Archivio SCRITTI EN

Rocca di Papa, 12 February 1985 (...) Each spirituality in the Church is simply a way of living Christianity, although viewing it from a particular angle, and the same applies to our spirituality. However, Christianity is immeasurably rich in treasures and the Scriptures are a part of this wealth. (...) Text Video in italian

Vienna, 5 November 2001 Excerpt from an address Chiara gave to some dignitaries in the ecumenical field: (...)You know the episode of those early days during the war, when we first focolarine found ourselves in a cellar where we had taken refuge from the bombs, and we opened the Gospel; everything was dark and in the candlelight we read Jesus’ last will and testament. (...) Text Video in italian

Rocca di Papa, 17 March 1983 (...) Oftentimes, the thought of death is bitter to accept, because we are afraid of God's judgement. Not knowing what it will be like, we become frightened at the thought of our sins. If we believed Jesus' words, however, we would be able to influence the outcome of this judgement decisively, and we would have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Jesus said: "The measure you give will be the measure you get" (Mt. 7:2), and "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy" (Mt. 5:7).Our behaviour toward our neighbour is like a boomerang, which, when thrown, comes back to us. Do we judge severely? A severe judgement will come back to us. Do we show mercy? Mercy will come back to us. When judging our neighbour, are we lenient, allowing him or her the benefit of the doubt? Then the same will happen to us. When dealing with our neighbour, do we try to find the good in the situation; make excuses;

Buenos Aires, 20 April 1998 Address to the members of the B’nai B’rith and to other members of the Jewish community. (...) And now I am here with you. I am here with brothers and sisters with whom we share an authentic faith in the One God. We hold in common the invaluable patrimony of the Bible in what we call the Old Testament.What could happen if the Lord were to begin to clarify that it is his will to bring about also among us Jews and Christians a brotherly rapport? (...) Text Video in italian

Rome, November 25, 1975 "Is it possible to develop our own personality while giving of ourselves to others? In doing this wouldn’t we give up being ourselves?"If you only knew what a personality we could form by giving ourselves to the others!! It is in lov¬ing that we burn up our own "ego", our "old self" as St. Paul would say, in order to allow our "new self" to live in us. It is our "new self" which is our real, true personality. Here are some examples. Do you think that St. Francis who always gave of himself to others is similar to the Little Flower (St. Therese of the Child Jesus)? He is very different and has a personality of his own. He sings to the birds, to nature, to the sun, to the light, to the fields. His message is poverty. He brings about a total revolution attracting a multitude of persons. He leaves a distinctive mark on the century in which he lives.The Little Flower is not like

Palermo, 22 January 1998 Dearest everyone,    …We know that our spirituality, which is both personal and communitarian, leads us to extend our love vertically, as they say today, towards God; and horizontally towards our neighbour. And the holiness that derives from this is the fruit of the balance between these two loves (...) Text Video in italian