Riccardi

20 November 1958 John XXIII is the Pope who signed the approval of the Focolare Movement in 1962. This is how Chiara Lubich remembers him in an article of the “Città Nuova” magazine" ...Jesus is genuinely and wholeheartedly present in John XXIII. This is Jesus, who with much pain and love, tells his disciples: “My dear children, love one another." But since love is not love if it’s not substantial,  he immediately made it concrete and real, incarnating those words: “Coepit facere et docere” (he began to do and then to teach), so as to make the Church one family, conveying universal love for everyone and especially for each one. We see such sublime gifts of humility and simplicity in John XXIII that upset many people, people who are deceived by extravagant lifestyles or by the boom of a science that proves useless in life and only builds up pride. In him Jesus wishes to gather together in one sheepfold all the little sheep, even those who are wandering around outside.

Rocca di Papa, 16 April 1992 Easter, the celebration of the Risen One. At the heart of every Christian’s life. Journalist: What is Easter for you? Chiara: Easter in my life... For one thing, Easter for me is the celebration of Resurrection, it's the celebration of the Risen One. The Risen One, for me but I think also objectively, is the greatest manifestation of God's love for us human beings. A few days ago a very good man, even if he's from another culture, different from my own and perhaps also a non-believer, told me: “Don't you think that the problem of all problems in humanity, the fear beneath all fears, is that of death, the thought of death, the reality of death?” I think it's precisely so. Jesus also knew this. This is why coming on earth he died to save us all but he also rose from the dead, he conquered death. He saw to it that we also would rise, that we would also overcome death. In this

Rome, November – December 1961 Making the Risen Jesus Forsaken part of our daily life. We propose this text of Chiara Lubich as the celebration of the central mystery of Christian faith draws near: the death and resurrection of Christ. Just as all of Christianity is a mystery of love and suffering, so too the truly vital elements in our movement are love and suffering.And just as in Christianity love generally over¬comes suffering and life is victor over death, so it is, also, in the Work of Mary. (...) Chiara Lubich (Cf. That All Men Be One, Origins and Life of the Focolare Movement, New City Press, New York 1974 pp. 65-78) Text