After Chiara
On the occasion of the centennial of Chiara Lubich (1920-2020), some of our friends speak out.
They tell us how they came to know the movement and what its values have brought to their lives.
From New Caledonia
I knew the movement in 2009. I was 4 years old, so I was very small. I was just following my parents, my uncle and my aunt who themselves knew it for a long time.
With them, I went́ to the meetings and participated in the activities but I did not really understand the Ideal. All I wanted was to play with the children around me.
In 2011, I participated to my first gathering of the Focolare Movement which is called "Mariapolis" which means "little City of Mary". It was for all of Oceania in Australia.
Several countries were represented, which allowed me to meet many people despite the language barrier. So, all I was interested in was playing with my friends that I had made there.
When I returned from this trip, my parents, my sister and I continued to go to the meetings of the Movement where I learnt how to love by always trying to see Jesus in the other person, to see him or her in a new light, especially when it is difficult. This is how we will be able to achieve unitý thanks to this ideal of love so that "all may be ONE".
I.T., Dumbéa-sur-mer.
Universal vision
Celebrating Chiara's 100th birthday "is a great joy".
It is a moment of deep gratitude and thanksgiving! It is to become aware of how inspiring this woman has been in my religious life by her fidelity to God, to the Church, her attention to each person and her radiance in living unity with all.
Her love for the Word of God arouses in her a great desire: that it be spread throughout the world.
"Universal vision"! This word inspires my life every day. Thank you Chiara!
M.A.S., Rimouski
The call for unity
I am from New Caledonia. I came to know the Focolare Movement in 2009. But it was in 2011, during a Mariapolis in Melbourne, Australia that I discovered the beauty of the charism of Unity that Chiara gave us.
Indeed, an immense joy came over me when I perceived the pure unity between people. In other words, in spite of the linguistic, cultural and religious differences that we found at the Mariapolis, what brought us together was Chiara and her call to unity! It was the love for the other, the love that I receive from the other freely and without reserve.
I feel lucky to be part of such a beautiful Movement that gives me the opportunity to live unique experiences like the Gen Congresses, the Mariapolis, monthly meetings with the community...
Chiara has truly opened the way to Unity!
V.T., Quebec
Living unity
For me, living unity goes beyond the framework of our regular meetings; there are spontaneous and unpredictable gestures and appointments at the same time. It is up to me to be creative and to provoke these contacts.
Chiara had to show a lot of initiative to approach people; it's this aspect of her personality that I can relate to. Even though I am alone and living the confinement in my own way, I tell myself that the COVID-19 cannot kill the love that inhabits my heart, just as during the Second World War, the bombs could not destroy the love that inhabited the heart of Chiara and her companions.
In the present context, we have the prayer and fraternal communion at a distance to support each other.
P.D., Quebec
Celebrating love
To celebrate the centenary of Chiara's birth is to celebrate Love through time, the beauty of the welcome when we arrived in Canada, the multitude of experiences, the feeling of being looked upon with infinite love, the joy of being in a spiritual family comforting each other either in person or through Zoom or through the memory of a rich and shared experience. It is to taste heaven on the earth.
Thank you Chiara for your love that inspires us and dwells in us.
M.R., Montreal
Thank you Chiara
On the occasion of the centenary of your birth, Chiara, I would like to thank you for all that you have taught me, for this beautiful path to which you have invited me. You have made me understand that Christian life is in actions, especially in my life with my neighbour.
You have encouraged me to experience the power of providence, based on faith in God. I thank you for the joy and peace that I have been able to attain thanks to your spirituality.
You also helped me discover that the Kingdom of God is on earth when I follow His love and His will. Thank you Chiara!
S.J., Montreal
The present moment
During Chiara's centenary year 2020, we give thanks to Chiara for giving us the beautiful charism that God revealed to her and which is still alive in us. How many times have we said "Chiara taught us that..." or "through the Movement I learned that..." Our life is impregnated by the years of life of the Gen (young people of the Movement) lived under the inspiration of Chiara, especially on the importance of living the present moment according to the will of God in total unity with the neighbour, and in the continuous beginning again to love while saying "for you Jesus" or "you Jesus are my only good."
