{"id":328986,"date":"2017-03-15T07:30:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T06:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/family-school-of-reciprocity\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:06:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:06:38","slug":"family-school-of-reciprocity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/family-school-of-reciprocity\/","title":{"rendered":"Family, school of reciprocity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"33236024252_b4dc27856b_k\"<\/a>\u201cMarried life is like a boat,<\/em>\u201d said a family from Peru,<\/strong> \u201cIf you\u2019re paddling by yourself, it\u2019s tiring and you don\u2019t get anywhere. Together you need to learn the art of reciprocity<\/em>.\u201d \u201cWe came because we feel the need to grow our family life and help others,<\/em>\u201d added a couple from Cameroon<\/strong> as they arrived at the FamilyHighlights<\/a> meeting, which was held March 10-12 in Loppiano<\/a>, Italy. The event<\/a>, which marked the 50th anniversary of New Families<\/a>, welcomed close to 1,000 families of different cultures and religions from 50 countries. It was connected to other gatherings worldwide held in memory of the ninth anniversary of Chiara Lubich<\/a>\u2019s passing. \u201cLoving others as yourself, loving everyone, being the first to love, becoming one with others\u201d<\/em> \u2013simple rules that the families of the international Loreto School<\/a> emphasized as they welcomed everyone. This \u201cart of loving\u201d gives families the strength to renew themselves through trust, forgiveness, accountability, creativity, hospitality. These are seeds of communion that can even shed light on painful,<\/strong> challenging and traumatic situations. They show that \u201canger and distress do not have the last word,\u201d said Gianni<\/strong>, who coordinates a group of 50 people who are separated. People\u2019s stories and activities surfaced during the lively exchanges during the six workshops<\/strong>. One was for 150 children; other workshops were dedicated to couple dynamics in the various stages of life, educating children, and hospitality and solidarity with the disadvantaged in difficult situations. There were a few families from Syria,<\/strong> who found positive energy to face the fear and many difficulties caused by war. \u201cThat flower, which we attached at the end of the event, we\u2019re also bringing it symbolically to other families and to everyone around us as a sign of fraternity and hope,\u201d they said. \"VinuAram_FamilyHighlights_2\"<\/a>In her address, Focolare President<\/strong> Maria Voce<\/a> invited those present to be mothers and fathers of humanity, personally contributing to \u201csustain and encourage universal fraternity.\u201d Families, despite the imperfections and fragility that they share with the human condition, can offer the world a light and love that heals when they themselves have been renewed. Sharing from a number of groups<\/strong>, as well as the activities for couples, whether they were young, in crisis, separated and remarried, or widowed gave witness to the 50-year efforts of New Families on five continents. There were also projects and activities to support children and meet the needs of the most vulnerable. \u201cContinue everything you are doing, and don\u2019t get discouraged when it\u2019s difficult or it seems like you\u2019re all alone,\u201d urged Voce<\/strong>. Families are called to respond to social issues, even by simply looking at the world through the eyes of a child, Dr. Vinu Aram explained. She is director at Shanti Ashram, with which the Focolare has had a close friendship and collaboration that has benefited many children and families in India through AFNonlus. \u201cThe effort that you are making here,<\/em>\u201d comments Fr. Paolo Gentili,<\/strong> who directs the Italian church\u2019s family pastoral office, Ufficio Nazionale per la Pastorale della Famiglia, \u201ccontributes to build a church that is attentive to the good that the Spirit sows in the midst of weakness<\/em>.\u201d To do this is to \u201cwrite Amoris Laetitia on the living pages of history.\u201d<\/em> After these many years, the need emerged to establish an advanced study center that is both international and interdisciplinary, a marriage of life and thought. This has begun as part of the Sophia University Institute, with the aim of deepening the understanding of family in the light of Chiara Lubich\u2019s charism. \u201cWe need to move from the question, \u2018Does someone love me?\u2019 \u2013 our primal need for love \u2013to \u2018Am I loving someone?\u2019 \u2013 which is the will to love,\u201d said Professor Michele De Beni to a group of academics from various fields during FamilyHighlights. He is one of the coordinators of the study, \u201cThe pact of reciprocity in family life.\u201d \u201cThe challenge of reciprocity,\u201d he concluded, \u201cis the founding premise of the group that, before it starts any research, it identifies with.\u201d Giovanna Pieroni<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FamilyHighlights was a series of events marking 50 years of the New Families Movement with shared experiences and new developments. It also saw the start of an advanced study center on the family.<\/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-328986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328986","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=328986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}