ITALY – ASIA
Chiara Lubich told me: God has great plans for the Chinese people
Angelo Lazzarotto (中文版)
Memories of the founder of the Focolare movement, in the words of a PIME missionary. The missionary impulse of the Work of Mary now counts two million members in more than 180 countries. These even include personalities from other religions. In spite of the apparent contradictions, the Love of God builds human history. The “Promised Land” of China.
Milan (AsiaNews) – The life of Chiara Lubich was without a doubt a “divine adventure”. It began as the unconditional response of a young Christian woman to the infinite Love that she had seen even amid the horrors of the last Great War, in the precarious air raid shelters in Trent.
Contemplating the unmatchable model of this total donation, Jesus crucified and abandoned, Chiara had discovered that, in spite of the apparent contradictions, it is the Love of God that builds human history through our free response of love. Her dedication on behalf of the most abandoned was the logical expression of this love and response, and she had felt the need to cry it aloud to all, with her life first and then with her words. She did not have plans of her own, but instead looked to the “score” written in heaven. And God opened the world to her.
Almost 60 years have gone by since I had the privilege of encountering this exceptional experience in Rome. As a young missionary priest, I was immediately struck by the contagious enthusiasm of those who, according to the ideal of Chiara, had found the full realisation of their Christian calling. As I left for Hong Kong a short time later, Chiara assured me that this mission was also hers.
After just a few years the movement also arrived in Asia, in the Philippines and Hong Kong. And she herself personally followed the growth of these seedlings of new Christian life through a number of visits.
The developments of the Work of Mary were one of the most significant expressions of the breath of renewal brought into the Church through Vatican Council II. The power of this impulse appeared in all its splendour with the experience of the hospital centre built by the members of Focolare in Fontem, in Cameroon, which gave new life to tribes heading toward extinction. And from this experience, under the guidance of Chiara, there emerged a new wave of missionary proclamation, starting from the foundation, from contagious mutual love.
In the more than 180 countries where the movement started by Chiara Lubich is present today, there are more than two million people actively involved. These are people at work not only on behalf of the Catholic Church, because the universal vocation is also constantly alive, which Chiara drew from the Gospel from the very beginning. It is significant that there are more than 350 non-Catholic churches and ecclesial communities that have welcomed and are living this evangelical experience.
And it is even more significant that Chiara was invited to share her Christian ideal in the most distinguished assemblies of the Jewish world, and also among the Muslims, the Buddhists, and the Hindus. So much so that today there are about 30,000 members of non-Christian religions who do not hesitate to identify themselves with the human and ethical ideas proposed by the Work of Mary (the official name of the Focolare movement).
My missionary vocation was strengthened by the experience of the Focolare. And there are not a few of my fellow religious, working in Asia and on other continents today, whose vocation was born from or reinforced by their contact and example.
The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, which was founded with a special vocation for evangelisation in Asia and Oceania, this year commemorates the 150th anniversary of its arrival on Chinese soil, in Hong Kong. I think that there is a good sign in the love that Chiara always expressed for China, which she referred to as the “Promised Land”. She repeated to me a number of times her conviction that God has great plans for the Chinese people. May her intercession now hasten the realisation of these plans.
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意大利 – 亞洲
盧嘉勒女士曾經對我說：天主對中國人民有著宏偉的計劃
(AsiaNews)
by Angelo Lazzarotto
宗座外方傳教會傳教士深切緬懷普世博愛運動團體創始人盧嘉勒女士。截止目前，普世博愛運動已經在世界一百八十多個國家和地區擁有了兩百多萬名成員。他們中，有許多其它宗教信仰團體的人士。儘管現世充滿了各種矛盾，但天主的愛構成了人類歷史。“許地”中國
米蘭（亞洲新聞）—毫無疑問，普世博愛運動團體創始人盧嘉勒女士的一生“充滿了神聖的傳奇”。這段傳奇，首先是從一名年輕的基督信徒將自己的全部奉獻給天主無限的愛開始的。第二次世界大戰可怕的歲月裡，她仍然在特蘭托省防空襲避難所中看到了天主彰顯的這種無限的愛。
在深刻默想無法比擬的被釘十字架上、被拋棄的耶穌那完全奉獻的榜樣時，儘管表面上存在種種矛盾，但盧嘉勒女士通過我們對愛的自由回答豁然領悟到了構成人類歷史的天主的愛。她迫切地感到應該向所有人大聲宣講耶穌——首先用生活的見證、然後用語言。她沒有任何計劃，僅專注地凝視天際中勾畫出的“標記”。天主為她敞開了世界的大門。
近六十年後的今天，我仍然不停地感謝天主讓在羅馬結識了這一傑出的事業。當時，我還是一名年輕的傳教士，但卻立即被盧嘉勒的理想深深地震撼了。她的理想，在其履行的基督信仰使命中完全實現了。不久，我前往香港，她向我保證，我在香港的傳教使命也是她的傳教事業。
短短幾年後，普世博愛運動廣泛傳播到了亞洲的菲律賓、香港。她本人親自伴隨這些新基督信仰生活種子的成長壯大，不斷走訪上述團體。
普世博愛運動是教會通過梵二大公會議所帶來的一股意義最為深遠的春風。這股春風，在喀麥隆建造的醫療中心中充分展示了其和煦的溫暖。按照盧嘉勒的指示，由此還掀起了一股巨大的傳教潮，從而蔓延開來了廣泛的彼此關愛。
今天，盧嘉勒開創的普世博愛運動分布在世界一百八十多個國家和地區，擁有兩百多萬名成員。他們不僅僅是積極致力於天主教會事業的人，因為，盧嘉勒最初從福音中汲取的普世性聖召始終充滿了活力。三百五十多個非天主教的教會和團體接受了這一福音經驗，便是最有說服力的證明。
更加重要的是，猶太教會、穆斯林、佛教和印度教團體，都曾經多次邀請盧嘉勒去分享她的基督信仰理想。今天，大約三萬多名非基督信徒毫不猶豫地向人們表明自己完全贊同普世博愛運動的人文和倫理道德理想。
普世博愛運動團體的經驗，激勵了我的傳教聖召。今天活躍在亞洲和其它大陸上的我的許多同會兄弟們的聖召，也得益於他們與普世博愛運動的接觸而誕生、或者得到了鞏固。
宗座外方傳教會具有面向亞洲和大洋洲傳教的特殊聖召，今年，宗座外方傳教會正在慶祝其踏上中國的土地，在香港傳教一百五十周年。我想，歷來將中國稱為“許地”的盧嘉勒對中國的愛，便是最好的祝願。她曾經多次向我表示，她堅信天主對中國人民有著宏偉的計劃。現在，願她的代禱能夠加速這一宏偉計劃的實現。
(Source: AsiaNews)
