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שבת, 4 ביוני, בכנסיית סנט וינסנט דה פול בירושלים, התקיים ערב תפילה לרגל חג השבועות, בראשותו של הפטריארך הלטיני של ירושלים פיירבטיסטה פיזבאלה. הערב היה רצוף בעדויות חיים ובתפילות רבות.

איש אנגלי
"הרוח דוחקת בנו להיות קהילה אחת." הרוח קוראת לנו לאהוב אחד את השני, לדאוג אחד לשני ולראות באחרים כחלק מאיתנו".

השנה, לראשונה, אירוע שנתי זה אורגן על ידי מאמינים המשתייכים לתנועות וקבוצות כנסייתיות חדשות. יוזמה שנולדה מתוך דיאלוג עם הפטריארך הלטיני במהלך המסע הסינודלי.

אנאיס דה צ'ילס
קבוצת עמנואל – חברת הוועדה לארגון ערב תפילה
"זו הייתה דרך מאוד נפלאה לעבוד ביחד, סינוד בהצטיינות. למדנו לעבוד יחד למרות דרגות הרגישות השונות בינינו, יש לנו קבוצות כריזמטיות ואחרות לא. עם זאת, למדנו לקבל הרבה . מה שאנו חווים בלילה הזה אינו אלא פרי העבודה המשותפת הזו."

המיקרופון עבר מיד ליד: קולות שונים נתנו עדות חיה לעבודת הרוח בעם אלוהים.

חוסה פאולו מסר את עדותו, שהתמקדה בעזיבת האב ובמהפכת האמונה עד שפגש את התנועה הניאוקטכומנלית והכהונה.

המפגש עם התנועה הכריזמטית של הכוהן ג'וסאני שינה את חייו של סובחי, שבאמצעות קהילתו של עמנואל הציל את נישואי יאן ואניס. תנועת פוקולרי סיפקה דמעה רוחנית למרסל ופאולוס בשל חוויה עזה של תקווה לאחר אובדן הבן בגיל 15.

אישה ערבית
"אתמול בלילה רוח האדון נתנה לנו כוח רב שאפשר לנו לתת לג'ק את הביטחון שאנחנו בטוחים ושלווים. אמרנו לו: 'ג'ק, ישוע שאתה אוהב, מחכה לך'. לך עם המשיח. עם המשיח זה טוב יותר." ברגע זה הרגשנו בתוכנו, שלווה מעבר לכל הבנה. עד היום, למרות שאנו כמהים אליו, אנו מרגישים את שלוות האדון מציפה אותנו.

ע'אדא מעזה גם היא נושאת עדות. ברגעים הקשים והאכזריים ביותר של המלחמה היא חוותה את אהבת האדון – לדבריה.

גאדה סווילם
תנועת פוקולרי-עזה
"הייתי דמות פסיבית ולעתים תוקפנית. קיארה תמיד חזרה על דבריו של האדון ישוע: 'אהבת את אויביך', אהוב את הרעים ואת הטובים, אהוב את כולם. המילים האלה נגעו לליבי מאוד. לאהוב זה לא דבר קל, אבל הקהילה תומכת . 'אחדות חשובה מאוד היא עוזרת לנו לגדול ולהתבגר".

ערב תפילה זה פתח אופקים חדשים ופרק חדש בחיי כנסיית ירושלים.

סינאד מרטין
קונויה, ג'ובאני בטיסטה

"זה העשיר מאוד את האמונה שלי, באופן אישי, להכיר תנועות וקבוצות אחרות, לחלוק זמני תפילה ולהיות ביחד, לדבר ולארגן הכל, לעשות מוזיקה. אנחנו יכולים באמת להרגיש את החיים ביחד בגוף, לא היינו סתם קהילות בודדות אלא ביחד , יש בזה סוג חדש לגמרי של חוויה .

הפטריארך פיירבטיאנה פיצהבלה
הפטריארך הלטיני של ירושלים
"באופן כללי, תנועות כנסייתיות נפגשות לא מעט כאן בירושלים, ובאמצעות המסע הסינודלית הזה ולרגל חג השבועות היה נפלא לראות את מה שהיה בלתי אפשרי הופך למציאות. זה גם רצון שכל הכנסייה שלנו תוכל לעבוד יחד מבלי לאבד משהו מהזהות.

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

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}

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}