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).

Action for a United World: Together for Fraternity

Sep 29, 2012 | Non categorizzato

From Rio+20 to LoppianoLab, from a project in Bolivia to the Day of Literacy. These are just some of the areas in which the Focolare’s AMU (Associazione per un mondo unito – the Action for a United World) is currently engaged. When the Focolare Movement spread from Europe to other lands, it often met situations of extreme poverty. Love for the poor and “becoming one” with the local environment was then translated into concrete social projects such as schools, clinics and social centres. As these projects began to develop the need became obvious for a way of providing ongoing economic support, for finding solutions that were not welfare support but based on development and reciprocity. Thus, in 1986,  “the Action for a United World” (AMU) was begun, which is a non-governmental association of the United Nations and recognized by the Italian Ministry of External Affairs, operating in the field of cooperation, development training and education. Today AMU has produced 350 successful projects in 56 countires: from instruction to professional training, from support for basic needs (food, shelter, health) to building infrastructure, from post-emergency health care to micro credit and micro entrepreneurship. But this is not sufficient unless it is accompanied by a cultural change that depends on everyone, both in the Northern and Southern regions of the world. This is why, along with these development projects, AMU also works for the promotion of human rights. Through conferences and training courses it places attention on the goods we are all meant to share, the practice of sober and supportive lifestyles, the responsible use of the earth’s resources, active citizenship on both a local and a global level. In all of its interventions, AMU strives to place at the centre the human person together with his or her rights and needs. This is done through a methodology of communion, working with the people, solving problems together and producing useful and sustainable change over time. Once a relationship has been established in which it possible for everyone to give and to receive – when there is reciprocity – then the project has fulfilled its objective. Those who give feel that they have received, and those who receive desire to give in return; and you move from solidarity to fraternity. Many people around the world are linked up with AMU through its website and its magazine “AMU Notizie” (AMU News). Donators and beneficiaries, both participate and collaborates according to their feeling, needs and possibilites. Everyone, without distinction, can belong to this network that become AMU’s biggest wealth.

Genuine Christians

Sep 27, 2012 | Non categorizzato

«… Although surrounded , like everyone else, by the evils of our times, you, young people often have hearts and minds with antennas capable of detecting special wavelengths which others are not able to perceive. Your age makes you free to entertain noble aspirations such as peace, justice, freedom, and unity, to dream of achievements which would appear utopian to others, to foresee in the third millennium the dawning of a new world, a better, happier world, a world more worthy of the human person, more united.

We thank God that you’re here! But what can I tell you now? My words echo the words of Jesus which the Pope repeated to young people in 1995: “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20:21). It’s an invitation to you to bring the light of truth into today’s society; to meet the challenge of what the Pope called “new evangelization.”

“New evangelization!!” But why “new”? And what is the meaning of “new”? This “new” can have a number of meanings. I will tell you one.

You know that words are no longer enough today. Young people, especially, do not listen so much to teachers as to witnesses; they want facts. Well then, evangelization will be “new” if those who announce the Gospel are first of all genuine, authentic Christians, who are the first to live what the Gospel teaches, so that people can say of them what they said of the early Christians: “Look how they love one another and how they are ready to die for one another.”

Furthermore, evangelization will be “new” if they also love all other men and women, without distinction. Again, it will be “new” if these Christians will love in a concrete way by actively helping to give food, clothes, and shelter to those in need. And finally, it will be “new” – pay attention here – if they speak and announce the Gospel, but only after doing all these.

Such Christians, I assure you, fascinate the world with Jesus; they make people fall in love with him, so that the kingdom of God spreads beyond all expectations and the Church is strengthened and grows. It grows in such a way that these Christians can look far into the future, as Jesus did when he called everyone to universal brotherhood, praying to the Father: “May they all be one.” It might seem to be a wild dream, but it is possible because it is the dream of a God. And they believe in it. There are thousands, millions of young people from all nations who are walking towards this very goal.

It is to them that John Paul II said: “History is made by those who look toward the future: the others are dragged along….”[1]

My dear young people, the Pope also addresses these words to all of you today. Don’t disappoint him, don’t disappoint us. This is my wish for you with all my heart.»

