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.
It is the School of Civil Economy, called SEC in Italian which stands for ‘Scuola di economia civile’. Among its founders are some of the most important bodies in Italy: Associazione cristiani lavoratori italiani (ACLI, Association of Italian Christian Workers), Banca Popolare Etica (People’s Ethical Bank), Cooperazione Trentina (Trent Regional Co-operation), Economy of Communion (EoC), Federazione delle Banche di credito cooperativo (Federcasse, Federation of Cooperative Commercial Canks), the Sophia University Institute and the Polo Lionello Bonfanti (Lionello Bonfanti Business Centre). They officially established it on 19 May 2013 in Loppiano, near Florence, Italy.
Silvia Vacca, a young entrepreneur from the north of Italy, in the last few months has been in the front line in setting up SEC. She is about to become president of its administrative council. In an interview on the Economy of Communion’s website, she said: ‘It is a school that is also a research project that hopes to promote a civil and civilizing market, one that puts, at the centre of its economy activity, the human person with all his or her needs, aspirations and possibilities for flourishing. This kind of market is one where people interact for their mutual benefit and looking towards the common good, as opposed to a utilitarian approach or looking only to maximize profits which is the pattern that has spread across the world and that has led to the current crisis.’
It is, then, a study centre engaged in innovative research that redefines market relations against the background of the failure of individualistic capitalism, a failure that is no longer a theoretical proposition within academia but daily experience for many.
Its research programme is directed by Stefano Zamagni, Luigino Bruni and Renato Ruffini, who for many years have been promoting civil economy. They are flanked by a teaching community drawn from well-known scholars from the major Italian universities.
SEC’s proposal comes from the need to create awareness of a number of economic principles, especially those that touch upon the human person and the common good, in those areas of life that, because of their legal requirements or their openness to these principles, are in harmony with its principles. It offers education and training aimed in the first instance at people, currently or about to be, in positions of leadership within institutions, associations and businesses. SEC aims also at schools and intends to run study programmes for teachers and people in authority in education.
Courses begin in the autumn of 2013, following the official launch of SEC on 20 September during ‘LoppianoLab’ which takes place every year in Polo Lionello Bonfanti (Lionello Bonfanti Business Centre), which is home to its administrative centre in Loppiano.
“Before the start of the long tour in Brazil (May 16-July 27),” the friends of Gen Rosso write, “there was the long-awaited meeting with Franciscan Fr Hans Stapel and Brazilian Nelson Giovaneli, founders of the Fazenda da Esperanca community where young people in trouble are welcomed to live a lifestyle based on the Gospel. The meeting took place at their central headquarters in Guaratingueta, near to San Paulo. We felt that before beginning this challenging journey, we should take a moment to be with God and with those who, like us, had decided to embark on an adventure so rooted in the Gospel.”
The visit to the Fazenda began in the small chapel, where we remembered Chiara Lubich, whose spirituality is the inspiration behind the life of the Fazenda da Esperanca. In 2010, when the official recognition was given by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Fiar Hans and his collaborators desired to visit the international headquarters of the Focolare in order to “thank” Chiara, paying her a visit in the chapel where her body rests.
The friends from Gen Rosso asked Fr Hans what he had in mind for the months before them in Brazil: “Let’s look at the beginnings of the Focolare Movement in Trent,” he answered. “Around the table of that first focolare there was a focolarina and a pauper, a focolarina and a pauper. . . There was the spiritual dimension joined to the social dimension. This is our challenge, especially here in South America, but I think also in the whole world. When there is the spiritual dimension without the incarnation of it on a social level, something’s missing. When the opposite happens, there is social involvement that has no roots in God, and the effort is vain. The challenge is found in the unity of these two dimensions.”
This was also the plan for the Gen Rosso tour that began on May 16 with their Musical Streetlight. The Musical will involve 200 young people from the Fazenda da Esperanca and will conclude with performance at the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro on July 27. The first 3 concerts were attended by over 5000 people. “Each day we try to root ourselves in God,” Gen Rosso writes, “through reflection, the life of the Word and the mutual love that we try to have among us, which generates the presence of Jesus in our midst (Mt. 18:20). With the strength of His presence we then try to love all the teenagers who are working with us on the “Strong without violence” project.” The teenagers are often coming from experiences of abandonment and unspeakable suffering. They find a refuge in drugs: “We’d like to offer them the joy that doesn’t pass away,” they write “because Jesus opens the door to the Eternal, even in the midst of much of our own suffering and that of others in this world.”
In conclusion: “This is the message that we would like to cry out to society here in Brazil, through our shows and the media: Something exists that doesn’t pass away: God. And he loves us immensely. It is he who can make us strong without any violence!”
Fr. Vasile Bobita and Fr. Gianfrancesco Bagnulo got to know each other while serving as chaplains at the Viterbo prison and bringing solace to the orthodox and catholic prisoners respectively.
Over the years this contact developed into a strong brotherly relationship, which then involved the members of their respective church communities and led them to collaborate in organising a local event of the “Together for Europe” initiative (May 2012), of which the Focolare Movement is one of the promoters.
This led to the idea among the two chaplains to visit together the small town of witness at Loppiano (Florence), inviting also Fr. Vasile’s Romanian Orthodox community and two orthodox monks from the San Giovanni Therestis monastery at Bivongi, in the Reggio Calabria province.
On the 15th May, among the enchanting Tuscan hills, after the presentation of Chiara Lubich’s story and that of the small town, a lively dialogue was initiated within this varied group on “evangelization and dialogue”, on the Movement’s spirituality of unity, on the relationships with the Orthodox Church since the 60’s, on Jesus’ Testament: “That all may be one” (Jn 17,21). This moment facilitated the deepening of mutual understanding and the sharing of hopes, challenges, sufferings and joys, which was also enriched by the presence of a Romanian Orthodox focolarina who lives in the little town.
Fr. Vasile’s comment was brief and meaningful: “Now I know why I always felt welcome with Fr. Gianfrancesco: it’s because you live the reality of unity”.
In the end, everyone wanted to participate with the inhabitants of Loppiano in the Holy Mass at the church dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. Fr. Gianfrancesco said that it “touched us deeply because it is the place of meeting, of relationships concretely lived in the light of the gospel”.
This visit was of particular significance as it coincided with the 10th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Shrine (2003-2013) when, in the presence of Chiara Lubich and religious and civil authorities, representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople donated some small coloured stones, from important Marian orthodox shrines around the world, to be laid together with the foundation stone as a sign of the path of communion that unites us.
‘It was a moment of deep, intimate and peaceful emotion,’ Maria Voce said in describing the atmosphere this morning at the mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta, where she had been invited with Giancarlo Faletti, the Focolare’s Co-President. The words of the Pope’s homily were particularly significant. They were based on the Gospel for the day (Mk 9:30-37) where it is clear that Christian progress means to become more humble and that power in the Church is service: ‘Real power is service. As He did, He who came not to be served but to serve, and His service was the service of the Cross. He humbled Himself unto death, even death on a cross for us, to serve us, to save us. And there is no other way in the Church to move forward. For the Christian, going ahead, progress, means humbling oneself. If we do not learn this Christian rule, we will never, ever be able to understand Jesus’ true message on power.’ Greeting him the end of mass, Maria Voce told the Holy Father of the prayers and the gratitude of the whole Focolare Movement: ‘We all committed to living what you say to the letter, in particular to go out and meet other people because in others we meet Christ.’ ‘That’s just what’s needed,’ the Pope relied, ‘a culture of encounter!’
