{"id":290672,"date":"2003-07-28T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-07-28T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/can-religious-leaders-be-partners-on-the-pathway-towards-peace\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:36:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:36:28","slug":"can-religious-leaders-be-partners-on-the-pathway-towards-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/can-religious-leaders-be-partners-on-the-pathway-towards-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Can religious leaders be partners on the pathway towards peace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWithout brotherhood there is no peace\u201d<\/em> On the surface, religious pluralism, seems to be a source of division and war. In reality religious pluralism is- Chiara Lubich said in her address -a challenge: all religions are called to work together to re-established the unity of the human family, because in all religions \u201cthe Holy Spirit is present and active in some way\u201d. The phenomenon of terrorism, which cannot be fought with conventional means,\"\" shows that religions can make a significant contribution for reaching peace. \u201cThe root cause of terrorism\u201d is \u201cgrievous suffering\u201d in a world where the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, Chiara Lubich emphasised. There is a great need for more equality, more solidarity, and above all for a more equal distribution of goods. \u201cBut, as we know, goods do not move by themselves: we need to first move people\u2019s hearts.\u201d \u201cFrom whom, if not from the great religious traditions, could there begin a strategy of brotherhood capable of marking a complete turnabout even in international relations?\u201d. In fact without brotherhood- Chiara affirmed -there is no peace. Without losing one\u2019s identity<\/em> The idea of unity and love is rooted in all religions: \u201cIn practice, this means that we are partners on the road to brotherhood and peace.\u201d Chiara underlined that persons of great religious traditions of humanity can meet and understand one another without losing one\u2019s identity. The founder of the Focolare Movement indicated the way of love as the principle means for reaching understanding. \u201cIf we begin to dialogue with one another, if we are therefore open with one another in a spirit of good faith, of reciprocal esteem, of respect, of mercy, we are then open to allowing God – as John Paul II once said – to be present amongst us.\u201d Chiara Lubich expressed conviction that it is really with the presence of God that we can find viable solutions to the present problems. The secret of dialogue<\/em> The Focolare Movement has a wealth of experience in interreligious dialogue: \u201cIn an atmosphere of reciprocal love it is possible to establish dialogue with one\u2019s partners. In this dialogue one tries to empty oneself in order to \u2018enter\u2019 the other. This \u2018making ourselves one with the other,\u2019 Chiara indicated, is the secret for establishing that dialogue that leads to unity. It requires true poverty of spirit: \u201cWe need to empty our heads of our notions, to free our hearts of our affections, and our will of its inclinations\u201d in order to be at one with the persons before us and truly understand them. The other remains touched by such an attitude and he or she starts to ask about it (such is Chiara\u2019s experience). \u201cAnd so we could pass on to a \u2018respectful announcement\u2019, and, out of loyalty to God and to ourselves and also in all honesty to our neighbour, explain what our faith upholds regarding a given topic without imposing anything on the other, without intending to convert the other, but simply out of love. It is the moment when, for us Christians, dialogue leads to the announcement of the Good News.\u201d A great simplicity<\/em> Afterwards, Cornelio Sommaruga, president of \u201cInitiatives of change\u201d, underscored the \u201cextreme simplicity\u201d with which Chiara Lubich shares her message of love. Rajmohan Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi\u2019 grandson, professor at the University of New Delhi, and co- promoter of the seminar, added: \u201cThis woman reaches people\u2019s hearts. Not with a loud voice, as many others do, or a forceful manner, but with softness and passion. The interreligious dialogue promoted by Miss Lubich is of great importance, especially in our times\u201d. Rabbi Marc Raphael Guedj, founder of \u201cRacine et Source\u201d (Root and Source) spoke of being very impressed by Chiara, a person who speaks of love by being love, wisdom, the wisdom of daily life,\u2026 love that transforms the world\u201d. by Beatrix Ledergerber-Baumer for KIPA agency, 3 agosto 2003 (our translation)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seminar in Caux ( Switzerland )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}