Riccardi

Rieti, June 4, 1996 The experience of the Focolare Movement in interreligious dialogue. Taken from Chiara Lubich’s talk on the occasion of the “Civilization of Love” Prize. Your Excellencies, Mr. Mayor, Religious and Civil Authorities, Ladies, Gentlemen, friends, Thank you, first of all, for the award you have given me. I was especially pleased because it is called the “Civilization of Love” Prize. These words immediately strike a note of harmony between the international Forum and the Focolare Movement which I represent here, along with others - as we heard - and which is simply one of the instruments in the Church which spread the love of Christ everywhere.  Here dialogue is part of life and especially interreligious dialogue. Is it an impossible undertaking? No, on the contrary, it is an obligatory and timely endeavor. Today, in fact, the world and humankind is going towards a lofty and necessary objective: bringing together all people into one family, achieving universal brotherhood. Despite the tensions of the modern world (those between North and

Lublin (Poland), June 19, 1996 Extract from the address given by Chiara Lubich at the conferral of the honorary doctorate in Social Sciences by the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. The Focolare Movement. It is not easy to describe it in a few minutes. However, we can clearly see the purpose for which we believe God brought it about. It came to life within the Church in the 1940s. In those days an ideology that did not acknowledge God was spreading throughout the world. It wanted to banish God from society. Hatred had acquired an important role in the fulfillment of a society which nonetheless wanted to present itself as progressive. Unity, the unity of peoples without God, was the utopia presented as credible, as one for which it was worth spending most of one’s energy. In was within this context that the Focolare Movement began. This is a Movement whose main objectives and goals are these: God chosen in fact as an Ideal; love chosen as a lifestyle; unity which

Paris, April 26, 1998 We are perhaps too used to seeing the mother of Jesus from a devotional point of view, rather than considering her role in the universal plan of providence.  This can make it difficult to understand the deep inner conviction which led to Chiara Lubich wanting to re-live Mary, who is a model for everyone. Nicole: In Paradise 1949 you understood Mary in a new and splendid way. Can you tell us something about your relationship with her today? Chiara:  All right, yes. How do I see Mary now? I see her as being very great, very, very, very great because that is how she is. I no longer see her as the young girl from Nazareth, as she is often shown in little statues. No, I know that she is very great! … We can’t imagine nor will we ever be able to imagine how great Mary is. So let’s use all our imagination, all the ideas we might have in order to fathom something of how great