CCTV service – Pope Francis: True power, even in the Church, is in serving others (21.5.2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HquzYPDPGq0
>“It was beautiful to be able to assure Pope Francis that there is a vital force in the Church, even in spite of so many problems,” Maria Voce said to Vatican Radio microphones, as she described the confirmations and novelties she drew from that special encounter.
“It definitely confirmed the commitment to live our charism, as we felt how strongly communion is the essential mark of the Church today. And then our charism of communion, it seems to me, was highlighted for us as a necessary service to the Church. This was also confirmed by considering the feast under which we were meeting. We asked about each other, we assured each other of prayers …” .
“Renewed perhaps in the courage to face the world, because every movement surely has this inner drive that Pope Francis is strongly stressing, to reach out to others, to be available to the Church, to place ourselves at the disposal of the Church. Hearing it stated so forcefully by the Pope, it was like giving us the courage to say: we’re small, we’re weak, but in spite of this it is Jesus who leads us. Jesus is with us. The Pope sends us, so we can go …”.
As he looked ahead at the road before the different charisms and movements, the Pope put everyone on guard against both particularism and homologation, and he presented them with three words: harmony, newness, mission. What does this mean for you concretely?
“I was deeply impressed by the word “newness” because we would all be tempted to continue leaning on what is already familiar to us from the road we’ve already travelled, based on past experiences. But the Pope has challenged us to welcome surprises from the Holy Spirit, to listen well to what He asks of us and to follow Him on the streets of the world.”
Source: Vatican Radio – News Radio May 21, 2013 19:30 edition
Dr Gianni Caso (on the rigth) receiving the honour
Communion and Law is an attempt to discern those aspects of the spirituality of unity coming from the charism of Chiara Lubich that have significance for the world of law and let them inspire new avenues of research and new paradigms. Dr Caso, honorary Assistant President of the Italian Court of Cassation, is working at the moment in a similar field within the Focolare Movement. He has recently come back from a visit to Guatemala and Colombia where he was able to deepen his understanding of these countries. While there he was the recipient of an honour conferred by the Colombian Parliament upon the Focolare Movement. We asked his reflections.
What can the experience of Communion and Law give to societies struggling with difficult issues to do with the rule of law?
‘The role of Communion and Law in relation to what happens socially, economically and politically in such countries is twofold: it seeks to transform these areas of life and it seeks to rethink the dominant culture and its interrelationship with the society’s economic, political and legal order.
The first of these two things came into light in Guatemala. Here they asked us ideas on how to bring into effect the rule of law so that it could transform a society deeply troubled by injustice and without any guarantee of protection for citizens and for communities.
The second aspect came into light in Colombia, where there is a clear link between a society’s development of an individualistic culture and its economic, political and legal system, since individualistic culture affirms an economic order based on private profit and, at the same time, that kind of economic order promotes an individualistic culture. The consequence is a deeply divided and unequal society, with the formation of a class of rich people together with the exclusion of a large part of the population from positions of responsibility in economic, political and cultural life.’
If things are so tough and challenging, are there any positive signs or chances for change?
‘The strongest impression I had was when I compared the social and cultural situation of those Latin American countries with the current situation in Italy, and generally in Europe. In Latin America there is an extremely powerful “culture of life”. Even though socially things are very difficult because of the tremendous social inequality, leading to poverty and exclusion for a large part of the people, there is a real sense of the desire and the joy of living. This is caused by the huge numbers of children and young people generally (parents, in general, even though they are poor, have great love and care for their children). Here in Europe it looks as if we’re dominated by a “culture of death”: not many children, few young people, an ageing society, many “single” people, closed in ourselves, depressed and lack of zest for life. All of which is clear to those who visit those countries and come back here.’
Four questions and answers off the cuff. The Pope’s words were the most touching moment of the Pentecost Vigil at which 200,000 faithful from many ecclesial groups gathered on May 18, 2013. “I know your questions. . . it’s the truth!” Yet his answers were spontaneous, and they engaged those present in profound silence. He was first questioned on how he reached the certainty of faith and how we are to overcome our fragility. He responded with a story: “I had the grace to grow up in a family where the faith was lived out in a very simple and concrete way. It was especially my grandmother who taught me the path of faith.” “She spoke to us about Jesus and taught us the catechism. On Good Friday she brought us to the candle procession. At the end of the procession came the dying Jesus, and our grandmother would make us kneel. She would tell us: he is dead, but tomorrow he will rise! I first received the Christian message from my grandmother!” Then came the Pope’s invitation to abandon all fear: “We’re fragile, we know that, but He is stronger. With the Lord we are certain, the faith grows with the help of the Lord. . .” . What is the most important thing on which we should fix our sights? “The most important thing? Jesus. If we move forward with an organization, but without Jesus, we go nowhere.” And he invited all to live in “synergy with the Holy Spirit”. Not so much to talk but to give testimony by the way we live. How should we live so that the Church may be a poor Church and for the poor? What can our contribution be to the Church and to society in this time of crisis that involves public ethics? “Living the Gospel is the main contribution we can give. The Church is not a political movement, nor a well-organized structure. We aren’t an NGO, and when the Church becomes an NGO it loses its salt and has no taste, it’s only an empty organization made up of many structures.” Among the greatest dangers mentioned by the Pope were those of efficiency and of closing in on itself.Such closing in on oneself leads to illness: “The Church needs to come out of itself and start moving toward the peripheries of society. Obviously, when you go out, there will be accidents: “But I prefer a thousand times more a Church that is damaged than a Church that is sick from closing in on itself. Go out, go out!” This was the path the Pope was inviting all to follow in order to move away from a culture of confrontation and fragmentation and a “culture of waste”, and toward living a culture of encountering others, encountering Jesus and all our brothers and sisters, beginning from the poor, looking in their eyes and touching them with our hands in order to “touch the flesh of Christ and to take upon ourselves the sufferings of the poor.” How are we to confess the faith? “To confess the faith two virtues are needed: courage and patience, as we were reminded by the testimony of Brother Shabhaz Bhatti, Pakistan Minister who was murdered in 2011. We’re all on the path of martyrdom. Some give testimony to Christ by giving up their physical lives, some by living small martyrdoms throughout the day.” “A Christian should always respond to evil with good.” “Let us make these brothers and sisters feel that we are deeply united with this situation.” “Do you pray for these brothers and sisters in your daily prayers?”
