![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/001.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
On April 23-26, 2014 over a<\/strong> hundred young consecrated men and women<\/a>, from 36 countries and belonging to 56 religious families rallied around the slogan: \u201cWe choose the Gospel!<\/em>\u201d at the permanent Mariapolis in Loppiano<\/a>, Italy.<\/p>\n The meeting has been in preparation for some time in view of the year 2015, which will be dedicated to the consecrated life, but also to the common choice of the Gospel which goes beyond the different charisms and is shared by all.<\/p>\n On the first day<\/strong> there was a theological discussion with Fr Alessandro Clemenzia, a professor of Trinitarian Theology, including personal experiences and experiences from some of the residents of the Mariapolis. This was followed by a tour of the Mariapolis, Mass at the Shrine, and supper in\u00a0 focolare-communities and family homes.<\/p>\n On the second day<\/strong> there was a workshop on: the relation between Gospel, life and studies; the Gospel and the spirit of poverty; communitarian relationships; and a poor Church for the poor. Then there was a visit to the Sophia University Institute and an evening of entertainment with young people from Loppiano.<\/p>\n On the last day there was quite a comprehensive dialogue with Cardinal Braz de Avis<\/strong>, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. \u201cFather Joao,\u201d as he loves to be called, first expressed his happiness at seeing so many young people. \u201cThis spirituality of communion,\u201d he told them, \u201cmust enter into all the charisms, it must become the soul of all the charisms\u201d and all must \u201chave a living experience of it.\u201d Then he added: \u201cFor me, the other person is not only my great penance, but the opportunity for me to experience God: I can love, only if I am near to someone . . .\u201d Regarding the difficulties in following this path, he added: \u201cYou need to discover and understand the meaning of Jesus\u2019 cry on the cross,\u201d because without the measure of giving our lives that was given to us by Jesus, \u201cwe will never come to the point of loving one another.\u201d<\/p>\n Encouraged by the Cardinal\u2019s direct and familiar style, a very open discussion followed. The young people posed many questions regarding the challenges that religious communities are facing today: \u201cHow can we continue what we experienced here when we return home to our communities?\u201d How can we be truly free while living within structures and under vows? How can we avoid living like patients in a plaster cast? How can we grow more in the spirit of unity? How should we look at the problems in our congregations and in the Church?\u201d<\/p>\n The Cardinal\u2019s answers were just as direct:<\/strong> \u201cWhen you return to your communities, don\u2019t talk, but live. If you want to be free, \u2018return to Galilee,\u2019 as Pope Francis says, to where God first looked us in the eye, and cultivate a freedom that begins from within . . . returning to the style of the Gospel.\u201d He also said: \u201cWherever there is attachment to wealth and power, there is no longer the Church . . . we should enter into the wounds of the Church and humanity, as the Pope invites us to do . . . look to the past with gratefulness, to the future with hope and live the present with passion . . .\u201d After opening his heart about his fraternal relationship with the Pope, he announced some of the upcoming events for 2015, especially the September 23-26 global meeting for\u00a0 young consecrated people. Then he told them: \u201cThe Pope loves you, and our congregation is your home.\u201d<\/p>\n A three-day meeeting for young consecrated people focused on Choosing the Gospel concludes with an open discussion with Cardinal Joao Braz de Avis.<\/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-343034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343034","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=343034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/006.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/010.jpg\")
Their discussion lasted for two hours and was a total immersion in the life of a Church that is questioning herself, without hiding anything, a Church that is being motorised by Pope Francis to enter into a deep and radical renewal that engages every one of us in a personal way, every community and family, the basic cell of society. The encounter concluded with all the residents of the Mariapolis at St Mary Theotokos Shrine, with the holy Mass in the presence of the local Bishop, Mario Meini.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"