Christian social vision means interdependence between men and women

Nov 10, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Giordani told of a man in the ancient world who ‘having travelled far away for reasons of trade, wrote home to his wife about to give birth: “If it’s a boy, keep him; if it’s a girl, put her her out to die.” That person, Giordani said, ‘expressed, quite simply, how pagan idolatry saw woman: a mammal for exploitation and for pleasure, considered immensely inferior to the male and, in all cases, in all legal systems, kept in subjection to men: from girlhood under the care and control of her father, as a wife under the care and control of her husband, and as a widow under the care and control of her sons and relatives. Never free to choose for herself.

‘Christianity changed this state of affairs by establishing the spiritual equality women with men, giving them equal rights and duties and taking mothers away from the caprice of fathers through the indissoluability of marriage, with which they were assured a stable position in the home. In Christ, Paul the apostle taught, ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female’ (Gal. 3:28), but all are spirits, all children of God and so equally brothers and sisters.

‘Christian social vision brought about interdependence between men and women: ‘Neither women without dependency upon men, nor men without dependency upon women, in the Lord.’ A man belongs to his woman and a woman to her man: ‘Just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God.’ (1 Cor.11:12) …

‘It is true, however, that in society the influence of women is less than a third: an influence absolutely inferior to their sacrifices and number. And this causes enormous social damage, because the lack of the action of feminine virtues, which are specifically devotion, grace, love of peace and order, means that there prevail in society the masculine virtues of strength, conquest, adventure, which, like all the virtues, if they are not tempered and harmonized by others, easily overflow into the vices closest to them.

‘But it is a fact: if women are degraded, men follow in degradation…. For the perverted woman passes her perversion on to her children, just as the upright, heroic woman passes on uprightness and heroism to her children. In the end, to undo a society, a sure way is the corruption of women. To substitute society with a hive, make human beings into cyphers, it is necessary also to undo its reverence for chaste and faithful women and disrupt their relationships into sexual licence so that the sacrament is replaced by an utterly different element.

 ‘Having degraded women, men are ready to give up everything. The dishumanization of humanity, necessary to reduce it to automatons, begins with woman: as in Eden. Hedonistic, materialistic philosophies, championed in the last generations and reaching our times with their first vast practical experiences, bring about the end of motherhood: and motherhood is the principle of life.’

La Società Cristiana (Città Nuova: Rome, 2010 (first pub. in 1942)), pp. 54-8.

A Pluriform Society

Nov 4, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Four national languages, three major Christian confessions and various other smaller Christian communities, small populations in its towns and villages: this is Switzerland, currently being visited by the Focolare’s President, Maria Voce, and Co-President, Giancarlo Faletti. They have come for a meeting of the local Focolare community and members of the Reformed Church in touch with the spirituality of unity. To welcome them in Zurich airport were representatives of the pluriform society that is the hallmark of this small nation, forged out of the clear desire to stay together, and currently reflected in the make-up of the Focolare Movement in this land. The President’s time in Switzerland, which will last until 11 November, is based at the meeting and educational Centre called ‘Cornerstone’ in Baar, near Zurich. It was set up in 1976 as a place where the Focolare Movement and its friends from different regions, cultures and languages, could get together. Since then it has seen the growth of small businesses. Training courses are held here in the fields of religion, politics and ecumenism. The agenda for the next few days is to have meetings with various members of the Movement: focolarini and young people, leaders and children and, indeed, the entire community of the Movement in Switzerland. On 8 November there will be an ecumenical day in Bern and it is already drawing the attention of Catholics and Reformed Christians who sincerely long to build relationships of unity. The Focolare Movement in Switzerland The first contacts with the Movement were in 1955, through an architect, who was a member of the Evangelical Reformed Church, working at the time in Milan with one of the first focolarini. That meeting was, it could be said, the foundation stone for the spreading of the spirituality of unity in Switzerland, as well as further confirmation that the spirituality could be lived both by Catholics and Reformed Christians. In 1961 the first focolare house was opened in Zurich, and after that in Geneva, Lugano and Bern.[1] To facilitate contacts and unity among its members and their friends in the various regions of the country in 1976 a Centre of Formation was set up in Baar, near Zurich. It is open, however, also to groups other than the Movement itself. In Zurich and in Adliswil are the Movement’s two national centres as well as the Swiss publishing house Neue Stadt. 1981, in Montet in the canton of Fribourg, saw the setting up of an international Formation Centre for young people with a vocation to live in focolare houses. The spirituality of unity lived in everyday life by about 20,000 friends and members of the Movement builds bridges between the various Christian Churches and with followers of different religions. This is given witness to by focolare houses where people of different Churches live, ecumenical  and inter-relgious meetings. There are also strong, long-term links with the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

Geneva, October 2002: Chiara Lubich with Dr. Konrad Raiser, then Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Not for the poor, but with the poor

Nov 4, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Parish priest Martin Piller recounts: “I had often spoken to the parish council about the poor people that knock at the door of the priest house, asking for money. Thinking of Jesus who identifies himself with such as these, helped me to care for them in their need. My collaborators and I asked ourselves what we might do to improve their situations.”

Mark Etter from the pastoral team: “We read a text by Chiara Lubich: ‘If you want to win over a city to the love of God, if you want to transform a town into the kingdom of God, first make your plans. Gather round you friends who share your feelings. Unite yourself with them in the name of Jesus (. . .) Make a pact of mutual love with them. Then look for the poorest. Having consoled, helped, enlightened, made happy those who were the dregs of society, you have laid the foundations to build a new city.’”

Piller: “Jesus was clearly speaking to us through these words: the poor are our treasure. And so we sought out a few people who were sensitive to the poor, and shared with them our desire to work together for two hours each week, for the poor“

Etter: “The beginning was anything but professional. Work tools may have been lacking, but there was no lack of ideas. Someone suggested working together with them at repairing the tables in the parish garden, and then paying them for their work. Another person then suggested breaking some empty bottles and using the pieces of glass to sand away the old varnish from the table tops. And so we did, but the next time someone brought along some sandpaper.”

Piller: “Four years have gone by now. Today some forty people of all ages and backgrounds have joined in working with us for two hours every week. There are teenagers, retired people, parents, drug addicts and homeless people. Everything has grown. A pastry shop donates sandwiches and sweet breads for our coffee break. In the church bell tower we’ve set up a candle-making shop and in the parish centre a workshop for making other objects. We are now financially supported by an Economy of Communion business. We’ve begun a constructive relationship with the city’s social workers. They visit us often and have shown very positive interest in our work.”

Etter: “There were many times when we knew that the cash box was empty, even though many people would be coming, expecting to be paid. I well remember that night when we knelt together in church asking for the light to go on. The next day someone dropped an envelope at the priest house with a huge sum of money inside. It seemed to be God’s answer to our faith in his Word: ‘Ask and you shall receive.’”