During the final words to Pope Francis by leaders of the communities and ecclesial movements, Maria Voce also expressed her gratitude to the Holy Father and the Focolare’s commitment to “give a courageous and joyful testimony to the Christian life.” She shared some of her impressions with us: “his words touched our hearts” especially his continued insistence on the encounter with Jesus and prayer, which he came back to in all his answers, underscoring “the spiritual dimension of the Christian person: prayer and the encounter with Jesus that happens through people on the peripheries of society, on the outside. He rejected excuses and table strategies, while never denying the challenges. We need to look to Jesus and the rest will come as a consequence.” The president of the Focolare underscored the atmosphere of friendship and joy among the representatives of communities and movements. “I believe that the Pope, when he arrived, felt this joyful heart of the Church.” Giancarlo Faletti, co-president of the Focolare, stressed that the Pope emphasized the love of Jesus and of neighbour as the dynamic of life of those who look outwards: “He did not look at the movements just as a particular part of the Church, but he addressed all Christianity.” See the CTV transmission replay
O Holy Spirit, how much we ought to be grateful to you yet how little we are!
That you are totally one with Jesus and the Father, to whom we more often turn, consoles us, but it is no excuse.
We want to be with you who are “of comforters the best; … the soul’s most welcome guest; sweet refreshment here below.”
You are light, joy, beauty.
You seize and captivate souls, you inflame hearts, you inspire deep and decisive thoughts of sanctity with unexpected personal commitments.
You work what many sermons cannot teach.
You sanctify.
Especially, O Holy Spirit, you who are so discreet, though impetuous and overwhelming, yet blow like a soft wind that few know how to hear and perceive, look upon our rough-edged coarseness, and make us your faithful followers. May no day pass without our invoking you, thanking you, adoring you, loving you, without our living as your diligent disciples.
We ask of you this grace. Envelop us in your great light of love, above all in our darkest hour, when the present vision of life comes to a close, dissolving into the one that is eternal.
Chiara Lubich
(From Essential Writings, New City Press, New York and New City, London (English translation), p. 102.) 1. Sequence
More than 120,000 people are expected to arrive from 150 ecclesial realities, from many countries in all the continents. It is a meeting for ecclesial movements, new communities, associations and lay organizations that will take place in St. Peter’s Square on May 18-19. The event is one of many initiatives taking place during the Year of Faith. It was presented by Archbishop Rino Ficishella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, during a press conference in the press room of the Holy See. The slogan chosen for the event is significant: “I believe! Increase the faith in us.” “The personal pronouns used in this phrase,” the prelate explained, “attest to the underlying meaning. Each member of the Church is called to personally pronounce his adherence to Christ and to the Church.” It is a free and personal choice. But he also says that faith is communitarian, it’s an “us” imbued with community values, principally those of the Church. “So many men, women and youths,” he went on “have rediscovered in these movements not only the faith that they had lost,” but “they have undergone a real and true conversion of life.” “These ecclesial realities,” he stated, “are one of the most evident fruits of the Second Vatican Council.” These words powerfully echoed the expression used by Benedict XVI who, on Pentecost 2006, defined the new ecclesial realities “one of the most important novelties brought about by the Holy Spirit in the Church for the implementation of the Second Vatican Council.” Archbishop Fisichella continued by saying that the choice of Pentecost is meant to make it understood that “in the Church today these new ecclesial realities are a sign of the Risen Lord who guides His Church in the work of evangelization.” The start of the meeting in Saint Peter’s Square is set to begin at 15:00, and continue with testimonies and musical and artistic performances. The international Gen Verde band and 150 members of various members of different movements will also perform at different moments. Pope Francis will join them at around 18:00 and, after having heard the testimonies from Ireland Pakistan, will participate in an open discussion, answering some questions. On Sunday, May 19th, the Pope will celebrate the Mass at 10:30 in Saint Peter’s Square, followed by the Regina coeli. During these days of preparation some words of John Paul II have been returning to mind, from the first grand meeting on Pentecost 1998:: “What a great need there is these days for mature Christians, aware of their baptismal dignity, of their own vocation and mission in the Church and in the world! What a great need for living communities! And so we have the movements and new ecclesial communities: these are the answer from the Holy Spirit to this dramatic challenge at the end of the millennium. You are this providential answer.”
The Holy Spirit who unites created beings to their Creator generates a common life between the human and the divine. But Pentecost, by making ‘many believers one heart and one soul’ brought about, as a spontaneous effect of unity, the community of life. In this way common life, in the midst of daily distractions and noise, has become divine common life, where other persons serve as the means of ascent to God. Indeed, each brother or sister we meet resupplies us with divine life, because, loving the other for Christ, we are given access to God. And so life’s march is no longer, is it has been called, a death march, but growth towards eternal youth.
Living the Spirit of God is to let the Holy spirit live in us. And then to the extent we love God, we love also other human beings who are God’s representatives … And to the extent the goods of the Holy Spirit are communicated, they also increase. To develop and to blaze with life, charity must expand; it is blood and longs to circulate; it is fire and longs to burst all bounds. As natural life is a circulation of heat, communicated from cell to another, so also from the first cell set alight for the Creator there has been a continuous passage and an unwavering increase of heat in time and space. Likewise the supernatural life is an unwavering communication of heat – grace, charity – from the sun which is God to the souls who share in God. Other people are channels of the transmission of grace; in a sense they are sacraments of God. If others are excluded the Holy Spirit passes on no longer, life is stopped. And it is understandable: the love that passes on from me to the other person and from the other person to me is God who circulates.
The origin of this entire miracle is to be found in the incarnation and hence in charity. Humankind, therefore, being the image and likeness of God … is God who lives – incarnate so to speak – in human limitedness. If it is like this, I must see humankind like this and deal with humanity as if it were God in effigy. It is mutual; I must behave as God’s representative—from this come my vicarious dignity and my duties in action.
Humankind has been made by God and every cell of every human body and every fold of every spirit bears its maker’s trademark, the stamp of the Eternal. From such a maker humankind has received an unmistakable imprint, so that each human person on his or her own is like a masterpiece. Humans carry in their every molecule the proof of the existence of God who placed them in the world. The Holy Spirit is the One who acts in this divinization; he is the active principle of God’s incarnation. All individual humans are brought to share in some way in union with God, and the love that makes humans into God is the same that made God become human.
From Igino Giordani, La divina avventura [The Divine Adventure], Città Nuova, 1993
Sub-Saharan Africa united in the thought of its peoples: “A land upon which to build a better future,” affirms Gisele Moulasta from Gabon, “not to stay closed in our own small world, but in order to be more and more open to the entire human family.” A statement charged with meaning, at the conclusion of the course on May 10-13, which gathered people together from several African nations.
What is the centre for inculturation? In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi, Paul VI had expressed concern over the split between the Gospel and culture, seeing it as the drama of our age. He therefore hoped that this gap would be overcome by approaching the different cultures with more interest and care. The evangelization of the cultures is, as John Paul II also stressed, is the deepest and most complete for the message of Christ to enter into the consciousness and penetrate the customs of the people, the activities of the people, their institutions and structures. In line with this thinking, in May 1992, during a trip to Nairobi, Chiara Lubich founded the Centre for Inculturation inspired by the spirituality of unity, On that occasion she identified the goal: to discover the way of dialoging with the African culture and its values in order to promote evangelization among the peoples of the continent.
