January 22 marks the anniversary of the birth of Chiara Lubich, Founder of the Focolare Movement. Today we share a short excerpt from a speech she delivered in Innsbruck (Austria) on November 9, 2001, during the “A Thousand Cities for Europe” Congress, dedicated to the theme of universal brotherhood.

“Universal brotherhood, even apart from Christianity, has not been absent from the minds of great and exceptional persons. Mahatma Gandhi said: “The Golden Rule is to be friends of the world and to consider as ‘one’ the whole human family. Whoever distinguishes between the faithful of his own religion and those of another misinforms the members of his own and opens the way to the rejection of religion and its values.” [1] (…)

However, the One who brought universal brotherhood on earth, as an essential gift to humanity, was Jesus, who prayed for unity before he died: “Father, that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). In revealing to us that God is our Father and consequently that we are all brothers and sisters, he introduced the idea of humanity as one family, the idea of the “human family” made possible by universal brotherhood in action.

Consequently, he destroyed the walls that separate those who are “the same” from those who are “different,” friends from enemies, walls that isolate one city from another. And he loosened the bonds that imprison people in so many ways, from the thousands of forms of suppression and slavery, from every unjust relationship. In this way he brought about an authentic existential, cultural and political revolution.

Thus the idea of fraternity began to make way in history. We could trace back its presence in the evolution of thought throughout the centuries, finding it at the basis of many fundamental political ideas, at times clearly, at times more veiled. This fraternity was often lived, although in a limited manner, each time, for example, a people joined together to fight for their freedom, or when social groups struggled to defend the weak, or whenever people of different convictions rose above mistrust in order to affirm a particular human right.

Chiara Lubich

[1] “In buona compagnia”, a cura di Claudio Mantovano, Roma, 2001, p. 11.

Photo © Horacio Conde-CSC Audiovisivi

News source: https://www.focolare.org/en/chiara-lubich-humanity-as-one-family/

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Chiara Lubich describes the day she consecrated herself to God.

On the 7th of December 1943 I went to church alone. There was a violent storm outside. It really gave me the impression that I had the world against me. (…) A small kneeler had been prepared for me before the altar, and I had a tiny missal in my hands. The priest had me pronounce the formula to give myself completely to God forever. I was so happy that I probably didn’t even realize what I was doing, maybe because I was young. However, when I pronounced the formula, I had the impression that a bridge was falling behind me and that I could no longer turn back because now I belonged entirely to God, therefore, I could no longer choose. At this point, a tear fell on my missal.

But my happiness was immense! Do you know why? I was marrying God, and I expected every possible good. It would be a divine, extraordinary adventure! I was marrying God! And later we saw that it had really been just that.

(…) What is my advice? I would give this advice to myself: we have only one life. Let’s aim high. Let’s risk everything to gain everything. It’s worth it, it’s worth it. So make this act of generosity: aim high, don’t hold back!

Excerpt taken from: Chiara Lubich, The fourth way, 30 December 1984

Photo: © Horacio Conde – CSC Audiovisivi

Source: www.focolare.org

The 16th of July is a significant day for the Focolare Movement. In fact, it is the anniversary of the Pact of Unity between Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Movement, and Igino Giordani, whom she considered a co-founder. It took place on the 16th of July 1949.

On this anniversary, Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, addressed the following message to all those who belong to the Movement around the world.

On the occasion of the Jubilee 2025, the Chiara Lubich Centre, together with the Historical Museum Foundation of Trentino have set up a permanent exhibition dedicated to Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement. The exhibition was inaugurated on Friday, the 14th of March on the anniversary of Chiara’s death, at the Focolare Meeting Point, in central Rome.

On July 16th, 1949, Chiara Lubich and Igino Giordani made a “Pact of Unity.” It was a spiritual experience that heralded in a period of light and special union with God.

It had an effect on the life of the first Focolare community back then, but also impacted the history of the Movement together with its commitment to working toward a more fraternal and united world.

Seventy-five years after that day, here is a brief look at what that Pact meant then, and what it can mean today as we continue to live by it.

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On the morning of 7 December 2023, Pope Francis received in audience Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement, together with Focolare General Council members and regional delegates, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of its foundation. Here is the speech that the Pope addressed to them during the audience.

Dear brothers and sisters, welcome!

I greet Cardinal Farrell, your president Dr Margaret Karram, the co-president Jesús Morán, the members of the General Council, the delegates of the geographical areas, and all of you. I am grateful that you came while celebrating the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the Focolare Movement, also known as the Opera di Maria. Thank you!

It coincides with the day on which the Servant of God Chiara Lubich decided to consecrate herself fully to the Lord. From an inspiration she received in an entirely ordinary context of life – while she was going shopping for her family – a radical act of self-giving to God arose, as a response to her call that she had felt, sweet and strong, in her heart. It was 7 December 1943, in Trent, at the height of the war; on the very eve of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Mary’s “yes” became Chiara’s “yes”, generating a wave of spirituality that spread throughout the world, to tell everyone that it is beautiful to live the Gospel with one simple word: unity. But unity also means harmony: harmonic unity.