Piller: “Marco, one of the people who came regularly, died suddenly from a drug overdose. Since his parents wanted to have a private funeral ceremony, we went into the chapel and, following a song, we were quite moved to see how everyone spontaneously turned to God.”

“We continually try to put ourselves in the shoes of the needy and we are always enriched. A few weeks ago we gathered some money for the daughter of one of the workers, who is sick in Africa. It was a great surprise to us when saw everyone’s willingness to give all that they had earned that day for her.”

The courage to speak

Nov 1, 2012 | Non categorizzato

‘I am a sales assistant in a clothes shop. It is a job that I like, because it lets me build relationships with our customers. One woman, in particular, would come often. She would buy clothes for her daughter in Australia. She would get me to try them on as she said I looked like her daughter. She would talk to me about her and she told me many confidential things.

‘One day, as usual, I saw her arrive, but I realized immediately by her face that something was different. She looked sad, exhausted. She had come to talk to me. She had found out that her daughter in Australia was in relationship with a man much older than her. Both she and her husband wanted her daughter to come back home, but just a few day before, on the phone, she had told them she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. The woman was confused, angry, full of hard feelings. She thought, all the same, that getting rid of the child was the only possible solution. Basically she hoped that sooner or later her daughter would come back.

Up to that point I had always tried to fit in with her and what she wanted – after all she was the customer. But in that moment I felt very strongly that I had to say what I really thought. I wanted to help her in some practical way, not only to share her burden with her. I asked her for the phone number of her daughter. I had decided to try talking with her. I prayed that I might find the right words. To my surprise she was happy to speak with me! She told me she wanted to have an abortion but she hoped she would die as well. The burden of the pain for her family was too great  after all her parents had done for her. But in the midst of all that pain I sensed a tiny light of hope, at the same time as a sincere sorrow for having made her parents suffer. I then spoke to her mother, explaining that her daughter was sorry and wanted to start again.

‘After that I actually met the daughter and her boyfriend. They did not have an abortion, and in fact they wanted to get married so as to give the baby a family. The future grandparents could not  thank you enough.’

(Twinette, Zimbabwe)

An excerpt from Una buona notizia. Gente che crede gente che muove (Città Nuova: Rome, 2012)

“We can’t do without you”

Nov 1, 2012 | Non categorizzato

In an uninterrupted dialogue with people without any religious affiliation, Chiara Lubich, in 1995, finds herself explaining why the Focolare Movement would lose its identity without the non-believers.

«This is absolutely true! As a Movement, as a new community that has come to life in the Church, we have a universal vocation.

Therefore, our motto is: “That all may be one.” Now, this “all” includes you too. We can’t do without you because you are included in that “all,” otherwise we would be cutting away or excluding half the world, or at least a third of the world. Instead, we say: “That all may be one.”

Of course, we must “be one” in so far as it is possible. We will be one in values, we will be one in other ideas, we will be one in something actual».

Chiara Lubich to friends without any religious affiliation, Loppiano, May 7, 1995

Published in DiaLogos 02, CNx, September 2012

Greater trust in the work of God

Oct 31, 2012 | Non categorizzato

An experience of the Church as communion was what Maria Voce had at the Synod, ‘both in what was said in the hall and when we talked together as members of the same family.’ These were her words in an interview to the Italian newspaper the Avvenire at the end of three weeks of work. She added, ‘I have really given thanks to God for belonging to a Church like this.’ And she then went on to say, ‘Together we realized that human shortcomings get in the way of the new evangelization and we became aware that we should be purified from sin so as to find again the radical nature of our witness to the Gospel. A lot was said about the credibility of our proclamation, given in the first place by lives consistent with what they proclaim on the part of those called to evangelize, beginning with those with pastoral responsibility. All the same, from the work of the last three weeks, it became clear that in various parts of the world, including Italy and Europe, the general atmosphere of our communities is not totally downbeat because of the certainty that the Church is upheld by God and that therefore also our errors can be overcome. At the end of the day, what comes out of the Synod is a Church that is more trusting of itself because it has more trust in the Lord.’ This is a general impression that was reported in the Avenire, but various themes were touched upon in other interviews with the Focolare President. One was the role of women in the Synod and in the Church, mentioned with reference to its campaign for women’s rights in the news programme Tg2: ‘Can the Focolare Movement be an example of affirmative action in favour women in the Church?’ was the question put to Maria Voce who did not feel comfortable with the term, but said, ‘Ours is a presence in the Church where women have their role and having a woman as President is a sign of that.’ Another interview was with Vatican Insider which asked about dialogue with Islam, after the Synod had seen a video that had raised a number of questions. In words picked up also by the Washington Post, she said, ‘It was an occasion to put this theme [of dialogue with Islam] into focus, but it also served to show the aspect of Church as active in dialogue, a Church that goes out to meet the others, to other cultures around it – and thus to Islam as well, seeing it as made up of people who live cheek by jowl with Christians, who have the same problems and can seek to solve them together with Christians.’ Maria Voce was asked whether many Christians look at Islam ‘with fear and trembling’ and she said, ‘God guides history and so we must not be made afraid by the shifts and changes that happen. Maybe Islam grows in part of the world, while in another Christianity grows. The important thing is that humanity grows in humanity, that is, that people grow in their relationship with God and in the capacity to relate to one another.’ To the question whether Catholics can learn anything from Muslims, she replied, ‘I lived for ten years in country with a Muslim majority, in Turkey. I learnt respect for religion, faithfulness in observing one’s duty, the capacity to forgive during the period of Ramadan. Perhaps for us it only a word, but for them it is a sacred time in which to write off what may be owing, to renew family relationships. Above all I think it is possible to learn an attitude of faithfulness to God and to his commandments.’

