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Mollens, 25 August 1988 A new charism in the Church like the one God generously gave to Chiara Lubich does not overrule the previous Christian practices, but rereads them in the light of God’s gift, of its own evangelical perspective.  I had an opportunity to do some reading on great saints the Church honours, and also to watch some films about them. One of the strongest impressions I took away was the harsh, very harsh life of penance that some of them lived; they often wore the most uncomfortable hairshirts, practiced continual fasts, painful vigils, interminable silences, sleeping on the bare ground or on boards. It was also on the strength of these penances that these saints became what they were.  Naturally I asked myself: What about us? What do we do? Don’t we too want to become saints? And immediately, in my soul, I got a clear answer: “You (individually and collectively) must look to Mary. It is she who is your model. About her, who lived in the midst

Rocca di Papa, 20 November 1979 The Word of life for the month of March 2015 that is proposed for the whole Focolare Movement says: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). This is a phrase that Chiara Lubich recalled throughout her life and it was a source of light for her and for many others in the world. This writing is how she explained it to the young people in 1979. Dearest Gen, Perhaps you would like just the right word; a word that says everything, that sums up the truth, that gives you the recipe for a real life. This is what I am meditating on too in these days. Alright, gen, I have convinced myself that there is no safer way to reach the perfect life than the way of suffering embraced out of love.  This is the way all Saints thought of it, throughout the centuries.   The fact is that each one wished

Castel Gandolfo, 5 December 2001 (From a conversation of Chiara Lubich to the women focolarine) Here we offer proof of Chiara’s love for Wisdom (Sophia): with passion she quotes the words of Fr. Raimondo Spiazzi, a well-known theologian, that witness the uniqueness and preciousness of the sapiential penetration of reality.  We quote the following section from a book of 1964 that we liked very much. It was written by the theologian Father Raimondo Spiazzi: “The gift of wisdom puts the soul in contact with eternal realities. ... It scrutinizes the depths of God and discerns his radiant beauty. The soul beholds that which it cannot repeat, and without ever being quenched it drinks from this exhaustible source with an ever-growing desire, as a deer longs for streams of water. “But, having discovered and almost tasted God, with this light in its eyes, the soul is able to look at the world and to see it clearly ... judging everything from a divine viewpoint, almost projecting over everything the light of God’s infinite

Strasbourg, 22 September 1998 On occasion of the UN World Day of Social Justice, we offer an excerpt of Chiara’s talk to the Council of Europe.  Mrs. Leni Fischer, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Giorgos Papandreou, Director of the Committee of Ministers, Mr. Daniel Tarschys, Secretary General, Your Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen, Friends, I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the Council of Europe for conferring the prestigious 1998 European Human Rights Prize also to me. The Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers, with a joint decision, wished to give this recognition to me in order to award, I believe, the Focolare Movement, whose foundress I am, and whose ideal has inspired the action of millions of women and men of every age, language, profession, nation and race, members of various religions and the most diverse convictions, thus acknowledging the Movement’s concrete contribution “towards the promotion and defense of human rights.” In fact, the first article of “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (this year marks its 50th anniversary), affirms:

Florence, 17 May 1986 An important talk in which Chiara does not speak with competence but from her experience that in accepting suffering one draws closer to God. This is a strong message for those who personally live an illness or for those who are alongside ill or elderly people. If at the basis of laws or social projects we place a mentality lacking in respect for the suffering, the disabled and the elderly, then little by little we create a false society. We give importance only to a few values like physical well-being, strength, exaggerated productivity and power, while we distort the purpose for which a nation lives; that is, for the good of the human person and society.Health, as we know, is a precious gift which should be protected. Thus we should do all we can so that our bodies and everyone else's, too, receive nourishment and rest, and are not exposed to sicknesses, accidents or an exaggerated amount of sports. The body is also important for a Christian.

Mexico City, 6 June 1997 A foretaste of a new world in Jesus Forsaken and the Eucharist In Hebrew-Christian revelation the world is seen as the creation of God, of a personal God, and therefore destined to have a lasting relationship with him.Thus, the world has a value in and of itself as well as its own autonomy, which becomes effective in the history of that personal subject which is the human being who has been endowed with the gift of dialoguing directly with God and with other human beings. What is more, the world finds its eschatological fulfillment in the person of the Word incarnate and risen, the only You of the Father, who recapitulates all in himself. Then, according to Revelation, the world should be seen as filled with the presence of God in his Word, through the Spirit.In the history of Western society, this Christian concept of the world has gradually replaced the mythological vision. In the process, however, the Christian conception has been marked by a cultural