Focolare spirituality defines seven areas of life, each a way of expressing love. Nothing is more or less important, more or less sacred. “Love is light,” Chiara Lubich explains. When clear light passes through a prism, or even a drop of water, it refracts into the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. And just as that light breaks into different colors, love too has a way of expressing itself in just as many ways.
Love unites.
If the goal is more unity in the world, we need to communicate well with each other, and often. We constantly aim to create a climate of communication that is open and sincere, one that favors the exchange of ideas and information at all levels. We use as many channels as we can to keep in touch with those close to us and around the world.
So “violet” is about communication. When love refracts like light into “violet,” it shines on these parts of life:
- How we communicate, connect and network
- Social media, mainstream media
- Technology, connectivity
- Publishing
Every month or two, there is a video link-up from the Focolare Center in Rome with global news. Between these, email newsletters are often sent. The Focolare also has a monthly magazine, Living City, and a publishing house, New City Press.
What this means to me
I struggled in high school to find the right career. I was attracted to becoming a doctor, to help and serve people, but science was not my strength. I loved music, but thought I was not good enough. Finally, I found a way to combine my interests with something useful: journalism, and my first try as an apprentice was published right away.
However, through the spirituality of communion, I discovered a deeper meaning to this field: communication is essential to building community and sense of family! The way I communicate influences the people around me, and, on a larger scale, society. I had found my professional calling, and got a master’s degree in communications.
In my career, I had to put up with the expectations of the daily newspapers where I worked. While I was convinced that positive news had its place and I wanted people to reflect and discover humanity as one family, business dictated that only negative news sells well.
In trying to stay faithful to my values, but being creative, I managed to bring in my perspective. In writing about juvenile crime, I asked why many young people become criminals, and what could be done as prevention. Also, on another occasion, I wrote about an initiative that tried to mediate small conflicts, helping people to see that it helped both for the victims to heal and the criminals to change.
But the most important component was not so much what I wrote or proposed, but how I treated the people. By listening and being honest, I was able to understand people and establish relationships, both at my workplace and with the people I interviewed.
I remember particularly an article I had to write about members of a sect that violated a law. It was so easy to write something negative, but then I remembered: what if I were in their place? So I tried to listen with an open mind and kept charity as the basis of my article, though communicating the truth.
The day after the article was published, the woman called me and thanked me because she felt that I had treated her with dignity. I am thankful that I put my faith at the basis of my career; it has helped me to be successful yet able to look every morning in the mirror at myself without regrets.
— Susanne
(Read more stories like this one in Living City Magazine)