Mar 19, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Every day, on the eastern outskirts of Lima, Peru, the Focolare community supports people living in situations of extreme poverty by sharing many things – food, material aid, literacy skills and Gospel experiences. Huaycán is located in the eastern suburbs of Lima, Peru. It has a population of approximately 200,000 and 90% are immigrants from the Andes, people who arrived to escape from poverty. They preserve their traditions and their language, Quechua, the ancient language of the Incas. The people living high up in the hills are often experiencing situations of extreme poverty. Their houses have dirt floors and consist of just one room (beds are in the kitchen), they do not have a clean water supply, electricity or a sewage system… Many of the people are street vendors. Some women do house cleaning and some men are construction workers or scrap collectors. The community in Lima has seen that these people are living in a situation that is like the “wound of Christ” and has chosen to love them in a special way. “We first visited Huaycán in 1998,” Elsa recalls, “when Tata, Carmen, Maria and Milagros and I brought the Word of Life to a community close to the ‘Fe y Alegría School’ run by the Franciscan Sisters. Then Elba, Mario, Lula, Yeri, Fernando, Cristina and Eury… joined us. We went higher up in the hills and shared Gospel experiences with the poorest of the poor. Many of the people had poor health and were suffering from a variety of different illnesses and family life was very difficult: violence, promiscuity, unemployment, drugs and hunger were part of their everyday experience.” “At first, we would sit on the ground,” Elba says, “but then as the people began to feel more secure, they would pull out their chairs and offer them to us. In the winter, they would invite us into their humble houses. There we met Olinda, the school cook, who opened her home to meet us. She is a beautiful person – the “heart” of the community for us . We suffered together when her eldest son died suddenly.” The community in Lima community has begun several initiatives to support the many needs of these people: these include material aid, educational support for children, training and literacy for adults, psychological support, follow-up and health care and the sale of second-hand clothes. “Every year we celebrate Christmas and Mother’s Day together. We also organize trips and some of the people take part in the annual Mariapolis,” Mario recalls. “One couple followed a preparation course and then got married during the Mariapolis, in the presence of their five children and other relatives. It was a turning point in their lives, just as it is for many others when they meet the God of Love.” “With the pandemic,” Cristina continues, “many people have lost their jobs and do not have enough to feed their children. Working with some families we managed to procure food and distribute it to those most in need. One woman installed an oven, which had previously been disused, to produce bread. From March to June, we distributed 140 baskets of food and 12,720 loaves of bread. We met with the poorest community, Granja Verde, because we needed a kitchen and dining area to prepare and serve food. We began to organise what we could do: they offered a piece of land and laid a concrete floor. We provided essential utensils for the kitchen and a 2,500-litre tank for drinking water. The dining room was inaugurated on 15 November 15 2020, and started working the following day. Today we produce 100 meals a day. We know, as Pope Francis reminds us, that if we forget about the poor, God will forget about us. Huaycán, Christ’s “sore spot” is our favourite place and where we most clearly experience God’s blessing.”
