Many people in different parts of the world have met Chiara. We would be grateful to those who could send us their memories, unpublished letters, photos….Tante persone in molti luoghi del mondo hanno incontrato Chiara. Saremo grati a quanti ci faranno pervenire ricordi, documenti inediti, foto...
I have preached around the world that God is Love and now because of the events that have been taking place, one after the other, I have the impression that God has forsaken me. I wrote this yesterday as well, but it is totally different. In any case, this evening I went into church to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and I found written there: “Bonum certamen fidei” [“Fight the good fight of faith”] This then is what awaits me in the coming days: the great struggle for faith, to believe in Love.
“We young people feel a strong need to play a leading role in life. How can we reconcile this with Jesus’ invitation to renounce ourselves and therefore, to “annul ourselves,” in order to follow him and to have Eternal Life?”" Maria - Roma
We are in Lent. Why is it so difficult to talk about penance in our modern times? Good people, in certain areas, especially country people, and above all, women, still accept the parish priest's invitation to penance. And do it.
I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (Jn 10:9).
Those who were listening to Jesus were familiar with the image of the gateway, from the dream of Jacob(“This is the gateway to heaven,” Gen 28:17) to God’s beloved Jerusalem with its ancient portals. (See Psalm 24:7)
Psalm 118:20 reads: “This gate is the Lord’s; the just shall enter it.” Jesus makes it his own, and fills it with new meaning. He is the gate to salvation, who leads us to pastures where divine goods are freely given. He is the one and only mediator and through him men and women can go to the Father. “He is the door to the Father,” says Ignatius of Antioch, “through whom have entered Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, the apostles and the Church.” (Phila IX, 1).
Chiara was born on the 22nd of January. On that very date, in 2000, she received honorary Roman citizenship. That morning she had written in her diary:
Today 80 years old at 6:30 AM. Today Roman citizenship. Infinite thanks, Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit.
She received the following letter from Pope John Paul II:
To Miss Chiara Lubich Foundress and President of the Focolare Movement
I was very happy to learn that on January 22, on the occasion of your 80th birthday, the Municipal Administration of Rome intends to solemnly confer you with honorary citizenship...
"Benedict XVI focused his message for this year's World Day of Peace on protecting creation. We echo his words with a letter taken from a letter exchange on this topic between Chiara Lubich and Nikkyo Niwano, founder of the Buddhist Movement Rissho Kosei-kai."
Rocca di Papa, March 8, 1990
Dear Mr. Niwano,
First of all, I hope this letter finds you in the best of health. Cordial greetings also to the members of your family whom I remember with great esteem and who are present in my prayers. I hope that you have received good news from your grand-daughter, Mitsuyo, who is the guest of one of our families in Paris. Since I received your letter in October, we have been very busy following the great changes that have taken place in Eastern Europe, which have probably had noteworthy repercussions also beyond the boundaries of our continent.
Every year the Day for Peace is celebrated on 1 January. We're publishing some notes that Chiara prepared on this topic in answering two questions asked by the young people of the Buddhist Movement Rissho Kosei-kai.
Peace is an effect of unity. When there is unity between God and the human person, we have inner peace. When there is unity among brothers and sisters, there is peace among brothers and sisters. When there is unity among peoples, there is peace in the world.
The text is a second draft with respect to the original
Commetary on the Word of Life: “God himself will always be with them” (see Rev. 21:3).
In January, in many parts of the world, Christians celebrate their common faith together with special prayers and meetings. The theme chosen for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is taken from the Book of Revelations. Let’s read the whole excerpt:
Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them And they shall be his people, And God himself will be with them; He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, And death shall be no more, Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, For the former things have passed away.
It’s more than a month before Christmas and the city streets of Zurich are already covered in lights. Bahnhofstrasse and parallel streets. A never-ending row of shops, a sophisticated but exorbitant richness.We are in what is perhaps the richest country of the world.
To the left of our car a row of shop windows catches our attention. Through the window it is snowing gently: an optical illusion.
I love you not because I have learned to tell you so; not because my heart suggests these words, not even because faith has made me believe that you are love; and not even because you died for me. I love you because you have entered into my life more than the air in my lungs, more than the blood in my veins.
This article was requested of Chiara Lubich by the daily “Vita Trentina”, which then published it on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of her consecration to God.
December 7th will mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of the Focolare Movement in Trent, my beloved city of origin.
How is the state of my soul, what do I have at heart in this particular circumstance?
I feel a wave of emotion, if I think only for a moment at what I have in front of me: a new world born from the Gospel, spread throughout the world, an immense work that no human effort could have brought about. In fact, it is a “work of God,” for which I was the first one chosen to be his “useless and unfaithful” instrument.
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I have preached around the world that God is Love and now because of the events that have been taking place, one after the other, I have the impression that God has forsaken me. I wrote this yesterday as well, but it is totally different. In any case, this evening I went into church to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and I found written there: “Bonum certamen fidei” [“Fight the good fight of faith”] This then is what awaits me in the coming days: the great struggle for faith, to believe in Love.
