Focolare Movement

Plans made for a Center for Spirituality and Studies in Jerusalem in the place where, according to tradition, Jesus pronounced his “priestly prayer for unity”

Dec 12, 2003

The Focolare Movement celebrates its 60th year/2

 During the Focolare Movement’s 60th anniversary, plans for the building of a Center for Spirituality and Studies in Jerusalem are moving ahead. It aims to be a sign of unity, as it will rise beside the stone stairway where – according to tradition – Jesus invoked the Father for unity on the First Holy Thursday of history. For this anniversary celebration, the members of the Movement all over the world contributed to a fund for the realization of said project. The contract was signed in November with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who thereby conceded to the Focolare Movement the permanent use of a piece of land adjacent to this “stairway”. It marks the fulfilment of a dream of almost 50 years ago, when in 1956 Chiara Lubich visited the Holy Land for the first time. In that very page of the Gospel of Jesus’ prayer for unity, read in a bomb shelter during World War II, Chiara and her first companions discovered their reason for being. The Focolare Movement has been present in the Holy Land for 25 years, with focolare centers in Jerusalem and Haifa, committed to promoting peace.

___

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

Maria Voce has returned to the house of the Father

Maria Voce has returned to the house of the Father

The first President of the Focolare Movement, after the foundress Chiara Lubich, Maria Voce passed away yesterday, 20th of June 2025, at home. Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán share some memories. The funeral will be held on the 23rd of June at 3:00pm at the International Centre of the Focolare Movement in Rocca di Papa (Rome).

Thank you Emmaus!

Thank you Emmaus!

Letter from Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, on the occasion of the departure of Maria Voce – Emmaus.

What is the point of war?

What is the point of war?

At this time when the world is torn apart by brutal conflicts, we share an excerpt from the famous book written by Igino Giordani in 1953 and republished in 2003: The uselessness of war. “If you want peace, prepare peace”: the political teaching that Giordani offers us in this volume can be summarized in this aphorism. Peace is the result of a plan: a plan of fraternity between peoples, of solidarity with the weakest, of mutual respect. Thus a more just world is built, this is how war is set aside as a barbaric practice belonging to the dark phase of the history of mankind.