This year, the focus was on the human person in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was examined from the perspective of the anthropology of the African community by geographical regions; Semitic Biblical and New Testament writings; Second Vatican Council documents and the contribution of the spirituality of unity. The participants also shared a variety of experiences that greatly enriched the academic discussion.
“Examining certain aspects of our culture in the light of the Gospel involves a confrontation of values that are divergent. Jesus is demanding,” explained Vital Muhindo who is from Congo: “The challenges are there: It’s not that the Gospel must enter into our cultures, but that our cultures that must enter into the logic of the Gospel.” In this context Victorien Kone recalled the powerful moment of his six year old daughter’s death. According to local tradition, the little one could not receive a burial because she was still in the process of becoming a person. “How could we give her a decent funeral?” her father asked. “Although still small, Joelle was spiritually a giant! She had a deep relationship with Chiara Lubich. She was loved by everyone, great and small. The funeral was held and attended by many people. It was a sign of life. This way of doing things was a surprise to many, but it also gave a testimony that had an influence on the common mentality.”
This year’s course also included a group of young people of the Focolare Movement from around the world who enthusiastically launched the Sharing with Africa Project, which is one of the many projects of United World Project. Simultaneously, United World Week 2013 was being celebrated inn Burkina Faso where a project was carried out in a pediatric ward of a hospital. In Nigeria there was a Genfest attended by 1,000 Christian and Muslim youths, and in the Ivory Coast the United World Project was presented to the UNESCO National Commission.
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is a megalopolis with more than 11,000,000 inhabitants. It has been a city of enormous social upheaval, which for years has been fighting for fair and equitable democracy, following decades of dictatorship that has only increased the gap between rich and poor. Parishes are often involved in various social projects in favor of the disadvantaged. They also feel the need of training in civic involvement for people who wish to see the country reconstructed in a way that will make it more equal. The Parish Movement – whose members are animated by the spirituality of the Focolare as they serve in parishes – has been running such a social training program for some time through the pro-motion of solidarity projects, food and housing programs, as well as civic and political training programs that are open to everyone. On the occasion of the election of the Mayor and deputy mayor of Manila, St. Roque’s Parish de-cided to hold an educational training forum on citizenship, politics and democratic participation. The forum was held on April 12, 2013 and was designed together with the Vicariate. It involved 48 parishes of the diocese of Manila as well as the Minister of Public Affairs. Preparations began in the interest groups last February. There they were able to draw up a program, invitations and presentations. Two thousand people took part in the forum of which 1400 came from different parishes. And there was also the participation of non-governmental organizations like the Transportation Association, the Sellers Federation, government deputies, ecumenical leaders, teacher groups and members of the business community. The candidates for mayor, deputy mayor and councilors presented their plans for the city of Manila over the next 3 years. This was followed by questions and answers in an atmosphere of re-spect and trust. The style of attacking one’s opponent as an election campaign strategy gave way to an experience of brotherhood from which the many different political affiliations came out satisfied. One of organizer commented: “I was afraid it might be beyond our strength, but it turned out a success.” Among the final impressions one person remarked: “I understood the candidates’ plans and the values that inspire them. Thank you for what you’ve done here.”
The wide embrace of Bernini’s colonnade is not able to contain the crowd of people who belong to as many as 56 new communities and ecclesial movements; a tiny representation of the approximately 80,000,000 Catholics, for the most part lay people, who make up this immense people. It’s the first time that they are meeting all together with the Pope. An enormous multicolored garden: this is the way someone described St. Peter’s Square on that sunny afternoon of May 30. The presence of members of the various movements, who with their specific charisms contribute towards making the Church beautiful, alive, and credible, constituted a surprising and remarkable display of unity in diversity. A reality witnessed to by founders of four of the most widespread movements: Chiara Lubich, Kiko Arguello, Jean Vanier, Luigi Giussani. Their charisms draw life from the same Spirit; it is a unity in diversity, demonstrating Christian life as a reflection of the Trinitarian mystery. « …numerous charisms are always born in the most important moments of the life of the Church. I’m thinking of the Council of Trent. … Today then, I would say that the Holy Spirit …, blowing in the same direction, puts the accent on different notes, because the life of the Church is like a symphony, a great concert; many instruments are needed, the greatest number of voices are needed». (Msgr. Piero Coda) Therefore, a wide variety of charisms are at the basis of the many new ecclesial movements, supported and encouraged by the Pope as the providential answer of the Holy Spirit to the challenges at the end of this millennium. In his address Pope John Paul II does not hesitate to affirm that what happened in the Upper Room in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, is being renewed this evening in St. Peter’s Square. «With the Second Vatican Council, the Comforter recently gave the Church … a renewed Pentecost, instilling a new and unforeseen dynamism. … You, present here, are the tangible proof of this “outpouring” of the Spirit». (Pope John Paul II) In speaking of the journey taken so far by the movements, Pope John Paul II sees them now on their way toward a new stage of ecclesial maturity in which their strong common announcement is a valid alternative to the secularized culture which encourages and promotes models of life without God.«It constitutes a precious capital for the entire mission of the Church. Its founder did not say in vain that the witness of unity is “so that the world may believe.” The missionary fecundity of the movements will be potentiated if this witness of unity in diversity shines forth so that the world may believe».(GusmánCarriquiri) A witness of unity among all the movements in view of the new evangelization: Chiara expressed this need to the Pope.
«We know that the Church, and you too, desire full communion, unity among the Movements, and this has already begun. We want to assure you, Your Holiness, that, because our specific charism is unity, we will make every effort to contribute, with all our strength, towards fully accomplishing it». (Chiara Lubich)
This commitment assumed by Chiara corresponds to the aspirations of all the leaders of other movements.
“I have been a very fortunate man. How I’d like to be able to express all the love that God has shown to me, though I think it would be impossible to put into words all that I’ve received [from Him].” With these words Oreste Basso began to describe the golden thread that he saw woven through the story of his life. He was born in Florence, Italy, on January 1, 1922. His family instilled in him Christian principles and rectitude of mind. He loved the humanities and dreamt of a life and career that would be just right for him. The experience of the War was “a dreadful lesson because in the war you could see all human ideals collapsing.” “The only thing that remained standing after the war,” he recalled, “were the natural affections of the family.” After graduating in engineering in 1946 he found a job at a factory in Sesto San Giovanni (Italy), which was then considered the “Stalingrad of Italy”. He lived in Milan and in the evenings was often at a canteen where he met some friends – Piero Pasolini, Danilo Zanzucchi, Guglielmo Boselli and Alfredo Zirondoli – who were later among the very first people to follow in the adventure of the focolares. They would discuss Maritain, Neo-Scholasticism, music and art. One of them, Giorgio Battisti, one day invited Oreste to “get to know something beautiful, some young people who live the Gospel.”