Watch interview with the news agency “Rome Reports”

Synod: quenching the thirst for the infinite

Oct 29, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Three weeks of intense work, exchanges of insights and sharing of experiences. The thirteenth Synod of the Bishops, dedicated to the new evangelization, concluded with a solemn mass in St Peter’s square. From 7th to 28th October, speaking about the challenges met today in proclaiming the Word of God, bishops from all over the world met together with 45 experts, 49 auditors and fraternal delegates, representatives of 15 Churches and ecclesial communities. Everyone of them spoke and Pope Benedict XVI was present nearly the whole time. He listened, took notes, welcomed all that was said. A synod, he said when greeting the assembly ‘is always a powerful moment of ecclesial communion … [where we] experience the beauty of being Church and of being Church today, in this world as it is, in this humanity with all its struggles and its hopes.’ The Focolare Movement participated in the synod through the presence of three auditors: the Movement’s President, Maria Voce, Ernestine Sikujua Kinyabuuma from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gisèle Muchati from Syria. The three representatives brought with them the experience and life of the Focolare in the field of evangelization which is ‘often on the frontiers, together with the whole Church,’ as Maria Voce put it. It is a commitment that involves people of every age, that penetrates ‘everywhere, homes, factories, government buildings, hospitals, schools and universities’ making ‘visible’ the ‘relationships of brothers and sisters brought about by the Gospel.’ ‘We come away from the synod,’ Maria Voce said in an interview on an Italian national news programme, ‘with the great hope of being able to see in the demands, the questions and the challenges of our times not so much the problems themselves as the chance of witnessing in a new, living and joyful way. The encounter with Christ is always something beautiful to be able to proclaim and it is something that can satisfy the thirst for the infinite which all human beings have.’ Ernestine Kinyabuuma shared her personal experience of teaching at the Maria Malkia University Institute of Lubumbashi. She spoke the day after three religious from the Democratic Republic of Congo had been kidnapped. She said, ‘In the midst of the changes brought about by globalization, Africa is going through a crisis at all levels, political, economic and cultural. For this reason, seeking a way out, people are reacting everywhere.’ It is in this context that Christians experience how much ‘the hand of God intervenes in the little things of our lives, at the points where our lives seem most at risk. We have courage given by faith in the words of Jesus who tells us that whatever we do to the least we do to him.’ This is what has generated the Focolare community’s commitment to the central prison of Lubumbashi where it has been possible to build three dormitory blocks, a tailor’s workshop and a small shop selling essentials. The pain of the Syrian people also touched the synod through the words of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State: ‘We cannot be mere spectators of a tragedy like the one consuming Syria.’ This is the reason for sending a delegation ‘convinced that the solution to the crisis cannot be other than political and thinking of the terrible sufferings of the populace, of the fate of the evacuees as well as of the nation’s future.’ In an interview to Radio Vatican Gisèle Muchati, who is responsible for the Focolare’s New Families Movement in Syria, said ‘I wish to express my gratitude to the Holy Father for sending a delegation from the Holy See to Syria. It is something special, because it will help the Syrian people feel that all the people of God are with them.’ Gisèle told the synod of the experience of the Focolare Movement in a land torn by war, caring for families and refugees. Its commitment was, she said, ‘at all costs to maintain faith in God to whom nothing is impossible. In Aleppo, since August, in various neighbourhoods small spontaneous prayer groups have sprung up. Thus  the voice of prayer is often lifted up despite the sound of gunfire and bombs. The experience of unity strengthens and gives peace in the midst of danger, faith in God’s love is stronger, hope is alive.’ In conclusion, the synod handed over to the Pope 58 ‘final recommendations’ – proposals that emerged from all that had been said and which will help Benedict XVI to compose his Post-Synodal Exhortation to be published in the coming months. The ‘word’ of the synod will now be taken into the world by those who took part in it. Message to the People of God

United World Project

Oct 27, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Launched during the Genfest in Budapest at the end of this summer, the object of the United World Project is ambitious: taking up the task that Chiara Lubich entrusted to Young People for a United World (Y4UW), it seeks to promote a culture of universal brotherhood, so that ‘a united world will be on the lips of everyone’, as Chiara put it.

Subdivided into three parts (United World Watch, United World Workshop and United World Network), the project aims at involving the largest number of people possible, asking them to be personally committed to living in fraternity, to the point of involving even large international organizations.

United World Watch is setting up a permanent international monitoring body for universal fraternity. To this end Y4UW is striving to develop the widest possible range of ‘fragments of fraternity’ initiatives throughout the world, studying the principle of universal fraternity in all its forms through research and forums, collecting data on and monitoring fraternal actions by individuals, groups and peoples.

United World Workshop is a way for young people to commit themselves to practical action following up on what UNESCO calls good practice. Through a multitude of activities all over the planet they are committed to working concretely for universal fraternity. Furthermore, by means of the NGO New Humanity, they have asked the UN to give international recognition to ‘United World Week’ promoted by them in many countries since 1996.

United World Network recognizes that to build a united world it is not enough to involve international institutions. By means of an online petition (aiming to have 500,000 signatures to give the UN by May 2013) Y4UW propose to young people, adults and children to take up the commitment of to live out the Golden Rule: ‘Treat others as you would have them treat you’ and to contribute to United World Watch, being constantly on the lookout for signs of fraternity that call the world to unity. To sign go to www.unitedworldproject.org

A key moment for the project will be in May 2013 in Jerusalem when, a year on from the Genfest, signing up to the ‘Network’ will concluded and, with world participation, the ‘Watch’ will be launched officially.

The project shows particular concern for the theme of fraternity in that sensitive situation which is the Middle East. But it will also contain ‘Sharing with Africa’, a proposal of mutual care made to the peoples of Africa to rediscover the traditional ideal of Ubuntu (the vision of unity at the basis of African societies). In this way the United World Project becomes the container for many of the  activities of Y4UW.

Tomaso Comazzi

A Restless Mind

Oct 23, 2012 | Non categorizzato

I blamed myself for my lack of presence at home. I tried to talk to her, but we kept on avoiding one another. There was a total lack of communication. We couldn’t count on family or friends. After a year of this, I was convinced that it was better to split up. Until one day I said, ‘We need to talk.’ Her speech was delusional. There had been a trivial altercation with the mother of our son’s classmate, an insignificant matter, but for my wife it was devastating. She felt threatened, in a situation from which there was no way out. I was amazed: ‘You’re interpreting what happened in the wrong way. What you’re thinking isn’t true.’ I tried to convince her to see a doctor, but then she replied saying that she wasn’t crazy. After some time we went to a psychiatrist. The goal of the sessions was to convince her that these fantasies were the result of electrochemical changes in her brain, which could be resolved with the help of drugs. After much persuasion she began to take the medication.

I was in front of an illness that I knew nothing about. She was not the person I had married. The children were feeling the pain and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel. We also went to see a psychoanalyst while continuing with the medication, and so both of these forms of therapy were working together. More disappointment followed. She began to gain weight, so we went to several diet centres run by profiteers. I discovered to my astonishment and indignation, a whole world of incredible charlatans who take advantage of situations such as ours. I decided to study the Concordat of Psychiatry used by my son at the university, in order to better understand the situation. She was glad to see me so engaged in trying to support her. She wanted to get well, even though she continued to believe her delusions to be so real. Eventually we found a good psychiatrist who was also socially committed. He was convinced that the best thing might be socialisation, and so my wife came to know other people with similar problems, and it was a good help. There were periods when the disease was attenuated and others when it was more pronounced, when her appearance would change, she would weep continually, spend long periods in bed and be unable to take care of the house.

