(Vatican Radio) The cause for the beatification of Chiara Lubich, founder of the international Focolare Movement, was opened on Tuesday.
The official inauguration of the Diocesan Process of Inquiry into Lubich’s life, followed the praying of Vespers in the Cathedral of Frascati, near Rome.
While Lubich was born in the northern Italian region of Trento, she established the International Centre for the Focolare Movement, whose charism is the promotion of peace and the unity of all people, in Frascati.
In a written message for the gathering, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Pope Francis turns his thoughts to the occasion and “hopes” that Chiara Lubich’s “luminous example” will inspire “renewed faithfulness to Christ and generous service to the unity of the Church” among those who have taken up her “precious spiritual legacy.”
Cardinal Parolin said the Pope exhorts that the life and works of Chiara Lubich be made known to the People of God. This consecrated laywoman, the Pope said, “ignited for the Church a new light on the path towards unity.”
Linda Bordoni spoke with Ray Asprer, a member of the general council of the Focolari Movement in Rome.
Listen to the interview:
Ray Asprer speaks of the gift of Chiara Lubich to the Universal Church as “a sanctity that can be lived out in ordinary life: in daily life where heroic virtues are not limited to moments of heroism but rather where heroism characterizes one’s day and one’s routine”.
“I think this is what she can offer today’s Church: the sanctity of the common person to be lived out in the midst of the world with many others in the footsteps of Jesus” he says.
Asper agrees that this vision is in line with what Pope Francis is asking us to do also by asking us to “look outwards, where there is discomfort, where we are called to go beyond our comfort zone”, reaching out towards the peripheries, “letting goodness flow”.
He says Chiara’s spiritual legacy can help ease the current tensions and conflicts in the world today, many of which are caused by tensions between religious groups.
It can do so – he says – by breaking down walls and divisions and by offering a path in which “the other is somebody whom I can be unity with” he says.
Asprer explains that Chiara Lubich’s legacy teaches us that precisely because “the other is different he is different, he can be a gift to me if I am open to him; and if I can be open to him and listen to him, I can offer to him that what I hold dearest in my heart”.
She offers – he says – “a kind of dialogue, a way of looking towards a horizon of unity in differences, not in uniformity: I think this is precisely what the world is asking for today.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The cause for the beatification of Chiara Lubich, founder of the international Focolare Movement, was opened on Tuesday. The official inauguration of the Diocesan Process of Inquiry into Lubich’s life, followed the praying of Vespers in the Cathedral of Frascati, near Rome. While Lubich was born in the northern Italian region of Trento,…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called on fathers to be present in the lives of their children pointing out that the absence of a ‘father figure’ can have grave consequences.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Speaking on Wednesday during the weekly General Audience, the Pope continued in his catechesis on the family, choosing to focus on the dignity and role of fathers.
He said that teaching us to call God our Father, Jesus gave new depth and richness to this relationship, so fundamental to the life of society.
Sadly – Francis said – in our modern societies, we are experiencing a crisis of fatherhood. In the past it was common practice to perceive the image of the father as authoritarian and at times even repressive, today – he said – we now sense uncertainty and confusion about the role of the father.
Recalling his experience with the faithful when he was Bishop of Buenos Aires, Francis said that he was often struck by how caught up in their profession and self-realization so many contemporary fathers are. “Often” – he said – “I used to ask fathers whether they took the time to play with their children, whether they had the courage and the love to spend time with their children. And their answers were not good: I am too busy… I have too much work to do”.
And speaking of an “absence” of the father figure in society, the Pope said that “without father figures, young people often feel ‘orphaned’, left adrift at a critical moment in their growth and development.
Calling on fathers to be responsible, he said that fathers are necessary as examples and guides for our children in wisdom and virtue.
Society itself – he continued – has a similar responsibility not to leave the young as orphans, without ideals, sound values, hopes and possibilities for work and for authentic spiritual fulfilment.
Just as Jesus promised that he would not leave us orphans – Pope Francis concluded – let us ask him to deepen and renew our appreciation of fatherhood and to raise up good fathers for the benefit of our families, our Church and our world.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called on fathers to be present in the lives of their children pointing out that the absence of a ‘father figure’ can have grave consequences. Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: Speaking on Wednesday during the weekly General Audience, the Pope continued in his catechesis on the family, choosing to…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called on fathers to be present in the lives of their children pointing out that the absence of a ‘father figure’ can have grave consequences.
Speaking on Wednesday during the weekly General Audience, the Pope continued in his catechesis on the family, choosing to focus on the dignity and role of fathers.
He said that teaching us to call God our Father, Jesus gave new depth and richness to this relationship, so fundamental to the life of society.
Sadly – Francis said – in our modern societies, we are experiencing a crisis of fatherhood. In the past it was common practice to perceive the image of the father as authoritarian and at times even repressive, today – he said – we now sense uncertainty and confusion about the role of the father.
And speaking of an “absence” of the father figure in society, the Pope said that “without father figures, young people often feel ‘orphaned’, left adrift at a critical moment in their growth and development.
Calling on fathers to be responsible, he said that fathers are necessary as examples and guides for our children in wisdom and virtue.
Society itself – he continued – has a similar responsibility not to leave the young as orphans, without ideals, sound values, hopes and possibilities for work and for authentic spiritual fulfilment.
Just as Jesus promised that he would not leave us orphans – Pope Francis concluded – let us ask him to deepen and renew our appreciation of fatherhood and to raise up good fathers for the benefit of our families, our Church and our world.
(from Vatican Radio)…