One of these young people named Ginetta Calliari, who is among the first companions of Chiara Lubich, went to meet them and was bombarded with questions. Quietly she would listen to them until late in the night. Each month she would travel from Trent just to meet with them. “We began to realize,” Oreste said, “that the Gospel was something that was to be lived not by people who were far from us, but by us, by me, by him, by the others.” The fruits of this new life were evident in Oreste’s life. He earned the esteem of one of his subordinates who was very active in politics, and came to know of his evangelical ideal. He told Oreste: “If you believe in this God, then I can also believe in Him in the way you say.”
In 1959 Oreste left home and went to be part of the focolare in Milan together with the others who had followed this path after having heard it announced to them by Ginetta. Then he met Chiara: “Such a beautiful encounter!” he said. “She seemed such a stupendous person to me, in her great humility and light.”
Meanwhile the number people began to grow in the cities of Italy, who were eager to know the nascent Movement. Oreste moved to the city of Parma with Lionello Bonfanti. His story has the flavour of the beginnings: “There was a couch for sleeping, and for eating we bought an alcohol stove. Usually we ate cheese, lots of milk – milk saved us! But we were truly happy.”
A few years passed and the Focolare Movement-Work of Mary – this was the name given by Chiara to this new eccesial phenomenon – continued to spread and take form in its mutiple aspects. Oreste was therefore asked to transfer to Florence and take on a role of responsibility. He immediately agreed in spite of his job where he had just been offered another promotion. The general director was himself saddened because of Oreste’s departure from the company. “It was the begining of another life,” Oreste said, “totally immersed in the charism of Chiara and being one of its bearers.”
In the late 1950’s he was recalled to Rome where always at Chiara’s side, with his discreet and joyful style, he continued his work right on the forefront, assisting in drawing up the Statutes of the Work of Mary. In 1981 he was ordained a priest, a ministry which he considered to be a privilege and a call to greater love.
He was elected co-president of the Movement in 1996 and played a fundamental role at Chiara’s death (March 14, 2008), as well as during the General Assembly that followed, in which the successor of the founder was elected.
The messages that have arrived after the news of Oreste’s death from the Holy Father through Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone and from president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Rylko, testify to his radically evangelical lifestyle as well as to the simple and sincere relationships that Oreste Basso knew how to build each day until the end.
Numerous testimonies continue to arrive, all expressing gratitude and affection for Oreste.
Klaus Hemmerle, once the bishop of Aquisgrana, was a brilliant theologian and philosopher who left a mark because of his notable contribution and deeper doctrinal understanding of the charism of unity, as well as its spreading among bishops. The visit by Focolare president Maria Voce to Aachen, Germany, on May 11th,,2013, was to pay homage to Bishop Hemmerle and the influence he had on the theology and life of the Church and of society: “Chiara Lubich inspired him and she allowed herself to be inspired by him,” Maria Voce affirmed as she described the relationship between the German theologian and the Focolare Movement. Chiara Lubich considered him to be one of the co-founders of the Movement.
Maria Voce had been invited to visit the current bishop of Aachen in the morning, Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff. They then travelled together to the Cathedral where they paid a visit to Hemmerle’s tomb. In the afternoon a small group of members of the Central German Catholic Committee, who were Hemmerle’s collaborators, met in what had once been his home.
Among these were Matthias Sellmann, professor of Pastoral Theology at Bochum, and Claudia Lucking-Michael, vice president of the Central Committee and General Secretariat of the Opera di Cusanus – an association that awards scholarships to students of merit. They presented two brief talks on the figure of Bishop Hemmerle. The second part of the program included testimonies by people who knew the bishop personally.
“His theological thought and his influence on our work in the committee of German Laity have produced much fruit that has reached far beyond his earthly life,” declared Claudia Lucking-Michel who met Hemmerle only once, but had studied his thought and was deeply influenced by it. She described him as a bridge-builder at so many levels, someone who had motivated her to reflect on the meaning of life and of death.
A great master at teaching a Christianity that was convincing is the way Matthias Sellmann described Hermmerle in his presentation, underscoring Hemmerle’s plural thinking. According to Sellman he was one of those avant-garde thinkers: “He always placed himself in the position of a learner and was convinced that theology always had more than one source. Hemmerle was able to explain the Trinity to you in a way that made you want to live it!” He was a great sage – Sellmann went on – who was able to explain great theorems in a way that was simple.
“We are thankful for having had him among us. And we’ll manage to understand the scope of his theology perhaps only in the future,” affirmed the current bishop of Aquisgrana Heinrich Mussinghoff. He continued: “We can learn from him how to think in a new way about the faith, how to live and tell it in a new way.”
During a discussion among the participants some interesting ideas highlighted what could be done to help secure that the heredity of Hemmerle would continue to bear fruit in the future: a study of the language that is “both unique and easy to understand” was suggested by Prof. Michael Albus who did his doctorate with Klaus Hemmerle; promoting an award among researchers who study the grand themes of Hemmerle’s work; Claudia Lucking-Michel suggested launching an exchange program for collaborators and leaders in ecclesial environments.
Overall, what emerged was the significance of the figure of Bishop Hemmerle for both theology and the life of the Church not only in the Germany of his time, but for ecclesiastical perspectives of today and the future.
“As many of you know, our here, especially in Jerusalem, we live separately. The Arabs do not have an occasion to meet the Israelis, and vice versa. We don’t have any real interaction in our daily lives.” This was voiced by Laura, a young Christian who lives in Jerusalem and studies at a Jewish university. Her words give prominence to the event held at the Kehillat Yedidya synagogue on the 30th April. The symposium entitled “Discovering the other’s humanity” was attended by youth from the 3 monotheistic religions. A good part of them belonged to the Youth for a United World, who were participating in the concluding event, “Be the Bridge”, of the Genfest. The others were their fellow youth who live in the Holy Land. Lara continues her narration speaking of “an idea conceived by two young and ambitious women who wanted to better their lives and to give the youth a chance to meet up with each other, breaking away from stereotypes.” It was a challenge undertaken 6 years ago and still continues today. Every year the group is comprised of around twenty odd youth from the three religions: Jews, Christians, and Muslims, aged between 16-18 years.
As a youth, Lara participated in the first project as “an enthusiastic young girl who sees the bright side of the situation and dreams of an approaching united world”. The meetings are held twice a month: “We discover and explore the similarities and the differences among us”. The meetings deal with various topics in order to know one another: the family, values and upbringing in the different religions, etc …
It’s an important project, but the question that remains is: after these meetings, will we continue to see each other. The experience continues and the project has also helped in understanding the other’s point of view. Lara explains further: “In times of conflict and difficulties, we meet up, share our sufferings, and pray. It seems like a dream that’s distant from reality, but it’s a truth that we live together.” Lara is one among 4 youth who shared their testimonies, dreams and hopes: with her there’s also Hani, a Palestine Muslim, who’s studying law; Huda, a Jew born in New York but who moved to Jerusalem while he was little; Nalik, a Christian from Portugal.
The nuncio, Mons Lazzarotto, in his address to the youth, invited them to “be prophets” to “make this land once more the land of dreamers”. Prof. Alberto Lo Presti expressed this appeal as a ‘Social principle”, that of fraternity, which contains within itself “the power to transform our history”. In answer to this, rabbi Raymond Apple (ICCI) underlined the need to learn to trust in each other: “the road to fraternity is to be able to say: I trust you”. Rabbi Kronish, Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), who moderated the event, concluded by encouraging the participating youth to continue to bring this message of hope to all.