During the centenary, we want to continue to live this beautiful charism with new enthusiasm and above all to give it to our daughter and to the younger generations as one of the most beautiful legacies we can give them.
A.B., Montréal
Love, love, love
Chiara taught me a lot through the Movement: to love, to love, to love; to live in the present moment especially in this time of pandemic; to be one with the other.
I celebrate her centenary by thanking her for her "message of unity" which remains rich and alive in me.
G.D., St-Eustache
Mutual love
For me, this centenary tells me that I must strive to maintain this unity, this mutual love. That I must keep it alive for another century by living it every day with my immediate neighbour, whoever that person may be.
By doing this, I will be able to spread the charism and help it to continue from generation to generation.
A.L., Montréal
Mother Chiara,
It was 1981, the year in which Mother Chiara (as I like to call her), a Western laywoman, spoke for the first time to a large Buddhist community.
We had just arrived in St. Laurent, and that same year I wanted to give the founder of the School of Clowns a gift by taking her to see a performance by Gen Rosso ( an International Performing Arts Group of the Focolare Movement) which was visiting Montreal. I was fascinated by the beauty of the show and wanted to know more about this Movement.
As time went by, I realized that Chiara was an inspiration for all those who seek God in a spirit of love and I was convinced that she was the woman of this time.
My husband and I quickly became friends with the first members of the Movement in Montreal. Since then, many have left us for a better world...
Two priests, Alain and Robert, helped us in our journey and we are very grateful to them.
We met a family from Burundi. By their example and their fervor, they brought us what we needed, a family spirit where love is in the first place.
When I was a missionary religious, my model of thanksgiving was Venerable Delia Tétrault, in Rome. Now it would be Chiara and her spirituality.
The visit to Washington, D.C., with a group from Montreal allowed me to meet her in person at a celebration at the Marian Shrine where she was receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Education. That day, I chose my new mission, "that of building unity with all."
My great desire is that her dream of unity for a better world would be heard by the whole world, currently in disarray!
Today I am 87 years old and cannot move around as I used to, but the spirit of this Movement of love gives me the courage to persevere, with my loving husband, in our common mission.
Thank you, Mother Chiara. While waiting for the Church to recognize your holiness, we ask you to intercede so that the Work of Mary may invade the hearts of all people.
T.L., Montreal
How did I get to know Chiara?
Even though I had already participated in the Mariapolis of 2012, I can say that I got to know Chiara more intimately during the spring of 2013. I was going through one of the hardest times of my life when I went to spend an afternoon at the focolare house, the day before a day of trials for me.
While drinking coffee, I talked about my pain, everything I was going through and the fear that was overwhelming me. It was then that Gina, one of the first focolarine, told me about the path Chiara had taken before founding the Movement. The context of WWll, the extreme suffering of the wounded, separated from their families, the fear and then, Chiara's decision to dedicate her life to caring for these people, even abandoning the security of her family, made me re-evaluate my own pain.
I felt that I was not alone, even that my pain was not so great and that other people had faced terrible things without losing the peace that comes from God.
That afternoon I left the focolare in peace, in unity with Chiara and with Jesus, I no longer feared the next day. In confidence, I received this grace from God on an unforgettable afternoon when Chiara presented herself to me.
C.N., Montreal
An immense gift
How can I choose the words to truly express my gratitude to Chiara for the spirituality of unity that she has left us.
Well, it is thanks to Chiara who said her "Yes to God". In recent years I have witnessed the gestures of love, joy, freedom and above all fraternity within the Movement. I feel that I am now part of a true family united by love.
It is by discovering how much I am loved that I can sow joy among those around me and work as a disciple of Jesus.
May God be praised for this immense gift: "a spiritual family that testifies to His love every day on earth".
N.B., Montreal