In these eighty years, you have made this message resound amid the young, communities, families, persons of consecrated life, priests and bishops; and also in various social environments: from the world of school to that of the economy, from the world of art and culture to that of information and the media; and in particular, in the spheres of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. You have thus been an active instrument of a great flowering of works, of initiatives, of projects and above all of “rebirths”, of conversions, of vocations, of lives given to Christ and to our brothers and sisters. For all this today we want to give thanks to God.

In February 2021, speaking at your General Assembly, I emphasized three important attitudes for your progress: living your charism with dynamic fidelity, welcoming moments of crisis as opportunities to mature, embodying spirituality with consistency and realism (Pope’s address, 6 February 2021). Living spirituality. I want to remember these today to encourage you to live them and promote them along three lines: ecclesial maturity, fidelity to the charism, and commitment to peace.

Ecclesial maturity. I invite you to work so that the dream of a fully synodal and missionary Church may be increasingly realized. Start out from your communities, fostering in them a style of participation and co-responsibility, also at the level of governance. Let the “focolare centres”, the hearths, increase within them and spread around them a climate of mutual listening and family warmth, in which we respect and care for one another, with particular attention to those who are weaker and those most in need of support. To this end, it will be helpful for you to pursue avenues of mutual participation and consultation at all levels, paying special attention to communication and sincere dialogue.

With regard to the second line, fidelity to the charism, I remind you of some of your Founder’s words: “Leave to those who follow you only the Gospel. If you do this, the ideal of unity will remain […]. What remains and will always remain is the Gospel, which does not suffer the wear of time” (C. Lubich, in La Parola di Dio, Rome 2011, 112-113). Please, sow unity by bringing the Gospel, without ever losing sight of the work of incarnation that God continues to wish to accomplish in us and around us through his Spirit, so that Jesus may be good news for everyone, no one excluded, and “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21).

And so, we come to the third line, commitment to peace, so important today. Indeed, after two millennia of Christianity, the longing for unity continues to assume the form, in many parts of the world, of an agonizing cry that demands a response. Chiara heard this during the tragedy of the Second World War, and decided to give all her life so that the “legacy of Jesus” might be realized. Today, unfortunately, the world is still riven by many conflicts, and continues to need artisans of fraternity and peace between men and between nations. Chiara said, “To be love and to spread it is the general purpose of the Opera di Maria” (Eve of Pentecost, Saint Peter’s Square, 30 May 1998). Being love and spreading it: this is the main purpose. And we know that only from love is the fruit of peace born.

Therefore, I ask you to be witnesses and builders of the peace that Christ achieved with his cross, defeating enmity. Think that, from the end of the Second World War until now, the wars have not ended. And we are unaware of the tragedy of war. I will confide in you, when I went to Redipuglia in 2014 for the centenary of the First World War, and I saw that cemetery, I truly wept. So much destruction! And every 2nd November I usually go to celebrate in a cemetery, also last time, the Commonwealth Cemetery, and I see the age of the soldiers – 22, 24, 18, 30 – all shattered lives, because of war. And war does not end. And in war, everyone loses, everyone. Only the arms manufacturers gain. And if weapons were not made for a year, world hunger could be brought to an end. This is terrible. We must think about this tragedy.

Before concluding, I would like to make one final invitation, appropriate in this time of Advent: that of vigilance. The snare of spiritual worldliness is always lurking. Therefore, you too need to know how to react decisively, consistently and realistically. Let us remember that inconsistency between what we say we are and what we truly are is the worst anti-witness. Inconsistency. Please, take care. And the remedy is always to return to the Gospel, the root of our faith and our history: the Gospel of humility, of selfless service, of simplicity. And I always like to remember that you are very close to the secret of God, the four secrets of God. God does not understand four things: he does not know how many congregations of religious sisters there are; what the Jesuits think; how much money the Salesians have; and what the Focolarini are smiling about!

Dear brothers and sisters, as we have already recalled, you are the Opera di Maria; she has accompanied you throughout these eighty years and you know well that she will never stop doing so. May the Virgin of Nazareth therefore be the source of your consolation and your strength, so that you may be apostles of unity in the service of the Church and of humanity. Thank you for what you are and for what you do! Continue your journey confidently. I bless you from my heart. And please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.

Pope Francis

Source: www.vatican.va

See also:

An 80-year-long adventure

https://www.focolare.org/en/2023/12/06/italiano-unavventura-lunga-80-anni/

On 7th December, Pope Francis will receive in audience the President of the Focolare Movement, Margaret Karram, together with those who are responsible for the Movement in the world. At 6pm, there will be a Eucharistic celebration in the Basilica of St, Mary Major in Rome, presided over by H.E. Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

7th December 1943 marks the official birth of the Focolare Movement, the day on which Chiara Lubich consecrated herself to God forever. 80 years ago, a small community was born, which amidst the destruction of the Second World War wanted to rebuild peace and unity among all, and which would soon spread throughout the world, becoming part of the reality of new charisms of the Church. At the heart of the Focolare’s spirituality and action is the Gospel and in particular Jesus’ prayer: “That all may be one” (Jn 17:21).

