friendship in faith

Feb 21, 2014

Some readers are curious to know more of Luigi Giussani, and his charism reflected in the movement Communion & Liberation. Every month around the world there are dozens of events helping people to focus on Christ in the midst of the “grip of a hostile society.”  In the past few years I have blogged about the Rimini Meeting for Friendship among Peoples which is renowned as the largest of these gatherings drawing more than 800.000 people every August for a week.

In January the annual New York Encounter provided the opportunity for friends from all over North America to gather for the experience of friendship in faith. One of the speakers at the encounter was Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete who was my first encounter with Communion & Liberation ten years ago.

On this anniversary of Giussani’s death (22 February 2005) I offer Albacete’s reflection at this year’s New York Encounter. The Albacete talk is just 30 minutes, and the panel reflection following is 45 minutes.

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts

the teenagers

the teenagers

A few years ago I discovered the wonderful way that God uses my imagination in my prayer.
Such openness to imagination when seeking God does not take us away from reality into fantasy but instead brings me into what is most real and inescapably personal and intimate.

Annunciation

Annunciation

A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.

the real centre

the real centre

Over the last month I have had the opportunity to work with many people across Aotearoa and further afield. In every retreat and seminar I have been with committed and faith-filled people who often feel as though they are on the periphery of the Church

the adventure

the adventure

It’s easy to make the mistake of seeing life as a treadmill, day after day ups and downs, a movement through time from youth to old age, then death and beyond.
Too often if feels as if we are helplessly captive carried along by the momentum of all that is expected of us and demanded from us, and we risk falling into an existence mode, a daily rhythm of survival, enduring, coping and so the treadmill rolls on.

the bigger picture

the bigger picture

Over the years, and even in recent months, weeks and days, I’ve prayed many prayers which have not been answered as I had hoped.
You’ve probably had the same experience: praying and wondering if and when or how your prayer will be answered.