Gustavo E. Clariá
Mar 18, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Considering “fratelli tutti” – as Pope Francis says – helps us broaden our horizons. “Give and it will be given to you” Father David from Kenya wrote, “I was helping a poor refugee boy I had got to know during the mission in Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya by paying for his schooling but after a while I ran out of money and was no longer able to support him. I explained this difficulty to him and we said goodbye to one another. After some time, this boy sent me a message via social media asking me for help again. It was a great suffering for me not to be able to help him so I decided to sell a cow I had at my parents’ house to pay for his schooling. He was so happy to be able to go back to school again. In the new parish where I have been living for almost a year, the parishioners decided to visit me one day because they had heard that my father was not well. Among the gifts they brought were three cows. I could not believe it. It really seemed as if God wanted to say to me “a good measure, pressed down, full and overflowing will be poured into your lap”. Father David, Kenya “For my brothers and sisters in Lebanon” After the disaster of 4 August 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon, I asked myself what I could do to help this country which had already suffered so much. A few days later it would be my birthday: 40 years old. My family and friends wanted to celebrate with me, even if it was just a meal. This could be the perfect opportunity to help the people of Lebanon, I thought. So I asked all those coming to the dinner not to give me any presents but to make a donation to my project to help Beirut. At the end of the evening, I was amazed by the amount of money raised: a good 600 euros! I never imagined it would be so much, especially since there were very few guests at the dinner because of Covid restrictions. This gesture then caused a chain reaction among my friends. Emilia gave the proceeds from her graduation to another project, Francesco decided to sponsor a child in a developing country for his birthday, and then the children in the neighbourhood, when they heard about our birthday initiative, gave the proceeds of the sale of products made with recycled materials they had organised, again for Lebanon! Freely you have received, freely give… This is what we strongly believe in, always, when we receive and when we give. L., Ischia (Italy) “From a sandwich to a hundredfold for the poor”. One day I was in a sandwich shop, waiting to buy a sandwich, and I had just enough money for one. As I was coming out of the shop, I saw a lady looking at everyone who was eating. I realised she was hungry and was waiting for someone to offer her something to eat. I took out my sandwich and gave it to her. I can always eat something later, I said to myself. She was overjoyed. Then I took her to the fruit shop and asked the greengrocer if he could give her some fruit which I would pay for the next day since I had no money at that moment. The greengrocer gladly gave the lady not just one piece of fruit, but a whole bag of fruit, free of charge. I was so happy to see how a small sandwich could become a chain of the hundredfold. Mumbai (India)
Lorenzo Russo
Mar 17, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Joint Statement of SIGNIS, Pax Christi International and the Focolare Movement in Solidarity with the People of Myanmar Signis, the World Catholic Association for Communication, hears the cry of the courageous Burmese people as they nonviolently resist the Myanmar military coup overturning a legitimate and democratic election. We are joined by Pax Christi International and its members in the Asia-Pacific region who in their statement of February on the “State of Emergency” in Myanmar already expressed grave concerns about the situation in the country. Likewise, the international Focolare movement unites with us in solidarity with the Burmese people. Daily, courageous people return to the streets to protest peacefully even as soldiers beat them and shoot them, of which many young people. As a symbol of their protest, conforming to Burmese custom, a sign of the righteous anger of the people towards the military can be heard in the clatter of pots and pans banged together to protect against evil spirits, We witness the arbitrary detention on fabricated charges of members of the democratically elected government, as well as of civilian and religious leaders who have taken part in the long struggle for democracy. As truthful information is important in a democracy, we reject the disinformation campaign by Myanmar’s military justifying their actions. We call for the protection of journalists who are arrested and harassed for sharing news and information on what is happening on the ground with the rest of the world; instead they should enjoy press freedom. We deplore the extreme authoritarianism that saw fit to trample on the nation’s constitution, which in fact permitted limited democracy while maintaining much of the armed forces’ power. Despite the challenges, Myanmar was taking its first steps towards democracy, giving people hope for a new future. This hope should be restored. Above all, we listen to the message of the people of Myanmar: this coup is essentially about overthrowing them, their will. It is ultimately not about removing political opponents or supposed public order. It undoes years of patient work for the fundamental rights of citizens and crushes tenuous dreams of a free, democratic country. As Catholic organizations, we join Pope Francis and civil and religious leaders across the globe who have condemned the coup and call for “meaningful dialogue” to restore democracy. Also, we join other organizations in calling for:
- the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained officials and leaders;
- the military to stop using violence and arbitrarily detention of peaceful protestors and journalists;
- justice and accountability for the atrocities committed by the army against the Rohingya people and other ethnic minorities, as well as prevention of such crimes and abuses in the future;
- members of the international community, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, to pressure the regime to step down and reestablish democracy, and not to exploit the situation for their own geopolitical interests.
We call upon the members of SIGNIS, Pax Christi International, and Focolare around the world to give voice to the cry of the Burmese people by reaching out to local and national media to report the situation, and by urging their governments to take strong diplomatic actions to oppose the coup and return democracy to Myanmar. Our mission as organizations is to promote peace. We therefore stand with the Archbishop of Yangoon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, President of the Asian Bishops Conferences, when he says, “Peace is possible. Peace is the only way. Democracy is the only light to that path.” Download the statement.
