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July 2022 – Last July 8 and 9, the Latin parish of Taybeh hosted the Focolare Movement’s “Mariapolis” in the Holy Land. This is the name of the most characteristic event of the Movement founded by Chiara Lubich, which since its beginnings gathered for a few days those who wanted to know the spirit and lifestyle of the Focolare Movement, encouraging them to live according to the law of evangelical love.

After two years of pandemic, more than 150 people – including adults and children – from Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Gaza, Haifa and Nazareth and other places in Galilee, experienced two days of fraternity and reflection on the theme “Witnesses of Love”: testimonies, moments of reflection and celebration, moments of fraternal charity. As someone said at the time of leaving, “Heaven’s life on earth.”

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

June 2022 – An evening of songs, testimonies and prayer: on Saturday, June 4, a Pentecost vigil was held at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Jerusalem with Jerusalem Patriarch of the Latins, H.B. Pierbattista Pizzaballa.

“The Spirit urges us to create and to be a community. The Spirit calls us to love others, to take care of them, to feel them as part of ourselves”.

This year, for the first time, this appointment was organized and animated by the faithful of various ecclesial movements and new communities. An initiative born out of a dialogue with the patriarch, in the wake of the synodal path.

AGNES DE CHILLAZ Emmanuel Community – vigil organizing committee

“It was a beautiful way to work all together, a synodal way. We learned to work together, with different sensibilities, charismatic communities like ours and different ones. But we learned and received a lot and this night is the fruit of all our journey”.

The microphone passed from hand to hand: different voices recounted the unique and varied action of the Spirit in the lives of God’s people.

José Pablo told of his abandonment by his father and his rebellion against the faith, until his encounter with the Neocatechumenal Way and the priesthood.

The encounter with Don Giussani’s charism changed Sobhy’s life, the one with the Emmanuel Community saved Jean and Agnes’ marriage. The one with the Focolare Movement allowed Marcel and Boulos to live with hope the loss of their son Jack, at only 15 years old.

“On Jack’s last night, the Holy Spirit gave us great strength to be able to give Jack the assurance that we were at peace. We told him: “Jack, Jesus, whom you love, is waiting for you. Leave us and go with Jesus. It is better with Him’. At that moment we felt a supernatural peace within us. And even today, although we miss Jack terribly, this peace remains”.

Ghada brought her testimony from Gaza, where even in the harshest moments of the war she experienced God’s love – she said. It was her encounter with the Focolare Movement that changed her life forever.

GHADA SWAILIEM Focolare Movement – Gaza

“I was a negative person, sometimes even aggressive. Chiara always repeated to us the words of Jesus: ‘Love your enemies,’ love all the good and the bad. And these words touched me very much. Loving is not easy, but being together helps us, ‘unity is important, it helps us grow.”

This Pentecost vigil opens a new chapter and new ways for the Church in Jerusalem:

SINÉAD MARTIN Koinonia John the Baptist

“All this has enriched my faith, meeting other movements and communities, sharing times of prayer, being together, talking, organizing all the things, preparing songs. Truly we experienced the unity of being together in one body, not independent communities, but together, it’s something new, fresh.”

H B PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins

“Usually movements met very little here in the Holy Land, and with this synodal process on the occasion of Pentecost it was good to see that what seemed impossible becomes possible. And it is also a bit of a wish for our whole Church that we can work together without losing anything of the individual’s identity.”

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

Sept. 2022 – In Hebrew, Nes Ammim means the ‘miracle of the peoples’. This place was created to foster dialogue and understanding between Christians, Jews and Muslims. From 16 to 18 September, “Dare to Care for a Better Future” was held here, a meeting organised by the Focolare Movement in the Holy Land and open to people of every generation, nationality, religious faith or non-religious beliefs. It was an opportunity to share a few days together and discover each other as partners, through mutual understanding, in building a better future together. For testimonies of friendship between believers of different religions, see also Holy Land: stories of dialogue ( https://youtu.be/Cp9MOx5xKvA ).

