and proceed with the treatment. The cure lasted a few months and that gave us time to prepare for the important investment. On the second to last visit the dentist informed me that there were further complications and the cost would be raised to a total of 11,280 francs. To stay within the estimate, he proposed that I pay 1000 francs in cash. This proposal by the dentist probably came from his desire to help me save some money, since I’ve been one of his patients for a long time. I asked if I could give an answer at my next appointment, because I wanted to discuss the decision with my wife first. The amount already foreseen was already a lot for us and 1,280 more francs was quite a bit of money. The temptation to save some money was strong! The thought took over in my mind that a part of the money could be used to help someone, or that it could be given to charity and many other such excuses. In the end, however, we decided as Christians that it would be more correct to pay the full amount. As we gave our answer to the dentist, we tried to show love toward him, thanking him for his kindness toward us in order not to embarrass him, explaining to him the reason for our choice. Providence didn’t keep us waiting! Last April as I filled out my declaration of earnings report, I included the dentist’s bill. On June 8th the answer in the “
On June 14-15, 2013, a group of 48 focolarini from 13 Christian Churches examined some important points of the spirituality of unity in relation to ecumenism. During the meeting we listened the story of Hanneke, a Dutch focolarina from the Reformed Church. “I grew up in a family that belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. When I was 13 years old my mother passed away and a rather difficult period in my life was begun. None of my family members went to church anymore, but I felt that I didn’t want to leave God. I always kept in contact with the local church community. When I was 21 years old I made the ‘profession of faith,’ which is quite an important step in the Reformed Church. There I committed to give my all for the building up of the Kingdom of God in the Church and in the world. On that day too, just as when I was very young, I felt that God wanted something more from me. In my searching I met the Taize community where I discovered a Christianity that was different from what I had known up until then, one that could be lived together with others. Shortly afterwards, through a colleague at work, I came to know the spirituality of the Focolare. My colleague never spoke about it directly, but I could understand from the way she lived that her life had a very strong spiritual dimI began to visit the focolare in Amsterdam. Once I arrived during a birthday party, something very simple. But there for the first time I experienced that spiritual presence of Jesus, and began to better understand the significance of the words: ‘Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt. 18:20). There I saw mutual love being practiced, and I began telling myself: I want to live like this too. At first I didn’t feel the difference between me (from the Reformed Church) and the majority of the others who were Roman Catholics. Only after a few years did I realize that we were different in the way we professed our faith, and many questions began coming to my mind. At times I didn’t feel understood. The key to continuing along this path I found in Jesus Forsaken. I recognized his countenance in the wounds of division between the Churches, in our different way of thinking, and this helped me to go ahead. I was transferred to Eindhoven in the south of Holland where most people are Roman Catholic. On the one hand I experienced great openness and, on the other hand, I learned to express my questions or difficulties when I saw things that didn’t that didn’t click with the mentality of the Reformed Church. This helped me in building truer relationships. Also within the Focolare Movement as a whole there are many of us from the Reformed Church in different vocations and callings. We have had beautiful experiences of coming to know each other, some trips to Rome for example. We also became aware that ecumenism is a journey that is common to us all, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic. For some years Christian leaders from several Churches and movements have been asking how they could give a witness of unity to Holland, rather than one of division. So a committee was set up that was called ‘We choose unity.’ A 
What is happening to the Church today? How are the challenges of passing on the faith to new generations to be tackled, given the scandals that have arisen in several countries and the abandonment of the faith in Europe? How are the vitality and gifts emerging from the lands of Asia and Africa to be appreciated and welcomed?
The event promoted by the Gens magazine on ecclesial life was held this third time on June 12-13. Focolare president, 
“Five words for my Church” was the suggestive title given to a presentation via Skype, by theologian Piero Coda from Sophia University Institute which he heads in the Focolare town of 
Stefano Comazzi is responsible for the projects section of the 
The water situation, there is only one public distribution point, with only one fountain about half a kilometer from the settlement, I saw a small crowd of women and children there. From what they say, it seems that the queues begin early in the morning at around three o’clock and go on for many hours. We spoke with the mayor and learned that there is a study underway on a project for the entire north region of the city, with adequate pipe diameter and flow rate, and a tank for collecting water right next to the field. Nevertheless, while awaiting the project to be realized, CASOBU will examine other possible short-term solutions that will alleviate at least some of the difficulty of the local population to provide water for itself.
One well-known rabbi who took part in the meeting promoted by the Focolare and held at the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo, Rome, explained that the history of mutual understanding between the two religions developed along three levels of interaction.