For me this was the busiest time at work, since I had just become director. More than once I was tempted to leave her, perhaps taking the children with me. I felt crushed by this situation from which there seemed to be no way out. What made me stay was my love for her and especially for the children. Then the situation worsened and, for the first time, she had to be admitted to hospital for one month. I changed my position at work to executive consultant, in order to have more flexibility in managing my time. It was a painful decision from a professional point of view, but I found a positivity inside me that I had previously underestimated. I was able to handle the situation together with my children whom I tried to make feel that my wife was the most important person in my life. Another boost came from my focolarini friends.

Then one night she tried to kill herself. After another recovery, she was being cared for by another doctor who took her case to heart. Since then, thanks especially to the ability of the psychiatrist to in caring for my wife by making adjustments to the therapy, things began to improve. Little by little we found a balance. She began to work around the house again. She was able to go out with me or with other people and to face that hostile world that had been so frightening to her. And since delirious ideas continue to return, we try to keep her mind always occupied.

Her suffering has helped me to grow as a person. I was and am a non-believer, but I’ve learnt to distinguish the ethical plane from the metaphysical one. The ethical plane is the relationship with the other, independent of any religious belief, it regards our common humanity, and it can be the key to living serenely. Whereas, before the illness, I gave priority to the metaphysical plane, that world of ideas and certainties, which always ended in criticizing people who did not think as I did. Now, having separated these two planes, I’m free to relate with anyone. This is also important for the bond I share with my wife. As for the future, I’m aware that I’ll have to manage this situation for the rest of my life. I expect to see relapses, but now I know how to face them.  

By Pietro Riccio (source: Città Nuova, no. 19 – 2012)

Letting down the nets, beyond all hope

Oct 20, 2012 | Non categorizzato

‘Carlos called me one evening in August while I was relaxing in a Pyrenean village. His situation was desperate: he had lost his job some months ago, had mounting debts, and was about to be evicted and had nowhere to go…

‘We had known one another for years, from the time we’d chosen – together with many others who were also were young then – to try putting Jesus’ words into practice. His life, though, had no been easy. After fifteen years his marriage hit a crisis. When he was left alone, his two children, by now grown up, had been his main reason to carry on living.

‘What could I do for him in the middle of August? Via mobile phones and skype our friends and I got working. We managed to find him a small house that hadn’t been lived in for some time. We furnished it with the help of a Romanian friend, and we managed to come up with the money needed to cover the expenses of restructuring it.

‘In the meantime a job turned up for Carlos. Bearing in mind the economic crisis and the fact that he is 61, you have to say it was surprising. It was another of those “surprises” that you never get used to even though they are the “normal” fruit of trying to live the Gospel in everyday life. He found the work hard: it was a night shift, loading boxes hour after hour. He has a bad back, but he felt he couldn’t refuse it. After a few days, a new opportunity was offered by his commercial agent: it was exactly his field of work! Yet another “surprise” that makes God’s love feel close.

‘Half way through September Carlos went to the house that was now ready for him. Then, out the blue, he rang me. He was shaken. He wanted to tell me that the next day he had to go to court because of an injunction to pay €5,000 of rent arrears. I tried to calm him down. But the situation was dramatic. His other friends and I put together what resources we could but we couldn’t raise that much money. All we had left was faith in God’s love which cannot abandon Carlos.

‘While was at a work meeting I received an sms: “There’s been a development. Went much better than expected!” He’d been open about his situation, that he had always paid the rent, keeping an excellent relationship with his landlords. But then he had lost his job and couldn’t keep up with his payments. He said he was willing to make up the shortfall in the time and limits available, given that now he had a good job. The judge decided to reduce his debt to just €1,500, on condition, however, that it was paid by 30 October, otherwise he would have a more serious penalty.

‘Now all he had to do was overcome the final obstacle: to find €1,500! The Word of Life reminded him to “let down the nets” where he previously had cast them without success. With renewed faith we tried speaking again to those who at first had said “no”. Since the money needed was a lesser amount, they now felt able to lend it! With his job Carlos can now, bit by bit, pay back this final debt.’

(Juan, Barcelona)

Good News: The Synod on Capitoline Hill

Oct 19, 2012 | Non categorizzato

“Good news” was an appropriate title for an international gathering that took place on 18 October 2012 at the Municipality of Rome, Italy. Together with its Mayor Gianni Alemanno, Rome offered her citizens a day of discussion and dialogue on the New Evangelisation. Guests included bishops from the Synod that has been indicted by Benedict XVI on the New Evangelisation and some lay auditors at the Synod: Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement; Francesco Milano, president of Catholic Action in Italy and Chiara Amirante, founder and president of the community Nuova Orizzonti (New Horizons). Those who thought Christianity to be a boring topic, heard people speaking of joy; those who thought that evangelization meant imposing religious prohibitions, saw the transforming power of a living Gospel; those who believed relgion should be a private matter, saw that being an active lay person means changing one’s personal way of life but also having an influence on society. And if anyone thought that the Synod was a meeting for staff  members who meet behind Vatican walls, and everything finished there, today there was the opportunity to exprience the Synod for oneself right in the midst of the city. The topic of the city emerged strongly. The city of Rome with its many monuments and ancient basilicas recounts the ancient roots of Christianity, it bears witness to its beauty even for those who come from places where the Gospel is not known. But it must no longer be a mere “museum” as Father Lombardi suggested, who is Director of Vatican Radio and the Vatican Press Office. All must understand that “the evangelization that gives hope is not a foreign idea to a city as great as Rome.” This theme was taken up again in the intervention of Maria Voce who, besides recounting how the Focolare Movement began from the Gospel and continues to draw from the Gospel the meaning of all that it does in the various fields of human activity, she recalled Chiara Lubich herself when she became an honorary citizen of Rome in 2000. On that occasion Chiara had pushed for an effort aimed at evangelising the city, what came to be known as Operazione Roma Amor (a play on the Italian words “Roma”(Rome) and “Amor” (Love). Amor is Roma spelt backwards). How faith can be the motor of change in personal, family, social and political life was testified by Francesco Milano. The turnaround it brings into the life of those who have touched bottom, hell, was recounted by Chiara Amirante with her own personal testimony of real and true “resurrections”, rebirths in people who had been touched by God’s love and discovered that it was possible to experience the fullness of joy. Joy was the word that kept being repeated in each presentation, and it was not merely an idea to be explained, but a living experience. And so it is understandable that when there is good news to be shared, it is difficult to keep it a secret, even though the means may vary from Europe to Africa, from Latin America to Asia – as some of the Synod Fathers pointed out – and  in the language of the digital world in which we live. Source: Città Nuova -18 October 2012

Inauguration of 5th Academic Year At Sophia University Institute

Oct 19, 2012 | Non categorizzato

“We feel called to be active players in the construction of Sophia, a project by no means complete, but one that requires the contribution of each and every one of us,” said Ines Tolintino Da Silva from Portugal and representative of the Seat Council as she spoke for the student body during the opening of the fifth academic year at Sophia University Institute, which was held on 18 October 2012. To date, forty-nine students have obtained a degree in “Foundations and perspectives of a culture of unity” and eighty students from several countries are enrolled in other specialisations as well. A greeting message punctually arrived from Vice Chancellor Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement, who was unable to be present because she is attending the Synod of Bishops. While highlighting the prerequisite for the Sophia experience, she stated: “the project is daring, but for this reason no less thrilling, It demands a mutual willingness to listen, to deeply share common purposes, renewed fidelity to the original insight, a common gaze towards a future that must be built together. In a word, it even more decisively demands love from us, that we live, and that we be love for each other.”