Tor Vergata (Rome), 19 August 2000, talk by Chiara Lubich at the 25^th World Youth Day

Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization

Sep 27, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Maria Voce auditor at the forthcoming session of the Synod of Bishops on “ The New Evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith”, scheduled for October 7 – 28 at the Vatican.

“The experience of the Synod, highlighted in an outstanding way by the collegiality of the Church, strikes us in a very particular way,   even due to   the charism of unity that characterizes us”.  With these words Maria Voce expresses her adhesion and manifests her deep gratitude to the Holy Father for the trust shown to her and to all the Movement.  She sees this occasion as an opportunity to serve the universal Church.

For the President of the Focolare Movement, the theme of the new evangelization has particular importance.   Recently, when addressing the community of Argentina, she said:  “The Gospel must be our  dress.  Let us help one another to live the Gospel so that we can proclaim that Christ is alive, and  allow others to meet him present among us through the  mutual love that binds us”

Two other members of the Focolare Movement have also  been appointed auditors. One is Ernestine Sikujua Kinyabuuma, lecturer at the University Institute Maria Malkia of Lubumbashi  (Democratic Republic of Congo)  and the other one is Gisèle Muchati,   responsible for the New  Families of the Focolare Movement in  the Syria region .

Maria Voce has been a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting  the New Evangelization since December 2011.

Focolare Information Service

Light from Chiara Luce shines in the Rebibbia prison

Sep 23, 2012 | Non categorizzato

“For several years I had become hard, closed up on myself, sad; today Chiara Luce has opened my doors” one of the convicts tells Maria Teresa, mother of the blessed Chiara Luce Badano, while he embraces her and holds her hands.

The 20^th September was certainly a special afternoon, in the theatre of the Rebibbia Roman prison: 250 inmates were dressed in their best clothes to greet the couple, Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano, parents of the blessed Chiara Luce. “It will be a special evening,” Anna Del Villano announces in her presentation. She is the director of one of the sectors of the prison.

How did all this come about? Alfonso Di Nicola, of the Focolare Movement, who has for many years carried out voluntary work in the prisons of Rebibbia: “I got to know that the Badanos visited the convicts in the Viterbo prison in 2011,” he relates,“and I thought that we could organise a similar evening also in Rebibbia.”

While the inmates find their seats, it is impressive to see how they greet each other warmly. They come from different sections of the prison, “according to the crime committed,” they explain.

Four people sat on the stage:  the Badanos, Chicca Coriasco – a close friend of Chiara Luce – and Franz, her brother. Maria Teresa breaks the ice and recalls how much her daughter loved the sick and those who suffer, and invites all to share this moment as in a family. Ruggero does not hide his emotions.

What is Chiara Luce’s message? She was a normal girl who played sport; she loved Sassello, her native city, especially when it was covered with snow. Together with Chicca, she got to know the Focolare spirituality when she was still very young. They took up Chiara Lubich’s invitation to live the Gospel with youthful enthusiasm, in the diverse situations of everyday life, both joyful and sorrowful; and then they would share the fruits of their experiences in order to encourage each other.

“As it is with older brothers,” Franz quips in, “I kept myself aloof from them.” She was a normal girl, and it was precisely this normality that drew him to her, especially when her illness would eventually be diagnosed as terminal cancer.  Franz continues, “Chiara Luce was in love with Jesus crucified in the way Chiara Lubich presented him: abandoned, “a loser”, a “conquered God” who resembles each one of us… who at a certain point cries out on the cross”.

Love for God was the secret that helped her live her grave illness – an osteosarcoma, a very aggressive tumour. Through him her every suffering was transformed into love with contagious serenity and joy. Ruggero relates: “I used to spy upon her from the keyhole of her room to see whether she was always like that, or whether her smile was only for us. But she smiled all the time.”

The silence in the theatre is not usual. Chiara Luce’s story captures the attention of all and this young girl enters the heart of those present. While some images of Chiara Luce were projected on a big screen, an international Focolare choir sang “God Loves Me”, the song written for the beatification of Chiara Luce, on 25^th September 2010.

“Soon Chiara Luce will be a saint” one of the inmates exclaims. Maria Teresa replies: “Then you will no longer be here… we all pass through difficult periods”. Her words fall like balm and are greeted with a warm applause!