Today the Movement is present in 182 countries, a sign of the universality and urgency of unity and fraternity in these fragmented and tragic times. It also includes Christians of various Churches, believers of numerous Religions and people without a precise religious affiliation.

On 7th December next, Pope Francis will receive in audience Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, Jesús Morán, Co-President and the group of those who are responsible for the Movement. “To be received by the Holy Father on 7th December 2023, exactly eighty years after Chiara Lubich’s first ‘yes’ to God, is an extraordinary and surprising gift for us,” explains the President. “We want to bring to the Pope the love and affection of the thousands of people around the world who live the Charism of unity and renew our service to the Church in this synodal journey, in collaboration with so many others who want to contribute to peace and love to alleviate the wounds of humanity”.

At 6 p.m. on the same day, in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, there will be a Mass of thanksgiving for these 80 years of Focolare life presided over by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, together with several other cardinals, bishops and priests.

Margaret Karram goes on to explain, ” This day will be the conclusion of a pilgrimage that we wanted to make to some sacred and significant places in Assisi, Loreto and Rome so as to give thanks, to ask for forgiveness and to start again with courage and hope.

Focolare communities around the world will also live this anniversary with the same spirit and aims, so as to be “witnesses of proximity with fraternal love that overcomes every barrier and reaches every human situation”¹.

Stefania Tanesini

[1] Talk of Pope Francis to the General Assembly of the Focolare Movement – 6 February 2021

Source: Focolare Movement’s international website

See also:
An 80-year-long adventure:
https://www.focolare.org/en/2023/12/06/italiano-unavventura-lunga-80-anni/

From the telephone Linkup with Focolare communities around the world – Palermo, Italy, 22 January 1998.

Copyright 2022 © CSC Audiovisuals – All rights reserved. (2661M)

The Gospel text chosen for the month of November 2022 encourages us to practice mercy towards our brothers and sisters. In this passage from 15 October 1981, given during a worldwide telephone conference call, Chiara Lubich invited all listeners to revive this merciful love characteristic of the early days of the Focolare Movement. It is an appeal that today too can help us to grow in our personal journey of union with God and with the community.

What I want to focus on today is unity. Unity must triumph: unity with God, unity among all people. The way to achieve this is to love everyone with that merciful love which characterized the Focolare at its beginnings, when we decided that each morning and all through the day we would look upon every person we met at home, at school, at work, everywhere as a new person, brand new, deliberately not remembering any of his or her shortcomings or defects, but covering everything over with love. … to reach out to everyone we meet with complete “amnesty,” universal pardon, in our hearts; and then to “make ourselves one” with them in everything except sin and evil.

Why should we do this? To obtain the same wonderful results the Apostle Paul was seeking when he said: “For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more. I have become all things to all people” (1 Cor. 9: 19,22). If we “make ourselves one” with our neighbour, as Paul recommends, which will be easier when we have this forgiving attitude, we will be able to pass our “Ideal” on to others. And once this has been accomplished, we can have Jesus present among us, the risen Jesus who promised to remain with us forever in his Church, and who allows us to almost see and hear him when he is in our midst.

This must be our principal work: to live in such a way that Jesus may live among us – Jesus, who is victorious over the world. For if we are one, as time goes on many will be one, and the world will someday be able to witness unity.

So, let’s create cells of unity everywhere, each a focolare – a hearth, burning with love: in our family, on our block, with our playmates, with the people at work or at school – with everyone we can. Let’s kindle fires of love everywhere

Chiara Lubich

Extract from a talk given by Chiara Lubich at the International Congress for Artists entitled “God is Beauty and not only Truth and Goodness”, held in Rome on 23 April 1999

Traveling by car one day, I was listening to Gounod’s Ave Maria. Masterly performed, it called to mind a very fine veil, interlaced here and there with delicately embroidered designs. Listening to that piece of music uplifted my spirit and opened me up to union with God and in him to Mary, sublimely exalted by Gounod.

It was the feast day of her divine maternity and I admired her as being “beautiful beyond words”. I thought to myself: if God planned that She be his mother in Jesus, the Incarnate Word, the splendour of the Father, what degree of beauty must Mary have attained? It’s beyond all imagining!

I confided in her my desire to be with her in heaven, perhaps in the not too distant future. And I sensed that her presence made everything else in me and around me, everything on earth that still had a hold on me, all that is beautiful and good, decisively disappear.

In fact, the thought of her and of her beauty was enough to imprint on my heart, like a seal: ‘You, Lord, are my only good.’

I realized that She was teaching me her virtues day by day, the virtues needed to make the words – ‘You, Lord, are my only good’ – become a reality. But She gave them not by listing them, neither by explaining them, nor by giving me an ardent desire to live them, but by revealing herself to me. Yes, that beauty, of which Mary is a divine model, will save the world.

And I understood all this because a piece of music I listened to was a work of art.

Chiara Lubich