Mar 15, 2021 | Non categorizzato
The choice to love Jesus in his abandonment on the cross and to prefer him to every other love had become like a compass for Chiara Lubich that gave direction to her life and freed her from many worries. […] We had noticed that the calling to follow Jesus Forsaken in a radical way did not happen only once, that is, only at the beginning of the Movement. In fact, from time to time, during these past years, the Lord has underlined that calling with episodes or special considerations. This happened to me in 1954. […] For the first time, a focolarino was becoming a priest, and I was going to Trent because the Archbishop there was ordaining Father Foresi. I wasn’t too well and it seemed to be wise to travel part of the way by plane. As soon as I stepped on board, a very kind flight attendant, wanting to make the trip easier for me, invited me into the cockpit. From there I was deeply struck by the beautiful panorama that could be observed, completely open in front of me because of the large windows. It was not the panorama, however, which struck me the most, but rather the brief explanation that the pilot gave me as to what is important in flying an airplane. He told me that if you want to have a good trip, you need, first of all, to set the needle of your compass in the direction of the point of arrival. Then all along the way, you must keep an eye on it to make sure that the plane does not go off course. As I was listening to this explanation, I made a comparison between an airplane trip in this world and the journey of our lives, which today I would call the Holy Journey. I had the impression of understanding that also in this instance it was necessary to decide our course at the moment of departure, that is, the pathway of our soul which is Jesus Forsaken. Then all along the journey, we need to do only one thing: to remain faithful to Him. Yes, the way to which God calls us all is this: to love Jesus Forsaken always. This means embracing all the sufferings of our lives; this means to live love by adhering always to His Will, doing away with ours. […] To love Jesus Forsaken always means to live all the virtues, which he lived very clearly in that moment in a heroic way. […] I think I can say that if we have set the needle of the compass of our souls – to use the same image – in the direction of Jesus Forsaken, we have done the best that we could do to continue and finish our Holy Journey and to do so with a certain ease. On that trip, I noticed that the pilot was very free in his movements because he had no reins, as you would need with a horse, nor steering wheel as you would need in a car. If we set the needle of our spiritual compass in the direction of Jesus Forsaken, we too will not need anything else in order to reach the goal safely. On an airplane trip, curves do not take you by surprise because the flight is in a straight line, neither do you encounter mountains because you have already reached a good altitude. In the same way, we too, on our journey, place ourselves at a certain altitude through love of Jesus Forsaken; thus, we are not frightened by unforeseen events, nor do we feel the effort of climbing. This is true because for Jesus Forsaken, surprises, efforts, and sufferings have already been foreseen and awaited. Let us set the needle of our compass in the direction of Jesus Forsaken and then let us remain faithful to Him. How? In the morning as soon as we wake up, let us direct the needle of the compass in the direction of Jesus Forsaken with our “Eccomi!” (“Here I am!”) During the day from time to time, let us glance at it; let us see if we are always on course with Jesus Forsaken. If we find that we are not, then with another “Eccomi!” (“Here I am!”) let us go back on the right course, and we will be able to continue the journey. […] If we proceed on the journey of life in the company of Jesus Forsaken, we too will be able to repeat that famous sentence of St. Clare, “Go safely, my soul, because you have a good companion for your journey. Go, because the one who has created you has always watched over you and has sanctified you. […]
Chiara Lubich
(From a telephone conference call, 5 January 1984)
Mar 14, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Today, 14 March, marks the thirteenth anniversary of the death of Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare Movement. Since that same date, 14 March 2008, the Focolare communities scattered across all the continents have been meeting to remember her and to pray together, remembering the legacy she entrusted to the Movement: ‘Be a family’. «If I should have to leave this world today and you were to ask me for a single word, one last word that sums up our Ideal, I would say – certain of being perfectly understood – ‘Be a family’». https://youtu.be/QKwgvxsUU2E
Mar 13, 2021 | Non categorizzato
From the commitment of a small Focolare community to the most vulnerable, a Centre for the elderly has been opened in a village in the Peruvian jungle, named after the Movement’s founder. 