Official website of the postulation: www.chiaralucebadano.it

Chiara Luce Website “Life Love Light”: www.chiaraluce.org

Franz Coriasco, author of  “Dai tetti in giu”, Ed. Citta Nuova, Roma 2010

Loppiano Prima Cooperative: The Courage of a Prophecy

Sep 22, 2012 | Non categorizzato

19 May 1973, a Saturday and Loppiano, as every Saturday for the last nine years, is bustling with activity to welcome the weekend visitors who come find out about the permanent ‘Mariapolis’. It seems like a day like any other, but it will turn out to a historic one. In fact on this day the Loppiano Cooperative was founded. The idea was to offer a witness to the Gospel lived in a real experience of work. This may seem like a small thing, but the origins of this particular firm were in a mixture of ‘gold’ and ‘mud’ – the latter also literally. Loppiano had begun several years before. On those Tuscan hills there was no lack of enthusiasm and joy, and the young people worked hard in all possible ways to fulfil their dream: to make visible the Ideal of a united world in the relationships among the little town’s inhabitants. They came from all over the world, were extremely diverse, and at the same time among them reigned a harmony that it would be hard to find elsewhere. Of course, it was not easy because change was needed in many stony parts of each of their hearts, the effect of their mentalities, ethnic origins or differing cultures. But there were also other things to weigh them down, more visible and just as burdensome. These were the land that had been abandoned for years, rendering the terrain inhospitable, transportation difficult and the living conditions extremely uncomfortable. They needed someone competent to work the land, rebuild the houses and make it possible for the rural setting to show signs of becoming a city, even if only in miniature. The appeal that went out to the whole of the Focolare Movement was heard especially by the ‘Volunteers of God’ throughout the world. Some of them, living in the valleys of Bergamo in the north of Italy, left their work and all they were already doing and, with tremendous generosity and even more faith, moved with their young families to Loppiano. They had no job security or guaranteed housing, but they began restructuring some of the cottages and, with sacrifice and hard work, they began to construct the little town and to cultivate the land surrounding it. It looked like madness to eyes of their friends and relations. And yet, thanks to these first families, Loppiano flung open its doors to the world and became a tangible spiritual and human experience known and valued today by people in every continent. It incarnated the spirituality of the Focolare Movement in the concrete work of every day, respecting nature and the human cost of what was done. As a result, in all these years no synthetic products have ever been used to cultivate the land, but everything is grown organically and is certified as such. The Cooperative has more than 4000 shareholders spread throughout the world. By means of their shares and consuming its products, they contribute to developing the business and, indirectly, also to building the whole of the little town. In 1991, when Chiara Lubich launched the Economy of Communion, she said that it had be presaged by the Loppiano Prima Cooperative. Today Loppiano is indeed a beautiful place, with its lawns, houses, roads, running water for all. But the faith and courage of its pioneers were needed. Most of them are still alive, some are already in heaven, but without them nothing would have been possible, especially not the fulfilment of Igino Giordani (Foco)’s prophetic words in a message to the Cooperative: ‘You witness to and proclaim the Gospel with a loud voice through your work and the communion of goods … And you are the first fruits of a society many have expressed only in words and yet all have dreamed of it. Because of you and thanks to you, the world of tomorrow has already beguin’. End of Part 1 (To be continued)

Official Cooperative Website – Terre di Loppiano: http://www.terrediloppiano.com Products CATALOGUE

A love secret: within the family and beyond it

Sep 20, 2012 | Non categorizzato

“We used to think that the period following the wedding would be a continuation of our honeymoon,” Luca and Giulia tell us. They got married recently. “In fact we are very happy, despite our many differences in character and habits that emerge in our daily life. This initial period is a time of trial.” “For example, when I return home in the evening, Luca tells us, “I just feel I want to unwind. Giulia, on the other hand, is there waiting to tell me what she had lived during the day. Living the Gospel teaches us to love each other in a concrete way. With sensitivity we seek to explain, listen and accept each other.” “What is interesting,” Gulia says, “is that when I do manage to lose what I would like to say and do in that moment, Luca asks me how I have passed my day. A dialogue emerges that is very serene and enriching for both of us.” “When we were in Madagascar on our honeymoon, we got to know a local man and his family. We could see they were struggling financially,” Luca recounts. “They were expecting a child, but they couldn’t afford the hospital fees. We reflected over this, even though they never asked for anything.” “Since I love football,” Luca continues, “I had planned to subscribe to pay TV in order to view the matches at home. However we felt that the needs of this family were ours as well. I spontaneously felt that the subscription was superfluous; so we sent them the corresponding sum together with other funds we saved by going without unnecessary expenses. Even if initially it seemed as though we had lost something, now we can say that we gained; in fact we are often invited by friends or neighbours to watch the games on TV, and this gives us the opportunity to build profound friendships.”