We leave Jerusalem with the desire to look up and grow in mutual trust, in order to change history.
New Zealand. “We do a different social project every month. There are many beautiful beaches in our country that are open to all: families, youths, runners and children. Even though the natural environment is generally taken into account and respected, the beach isn’t always clean. We contacted Wellington’s City Council which welcomed our project, supplying us with the tools that would be helpful for the clean-up. A group of youths from Youth for a United World met one afternoon, with rubbish bags and gloves. We chose one of the most crowded beaches. In addition to performing a service for the city, we also built friendships with many young people who got involved in the project.”
France. Following the Tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, we organized an evening of solidarity. During the evening we presented the United World Project and there was an internet link-up with a group of Japanese Youth for a United World. They shared how they had lived through the disaster, trying to help the people around them. We got to know more about the community of the Movement in Japan and their daily life. Some of our friends who were present that night were discovering for the first time the importance of solidarity and the joy that comes from being involved in a project that is geared towards universal brotherhood. The money we raised was sent to Japan to assist the local community.”
Italy. “My mother who is 94 years old, was rushed to the emergency clinic at 11:00 at night. My sister and I were worried and displeased when they asked us to leave the room, and our mother was left alone. A boy was seated beside us who looked like he wanted to talk. We asked him why he was there. His mother had perhaps suffered a heart attack, he told us. When we were allowed to visit our mother we found that she was in the same room as the boy’s mother. Thus we were able to bring the news to him and the husband who was seated in front of us. Then the boy went into the room and, in turn, brought us some news about our mother. The father – who was sitting there silently – began to speak with us of his work and the problems he was facing. Two hours later both our Moms were released. As we said goodbye to each other, the boy said: ‘It was a pleasure talking with you! I hope we can meet again!’ Our own anxiety had disappeared. Our personal pain and worry and we experienced that these can be overcome by loving the people around us.”
Ivory Coast. “The young mothers with children were not able to concentrate to focus on their work in the fields. So they decided to help each other by taking turns watching over the children. Before going to the fields, they now drop off their children with two of the other mothers who stay in their homes that day. They prepare the meals and stay with the children for the entire time. And a great trust has been born among this group of mothers.”
In this collection of inspiring meditations, the author shows that living the present moment is our way to be connected with eternity. Living the present puts us in touch, already here on earth, with heaven. Available from: New City Press (UK)(more…)
An opportunity for experiencing in order to then live and teach in seminaries, a Gospel lifestyle that is centred on communion: this was at the basis of the course for educators, which was held in the capital of Thailand on April 15-May 5.
The small handful of European priests who travelled from Rome found themselves before a young and living Church that is open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Seminaries are still full as they had once been on the old continent, even though the society and the economy are experiencing evolutions.
The 60 priests who attended the course were from several Asian regions: Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, East Timor and Thailand. They brought with them their own cultural diversity, but the challenge of seeing these not as an obstacle but as an opportunity for getting to one another was joyfully accepted by everyone.
Work was preceded by the celebration of the Eucharist, presided over by Francesco Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok and in charge of seminaries and the formation of the clergy at the local Bishops Conference.
As the days went on and the lessons continued, many noted the testimony of unity by the people who were the animators of the course and were personally committed to living what they were teaching.
Fr Silvestre Marques, the course director, noted: “the growing communion among all, communion of experiences, difficulties and many questions in a very open atmosphere.” For Brendan Purcell, from the diocese of Sydney, Australia, one fruit of this atmosphere was the deep sharing: “Especially by priests from Myanmar and Vietnam, who told of how their human and priestly life had been marked by tragic experiences – executions and the violent deaths of parents – that occurred when the priests were very young.”
The second part of the course focused on how to practice the spirituality of unity in the various areas of formation, through a dynamic workshop of experiences that identified the most urgent challenges, and concluded with a commitment to put it into practice in each one’s seminary. “This is a living course” one priest said, “in the sense that we are learning during these days to put into practice the life of communion, for the benefit of each one of us but also for the benefit of the local Church that we represent.”
After three weeks of living together in such a concrete experience of communion, each and every one of them testified to the “family” that they had become and the desire of continuing to carry on with the challenge and the adventure. Formation means preparing new priests whether in Asia or in any other part of the world.
The youth of the Focolare Movement around the world have gathered in the Holy Land: “Be the Bridge” is this year’s slogan, with the confidence to begin building a united world. See video – Franciscan Media Center
In paragraph 87 of his Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa, John Paul II describes the process of inculturation as a “path to holiness” just as he had already done when he pointed the bishops of Kenya in this direction in 1980. In May 1992 Chiara Lubich began a Centre for Inculturation according to the spirituality of unity, in Nairobi, Kenya. There she intuited what “an overpowering weapon” was contained in “making himself one” of St. Paul (see 1Cor. 9:22). Chiara explained: “We can’t enter into the soul of a brother in order to comprehend and understand him. . . if our own spirit is filled with an apprehension, a judgement. (. . .) “Making yourself one means placing yourself in front of everyone in the position of a learner, because we really do have something to learn. It means cutting completely the roots of your own culture and entering into the culture of the other in order to understand it and letting it express itself, until you have finally understood it from within you. Then, once you’ve comprehended it, then, ye, you may begin a respectful dialogue with him and also pass on the evangelical message through the riches that he already possesses.” In sostanza, sintetizza Chiara nel 2000 visitando la cittadella di Fontem (Cameroon), “è l’amore che deve guidarci nell’inculturazione, così che agisca lo Spirito Santo”. Therefore, inculturation as Chiara understands it is an “exchange of gifts”: “Like this, the brother has first given to us; then we follow suit. . . and upon this ‘living’ something that is between us we, in act of pure service, can gently, with love and within the limits of discretion implant those aspects of the evangelical truth that we bring, and that bring fulfillment and completion to what our neighbor already believes, what he or she has been awaiting, coveting, longing for. And these aspects then draw along with them the entire truth.” Several editions of this course on inculturation have taken place over the past 21 years on a bi-annual basis. Each of them has focused on a single cultural or existential aspect of life: privat property and work; the concept of God; the human person and the community; reconciliation; suffering, illness and death; education; communications; the sacred in the traditional religiosity of Sub-Saharan Africa. This year (May 10-13) the focus will be on “the human person in African culture”. This topic will be examined from three perspectives: traditional African culture, Holy Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church in the light of the charism of unity. Source: excerpts from Chiara Lubich in the Presentation of the volume “Il senso del sacro nell’Africa subsahariana” Opus Mariae, Nairobi, Centre for Inculturation, 2012, pp.5-7.