Four years ago I, Jenny, my husband, Javier, and our three daughters travelled here from Argentina to live in deepest Peru, bringing the Ideal of Unity with us. Shortly after we arrived in Lámud, a town in the middle of Amazonia, hearing that the Bishop of the Diocese was passing through, we ran to greet him and introduced ourselves as members of the Focolare Movement. “How wonderful that the focolare has arrived in Amazonia!”, he said and gave us his blessing, with his wish that we go ahead. Then we made an agreement with the parish priest who asked us to be responsible for Pastoral Care and Family Catechesis in the villages forming part of the parish. We went to the outskirts of town to understand the social reality in the area, sometimes accompanied by our daughters and discovered a hidden Lámud, one that was full of suffering. We decided to start with the least and realised that they were the elderly. Some of them did not even have a decent bed to die in. Keeping Chiara Lubich’s meditation entitled “One city is not enough” in mind, we went around the suburbs of the country looking for those who were alone, abandoned, to caress them, bring them a word of hope, food, clothes, and we asked them to pray for us as we were just beginning our adventure in these areas which were completely new to us. After a while, we began to dream of being able to give the elderly a decent home, a hot meal and, most importantly, that they would feel accompanied and no longer alone. A dream which, on the one hand seemed far away, but on the other seemed almost within reach so much so that we said to ourselves: “Yes, we can! We must do something more concrete than a simple visit. 
Together we drew up a plan: just a few lines but each sentence encouraged us to go ahead. We also thought about what we would call the house. We looked into each other’s eyes and decided to call it: “Hogar y Centro de Día para Adultos Mayores, Chiara Lubich” (“The Chiara Lubich Home and Day Centre for Elderly People”). Gradually, our dream started to take shape. We organised a number of events and made contact with a few people who were really enthusiastic about the project. I, Jenny, already had some experience of volunteering for different projects in Argentina and an opportunity arose for her to be employed by the Lámud District Municipality to work for the elderly! Lastly, we felt encouraged by the words of the Pope who invited us lay people to work in favour of the most vulnerable, especially during this time of pandemic. In short, there were so many beautiful coincidences that made us think that Jesus would be happy to see the birth of a Work for the least in the Peruvian wilderness, namely a dignified home for the elderly of the third age in this Amazonian province. In the meantime, we saw how everything was going ahead at a dizzying pace. So, trusting fully in God’s Providence and the power of prayer, we became increasingly aware that Jesus would not leave us on our own, and we were certain that, with our small community, we would never be alone. During that time, we signed the lease for the house and went through the legal process of setting ourselves up as a non-profit association. A group of people from the community had already joined the project on a voluntary basis. They had responded with a very strong “Yes” to committing to work for the benefit of the most vulnerable people in the village of Lámud and the Province of Luya (Dipartimento Amazonas). We started preparing the place straight away so that we could start offering the elderly one hot meal a day, provided by the municipality. And now, little by little, we are assessing each step to be taken to reach our goal of offering the elderly, who are at risk of loneliness and abandonment, food but also the possibility of permanent residence in the Centre. But more than titles, names and statutes, our desire is that the atmosphere of unity, harmony and family that Chiara Lubich left us as her legacy should reign in the house which is why the Centre bears her name. Jenny and Javier, with the community of Lámud (Dipartimento Amazonas, Peru)
Experience received and translated by Gustavo E. Clariá
Mar 12, 2021 | Non categorizzato
In recent days, many people have tried to take stock of Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq. I think it is difficult, if not impossible, to attempt an exhaustive one. There are too many issues involved and, above all, we are too close to this global event made up of so many other details that can only be read in the course of time. Obviously some elements more than others struck the imagination of those who followed the various events in a context that, in some ways, in its stark reality risked appearing surreal. In fact, if we think of the model of papal journeys, inaugurated with Pope John Paul II from 1979 onwards, we were accustomed to quite different scenarios and backgrounds: oceanic crowds, choreographic preparation that often bordered on perfection and, above all, events that left the image, especially in the early years of the Polish pope’s era, of a strong