In the midst of the destruction and hopelessness of World War II, a group of young women gathered around 23-year-old Chiara Lubich. What bound them together were their faith and their experience that God is Love. They realized that God is the only ideal worth living for, and as a result they focused their lives on the Gospel.
That experience radically changed their lives. They resolved to live as persons whose actions and thoughts would be based on the Gospel. The consequences were many. One was that this life spread and after two months a community of 500 people of all ages had come to life around them. The group was often referred to as the “focolare,” the Italian term for the hearth or family fireside.
Its goal became one of striving towards the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer to the Father: "May they all be one" (Jn 17:21). A spirituality of unity came to life and gave rise to a movement of spiritual and social renewal.
Years passed; this life spread like wildfire. Popes recognized a formidable force in this movement and advocated its growth. The heads of Christian Churches, from Athenagoras I to Archbishop George Carey, encouraged its expansion in their Churches. Leaders of the major religions recognized the relevance of this solid spirituality for their own followers. And Chiara traveled to Thailand and Japan to meet with Buddhists, to New York to meet with the Muslim followers of Imam Warith D. Mohammed in the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque in Harlem, to Buenos Aires to meet members of the Jewish Community gathered at the B’nai B’rith center, to India to meet a large number of Hindu faithful.
The circle of those who benefit from this kernel of life broadens. Chiara becomes a citizen of different cities worldwide. She is awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, and the Human Rights Award by the Council of Europe. Politicians want to hear her speak and find in her message a way to better government. Academia takes an interest in this woman and in the movement she has launched. Thirteen honorary doctorates are conferred on her. She accepts them, she says, “…because they are given to the movement, not to me, and so that God’s work will be better known.” Philosophy, theology, humane letters, communications, economics.... The spirit of unity that animated her and her first companions has now developed into a system of ideas that interests people in the most diversified fields. Chiara Lubich is currently the elected president of the Focolare.
© 2007 Focolare Movement (New York)