Writings

Just say I need You

Details: Category: Writings; Written by Elena Merli; Hits: 1317

We are commemorating the birthday of Igino Giordani (24 September 1894) with some excerpts from his diary, written through the years

24 September 1948

Lord, I don’t have to cite the list of my needs, which are infinite. I just have to say that I need You.

from Igino Giordani, Diary of fire, New City, 1980, p. 53

24 September 1963

Sixty-nine years: a goal which I reached without my noticing it. I had expected so many things, and the fruits gathered are those I had targeted. Evidently I dug and pruned, causing damages; the divine Farmer corrected and revived.
And He brought me the fruit of solitude: in terms of silence and quiet to converse with Him, and be with Him. People have detached themselves for human reasons, but at every detachment, He came closer. Now we are He and I: the All and nothingness; Love and the Loved one. And the dialogue is not disturbed by the clangour of friends or clients. And so, if I return amidst humans, it is to love them without presuming I would be loved in return. It is to serve them, without expecting to be served, not even by the closest ones by nature and super-nature: so close and so distant! Due to this, what appeared to be an abandonment by man, resulted in a rediscovery of God – and in Him are also the angels and saints, from Mary to the last man who died in grace. It seemed like a crash and instead it was an elevation to heaven, a liberation instead of dispersion.
The Enemy directed a gloomy aggression against me, showing me with a red luminosity, the ingratitude and abandonment of the people I loved and served. But I don’t want this evidence to bog me down, and paralyse me; if I stopped, it would grow like an atomic bomb.

The discovery that made me a new man

Details: Category: Writings; Written by Elena Merli; Hits: 1236

We are reviving the memory of the encounter between Igino Giordani and Chiara Lubich, that occurred on 17 September 1948, through the narration he himself traced in his autobiography: “Memories of a naive Christian.”

The young lady was speaking and I was sure I was about to hear a sentimental propaganda of some charitable utopia. And instead, with the first words I sensed something new. There was an unusual tone of deep and certain conviction that came from a supernatural sentiment. And so, suddenly my curiosity was awakened and a fire broke out in me. After half an hour when she had finished her speech, I was taken up by an enchanted atmosphere. It was the voice which, without realizing it, I had long waited to hear.
She was placing sanctity at the reach of all, removing the grids that separate the lay world from mystical life. She was baring all the treasures of a castle to which only a few were admitted. She brought us closer to God, and made him appear like a Father, brother, and friend, in the midst of humanity.
I wanted to know more, and get to know about the life of the Hearth of unity as it was called – and I recognised in that experience, the actuation of the burning desire of St. John Chrysostom: that the lay should live like monks, except for celibacy. I had long cultivated that desire in me.
Inside me those pieces of culture, juxtaposed, started to move and come to life, fitting together to form a living body, pervaded by generous blood. So it occurred that the idea of God had given way to the love of God, the ideal image of the living God. In Chiara I had found a new life which did not speak of God, but which spoke with God: daughter who, in love, dialogued with the Father.

A social saint

Details: Category: Writings; Written by Elena Merli; Hits: 1231

All the saints are really «social,» that is, they have served their neighbours in Christ or Christ in their neighbours. The term, “sanctity,” is not given without this love, transposed into works. Even the monk lost in a mountain cave and who prays for the Church, serves his brothers because his prayers and renunciations are transformed into graces for them.
In effect, some saints even gave their aid directly to society in times of greater suffering. In line with the example of Christ, there have been workers who served society well, especially in schools, public squares and missions, with assistance, education, hospital ministry and all the charitable resources. But the Christian social sentiment particularly considers St. Francis as its patron and prototype. In the full raging of war, St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated as the replica of the King of Peace: when the day becomes darker, we turn to those who taught true happiness; this means that beyond the frenetic moment, one envisions the divine reasons of human coexistence and seeks it. The Pope proclaimed Francis of Assisi, and with him, Catherine of Siena, as the two patron saints of Italy, worthy of the country, and having the best features of its civilisation, and universal and specific values. They were two giants who by themselves, suffice to give pride and character to Italy, and wherever one learns the fundaments of Christian history. Two geniuses in short, for them their land was not distant or estranged from any other people. After the personages of the New Testament, Christianity has not produced more perfect examples of Christ: the first was called a «second Christ» and the second, “a mirror of Mary.”
St. Francis is one of those Saints that few disagree about. Titans, like Paul, Augustine, and Ignatius arouse different opinions. Francis is practically universally loved: his sanctity is liked by all. Even among the non-Catholics and non-Christians, he is considered the model of saints. This veneration is not only folklore or regret, but also a conservation instinct that leads us back to the sources of eternal wisdom or even true happiness.
When the world does not progress often because of social upheavals, many are heard to sigh: «We need a second St. Francis.»

We would like to recall the 16th of July 1949...

Details: Category: Writings; Written by Elena Merli; Hits: 1273

We would like to recall the 16th of July 1949 through the words of Igino Giordani, after 67 years have passed. A historical moment in the life of Chiara Lubich and the entire Focolare Movement, it is a day to remember and relive.
Love for God was reflected in love for nature, God’s creation. Chiara loved to bring her girls up to the alpine huts. Though frail and often ill, she hopped about and climbed the steep slopes and it was difficult to keep pace with her.

“You must have won several track championships!” Foco would say to her, since like all the others he had a hard time keeping in step. It was quite a difficult task not only in that track race, with his leg which was wounded during the war, but also because of the mystical heights she led them to.
Amid the gorges, under the shade of the pines, below the rocks, and most often close to alpine icons or chapels, she spoke of God, the Virgin, and supernatural life, since the supernatural was part of her. She lived with the Lord always, the effect of that charity on which atom after atom, all was based. And so those woods were transformed into cathedrals, those peaks seemed like the towers of the holy city, and flowers and grass reflected the presence of angels and saints: everything was imbued with God. The barriers of the flesh fell. Paradise opened its doors. And in fact, that summer in Tonadico, Chiara saw and described Paradise. And it was there in Tonadico that the first Mariapolis (which was not a Mariapolis) was held...