faith, at the centre of history, in contrast to the atheistic world from which the Polish pope came. Pope Francis, who at the beginning of his pontificate had introduced the idea of another Church, the ‘accidental’ and ‘field hospital’ Church, in recent years has been committed to transmitting this image of the Church and has done so practically everywhere he has gone. He has done so practically everywhere he has gone. From his first official trip to Lampedusa, the port and cemetery of migrants, to Bangui, where he opened the door that inaugurated his unexpected and extraordinary Jubilee, to Mosul, where the stage had only rubble and walls still perforated by bullets of various calibers as a backdrop. And we cannot forget Tacloban where he braved an impending typhoon to stand by the survivors of another catastrophic event, Lesbos where he spent unhurriedly precious time listening to the unspeakable stories of refugees of various origins. The lesson of Francis is not just about showing that the most precious face of the Church is the ‘accidental’ one. Rather, it is the way in which he shows the ‘proximity’, the warmth that needs to be felt by those who suffer in the Christian community. Above all, he is committed to projecting these communities onto the world stage to say that this is the true Church, which we should all cherish and which bears real witness to Christ. As he said on his return flight, Bergoglio is breathing at these junctures, because this is his Petrine call, the one for which the conclave elected him, without knowing and imagining where he would lead Peter’s boat. We are all seeing and experiencing this in recent years. And the voyages are probably the truest reflection of this, leaving no room for misunderstandings. On the other hand, this is nothing new. Like his predecessors, the Argentine pope has shown that he is able to read and decode the ‘signs of the times’ and offers credible testimony to the fact that the Church is a witness to its time and intercepts its problems and key issues, offering answers that are almost always against the current with respect to those that the political, international and, today, financial world impose. Faced with the reality that Francis found himself living, including the unprecedented one (at least in these terms) of the pandemic, the essential category of the pontificate, confirmed also in Iraq, is fraternity. Bergoglio’s personal and ecclesial testimony, his Magisterium and his relations, especially but not only with the Muslim world, now make fraternity a geopolitical element. This was also demonstrated by his meeting with the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani. The implications of those forty-five minutes are fundamental. We all know, in fact, that the great knot that Islam must untie today is internal to its own world: the tension, never appeased but now dangerously acute, between the Sunni and Shiite spheres. It is here that the roots of many of the problems that Muslims experience and for which many also die must be sought. Bergoglio has shown great ‘political’ tact in wanting to meet al-Sistani, the most significant representative of Shiism, well distanced from the Iranian theocracy that since the Khomeinist revolution of the 1980s has pushed the Iranian world to be a champion of this fringe of the Muslim kaleidoscope. Al-Sistani has always distanced himself from the theocratic choice of the Iranian ayatollahs, and has been an acknowledged spiritual and religious leader for decades. Among other things, he was born in Iran. The meeting between the two leaders took place behind closed doors, but as Pope Francis described it on the return flight, it was a moment of spirituality, “a universal message. I felt the duty, […] to go and see a great, a wise man, a man of God. And only by listening to him do you perceive this. […] And he is a person who has that wisdom … and also prudence. […] And he was very respectful, very respectful in the meeting, and I felt honoured. Even in the greeting: he never gets up, and he got up, to greet me, twice. He is a humble and wise man. This meeting had a great positive impact on my soul”. Bergoglio ventured an appreciation that perhaps no pope had had the courage to say in the past: “And these wise men are everywhere, because God’s wisdom has been spread throughout the world. It is the same with the saints, who are not only those on the altars. They are the everyday saints, the ones I call ‘next door’, the saints – men and women – who live their faith, whatever it may be, with consistency, who live human values with consistency, fraternity with consistency”. All this did not go unnoticed. Positive comments poured down from many quarters, starting with the Muslim world itself. Sayyed Jawad Mohammed Taqi Al-Khoei, secretary general of the Al-Khoei Institute in Najaf, a prominent member of the Iraqi Shiite world and director of the Al-Khoei Institute which is part of the Hawza of Najaf, a religious seminary founded 1,000 years ago for Shiite Muslim scholars, was very clear in his appreciation. “Although this is the first