They went to Sulyap ng Pag-asa, a residential center served by the Focolare in the crowded and deprived areas of Quezon City. The Youth for a United World carry out regular activities in favor of nutritional assistance. At the Sinag Hospital, which desires to respond to the invitation of Jesus to love the poorest, they have experienced that by spending their time with the patients, their own problems seemed small. Another activity took place at Boys Town, a home for hundreds of street children, run by the Department of Welfare. There they met children between the ages of 8 and 17. They spent time together, caring, singing and dancing. The Youth for a United World were also invited to share their secret, “the art of loving.” The children in turn offered some of their own songs and dances. The Munting tahanan ng Nazareth is a centre for the physically and mentally handicapped. One Youth for a United World explained: “With our visit, we wanted to share God’s love that is present in all of our hearts, no matter who we are.” Young women who have been victims of abuse live at Marillacc Hills where, for some time, young women of the Focolare have been going to visit them. Because of the trust that has been built, the centre also allowed the young men to take part in the activity. 
«I am a doctor specialized in infectious diseases, and I’ve been in contact with HIV positive and AIDS patients for the past 30 years. I deal with this pathology in the hospital where I work in Kinshasa, the capital of 
When I returned to my home town, although I came back with an empty stomach for not having eaten the famous traditional fish-based dishes such as the corviches or the encocado, my heart was completely filled with love. We were told that the Mariapolis really begins when we get back home to our everyday routine. And so I have tried to put into practice what I had learned, particularly trying to see the face of Jesus in the many brothers with whom I interact during the day.
After having spoken in Buddhist temples and at the Harlem mosque, 
After a pastoral experience as an assistant parish priest that lasted for eleven years, my bishop, before entrusting me with the parish, gave me the opportunity to spend four months in the little town of 
This opening up to activities other than those typical to priests, and even doing many jobs involving manual labour, as Jesus had done for thirty years in Nazareth, makes this course a true integral school.
I come from Brazil, the fifth of a family of six children, two of whom were born from the previous marriage of my father, who was then left a widower. I was just one year old when dad left home, leaving behind my pregnant mother who was unable to take up a job because we children were still quite small. Since we had no close relatives and our father did not contribute to our livelihood, the situation turned critical. Practically we had nothing to eat and many bills to pay! Mum decided to sell some of the furniture in the house to cover the immediate needs and we remained only with the essential things. 
Video: meeting of the movements, associations and lay groups, in St. Peter’s Square with Pope Francis.. Introduction: Songs and testimonies
“I teach the Italian language in the northern suburbs of Paris, a disadvantaged area in socio-economical terms, with a multicultural student population. There’s rampant drug peddling. Normally, teachers at the beginning of their careers come out here, and then, having gained points, ask for a transfer to less demanding schools. I could have done so too, but I decided to stay – I’m out here since twelve years – to give the children the same quality of teaching as the best schools in Paris.
Even profitable activities were initiated, such as a cooperative that collected recyclable materials. The proceeds were divided into 2 parts: for those who worked there and for the rent of the premises. Others began to sell hot dogs, giving a portion of the proceeds to cover the cost of the chapel. The pastor narrates: “The sale of hot dogs took place in a neighbourhood inhabited by drug dealers. Those who went to sell them tried to give priority to the love of neighbour above all, welcoming everyone and recalling the words of Jesus: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.” This resulted in many people visiting the chapel and participating in the activities that took place therein». And furthermore, the coffee served after mass on Sunday mornings: “After mass we set a table with coffee, tea, sweets…. The people gather around and we speak on many topics. It is a beautiful moment of an exchange of experiences, mutual understanding, and the sharing of joys and difficulties”. “We’ve also started at the chapel a course of catechesis wherein we seek that the children not only know God but also feel loved by Him, even in the difficult situations of life they sometimes find themselves in. Every month we meet with those who want to participate and animate the community. They are always joyful moments of intense dialogue and brotherhood”. Fr. Luis and his parishioners’ work is demanding, but fruitful. How do they plan to go ahead? “We feel motivated to continue – concludes the parish priest – because we have witnessed an increase in mutual help and the people feel that the apartments block is truly everyone’s home”.
Although I grew up in Rome, Italy, I wasn’t a church-goer, because my religion seemed very abstract to me, very far removed from my everyday life. What mattered most to me were my studies, my career, my friends, just having a good time.
And Ofelia went on to say, ‘The next day the children and I cast the “
The Archbishop heard about the 
Professor Mohammad Shomali is very active in the field of interfaith dialogue. He is Dean of Postgraduate studies at the Department of International Affairs at Jami’at al-Zahra and is also the Director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies, Qom, Iran. He has been instrumental in organising events with Benedictine monks, Mennonites and has taken three delegations of post-graduate Iranian students to Rome to have spiritual contacts with Christianity. He was recently in Rome with a group of women students. We publish an extract of an interview with him. 