March 2020

Regno Unito – 17-03-2020

“Abbiamo appena mandato £250 (circa 268 euro) per il Centro a Gerusalemme. E’ una donazione dalle volontarie del Galles”

Italy – 29-11-2019 – “Together …Seeds of Peace”

The invitation card contains a meaningful design: “The tree of peace” which was done by Francesca Di Pietro, of Colgna Spiaggia (Italy), 12 years old.

More than 170 people from the province of Teramo, Pescara and from nearby territories gathered together for a dinner for a cause entitled “Insieme.. Semi di Pace” (Together… Seeds of Peace) last November 29, 2019.
The event was organised and promoted by the Focolare movement with the collaboration of Associazione “Città Aperta” (Open City Association) which aims to collect funds for the International Center for Unity and Peace Jerusalem.
“The nigh was sealed by mutual hospitality and of benevolence among the adherents of this initiative, because already here, and not only in the Holy Land, a model of a united society in the spirit of universal fraternity: ‘Together… Seeds of Peace’ and hope.”

Repubblica Ceca – 19-11-2019

“La notizia del Collegamento CH del 23 febbraio 2019 sul Centro del dialogo e pace a Gerusalemme ci ha portato tanta gioia e si è iscritta nei nostri cuori. In seguito, fra alcuni membri dell’Opera che quest´anno hanno un giubileo, (cioè compiono gli anni “rotondi”, come si dice qui, di 40, 50, 60, 70…), è nata la proposta di approfittare di quest’occasione per vivificare la vita della comunità e festeggiare il totale dei 19 giubilati insieme, in due gruppi: a Praga nella Cittadella Il Patto ed a Brno presso il focolare. E poi l’idea: invece dei regalini, offrire a tutti la possibilità di contribuire, anche con piccole somme, alla costruzione del Centro a Gerusalemme. L’idea è stata accettata con grande gioia. In quei giorni, ci è capitato fra le mani un segnalibro di Gerusalemme, con il disegno della località del Centro ed una citazione delle parole di Chiara del 1960, a proposito della scaletta. Ancora in tempo siamo riusciti a farlo stampare in ceco, aggiungendo anche il numero di un conto bancario per raccogliere i contributi. Nel programma della festa è stato inserito un momento di presentazione del progetto e sottolineato la sua importanza. Un ospite, che ci conosce poco, ebrea di origine, prendeva delle note e faceva le foto con tanto entusiasmo…
Ispirati dall’evento, alcune persone volevano parlarne anche nelle prossime Mariapoli. E così, finora abbiamo raccolto 1.586,- Euro che il 15 Novembre 2019 abbiamo mandato sul conto bancario riportato sul vostro web. È una goccia, sí, ma crediamo e preghiamo che i cerchi intorno alla pietra buttata nell’acqua si allarghino al piú lontano possibile.”

Francoforte (Germania) – 30-08-19

“Cari Amici, il 15 maggio scorso vi ho inviato 150 euro via trasferimento bancario. Essi provengono da una donazione di due amici musulmani della Germania che hanno voluto contribuire alla realizzazione del Centro per l´unità e la pace a Gerusalemme, appena ne hanno sentito parlare attraverso la notizia del Collegamento.”

Switzerland – 08-2019

28-08-2019: “Good morning! We are a group of young people (between 20-25 years old) from Switzerland and take part in the Focolare Movement. With interest we saw your project when it was broadcasted on the Collegamento CH earlier this year. As a group, we have been financially supporting the international Youth Genfest in Manila with funds that we collected by singing in different churches and collecting money. As the Genfest has ended last year. We were looking for a new project to support. Now, is it correct that you still need money for your center? What is the current situation in terms of planning/construction (this way we can also present the project adequately in the churches). Let us know. Thank you for your answer!”
21-09-2019: “Thank you very much for your information! We have therefore decided to support your project financially with the money that we receive from playing in the 3 churches. Now, tomorrow is our first singing”
29-10-2019: “Just to keep you updated: We have successfully collected money in the two churches!”

Århus (Danimarca) – 11-04-2019

Sabato 6 Aprile avevamo incontro con un gruppo che vuole vivere la spiritualità dell’unità a Århus, una città in Danimarca. Loro vogliono fare qualcosa di concreto insieme per aiutare il nostro movimento, e per questo hanno deciso di dare ogni volta che ci incontriamo soldi per il progetto del centro a Gerusalemme. Non hanno tanti soldi, ma abbiamo detto che tutto, anche le cose piccole, possono aiutare. Hanno pensato di dare questi soldi 3-4 volte all’anno, da incominciare da maggio.

“Last Saturday, 6th of April we had a meeting in a group that lives the spirituality of unity in Århus, a town in Denmark. They want to do something concrete together to help our movement, and therefore they have decided to give money each time they meet for the project in Jerusalem, the Dialogue and Unity Center. They don’t have much money, but we think that also the little things can help. They want to give the money 3-4 times a year, and will begin in May 2019.”

Feb.-Mar. 2020 – The call to unity launched by Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Movimento dei Focolari, reaches as far as the city that most of all embodies the encounter between different peoples, cultures, and religions. In Jerusalem, the Custody of the Holy Land hosts the re-adapted exhibition dedicated to the centenary of its birth which is set in Trento, Italy, curated by the Chiara Lubich Centre in collaboration with the Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino.

LUIS RIERA – Holy Land Custody Technical Office

“An exhibition that has an area of about 200 square meters. The original exhibition – the one in Trento – is about 1000 square meters. We, as the Technical Office, acted as a bridge between the Custody – which hosted the exhibition – and the curators in Italy.”

A reference to Chiara Lubich’s spirituality is the passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus prays to the Father “that all may be one”: a message – also addressed to people who do not have a religious belief – addressed to the different types of visitors who will participate in the exhibition, which is open for two weeks.

YISCA HARANI – Teacher

“I want to bring a Jewish audience here because I want them to know that these things exist. Usually, the media is only focused on the conflicts, the contrasts between people. It’s so reassuring, so revitalizing, to see that there’s collaboration, that there are people who act with courage. Without being “naive”, but remaining very realistic: we live in a place full of conflicts, and even in the midst of these conflicts we have to find common paths to cooperate.”

Divided into four parts, between images and video material, the exhibition “Chiara Lubich World City” also reveals the connection that Chiara Lubich had with the Holy Land, despite having visited it only once in 1956: the Movimento dei Focolari has been spreading here since the 1970s.

Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm – Holy Land Custos

“Throughout my life, I had the opportunity to meet and greet Chiara Lubich very briefly during one of her visits to Trento. I am happy that the Custody of the Holy Land can host this exhibition, and I am even happier that she reminds both a time like ours and a land like ours of the value of unity.”

CLAUDIO MAINA – Co-responsible Movimento dei Focolari in the Holy Land

“Linked to Chiara’s visit in 1956 there is also the idea of having a physical place in Jerusalem that would testify that unity is possible. With time, this intuition became clearer in the project of an International Centre for Unity and Peace: it is a project that we are carrying out and that we hope to be able to realize soon. If there is a place where it makes sense to be a presence of unity, it is Jerusalem.”

_{Original post published in cmc-terrasanta.org}