meeting in history between the head of the Shia Islamic establishment and the head of the Catholic Church, this visit is the fruit of many years of exchanges between Najaf and the Vatican and will undoubtedly strengthen our interreligious relations. It was also a historic moment for Ira”. Al-Khoei affirmed the commitment to “continue strengthening our relations as institutions and individuals. We will soon travel to the Vatican to ensure that this dialogue continues, develops and does not stop here. The world faces common challenges and these challenges cannot be solved by any state, institution or person alone”.The AsiaNews agency also reports some of the positive comments that appeared in the Iranian press, which gave wide coverage and celebrated the historic meeting as an “opportunity for peace”. The news was the opening headline in the Islamic Republic’s newspapers and media outlets. Sazandegi, who is close to the reformist wing, emphasised that the two religious leaders are today “the standard-bearers of world peace”. He called their face-to-face meeting in the home of the Shiite spiritual leader ‘the most effective event [in the history of] dialogue between religions’.
Roberto Catalano
Source: Blog Whydontwedialogue
Mar 11, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Community microcredit and microfinance to support the growth of expanding projects. Rose’s testimony on the importance of the initiative supported by Amu. BIRASHOBOKA means “IT CAN BE DONE” in Kirundi. It is from this conviction that the Community Microcredit and Microfinance project was born in Burundi (Africa). In spite of the great difficulties in which the country still finds itself – it is the second most densely populated country in Africa and one of the five countries with the highest poverty index in the world – Amu, Azione per un Mondo Unito-Onlus, a non-governmental development organisation inspired by the spirituality of the Focolare Movement, has been supporting the capacities of local communities for some time. Since 2007, in fact, in full synergy with the non-profit organisation CASOBU (Cadre Associatif des Solidaires du Burundi), it has been helping local families in a process of training and of improving their living conditions. 
With the “It can be done!” project, it aims to create community microcredit groups whose members can support themselves to create jobs and, in a second phase, create a community microfinance group to support the growth of the expanding projects. Rose tells us: “We started our group 13 years ago. With the first loan I got, I remember very well that I didn’t do anything in particular, I bought clothes and goods that I needed, but the rest I wasted. At the beginning, I didn’t know how to start a business and what often happened was that I had difficulty paying back the loan I had received. Then I realised that I couldn’t keep taking out loans without a concrete project and I finally decided to start the restaurant project with the first 300,000 Fbu (150 €). I started buying pots and pans, dishes and gradually opened the restaurant. It was 2009, I didn’t have any workers yet. At that time, my children helped me in the kitchen and I went by bus to take the food to the city where I had my customers. As I became known, the number of customers increased and I was able to hire workers. I am proud that through the salary they receive I also participate in the fulfilment of their dreams.” Rose, who is happy to have embarked on this path, today manages to provide a salary for five other families besides her own. Now she would like to improve and expand her business, for example by renting a bigger premises, where she could cook and reduce the running costs of the restaurant and travel expenses. It is a very brave decision because there is a big investment involved and Rose does not have the collateral or the guarantees needed to access a loan from any bank. And it is for Rose and many other people who, like her, would like to expand their businesses that the AMU and CASOBU project was set up, supporting the start-up of a community microfinance institution to offer savings and credit services to people with big dreams but who still today cannot access banks. To support the project, click here
Lorenzo Russo
Mar 9, 2021 | Non categorizzato
The Focolare Movement in Germany, together with other Catholic organisations, organised an online conference on the search for God in a world where He seems increasingly absent. This contributed also to the Catholic Church’s synodal process in Germany. “God disappears – and maybe, could this be necessary? God disappears – is it He perhaps who wants it this way?” These were the provocative questions that guided the programme of an online conference that was held in Germany on February 26-27. It was organized by the Focolare Movement in Germany together with the “Herder-Korrespondenz”, a monthly Catholic magazine, and the Catholic Academy of the Dresden-Meissen Diocese in the former GDR. It was meant to address one of the most urgent questions many Christians ask today: “What do we have to do and how do we have to move in a world where God seems to be no longer present?” 