Chiara and her first companions, at the sound of the air-raid alarm, found refuge in the cellar of the house in Via Travai where Natalia Dallapiccola lived. There, too, they opened the Gospel. “We opened it and read: ‘Father … may they all be one’ (Jn 17:21). It was the prayer of Jesus before he died. Because of God’s gift that we had received, we had the impression that we could understand those difficult and powerful words and the conviction arose in our heart that we were born for that page; it was almost like the Magna Charta for our Movement: unity, that is, to contribute to the unity of humankind with God and with one another.

In that same prayer Jesus continued: “May they also be one in us, that the world may believe…”. (Jn 17:21). And this is what also happened around us, so united we were by mutual love. Those who no longer believed, reconsidered their faith; those who believed little, believed more. The changes in people’s lives, conversions to God, multiplied. The strength to follow one’s call was felt by each one as was remaining faithful to one’s life choices.