Theologian Dr Piero Coda, President of the Institute

Professor Pasquale Ferrara

Synod: The New Evangelization and the Focolare Movement

Oct 18, 2012 | Non categorizzato

The Focolare Movement – with members of all ages, present in the 5 continents, in 194 nations, at every level of society, in religious and lay environments, often in challenging situations – together with the whole Church has been involved in evangelization with new urgency and ardour.

Convinced of the importance of being evangelized so as to be able to evangelize, it pays attention to the formation of its members so they can be light, leaven and salt. ‘Environmental cells’, made up of two or more people in the same place, bring the living presence of the ‘Risen One’ everywhere, into families, factories, places of public administration, hospitals, schools and  universities. At the local level, it builds relationships of fraternity inspired by the Gospel through  ‘local communities’ within suburbs and towns.

Following its charism which is the unity Jesus prayed for the night before he died (Jn 17:21), the Movement prefers to give a communitarian witness, especially through international days or meetings, the annual gatherings called ‘Mariapolis’ and the Movement’s little towns where the law governing all is Jesus’ new commandment of love for one another. The Focolare also uses the press, such as the magazine and publishing house Città Nuova, and the new media and social networks.

It gives special emphasis to dialogue: Christian ecumenism, among believers of different religions, with those who do not have any specific religious conviction and with contemporary culture where the Movement offers its contribution to illuminating society’s various cultural spheres with a Christian light.

Bishops: The Effectiveness of a Life of Witness

Oct 17, 2012 | Non categorizzato

An evening of testimonies and sharing over the work of the Synod on the New Evangelisation with 27 bishops and thirty lay people who are attending the Synod. Opening remarks were given by the President of the Bishops Conference of Thailand, Archbishop Francis X. Kriengsak who is also the moderator of the Bishops Friends of the Focolare Movement. “Our words are accepted when they are an expression of what we are living,” he exhorted. Authenticity is needed in “men and women who have experienced God and are living icons of God’s love for people.” Where? In the usual places: at work, school, in the field of health, sport, family, neighbourhood, internet.

Referring to his personal journey in an almost entirely Buddhist society, Archbishop Kriengsak concluded by saying: “but our personal testimony no matter how heroic is not enough”. In order for the Gospel to be effective and convincing “we must give life to small cells of Gospel life, and we bishops must be a living part of a joyful and attractive community,” “the Church is  attractive when it is a living communion.”

Anna Pelli from the Focolare’s Centre for Studies and involved in the Movement’s dialogue with the ecclesial world, gave a presentation on the Ecclesial Movements as the “Word” that evangelizes. She presented the Church in its charismatic richness according to an unprecedented image through which Chiara Lubich described it: “as a magnificent garden in which all the Words of God blossom:” there “Jesus blossoms, the Word of God, in all of His various expressions.” (1) From here stems the relationship “of unity and distinction” among the various spiritualities in the Church that are fruits of “of the creativity of the Spirit, His gifts to the Church of today, in order to open new paths of understanding and of  putting into effect of God’s infinite truth.” Herein is found the call to live out one’s own specificity, in order to make the Church become “a living Gospel,” “an evangelizing people.”

The bishops also wanted to hear from the laity who are motivated by the spirituality of communion as it is lived in the Focolare among young people and old, believers and non-believers, people working in society and in ecclesial environments. The statement of one Russian scientist, an unbeliever, was very meaningful. It was shared by Franz Kronreif from the Focolare: “If one day you told me you did not believe in God, I would be sad for you and for me. I would feel poorer.”

In the afternoon a conclusion was drawn, which was expressed by Archbishop Francis Kriengsak: the world is waiting to see “spaces” being created, “spaces of the Risen Lord,” “places” that give “visibility to a humanity that has been shaped by the Gospel, where communion reigns, a communion of hearts and of goods.” “It’s unthinkable that we bishops alone will manage to renew the Church. The laity must be in the front lines,” said one bishop from Korea.

The participants then moved to the Basilica of St. Bartholemew on Tiber Island, where they were warmly welcomed by the Community of San’Egidio for the celebration of prayer and a light moment of fellowship afterwards.

By Victoria Gómez

(1) C. Lubich,  “Nuova Umanità”, 3-4 (1997), p.389.

Second Vatican Council: Ecumenical Openings

Oct 13, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Chiara Lubich in St Peter’s Square with a group of Evangelical-Lutherans from Germany (1965)

1964: Canon Bernard Pawley with his wife, Margaret, and children, on a visit to the Focolare’ s Mariapoli Centre in Rome, are welcomed by Chiara Lubich and her first companions.

With Patriarch Athenagoras I in Istanbul

Chiara Lubich with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, London 2004.

Chiara Lubich visits Patriarch Bartholomew I

Photo gallery (Press Area)

True tales among the vines: harvest time at Loppiano Wine Estate

Oct 12, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Grape pickers come to Loppiano from all over Europe during the months of September and October. Members and friends of the cooperative, they are of all ages and walks of life. Every year they offer some days, at most two weeks, free of charge to help the paid workers with the grape harvest. Why should anyone choose to use part of their holidays to do something not even always pleasant? The timetable works with military precision: breakfast at 7:30, then at 8:00 leave for work, at 12:00 noon the midday meal, and then work in the fields until evening. There is time for relaxation and, for those who wish, there is Mass at the shrine of Maria Theotokos, after which the evening proceeds with another meal and the chance to mix with other people living at Loppiano. Despite the exacting rhythm, everyone is enthusiastic, even grateful. In part this is because here there is a way of doing things that takes account of human persons and there is direct and constant contact with nature. Still more, though, the grape pickers experience the atmosphere of fraternity that is the essence of every single day of the life of the farm and of the little town of Loppiano. As they tell one another about their lives and experiences between one vine and the next, they help each other cope with the hard work and find themselves having moments of real hilarity. Ambrogio Panzieri from northern Italy put it like this: ‘For a very long time I’ve not felt such intensity – both humanly and spiritually. It’s as if I’ve always known these people who are willing to encourage me and give me the strength to believe that even at home I will be able to bring the same joy, the same mutual gift of ourselves to one another.’ Antonio Sottani, who has been at the farm for 15 years, summed it up like this: ‘Certainly at the basis of everything there is the generosity of the members and friends of our cooperative. We offer board and lodging, but above all the chance, while at work, to have an experience together of doing things for and with one another. It sometimes happens, in fact, that after a few says the grape pickers feel the need to change how they live their lives, to face up to tough situations in their hometowns and in their families, bringing love into places where it does not exist. But for our part we don’t do anything in particular, we simply try to love them.’

