29 October 2011
October 29 is the liturgical feastday of Chiara Luce Badano. A year has passed since her beatification (25 September, 2010), which was lived first-hand by more than 20,000 young people who came to Rome for the occasion, and by many others who followed the live transmission through about 30 television stations all over the world.
During the Angelus, the day after the beatification, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Chiara Luce as an example of Christian coherence: “(she) was a ray of light for everyone”[1]. And a week after, he invited everyone to get to know her: “her life was short, but it is a stupendous message (…) Nineteen years full of life, love, faith” [2].
Father Léthel O.C.D., also spoke of Chiara Luce to the Pope and to the Roman Curia, in one of the meditations held by him in the spiritual exercises during the Holy Week. He presented her as one of the many “young women saints who had lived the Gospel up to the end” thus becoming “teachers of sanctity” for everyone[3].
The strong witness of Chiara Luce makes sanctity fashionable once again: it awakens in many young people – and not only – the desire to live one’s life for great things and, through her life, to discover that sanctity is reachable, and can be lived in one’s daily life. The young people feel that she is alive, someone with whom they can have a relationship, “Chiara Luce taught us that we can love always and unconditionally”, is the impression, for example, of a Brazilian youth.
There were many evenings and concerts with the Musical “LifeLoveLight”, that was repeated in different parts of the world: Holland, Italy, Spain – at theWorld Youth Day, with 5,000 young people – Germany, the Philippines, Indonesia, United States, Canada, EL Salvador, Colombia, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Australia, just to mention those who sent us news.
There were numerous requests made to her parents, Maria Teresa and Ruggero Badano, to share the story of Chiara. In this last year, they were in France, Luxembourg, Holland, Poland, Madrid (at the World Youth Day) and in Italy, at Assisi, Milan, Ancona (National Eucharistic Congress), Naples, Sicily, Rome and other cities of Lazio, reaching around 18,000 people.
Her story travels through all means: more than 30,000 copies of the book “I have everything” (Michele Zanzucchi, Città Nuova, 2010), with editions in Brazil, South Korea, France, Great Britain, Slovenia, Spain, Hungary and Poland, and more than 15,000 copies of “From the rooftops downward” (Franz Coriasco, Città Nuova, 2010) with editions in Argentina, France and Spain. There are also thousands of copies of the music DVDs and CDs on her life and on the feast of her beatification.
But it is above all on the internet that we can see how many know her, or maybe they discover her in the most unexpected circumstances, and want to live like her. Her page on Facebook has, up to today, more than 37,000 fans and registers a lot of interaction: it is impossible to count the number of posts, comments, photos and sharings.
The website “Life Love Light” is a point of reference for many who want to share their own discovery of the profound reason behind the life of Chiara Luce and of her happiness. Her last words, in fact, were: “Mama, ciao. Be happy because I am (happy)”.
Website of the postulation: www.chiaralucebadano.it
Website “Life Love Light”: www.chiaraluce.org
Official YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChannelChiaraLuce
Updated on November, 3rd 2011
LH – BF
SIF – Focolare Information Service
[1] Benedict XVI at the Angelus, Castel Gandolfo, 26 septembre, 2010.
[2] Benedict XVI, Speech at the Meeting with the young people, Palermo, 3 octobre, 2010.
[3] P.François-Marie Léthel, O.C.D. in “The light of Christ in the heart of the Church. John Paul II and the Theology of the Saints”. Spiritual Exercises with Benedict XVI. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Pag. 252)
