Tag: Chiara Lubich

An ecumenical journey walked together

On 26/02/2021

I have already shared in a previous text that I joined the World Council of Churches’ communications department almost two years ago. It marked the beginning of an incredible journey of reflection on what it means being a Roman Catholic Christian.

Finding a book about ecumenism from the perspective of the Charisma of Unity was a natural move for me. The Focolare Movement has a substantial influence on how I experience faith and celebrate the diversity of God’s Creation.

The book “My Ecumenical journey” gathers all the crucial elements addressed by Chiara Lubich in her journey towards understanding ecumenism.

Following the path of Chiara, I captured the importance of three pillars:

a life inspired by the Gospel;
mutual love;
Jesus forsaken;

With these three elements, the global Christian community can walk together and make space for God to heal the past wounds and reveal a future towards a reconciled world.

God’s grace of unity within the different Churches is never a simple process. It demands openness and a personal commitment to an ecumenism of life, where we invest energy and time on finding elements that bring us together in the name of Jesus Christ.

The book “My Ecumenical Journey” allowed me to discover what inspired Chiara to emphasise the path towards Cristian unity as a crucial step, and perhaps a precondition, to a united world.

Accepting the limits and the slow pace of this process can enable us to continue to walk together and strengthen our connection in a world too affected by physical and spiritual walls.

100 years of Chiara Lubich and the ambassadors of love

By Valter Hugo Muniz

On 27/10/2020

In In English

In 2020 the Focolare community all around the world celebrates hundred years of Chiara Lubich’s life.

If there is a simple reason why the Focolare movement should still exist, even without the presence of its charismatic founder, it is the fact that its members have a profound hope in love and, with that, they aim to be bridge builders in a divided world.

In a particular period of history when Chiara’s message about unity seems even more crucial for the success of humanity, the members of the Focolare are called to continue to believe in love. A hope that starts with testifying, with a very humble and committed attitude, the grace of God’s love. This love is what gives us the strength to resist, to seek justice, to heal and to make this world a better place for the next generations.

Chiara Lubich was an ordinary woman with an extraordinary calling that brought together hundreds of thousands of people from different cultures, countries, races and religions. Her heritage is renewed every time the Focolare community reminds itself to be, first of all, ambassadors of love.

Systematically challenged to mutual love

By Valter Hugo Muniz

On 19/09/2020

In In English

This year, I received as a gift the book “My Ecumenical Journey” by the founder of the Focolare Movement Chiara Lubich (1920-2008). The compilation of reflections about ecumenism is accompanying my morning meditation before I start to work.

One year ago, I joined the communication department of the World Council of Churches, a membership organization that works for the unity between Churches from different Christian denominations.

Believing in unity nowadays demands hope in something bigger than merely human goodwill. But Chiara Lubich’s reflections on “My Ecumenical Journey” give some key elements that can help us to walk together towards a shared space of empathy, acceptance and communion.

Those who want to contribute to a united world, particularly between the various Churches, are systematically challenged to mutual love.

“A love that leads each Church to become a gift for the others, so that we can foresee in the Church of the future that there will be just one truth, but that it will be expressed in different ways, seen from different viewpoints, made more beautiful by the variety of interpretations”,
Chiara Lubich, my EcumEnical journey.

Mutual love starts with us, though. We are invited to be the first to love and not to wait that love comes from someone else. But what can we do when love doesn’t become mutual? In moments where we can’t understand or accept each other, Jesus Forsaken remembers us the measure of God’s love, that overcome men’s fears, indifference, ignorance and even death.

In “The art of loving”, another inspiring book that I read recently, Erich Fromm recalls that “Love is not just a relationship with a particular person: it is an attitude, a character orientation that determines a person’s relationship with the world.”

Love is our final Christian call. And we, church people, can’t do it without ecumenism. Seeking unity between our Churches, acknowledging the richness of the many interpretations of the Gospel, is to accept the systematical challenge for loving each other and to testify a world where differences don’t necessarily trigger division.

Notes: On 23 September this text was also published on the WCC Blog

Chiara Lubich / Un personaggio importante del XX secolo

By Valter Hugo Muniz

On 15/08/2011

In In italiano

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8bWtxQkQAc?rel=0&w=480&h=390]

L’italiana Chiara Lubich, fondatrice del Movimento dei Focolari è stata presentata dal programma della RAI Correva l´anno come uno dei personaggi del secolo XX. Nel video de quasi 15 minuti ci si fa un viaggio che va dalla nascita alla morte di Chiara, mettendo in rilievo lo sviluppo del Focolare e lo stretto rapporto da esso con il papa Giovanni Paolo II e il lavoro sul campo del dialogo inter religioso.

Chiara Lubich pelos olhos de Armando Toro para o mundo inteiro

By Valter Hugo Muniz

On 12/08/2011

In Focolarizando

“Uma mensagem escandalosamente interessante”. Foi assim definida a vida de Chiara Lubich pelo escritor da primeira biografia “post mortem” da fundadora do Movimento dos Focolares, Armando Toro, em uma visita ao centro do Movimento em Grottaferratta, na região dos Castelos Romanos.

Antes do Concilio Vaticano II, que transformou a Igreja Católica, (mesmo que ainda não completamente encarnado pela igreja institucional) Chiara Lubich apresentou às suas companheiras, sob os bombardeios da Segunda Guerra Mundial, um Deus que, apesar das fatalidades e da dor tantas vezes incompreensível, é AMOR.

Porém, nem ela e nem ninguém imaginava que essa descoberta levaria milhares de pessoas em praticamente todo o mundo a conhecer esse “novo conceito” de Deus, com as suas posteriores consequências.

As origens, compreensões pessoais gradativas de Chiara Lubich e o desenvolvimento rápido dos Focolares são apresentados em “PortarTi il mondo fra le braccia” (em português, “levar-se o mundo entre os braços”) por um jornalista, editor do “Corriere della Sera”, um dos principais jornais italiano. Armando Toro não conheceu pessoalmente Chiara e se ateve aos incontáveis documentos e as entrevistas para construir sua biografia.

Momentos de maravilha e dor acompanharam a fase carismático-fundadora dos Focolares, período que se concluiu no dia 14 de março de 2008, quando a sua “mae” morreu aos 88 anos.“Chiara Lubich abraçou mais do que muitos (misticos) o vazio (de Deus), essa não presença, esse Cristo sofredor no abandono e entendia aqueles que não acreditavam, aqueles que experimentavam esse vazio constantemente”, afirmou Toro na sua visita ao centro dos Focolares.

Um livro importante para quem acredita no amor e que investe no dialogo como instrumento para a construção de um mundo melhor, seja ele no âmbito religioso, politico, cultural ou até mesmo econômico.

O livro foi recentemente publicado em português pela Editora Cidade Nova e custa R$29,00 no site, mas quem quiser adquiri-lo em língua original pode comprar online no site da editora Citta Nuova (clique aqui)