Carlo Isolan

Maria Voce on the Second Vatican Council

Oct 11, 2012 | Non categorizzato

The Focolare Movement welcomes the invitation launched by Pope Benedict XVI at the solemn celebration that opened the Year of faith and that celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council: make the beauty of the faith shine out in our time with that same “emotional tension” of the Council Fathers. Church-communion, application of the Gospel in daily life, dialogues, communion between laity and priests, the role of women and the importance of society are some of the principles  developed by  Vatican II, already in some way present in the life of the Focolare Movement from its inception. “The challenges that remain open – affirms Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement – are the ones to implement what the Council wanted to point out and to propagate more the knowledge of the contents and the novelties present in the council documents. … The maturity of the laity should contribute significantly … to the precious work of handing over the principles of Vatican II to the believing community.” Maria Voce is participating as an auditor in the session of the Synod of Bishops on “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.” “Humanity – affirms Maria Voce – needs to encounter God through love of neighbour. This is the way to evangelize perceived by Chiara Lubich and appropriated by the members of the Focolare: a commitment lived out daily, alongside people, intended to fulfil always and everywhere Jesus’ prayer to the Father, ‘That all may be one,’ to make humanity one family, even now.”

Public – private: what is faith?

Oct 11, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Faith is a fire, the more it grows the more it instructs souls. Those who keep it to themselves risk suffocating it, since it will then lack the oxygen of charity, a virtue that is expansive and not egocentric. We have not done all that needs to be done when we have found faith for ourselves; that is the start of the debt to give it to others. Religion is born in the conscience; but it does not die there. It is born, and it expands beyond the person. Closing it in ourselves, as in a strongbox, means constricting the immensity of God and of love. It is to commit an act of deformation and restriction. What follows is  stunted worship, limited to our own measure, jealous of the worship that can be seen in others: a sectarian attempt to kidnap divinity for our personal use. We substitute Jesus who is ours for Jesus who is mine; brotherhood is vivisectioned. We become uncatholic, without realizing it, adopting in practice the principle of everyone for himself and me first, and the solidarity of the Mystical Body disintegrates. Just as if in the human body, a cell or an organ functioned for itself alone, unconnected to others.

But – and here lies the strength of our true personality – the person does not live for self. Indeed the person lives the least possible for self and progresses spiritually if living a continuous renunciation of self, because in serving others God is served and in this the self is served. According to the paradox of Christ, those who take most care of themselves, take least care of themselves. The greedy die of fear and starvation. It easier to be saved though others, because the salvation which comes from God abides by the rule of human works, that is, of service to our neighbours, in whom the law of love takes effect, linked as our neighbours are to God not only by faith but also by love which translates into acts. It is a faith demonstrated by facts by which we stand before God not only in a one-to-one relationship, but accompanied by our brothers and sisters, just as every child before its father, with the debt of solidarity.

An urge to reach above conducts this debt to God; an urge to breadth conducts it to humanity. The two urges are not independent of one another, but linked, like the two axes of the cross, which meet in the heart of Christ. The more the one ascends, the more the other is spread wide. The more we love God, the more we seek out other human beings, in each of whom blazes God’s image.

Extract from Igino Giordani, Segno di Contraddizione, 1933 (Città Nuova, Rome, 1964, pp.272-4 and p.321)

www.iginogiordani.info

Announcing that God loves us

Oct 11, 2012 | Non categorizzato

«We know that God-Love is a truth of our faith, and a very timely reality. In our world today, God seems to be far off and people even reach the point of speaking of the death of God. What could be healthier and more awaited by this humanity around us – including the one that calls itself “Christian,” but isn’t completely so – than to open her up, with the help of the Spirit, to this revelation: God is close to everyone with His love, and He ardently loves each one of us? What could be more important than to tell this humanity that every circumstance speaks of this love?  To make them understand that we should feel enveloped by this love, even when everything would make us think otherwise? To announce to them that nothing escapes Him, who counts even the hairs of our head? … Our world needs this announcement: that God is Love, that God loves you, God loves you immensely! Thousands of people have done it by now, they have announced it, they’ve said it in the train, at school, at home, in the stores; whenever they had the opportunity they said: “Look, remember that God loves you.” The effects were extraordinary, the people got a shock, precisely like when the apostles proclaimed: “Christ is risen.” “What? Risen?” Tell these people, say it with conviction: “God is Love and God loves you immensely!” This will start a revolution.» Chiara Lubich, “Dio Amore”, Ed. Città Nuova, Roma, 2011, pagg. 86-87. Chiara Lubich, “Dio Amore”, Ed. Città Nuova, Roma, 2000, pag. 87-88.  

EdU: Education amidst suffering and hope

Oct 10, 2012 | Non categorizzato

6th Pedagogical Meeting at Padua University

How are we to educate in an age that is marked by growing disorders, religious extremism, a social, economic and cultural crisis and uncertainty of the future generations?

How are we to educate in an environment where any hope of being able to educate a human being seems to have been lost, to the point that we now refer to the human person as uneducable?

How do we move out of the darkness and into the light in order to answer the challenges of the many extreme situations that are spreading across countries and entire continents?

These are some of the challenging questions that the participants of the Sixth Pedagogical Meeting (6 October 2012) sought to provide answers for. The meeting was entitled “Night and Dawn” and was held in the University of Padua’s Aula Magna. It was a mix of life and reflection, charismatic thrust and pedagocial theory. The charismatic dimension was drawn from the thought of Chiara Lubich who links this choice to the experience of Jesus living through His abandonment on the Cross, love to the maximum degree that “indicates to us the limitless degree of responsibility and intensity required for the educational endeavour” and makes us discover “the endless responsibility contained in assistance and education.”