Charity as a Social Principle

Sep 20, 2012 | Non categorizzato

No society can survive without justice; and yet for society it is even more important to have charity, which goes beyond justice without destroying it. Justice founds society, charity nurtures it; one is the brain, the other is the heart; one is the skeleton, the other is the blood.

Rome with its law became highly developed in the evolution of civilization: give to each what belongs to each. But it did not reach Christ, who says: give to the others also what is your own.

Justice says: do not rob others’ things. Charity suggests: give your things to those who need them. That is, with justice we give to others what is theirs; with charity we give them also what is ours.

Hence it is not only the re-establishment of a pre-existing or presupposed equilibrium, but its growth and betterment, going towards an equity that law does not achieve. An employer who gives to a worker the payment agreed upon, remains within the bounds of justice; but if, in addition to a salary insufficient to keep a family, more were given than had been agreed upon, then the employer would enter into charity. It does not take away; but it adds. In law, as it has been codified and understood, you can die starved and abandoned. But not in charity: so long as there is someone who eats and lives, such persons give their own bread and also their help to others. And if the force of justice coldly keeps people in their place, like things in a pigeon-hole, the force of charity binds them together in a family-like solidarity, smashing divisive cliques and circulating warmth and smiles.

A spreading and cohesive force, richer and more nurturing than justice, charity is not content to keep persons in their place in the world. It tends to make a place in the world for everyone – a family – always open and ready to recreate the source of life and hope.

Therefore, while justice has been represented with scales in hand and blindfolded eyes, charity has its eyes wide open to see also where the gaze of the distracted and the happy does not penetrate. And it does not measure what it gives, and offers, with open hands, without thinking too much about what is deserved by the person – the brother or sister – it is giving to.

This service, this doing all one can for one’s brothers and sisters, this handing over to them our goods, our energy and our lifeblood, to the extent that our life becomes their life, usually, in Christian identification, is a service given, through our brothers and sisters, to Christ himself. And because of the reversibility of the Mystical Body, it is a service, the most the true, the most outstanding, that we give to ourselves. The father serves his children, the citizen servers the community, the priest serves the faithful, the one who commands serves the one who obeys, and so on; and we are all served by Christ who gives his life for all.

This love is born within the order of grace. But it does not stop there. We are Christians, we are brothers and sisters, we are in the Church, always. Hence every society, civil and economic too, if composed of Christians, is included in this circle of the divine, and gains from it. Living by charity simplifies one’s own human problems and helps in solving the eternal problems.

This is charity seen as the great social virtue. And Christ is a debtor who pays a hundred to one. He can give eternity for modest – perhaps even soiled – bill of credit.

La società cristiana, Città Nuova: Rome, 2010, pp.98-101.