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Jan. 2021 – There are numerous messages of congratulations and prayers from the Holy Land for Margaret Karram, the new President of the Focolare Movement.

Arab Catholic, she is originally from the city of Haifa, where she grew up and where she has always lived her commitment to dialogue between religions. She was elected on January 31, 2021 by the General Assembly, which includes 359 representatives from around the world.

Margaret Karram succeeds the founder Chiara Lubich and Maria Voce: by statute, the Focolare Movement must always be led by a woman.

MARGARET KARRAM – President of the Focolare Movement

“I would like to say to all the family of the Focolare Movement in the world a big, infinite thank you. As soon as my nomination came out I felt a great emotion and at the same time I felt a force of the Spirit within me. My immediate response was “here I am, I’m at your service, I’m at the service of the Church, of the Movement and of humanity together with all of you.”

TERESE SOUDAH – Focolare Holy Land

“For all of us it was truly a great emotion, a great joy, to know that Margaret Karram, a daughter of our land, was elected President of the Focolare Movement.

I would like to express all our gratitude to Maria Voce, who led the Movement for 12 years after Chiara Lubich. Now the choice of a new President with the profile of Margaret Karram certainly represents a sign of novelty for the whole Movement. Perhaps there will be possibilities for greater impact, new ways of dialogue. I would say: let us be surprised by the work of the Spirit.”

In addition to serving as co-chair of the Focolare community in the Holy Land, Margaret Karram has served on several commissions and organizations here to promote dialogue among the three monotheistic religions.

A work recognized in 2013 with the “Mount Zion Award” for reconciliation – given to her together with the Jewish scholar and researcher Yisca Harani and in 2016 with the International Santa Rita Award for fostering dialogue between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians starting from the everyday life lived.

YISCA HARANI – Scholar, researcher and teacher committed to interreligious dialogue

“It was a real shock, we were both very surprised. Initially we both wanted to refuse the award: we thought we didn’t deserve it, and this caused some embarrassment. We were very happy that Margaret’s mother and my father were present. It was an incredible and very emotional moment: two families, one Arab and one Jewish, were sitting there together.”

Br. FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm – Custos of the Holy Land

“Today it is a particularly beautiful and meaningful thing for me, being from Trentino, therefore from the city of Chiara Lubich and living in the Holy Land, to see that a Christian from the Holy Land, from Haifa, Margaret Karram, is the president of this Movement. I am pleased to see this fact and obviously we accompany her with our prayers, knowing also that she studied for some years here in our Theological Studio of St. Saviour’s, and knowing that the Holy Land is small, and therefore in the Holy Land all of us Christians feel a bit part of the same family. And perhaps this sensibility of being a Christian of the Holy Land can really be of great help in carrying forward the spirituality of unity.”

HB Mgr PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA, ofm – Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins

“This is good news, first of all because she is a daughter of our Church. We have come to know her very well, and she has worked and contributed a great deal here in this Church to raise awareness of our vocation to encounter all realities, even within the sometimes very difficult conflicts that exist here. I am certain that she will bring this experience of the Holy Land into the charism of Chiara Lubich and the Focolare Movement, which is so close to our vocation in the Holy Land.”

From the Holy Land, but also from all over the Middle East, come messages of congratulations and prayer for the election of Margaret Karram.

YOUNG FOCOLARE COMMUNITY JERUSALEM

“From Jerusalem we wanted to send you a special greeting and a big hug. As soon as we got the news of your election we burst with joy!”

GHADA SWEILEM – Focolare Community Gaza

“On behalf of myself, and all your family in Gaza we greet you with all our hearts, let’s stay united!”

TALAT SHATROUBI – Muslim friend

“It was the right choice, and it was not an easy one. She has been entrusted with an important task, especially in the difficult times in which we live.”

BERNADETTE SOUDAH ABU ATTA – Focolare Community Haifa

“It seems really significant to me that someone who was born and lived in a country full of divisions was chosen to lead the unity movement.”