One of many meetings which for more than 20 years throughout the world have created occasions for dialogue between the Focolare Movement and friends who profess no religious affiliation. This openness is far more necessary today in a world where discrimination between atheists, believers, agnostics etc, is less tolerated. Often times in countries where the religious sense is more developed, atheism often simply takes on the characteristics of anti-clericalism. Chiara Lubich was among the first to perceive the importance of dialogue between Christians and friends of non-religious affiliations, and she did so with much sensitivity and a decidedly innovative approach to brotherhood. In May 1995 Chiara herself confirmed this in Loppiano. She said: “We have a universal vocation. Therefore, our motto is: ‘May they all be one’. Now, this ‘all’ includes you too.” From that time on, opportunities to meet and exchange thoughts multiplied. Dialogues at 360 degrees developed, demolishing age-old stereotypes and prejudices. Peter Fleissner explains: “The human soul is something marvellous. And this is part of my materialism. Why do I commit myself to the Focolare Movement? Because we have a shared inheritance: the world we live in.”James Hall-Kenney from New Zealand affirms that the Focolare aims to communicate with love, from the heart, even though there may be terminology differences. Luan Omari (Albania) suggests focussing on our common values: “I believe in the values Jesus Christ preached even though I don’t necessarily believe that Jesus is the son of God, for example. But I embrace his values, I am in solidarity with these values. And this is the common ground which unites us.”Claudio Vanni is the head of external relations at UNICOOP in Florence. He speaks of individualism as one of the characteristics which accompany consumerism: “Individualism, if affirmed as culture and concept, is the opposite of dialogue and therefore each one guards his or her own interests, not looking at the interests of the others, and without dialogue there is no common good, there is no social growth and there is conflict.”Ruben Durante (Argentina) speaks about the importance of listening: “If I remain with my idea within me, I do not have the ability to listen which you need in order to tell me and give me your idea and your human experience.” It is a dialogue which is continually evolving by trying to better define the relationships and points of view between “us” and “you” which nevertheless implies belonging to one and the same body. Maria Voce,who was present at the meeting, addressed the participants: “What do I expect from our friends who have no religious affiliation? I expect that they take the ideals that animate the Focolare Movement to the furthest boundaries, outside the Movement itself. And what should our friends expect from us? I think they should hope for what each of us hopes for: to feel accepted.” Compiled by Franz Coriasco
“I’ve known the Focolare movement since childhood, but in the last two years I’ve had the occasion to rediscover my relationship with God through the experience of my parents’ separation. They were tough years in which I saw all my certainties crumble, and on various occasions I questioned my faith in God and His love for me.
Being the eldest girl, I found that the gravity of the situation weighed mostly on me. My parents spoke with me for hours over the telephone narrating their anger for each other. I felt really alone in that period, without any points of reference. I felt God distant from me: I only experienced His silence.
One day, when by then I had thought that the situation could not have worsened further, my mother called saying what her advocate has suggested: to get me and my sister to testify in court against my father, because she felt that it was the only way to quickly conclude the separation case.
My world fell apart! I felt torn within: in fact, my father had treated us badly and then unfortunately I had never been able to establish a strong relationship with him. Besides a few days earlier, he had done something really mean: it was my birthday and he called me not to wish me (he had forgotten about it) but to give vent to his feelings and complain as usual about my mother.
However, in that moment of great desperation, after months of ‘silence” I felt once again God’s voice clear and strong within me. It told me not be overwhelmed by anger and to think only of loving, always and in spite of everything, without expecting anything in return.
I took courage and told my mother that I wouldn’t testify against my father. She reacted badly by getting angry and accusing me of not wanting to help her. We didn’t speak again for many days, during which I suffered a lot, notwithstanding the conviction that my “no” to her was a “yes” to God.
Unexpectedly, from that moment onwards, things began to get better. Little by little all the various issues got resolved and above all my parents realised that they shouldn’t involve us children in their problems. When the crisis was over, my mother understood and accepted my decision, and our relationship was further strengthened. Things improved even with my father because he learned about my decision and was “struck by my courage”.
Now I experience within me a completely new strength, serenity, and faith, stemming from the certainty that I’m not alone, even in moments when I don’t feel His voice, He is always besides me. And if it’s true that God asks one to leave everything to follow Him, what he finally gives in return is much more valuable than anything that’s given up. It is truly the promised hundredfold!”.
Berlin – Among the representatives from the various cultures and religions, there were the Apostolic Nunzio, Mons. Jean-Claude Périsset, the emeritus auxiliary bishop of Berlin, Wolfgang Wieder, the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Clementina Shakembo Kamanga, and Sona Eypper, president of the International Convent of the Christian communities in Berlin. By means of video clips and some interviews on stage, the organisers of the evening gave a brief vision of the Focolare Movement’s commitment to dialogue on various fronts: between cultures and religions, in the fields of economics and politics, among generations. In her address, Maria Voce recalled some important challenges facing today’s society – in Europe and all over the world: material needs aggravated by the financial crisis, reservations in the face of increasing migration, social tensions provoked by cultural diversities and insufficient integration. “We have discovered dialogue as the highway which can be travelled with hope for success for all those who want to contribute to bring about universal brotherhood”, explained the president. “Dialogue is a style of life, a new culture, which the Movement can and wishes to offer to today’s men and women”. If every person allows himself or herself to be guided by the consciousness of being the child of the same Father, and as a consequence of being brothers and sisters among themselves, then there would be the chance to reach a true “dialogue among persons, and not between ideologies or systems of thought”, an exchange characterised by mercy, compassion and love. Maria Voce regards the media as the most suited means to promote this kind of dialogue, provided the contacts don’t remain “brief, fleeting, lacking sense, restricted exclusively to the virtual domain”. Instead it’s about “transforming contacts into relationships, i.e. building true networks of fraternity”. The speech was followed by a lively and profound dialogue with the audience: What does one do when the other person does not show any interest in building a fraternal relationship? Is it right to condemn social networks as superficial means within personal relationships? Maria Voce replied in a very practical way, giving examples from her own life and inviting all those present to always take the initiative. “For me Berlin is a city that displays the wounds of history. However, out here walls were broken down too. And you, citizens of Berlin, offer these wounds and invite others to share the fruits”. This echoes her first considerations on the German capital. “Maria Voce does not limit herself to theory alone” – affirms Nuncio Périsset, who had received the Focolare president that same morning. “She invites us to break down the walls, to build bridges, and to take the initiative. This is important even in my work as a diplomat. God redeems the world in us and through us. And I have witnessed and lived it this evening”. Andrea Fleming
On 5th March the Orthodox Church celebrated the Blessed Easter. To all our Orthodox brothers and sisters around the world, we convey our heartfelt wishes for the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord through a stanza from the ancient Troparion:
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs, granting life.
Italian:
Cristo è risorto dai morti, con la sua morte ha vinto la morte, e a quelli nelle tombe ha donato la vita!
Greco:
Χριστός ανέστη εκ νεκρών, θανάτω θάνατον πατήσας, και τοις εν τοις μνήμασι ζωήν χαρισάμενος.
Christós anésti ek nekrón, thanáto thánaton patísas, kié tis en tis mnímasi zoín harisámenos.
Russiano:
Христос Воскресе из мертвых, смертию смерть поправ и сущим во гробех живот даровав
Romeno:
Hristos a înviat din morţi, cu moartea pre moarte călcând, Şi celor din morminte viaţă dăruindu-le!
