Focolare Movement in the world Around the world, wherever there’s a group, however small, of people taking the spirituality of unity to heart, you’ll find local Focolare communities striving to live in the spirit of the first Christian communities. French philosopher, Emmanuel Mounier (1905-1950), leading exponent of the movement known as personalism, said, “The primitive experience of the person is the experience of the second person. The ‘thou’, including the ‘we’ precedes the ‘I’, or at least accompanies it”. In essence this means: being community. And because we “are” community, we must “create” and work on building community. The challenge in these our own times, is to strive to go beyond individualism and look around ourselves, to strengthen ties with the people sharing our geographical space, be it in a city, in our local quarter, or our place of work or education. It’s the same challenge that every Focolare group strives to meet in different parts of the world, from large cities to small towns or villages and rural areas around the planet. I’ll never forget how encouraged I felt a while back when I visited a small town in the heart of the Argentine countryside. I’d been invited to visit a center for children with disabilities. While there I soon experienced being in the presence of a lively commuity, united by strong ties like a family. You could see it wherever you looked in the township: in the sporting club, the parish, the townhall, the school. You could see it among the adults, the youth, the children, all together. And I’ve seen the same kind of thing in my contacts with other parts of the world too. In the province of Namibe in Angola, local Focolare communities unite for different activities, spurred on by the challenges identified during the Movement’s General Assembly in 2021, and the call to reach out towards the cry of suffering humanity, in whom we recognize the face of Jesus Forsaken. Once a month, members of the community work together to prepare a good meal to share among those most in need. They do this in collaboration with the local church, and the action has expanded to include collection and distribution of clothing and household items to people who really need them. Another group – this time the youth – support a center for over 30 street children aged from 5 to 17 years. Every month they organize a collection of food and household items. Other young people, responding to the Cry of the Planet, collect plastic mineral water bottles (consumed and discarded everywhere in the city streets). They pass them on to local people who, in these difficult economic times, manage to earn something from them. The young collectors mobilize their families, friends and colleagues to save their own empty bottles and contribute to this project. The community of Tombwa, in another part of Angola, has chosen to organize a project of clean-up and refuse-collection in the city, protecting and taking care of the trees too. Moving our attention to the Netherlands, to the southern region of Limburgo, Peter Gerrickens (Volonteer of God) explains, “In late November 2019 we visited a nearby city where we knew they offered regular meals to the most needy residents, because we wanted to start the same kind of activity in our own parish”. Unfortunately, just as they were about to launch this action, the Covid pandemic hit, so they were not allowed to set up a dining hall as planned. Instead, they began distributing packed meals. Focolare member Maria Juhasz is one of the team. She reflects, “It’s not just about giving out food, we want to give something more. This is much more than a charitable activity”. Over the year, the number of meals they provide increased to 400 per day, far too many for the original group to manage on their own. But when they looked around, they soon found reinforcements! Members of the Salvation Army and the Community of Sant’Egidio brought their valuable practical expertise to contribute to the successful continuation of the project. The support of providence is never lacking, in various forms. Some local businesses contribute their excess products. One shop, in particular, delivers large quantities of fruit and vegetables every week. Peter and Maria continue, “One evening every fortnight we hold a prayer meeting together. Everyone is welcome: our friends who receive the meals, the kitchen volunteers, the delivery teams, everyone.  Among us are Christians from all different churches, people of other religions and some without any particular religious faith”. Once a week they also serve coffee in the public square alongside the parish church and the parish priest is always available for anyone who wants to talk with him. “We know everyone carries many worries and sufferings which can’t be resolved with a meal,” admits Peter. “Our friends are grateful for the food they receive but equally for our prayers when we can remember a friend who has passed away or a newly-born grandchild. It’s important to give food, but it’s equally important to build true friendships and to recognize Jesus in the other person. This is our starting point, creating contact, entering in dialogue, person to person, and to discover each one’s need. Some people come along just for a chat. For example, one man after eating the meal thanked us for having listened to him because he felt no-one in his family listened any more.” Currently around 2,000 people receive food every week. But the community is not stopping here. A new project is underway, sponsored by the town of Heerlen, to set up a professional skills centre for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who will receive catering training while assisting in the preparation of these meals. “The Word of Life sustains us in all our challenges,” conclude the project team. “We hope we are truly giving food to Jesus: ‘When I was hungry you gave me to eat’…”. We could continue to travel the world and find local Focolare communities forming wherever two or three have taken the spirituality of unity to heart. Drawing inspiration from the first Christian communities, they strive to be a living testimony of mutual love. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13,35). Together they contribute to the transformation of their own environment, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged.

Carlos Mana

School local community To reflect on the potential of the local community in expressing preferential love for those who are suffering the most, and to witness to the Gospel alive in different expressions of the Church and in the world today, the local leaders (or local “pivots”) of Focolare communities around the world are holding a School from 7th to 10th April 2022. Participants will link in for two hours each day from hundreds of points around the world, sharing in a “glocal” experience: being deeply rooted in their own local situation while at the same time being part of an extended global family.