WILLIAM NAHLEH – Focolare Community Haifa

“Thanks to your years in the Middle East, especially in our country, you have a great deal of experience in interreligious dialogue, between cultures and between churches.”

JESSICA SACKS – Jewish friend

“What exciting news! We know how much wisdom, how much goodness, how much dedication and how much knowledge you bring to this role.”

ANNA MARIA KARRAM – Margaret Karram’s Sister

“The day of the election was a day of prayer and expectation. I wondered if my sister would be the new leader of the Focolare Movement. Now I feel a new sense of responsibility, and a new commitment to live my life as a Christian, through the spirituality of the Focolare, more fully.”

FOCOLARE COMMUNITY BETHLEHEM

Congratulations!!! We all love you!

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

Mar. 2020 – “Together for Jerusalem” was a seminar sponsored by the Focolare in the Holy Land together with the Sophia University Institute (Italy).The seminar gathered Jewish and Christian biblical experts to focus on the vocation of Jerusalem as seen in the Bible, thus setting a biblical foundation to the goals of the Focolare’s future International Center for Unity and Peace in Jerusalem.

From different countries in Europe, from USA and Israel, scholars in biblical and related studies participated in the seminar held this past March 12, 2020 at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. Professor Yair Zakovitch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem delivered the keynote speech entitled: “’In the Days to Come, the Mount of the Lord’s House Shall Stand Firm above the  Mountains and Tower above the Hills’ (Isaiah 2:2): The Peace of Jerusalem in Prophetic Literature”, with responses moderated by Dr. Marcie Lenk,  a Jewish scholar of Jewish and Christian texts.

Amidst the global health crisis, several scholars from other countries presented their contributions through teleconferencing. Dr. Giovanna Porrino (Italy): “God Gathers His people and the Peoples of Every Tongue” (Isaiah 2 and 66); Prof. Franz Sedlmeier (Germany): “Psalm 87: Jerusalem, Mother of the Peoples”; Dr. Giovana Czander (USA): “The Witness of Two or More in the Old Testament/ Hebrew Bible”; Dr. Margareta Gruber (Germany): “Urban Living Spaces for all Peoples. The Vision of the New Jerusalem in the New Testament Book of Revelation” (Rev. 21:1-22:5).

There were also two presenters from Israel: Rabbi David Goodman who presented his contribution entitled: “The Ancient History of Jerusalem in Jewish Oral Tradition”; and Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish: “How Do We Bring the Heavenly Jerusalem Closer to the Earthly Jerusalem?”

Rabbi Ron Kronish:
“We did a little bit of dreaming… (about) the Jerusalem that we would like to see, the Jerusalem of the future, the Jerusalem of our hopes and dreams. We also talked towards the end of the day about how we must share and work together in bringing the heavenly Jerusalem closer to the earthly Jerusalem. It was a day of dialogue, of inspiration, and it gave all of us a hope for the future in a very real and tangible sense.”

László Berényi, Hungary’s cultural attaché in Israel:
“… Jerusalem, specifically in Dormito, where we are now, became a small world-wide workshop searching to find the vocation of Jerusalem. And if Jerusalem has a vocation, it is exactly this one: to gather people of different nationalities, of different religions with different perspectives and visions but all searching the way of unity.…”

The event falls on the centennial celebration of the Focolare’s foundress, Chiara Lubich. An exhibit on her life and contribution to the Church and to humanity was simultaneously on display at the Franciscan’s Curia in Jerusalem. One of Chiara’s dream was to have, in Jerusalem, a Center which would focus on four areas:  spirituality, study, dialogue and formation. Among the goals of the planned International Center for Unity and Peace is the gathering and hosting of events on inter-religious studies and research.

All the presentations are now freely accessible in the online journal: Claritas: Journal of Dialogue and Culture, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2020) Together for Jerusalem . Some contributions in the form of videos can be found on Youtube.

The seminar, also part of the academic outreach of Sophia University Institute, heralds the launch of a shared journey in scriptural research, cause of hope for fruitful exchange well into the future.