Arabo:
المسيح قام من بين الاموات و وطيء الموت بالموت و وهب الحياة للذين في القبور
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. 
It is the School of Civil Economy, called SEC in Italian which stands for ‘Scuola di economia civile’. Among its founders are some of the most important bodies in Italy: 
SEC’s proposal comes from the need to create awareness of a number of economic principles, especially those that touch upon the human person and the common good, in those areas of life that, because of their legal requirements or their openness to these principles, are in harmony with its principles. It offers education and training aimed in the first instance at people, currently or about to be, in positions of leadership within institutions, associations and businesses. SEC aims also at schools and intends to run study programmes for teachers and people in authority in education.
“Before the start of the long tour in Brazil (May 16-July 27),” the friends of Gen Rosso write, “there was the long-awaited meeting with Franciscan Fr Hans Stapel and Brazilian Nelson Giovaneli, founders of the Fazenda da Esperanca community where young people in trouble are welcomed to live a lifestyle based on the Gospel. The meeting took place at their central headquarters in Guaratingueta, near to San Paulo. We felt that before beginning this challenging journey, we should take a moment to be with God and with those who, like us, had decided to embark on an adventure so rooted in the Gospel.”
This was also the plan for the Gen Rosso tour that began on May 16 with their Musical Streetlight. The Musical will involve 200 young people from the Fazenda da Esperanca and will conclude with performance at the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro on July 27. The first 3 concerts were attended by over 5000 people. “Each day we try to root ourselves in God,” Gen Rosso writes, “through reflection, the life of the Word and the mutual love that we try to have among us, which generates the presence of Jesus in our midst (Mt. 18:20). With the strength of His presence we then try to love all the teenagers who are working with us on the “Strong without violence” project.” The teenagers are often coming from experiences of abandonment and unspeakable suffering. They find a refuge in drugs: “We’d like to offer them the joy that doesn’t pass away,” they write “because Jesus opens the door to the Eternal, even in the midst of much of our own suffering and that of others in this world.”
‘It was a moment of deep, intimate and peaceful emotion,’ Maria Voce said in describing the atmosphere this morning at the 
“It was beautiful to be able to assure Pope Francis that there is a vital force in the Church, even in spite of so many problems,” Maria Voce said to Vatican Radio microphones, as she described the confirmations and novelties she drew from that special encounter.
Four questions and answers off the cuff. The Pope’s words were the most touching moment of the Pentecost Vigil at which 200,000 faithful from many ecclesial groups gathered on May 18, 2013. “I know your questions. . . it’s the truth!” Yet his answers were spontaneous, and they engaged those present in profound silence. He was first questioned on how he reached the certainty of faith and how we are to overcome our fragility. He responded with a story: “I had the grace to grow up in a family where the faith was lived out in a very simple and concrete way. It was especially my grandmother who taught me the path of faith.” “She spoke to us about Jesus and taught us the catechism. On Good Friday she brought us to the candle procession. At the end of the procession came the dying Jesus, and our grandmother would make us kneel. She would tell us: he is dead, but tomorrow he will rise! I first received the Christian message from my grandmother!” Then came the Pope’s invitation to abandon all fear: “We’re fragile, we know that, but He is stronger. With the Lord we are certain, the faith grows with the help of the Lord. . .” . What is the most important thing on which we should fix our sights? “The most important thing? Jesus. If we move forward with an organization, but without Jesus, we go nowhere.” And he invited all to live in “synergy with the Holy Spirit”. Not so much to talk but to give testimony by the way we live. How should we live so that the Church may be a poor Church and for the poor? What can our contribution be to the Church and to society in this time of crisis that involves public ethics? “Living the Gospel is the main contribution we can give. The Church is not a political movement, nor a well-organized structure. We aren’t an NGO, and when the Church becomes an NGO it loses its salt and has no taste, it’s only an empty organization made up of many structures.” 
Among the greatest dangers mentioned by the Pope were those of efficiency and of closing in on itself. Such closing in on oneself leads to illness: “The Church needs to come out of itself and start moving toward the peripheries of society. Obviously, when you go out, there will be accidents: “But I prefer a thousand times more a Church that is damaged than a Church that is sick from closing in on itself. Go out, go out!” This was the path the Pope was inviting all to follow in order to move away from a culture of confrontation and fragmentation and a “culture of waste”, and toward living a culture of encountering others, encountering Jesus and all our brothers and sisters, beginning from the poor, looking in their eyes and touching them with our hands in order to “touch the flesh of Christ and to take upon ourselves the sufferings of the poor.” How are we to confess the faith? “To confess the faith two virtues are needed: courage and patience, as we were reminded by the testimony of Brother Shabhaz Bhatti, Pakistan Minister who was murdered in 2011. We’re all on the path of martyrdom. Some give testimony to Christ by giving up their physical lives, some by living small martyrdoms throughout the day.” “A Christian should always respond to evil with good.” “Let us make these brothers and sisters feel that we are deeply united with this situation.” “Do you pray for these brothers and sisters in your daily prayers?” 
This year, the focus was on the human person in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was examined from the perspective of the anthropology of the African community by geographical regions; Semitic Biblical and New Testament writings; Second Vatican Council documents and the contribution of the spirituality of unity. The participants also shared a variety of experiences that greatly enriched the academic discussion.
Therefore, a wide variety of charisms are at the basis of the many new ecclesial movements, supported and encouraged by the Pope as the providential answer of the Holy Spirit to the challenges at the end of this millennium. In his address Pope John Paul II does not hesitate to affirm that what happened in the Upper Room in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, is being renewed this evening in St. Peter’s Square. «With the Second Vatican Council, the Comforter recently gave the Church … a renewed Pentecost, instilling a new and unforeseen dynamism. … You, present here, are the tangible proof of this “outpouring” of the Spirit». (Pope John Paul II) In speaking of the journey taken so far by the movements, Pope John Paul II sees them now on their way toward a new stage of ecclesial maturity in which their strong common announcement is a valid alternative to the secularized culture which encourages and promotes models of life without God. «It constitutes a precious capital for the entire mission of the Church. Its founder did not say in vain that the witness of unity is “so that the world may believe.” The missionary fecundity of the movements will be potentiated if this witness of unity in diversity shines forth so that the world may believe».(Gusmán Carriquiri) 
“As many of you know, our here, especially in Jerusalem, we live separately. The Arabs do not have an occasion to meet the Israelis, and vice versa. We don’t have any real interaction in our daily lives.” This was voiced by Laura, a young Christian who lives in Jerusalem and studies at a Jewish university. Her words give prominence to the event held at the Kehillat Yedidya synagogue on the 30th April. The symposium entitled “Discovering the other’s humanity” was attended by youth from the 3 monotheistic religions. A good part of them belonged to the 
In this collection of inspiring meditations, the author shows that living the present moment is our way to be connected with eternity. Living the present puts us in touch, already here on earth, with heaven. Available from: 
In paragraph 87 of his Apostolic Exhortation 