350 participants from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries were ready to discuss in depth the causes of an ever-increasing absence of God in society and in the lives of individuals. As Heinrich Timmerevers, the Bishop of Dresden said in his opening speech, they were even ready to ask the shocking question, “Is it perhaps the Church itself that is driving people away from God because of the crisis caused by abuse?” In a message sent to the participants, Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement said that the theme of God’s absence touches the core of the Movement’s spirituality, that springs from the figure of Jesus crucified and forsaken by men and God, “the hardest moment for Jesus and at the same time the most divine, the key to contribute towards fraternity wherever it is lacking […] and to reach out to those who suffer most because of this darkness”. During these two days, there were moments of critical and stimulating reflection on all that motivates a firm faith in God, despite a growing tendency towards secularism, and also on new forms of interest – especially in young people – in something transcendent that is passed on through authentic stories, experiences of deep attractiveness and a curiosity to explore new reflections on the meaning of life. During this conference, the awareness that Churches are often no longer able to meet the new religious needs of today’s men and women, was also present. The talk delivered by the German theologian Julia Knop was very strong; it was almost shocking. She started from the debate on the abuse of power and sexual violence by clerics and consecrated persons, and then continued to show that an erosion of trust in the Church is also being felt among its most faithful members. The professor of dogmatics claimed that the Church’s crisis is closely linked to the faith crisis. Stefan Tobler, the Reformed theologian stated that the absence of God could also prove to be an opportunity. While presenting traces of the mysticism in Madeleine Delbrêl, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Chiara Lubich, he pointed out that the experience of God that vanishes could become precisely the place where God reveals himself. “God is found precisely where he seems furthest away. It is therefore not a question of bringing him to the world, but of discovering him in the world”.
Joachim Schwind
Mar 8, 2021 | Non categorizzato
On Saturday 6 March 2021, during Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Iraq, an interreligious meeting was held in the Plain of Ur of the Chaldees. At the end of the meeting, an oration was intoned inspired by the figure of the patriarch Abraham, a common father in the faith for Christians, Jews and Muslims. Here is the text. Almighty God, our Creator, you love our human family and every work of your hands: As children of Abraham, Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with other believers and all persons of good will, we thank you for having given us Abraham, a distinguished son of this noble and beloved country, to be our common father in faith. We thank you for his example as a man of faith, who obeyed you completely, left behind his family, his tribe and his native land, and set out for a land that he knew not. We thank you too, for the example of courage, resilience, strength of spirit, generosity and hospitality set for us by our common father in faith. We thank you in a special way for his heroic faith, shown by his readiness even to sacrifice his son in obedience to your command. We know that this was an extreme test, yet one from which he emerged victorious, since he trusted unreservedly in you, who are merciful and always offer the possibility of beginning anew. We thank you because, in blessing our father Abraham, you made him a blessing for all peoples. We ask you, the God of our father Abraham and our God, to grant us a strong faith, a faith that abounds in good works, a faith that opens our hearts to you and to all our brothers and sisters; and a boundless hope capable of discerning in every situation your fidelity to your promises. Make each of us a witness of your loving care for all, particularly refugees and the displaced, widows and orphans, the poor and the infirm. Open our hearts to mutual forgiveness and in this way make us instruments of reconciliation, builders of a more just and fraternal society. Welcome into your abode of peace and light all those who have died, particularly the victims of violence and war. Assist the authorities in the effort to seek and find the victims of kidnapping and in a special way to protect women and children. Help us to care for the earth, our common home, which in your goodness and generosity you have given to all of us. Guide our hands in the work of rebuilding this country, and grant us the strength needed to help those forced to leave behind their homes and lands, enabling them to return in security and dignity, and to embark upon a new, serene and prosperous life. Amen.
