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Chiara Lubich Jubilee

Twenty years ago, in 1996, Chiara Lubich was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, for having launched a “Copernican revolution in social sciences” and for having promoted dialogue as the key driving force for peacekeeping and peace-building in every context, even in post-communist countries.

 

Chiara Lubich’s ‘charism of unity’ is at the forefront of dialogue today. The theory and praxis of dialogue has influenced the lives of many people of different cultures and religions, who have committed themselves to her spiritual vision that is embodied in the culture of unity. In a world where ethnic and religious differences often lead to violent conflicts, the spread of the charism of Chiara Lubich has contributed to constructive dialogue among persons, generations, social classes and nations.

 

Her Idea

‘The lesson that God was offering to us through the circumstances around us was quite clear: Everything is vanity of vanities, everything passes away. But, contemporaneously, God placed a question in my heart, which was for all of us. And He also provided the answer: ‘But could there be an ideal that doesn’t die, that no bomb can crumble and to which we can give ourselves?’ Yes: God. We decided to make God the ideal of our life.’

Story that Lives

Chiara Lubich was a pioneer for her time. In the Church – a lay woman – she proposed themes and openings that were only later taken up by Vatican II. In a global society she pointed the way to universal brotherhood when no one was speaking of civilizations drawing closer to each other. She respected life and searched for the meaning of suffering. She traced out a way of religious and civil holiness that can be practiced by anyone and not reserved for only a chosen few.

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