A first step: to try to respond to the socio-cultural unease at the “macro” level by taking charge of the unease that is found at the “micro” level, that is, in daily life. So it was for one Italian teacher in a northern suburb of Paris who chose not to apply for a transfer but to continue his efforts where he was working in a multi-cultural environment with students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It was often a hard commitment, which carried a cost (such as the car that had been smashed up by kicking, since it had been identified as one belonging to a teacher). But his commitment also gave hope and possibility to students who had felt rejected, instilling in them that strength that comes from knowing that someone believes in you.

Other experiences and approaches were shared by another teacher working in one of those notorious neighbourhoods in Palermo, Italy – including Brancaccio where Fr. Puglisi had been murdered. By  opting for the least this teacher was required to reinvent himself every day, to place himself in the game again with passion and professionalism, to transform unexpected events into occasions for fraternity. It was an all round commitment, with the support of the  “Peace Project Network” that involves thousands of teenagers and several institutions in offering answers to the search for meaning with concrete solidarity projects and activities of all kinds,

Texts of the presentations, including those of the EdU International Commission and Prof. Tiziano Vecchiato (President of the Zancan Foundation) will be available in a few days at: www.eduforunity.org.

Meeting of Focolare Delegates comes to a close

Oct 9, 2012 | Non categorizzato

On Saturday 6 October the annual meeting of the Focolare Delegates came to an end. It had been going since since 13 September at the Movement’s international centre in Rocca di Papa, just outside Rome. About 300 people attended. Among them there were delegates from the Centre of the Movement, including those with an overview of the larger geographical areas where the Movement is present.

It was a month of intense work. The Delegates assessed the Focolare’s current situation worldwide and considered future developments. The programme was a mix of plenary sessions, topic-focused meetings (Church, young people, society) and groups from geographical areas. The Movement’s life was reviewed, its involvement in the lives of many peoples, sharing their aspirations and hopes, their trials and difficulties, such as in Syria or other countries afflicted by violence, conflict and natural disasters. Special consideration was given at how ‘fraternity’ is at work in the world, via the United World Project launched at the Genfest, and assessed in detail by the Focolare. A conference to study the thought of Chiara Lubich was announced. It will be held on 14 March 2013 at the Sapienza University of Rome, on the fifth anniversary of her death. Space was dedicated especially to the topic of communication, highly relevant in a digitally networked world. Benedict XVI’s choice of theme for the next World Communications Day: Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization was highlighted in this context, and consideration was given to the new media and their impact upon society in a conference held by the Italian sociologist Gennaro Iorio, the Chilean psychologist Paula Luengo and the Italian economist Benedetto Gui. There was also an overview of the media used by the Focolare Movement, going from the publishing house Città Nuova in Italy and its sister houses throughout the world, to the Focolare press office, to the Focolare information service and its internal news magazine, to its website and social networks, which are working together in an attempt to achieve coordinated communication.

In a live broadcast transmitted across the world on Saturday 6 October, Focolare President Maria Voce said, ‘The news brought by the Delegates and what we have been told directly have shown God at work in the year that has just finished. We are sure that he will do even more in this coming year, if we put ourselves at his service, recognizing him and loving him in each brother or sister.’

This year has been dedicated by the Roman Catholic Church to the ‘New Evangelization’, and the Focolare Movement is in harmony with this as it seeks to understand and live more deeply the point of Chiara Lubich’s spirituality of love for our brother or sister. The Other, Another Me is the title of Maria Voce’s talk to the Focolare this year. It is based on the biblical invitation to ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mk 22:39).

This is the basis of Maria Voce’s words in a greeting via the internet to the members of the Movement: ‘May this year see a huge expansion of love in the world.’ We must seal ‘this pact of mutual love, not for ourselves but for the sake of humanity which needs a flood of love, which needs a torrent of love, which needs to meet Jesus.’

In the meantime, on Sunday 7 October, there was the solemn opening ceremony in the Vatican of the Synod of Bishops on the theme of The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, to which Maria Voce has been invited as an observer.

Faith and evangelization: fifty years on from Vatican II

Oct 6, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Pope John XXIII signs the bull convoking the Second Vatican Council on 11 October 1962

The year 2012 brings with it a very special anniversary. Fifty years ago, on 11 October 1962, John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council. Thirty years later, 11 October 1992, the same date was chosen by John Paul II for the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Again on 11 October there is the beginning of the Year of Faith, announced by Benedict XVI in his Apostolic Letter Porta Fidei. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explains it in these terms: ‘This year will be a propitious occasion for the faithful to understand more profoundly that the foundation of Christian faith is “the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Founded on the encounter with the Risen Christ, faith can be rediscovered in its wholeness and all its splendour. “In our days too faith is a gift to rediscover, to cultivate and to bear witness to” because the Lord “grants each one of us to live the beauty and joy of being Christians.’

For the Roman Catholic Church the issue is fundamental. This was shown by Benedict XVI’s decision to create, on 20 September 2010, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. Circumstances and issues come together in the first major event of the Year of Faith, namely, the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from 7 to 28 October 2012. Its focus will be: The New Evangelization for the Transmission of Christian Faith.

Three theologians were asked for their reflections on the theme of the Synod:

Piero Coda, wrote a short piece entitled Vatican II and the New Evangelization – a Single Kairós. In it he considers  roots of the new evangelization in the decisions of the Second Vatican Council.

Julie Tremblay wrote a piece called The Quality of Our Faith. It emphasizes the essential condition  for the Synod’s theme of new evangelization: living the Gospel in a new way.

The Anglican theologian Callan Slipper in his piece The ‘New Evangelization’ from an Anglican Perspective emphasizes how the direction taken by the Roman Catholic Church is of interest and helpful to other Churches which share the same difficulties. An ‘exchange of gifts’ between the Churches could be extremely useful in this context.

To read their reflections in the original Italian, go to Nuova Umanità online

The editorial is introduced and edited by Antonio Maria Baggio in the three monthly cultural journal Nuova Umanità.

Scenes of life in an apartment block

Oct 5, 2012 | Non categorizzato

‘We have been living in an apartment block for fifteen years. There are four staircases and a hundred and twenty dwellings. When we got married, we wanted to build up good neighbourly relationships with everyone and possibly to share the joy of the kind of life we lead based on the Gospel. But working all day long we never saw anyone. However, after the birth of our children we met other parents and their children in the park and the yard for our building. We had the idea of inviting some of them for an evening meal, and after that there were times to get together for parties and outings. The atmosphere finally began to change and become a lot warmer.

‘At times relationships just take off, overcoming any natural reservations, and we try not only to give but we also to find the courage to ask. One day Marco was rewiring our flat, but he realized that he wasn’t able to do everything. With a bit of humility he went to ask for help from our neighbour opposite, and he helped willingly and with unexpected kindness.