Serbia: Ruski Krstur Project

Sep 19, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Ruski Krstur (Voivodina) is a small town of about 4000 inhabitants, in the heart of the Ruthene ethnic minority in Serbia. It is an agricultural region, impoverished by war. As government subsidies have been withdrawn, emigration has grown hugely, particularly to Canada. In this place, however, a group of young people had no wish to leave their village. With great commitment they struggled, and managed, to build a future for themselves and for many others. This is their story. In the 90s two entrepreneurs, Slavko Rac and Janko Katona (who were already in business) decided to open an ice cream kiosk. They were successful and opened a second kiosk in another town, giving work to six other young people. But things did not stop there. An agricultural firm, called Juarbis, was set up and it grew rapidly as a result of State development investment. By 2008 it had 40 employees and was the leading business of its kind in the region. ‘But we hit problems again,’ said Marija Majher, the current director of Juarbis, ‘and in 2009, with a drop in milk production, the firm lost the largest part of its income. It was a tough blow. Nonetheless, we really get on well with another in our group. We’ve been working together for 10 years and we were determined to get through this together. In the last few years we have tried to keep the lines of communication open with our 500 contacts, who supply us with milk and agricultural produce. The inspiration for our business model is the ‘art of loving’, which is rooted in the Gospel, as proposed by Chiara Lubich. It has meant that we have built profound, living relationships with others.’ Building upon Chiara’s intuition about sharing the business’s profits three ways, apart from creating new jobs, the firm has promoted the ‘culture of giving’ and communion. This has given rise to educational and cultural initiatives in the town and last, but not least, there have been direct interventions in emergency situations, giving practical help and setting up development projects. ‘To our surprise,’ Marija Majher went on to say, ‘two of us were elected with large majorities in the local elections. This has been an opportunity to do something more for our people, whose poverty and suffering we know personally so well. It has led us, once again, to Chiara’s experience in Trent after World War 2, where she was trying to solve the social problems of the city, beginning with the destitute and drawing in the whole of the community. In a similar way our three firms, and some of our friends from the local Caritas, are trying to sponsor activities all over the town, such as ecological projects or collecting wood to heat the homes of people who are sick or elderly. These very people, those who are sick or elderly, have taken part in weekly get-togethers for conversation and entertainment, and we try to help them in other ways, for instance, taking them to medical appointments. A project that as yet is still a dream is to use the expanses of abandoned land around many of their houses to build a care home that truly meets their needs. We have also taken children and young people into consideration by running workshops for journalism, acting, cookery, decoration. These are extremely animated with games and parties. The family is always at the core of our activity, and  we have done some special projects for some whose houses have suffered as a result of fire, and for others we have paid for their electricity and, for one particularly large family, we bought a washing machine. The ‘Family for Family’ project was proposed to the entire local community, as a way of putting our strengths and our capacities at thedisposal of others, so that we can help one another mutually.’

Is God Still Love During Times of Illness?

Sep 18, 2012 | Non categorizzato

My name is Magued and I grew up in a Christian family. When I was three my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This illness progressed until she was paralysed and blind. From when I was small I learned how to help her together with my dad, my brother and my sister. I dreamed that my mum would get well again, and be like my friends’ mothers, but as time passed I realised that this was not to be.

My siblings and I learned to accept this will of God, to believe that everything contributes to good for those who love God. And we became very united amongst us and were aware of a grace that helped us always.

Six years ago we found out that my sister had a tumour. It was then that I went into crisis with God and could not accept that my sister was ill, so I asked God if I could take her place because I could have dealt with it better. As time passed I accepted my sister’s illness, that despite the treatment, was not getting better.

Four years ago my mother died and at that time I felt a great suffering and emptiness in my life. It was as though part of my heart had been detached and gone with her.

Then two years ago, while having a check up about an eye problem, I found out that I had my mother’s same illness. I had just finished university and thought I had a future in front of me…  All of a sudden everything vanished. I was in anguish thinking that one day I would wake up paralysed or I would have lost my sight as she did.  I felt it was the devil who tempted me to start doing everything immediately, even bad things, which later I would not be able to do.  These temptations stopped when I understood that what made me happy was to live each day as if it were my last, in a deep relationship with God.

Then I started a new job, and I met a girl, an angel, who was ready to carry with me all the difficulties that I might meet in future.  Many of my friends say that they pray for me so that I may be cured, but I answer that I pray for them, so that each one of us is ill in some way.

One evening a few months ago my sister phoned me when I was out with my friends, and asked me to come back because she did not feel well.  I went home and sat beside her and we began to pray together. We were not used to doing this but it was as though a voice said to me: “pray with her Magued.” A little while later she felt worse, she leant her head on me and passed away.

In recent months every now and then I had a relapse. I was not able to hold a pen, or I lost the feeling in an arm, and for a while I could not see properly which made the situation at work difficult. When these things happen I remember my mother and my sister, who despite their pain, they had eyes filled with joy and peace. It is as if they were saying to me: don’t be afraid, continue believing in the Love of God and witness it with your life.

(M.G. Egitto)

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