‘One very hot and sticky Saturday in August we got home at about midnight. The children were fast asleep in our arms. In front of the red lights of the lift there were two couples already waiting. They didn’t seem to have the least intention of letting us go first, despite our “burdens”. We had had a bit of an argument with them about how, in their opinion, our children shouldn’t play in the yard. They got into the lift. While we were waiting for our turn, the lift broke down and the alarm went off. The stairs were practically deserted, because in the heat everyone had left town. What could we do? Call the fire brigade or service manager, and then put our children to bed and keep ourselves to ourselves? Basically they hadn’t treated us very well. But the air in the lift was getting hotter and hotter… Marco ran to the place where the motor was and with tremendous effort managed to force the lift up to the next floor, freeing those who had been stuck in it.

‘One evening we went out to eat with our neighbours. At one point, their parents, who also live in the same building, called them to tell them that water was coming out of their flat. We all rushed back. The door of the washing machine had opened and water was gushing out in a continuous stream. The result was that their whole place was under two centimetres of water, to say nothing of the water that had already escaped through front door. Things looked tragic when we thought of the possible damage to the flat bellow; they had only just put down some parquet flooring. We offered to let our friends’ children sleep at our place. The men began to brush the water off the balcony and the women soaked it up with buckets and rags. We worst was avoided – fortunately.

‘Another evening, when we were in the living room, we heard a terrible cry from the floor below. To begin with we thought we ought to keep our noses out. But then Marco went down. The door into the flat was wide open. Marco entered cautiously. The eighteen year-old son was pinned to the ground by two of our neighbours. His father was staggering about and seemed utterly lost. His mother was desperate and, as she gasped for air, she said that the boy had wanted to throw himself off the balcony. Another neighbour was holding a bandage to his face where the boy had punched him. The boy carried on shaking and shouting with wild eyes and foaming at the mouth. We did what we could, especially comforting the parents and waiting together for the ambulance that was coming to take the boy to the hospital. He had overdosed on cannabis.‘This too is the kind of thing that can happen in a building like ours.’  (Anna Maria and Marco, Italy)

Taken from: Una buona notizia. Gente che crede gente che muove – Città Nuova Editrice, 2012

And what about you?

Klaus Hemmerle: Spiritual Thoughts

Oct 4, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Klaus Hemmerle Klaus Hemmerle (1929-1994), Bishop of Aachen, was an outstanding theologian and philosopher  who gave his unique contribution to the doctrinal understanding of the charism of unity and introduced the charism to many other bishops

Bishop Hemmerle wrote with reference to Jesus’ words: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40):

• ‘This Word tells us definitely what the human person is and what the human reality is … This interpretation of what it is to be human is certainly scandalous, and no less than Jesus who scandalized people by declaring himself the Son of God. In the name of their own freedom, in the name of their own identity and specialness, people feel they must protest against being identified with Jesus Christ. People wish to be loved for themselves, for what they are, and don’t want to be degraded to a kind of mask for Jesus. They fear instead that the ‘something more’ of love that they receive for love of Jesus will be something that takes no account of them, something that puts them to one side, something that robs them of the love they desire for themselves and which they need. But any whose love is such that by loving Jesus in the other person they neglect the other as a person, in this act neglect Jesus as well. And any whose consideration of the presence of Jesus in people leads them to diminish the reality of the human being, in reality have not understood in the slightest the presence of Jesus in their neighbour.

• Jesus makes himself one with me, that is, he does not leave me alone. He is on my side in a radical fashion, he accepts me just as I am, and anything that concerns me concerns him too. I remain myself, I become fully myself, precisely because I do not remain alone.

• The mystery of Christ is the mystery of every human being. What does this mean for  the person I meet and what does it meet for me and my life? With reference to the other it means I am never involved with someone who is just a link in a chain or a cog in a machine or merely a cypher amidst the huge mass of human material. Every time I meet a human face, I meet God in the unconditional reality of the divine, I meet the voice that over this human face utters what was said of Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved!’ (Mk 9:7). There are no exceptions.

• We meet Christ especially in the least, in those who seem the furthest from him, in persons where the face of Christ seems blanked out. How can this be? On the cross, living his forsakenness by God, making himself even sin (2 Cor. 5:21), Jesus identified himself with all that was most distant from God, from all that most seems opposed to God. Only by discovering Christ in our neighbours, in those furthest from the mystery of their own personhood and from the mystery of Christ, giving to the person that human love which is offered undividedly to the person and to Christ himself, can our neighbours discover their own identity with Jesus, their closeness to him, their being fully assumed by him.

Extracts from  Offene Weltformel

Argentina: searching for the eternal in art

Oct 3, 2012 | Non categorizzato

(C) Maria Cristina Criscola

“For me art means reaching out to the mystery,”said Maria Cristina Criscola in a recent interview. She continued: “I’ve never chosen a model for my style. . . I try to be rigorous about the technique. But at the same time, I try to explore ‘stripping away’ so as to reach the deepest core of each. . .” With these words this Argentine artist tries to describe her years of work in the field of art which has not been only human-artistic, but spiritual. Her works are the accompaniament to this journey in search of the light.

This is affirmed also by Dr. Claudio Villareal, curator of an exhibit that  brings together pieces of Criscola’s work from 1978 to 2012 and is entitled “Encountering the eternal in the tides of futility”. “It’s presence and stripping away at the same time. It’s the spirit of the material.” In front of her work “silence is quite apt” as Rothko would say. The grand dimensions of her canvases place one in contact with this ALL that lives in all that is. With this spirit that prevails, which is the quality of the material to which it gives form, by setting it free in the light. The colours are more than a means, more than symbols.”

Maria Cristina Criscola was born in Buenos Aires in 1943. In the 1970’s she attended several art academies (Manuel Belgrano, Prilidiano Pueyrredón, Ernesto de la  Cárcova) and finished as a professor of Painting with a specialization in mural painting. Since 2007 she has been a professor and, for ten of those years, director of the Manuel Belgrano Fine Arts Academy. In 1989 she completed a PhD thesis entitled Colore, Forma e Contenuto.

© CSC – Maria Cristina Criscola

This was followed by many exhibits in Argentina and in other countries. For a long time she worked at Centro Ave Arte (Ave Art Center) in Loppiano, Italy, where she worked on several window and door projects for churches. But it was above all an opportunity to work with other artists for an art inspired by the light of the spirituality of unity. The crowning of this experience was the completion of the main door of the diocesan shrine to Maria Theotokos (Mother of God) in Loppiano. Criscola also has her studio in Mariapolis Liain O’Higgins, Buenos Aires where she says one can experience creating “from a quiet place, from that absolute place where everything dwells.” She understands art as a form of knowledge and of communication, even more a form of communion.

The exhibit of her complete works is open until 7 October 2012 at Berazafegui (Buenos Aires, Argentina).