Allow me to offer a reflection as a focolarina, that is, as a consecrated lay person in the Focolare Movement, and, based on my identity, propose some biblical, charismatic, and pedagogical guidelines to help us keep hope alight and share it, even in contexts of such violence as those we face in Latin America.

Faith as presence: remaining in the wound

I begin by asking myself what contribution faith makes to our contexts marked by violence, so often rooted structurally. Each of us could offer a different answer: faith can bring comfort and a sense of belonging to the community that lives by the values ​​of the Kingdom; it can also give us the strength to resist cruelty. I dare to suggest that faith does not present itself as an escape from our contexts and their conflicts, but precisely the opposite, that is, as an invitation to permanence.

Let us think of Mary at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25). This is the call of faith: to be with those who suffer, to accompany their pain, without running away. This attitude of extreme closeness is what we recognize in the crucified and risen Jesus, who in his abandonment took upon himself every human suffering.

From a pedagogy of accompaniment (Bárcena & Mèlich, 2000), this permanence involves being with the other in their vulnerability, renouncing the pretense of resolving their pain, with the courage of being and supporting. It is a silent resistance that dignifies, a pedagogy of presence that transforms the wound into a theological place.

Hope as a community praxis

Hope does not sustain itself. Jesus himself told us that “where two or more are united” in his name, there he is (cf. Mt 18:20). Community, then, can be the space that makes spiritual resilience possible. Sharing bread and tears, living the Word of Life together, strengthens our capacity to incarnate the Gospel in our daily lives, through the experience of communion that is built in every act of care, in every act of reciprocal love, as Chiara Lubich loved to remind us.

Pedagogically, this reality translates into relational formation (Buber, 1923; Freire, 1970), where the connection is both the means and the end. Therefore, in violent contexts, forming meaningful communities is in itself an act of hope.

Pedagogy of care: resisting from tenderness

Jesus looked with compassion on the crowd and on every person he met, especially those suffering from illness or excluded from the religious and social life of his time (cf. Mk 6:34 et al.). In a world that responds forcefully, always in counterattack, tenderness is the option for the other, which becomes prophetic resistance. Chiara Lubich invited us to “become one” with others—to put ourselves in their shoes—especially with those who suffer, and this as an expression of the love that springs from the Gospel.

The pedagogy of care (Noddings, 1984) suggests that this tenderness can be transformed into a methodology: listening, welcoming, trusting. In the classroom, in pastoral care, on the street, we resist when we care. Tenderness is a form of embodied justice that is expressed in all the aspects of charity.

Transforming structures, from faith

Faith as resistance springs forth like a fresh spring in the personal realm and compels us to transform structures together. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33) is a constant call that Jesus addresses to every baptized person, to engage in social, political, and institutional matters, to restore the soul of every structure and defend the dignity of every person, community, and people.

In pedagogy, this translates into an education with a critical and liberating sense (Freire, 1970), which forms subjects and communities capable of reading reality and acting in it.

The universal call to salvation is embodied precisely in being light, salt, and leaven to transform the world “from within.” Faith sustains hope and becomes a proactive response to the violence of our world.

The martyrdom of hope

In the face of the fragmentation, indifference, and violence we encounter in our world, Christian witness can become an unquenchable light, through the constant effort to incarnate the Gospel in the midst of contradiction. Authentic witness—lived in service to all, through silence and humility, daily consistency and fidelity—is spiritual resilience. As Saint Paul says: “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not forsaken” (2 Cor 4:8-9). In this world of constant tension, this is how Christians can give an account of their hope (1 Pet 3:15), never as an ideology, but as the living presence of crucified Love that gives a concrete face to every human pain and suffering.

Seeds of hope

In our days, there are many regions of the world where Christians continue to give their lives for the faith. Some do so through bloody martyrdom, others through the white martyrdom of exclusion, poverty, and misunderstanding. In every martyr of our time, the Church finds a new seed of resurrection, a silent prophecy that cries out hope to the world and indelibly seals the truth that evil does not have the last word.

Ursula Lonngi. Focolare, consecrated lay member of the Focolare Movement (Work of Mary) and member of the International Academy of Catholic Leaders.

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Biblical References

• John 19:25 — Mary at the foot of the cross

• Matthew 18:20 — “Where two or more…”

• Mark 6:34 — Jesus has compassion on the crowd

• Matthew 6:33 — “Seek first the Kingdom…”

Charismatics (Focolare Movement)

Jesus Abandoned Chiara Lubich, New City 2016 978-8497153614

Unity and the Abandoned Jesus Chiara Lubich, Ciudad Nueva 2006 978-8497150910

The Essentials of Today (Spiritual Writings/2) Chiara Lubich, Ciudad Nueva 1999 978-8489651685

Education for fraternity Rodrigo Mardones (ed.) Ciudad Nueva 2013        http://www.focolare.org

Pedagogical

Freire, P. (1970).  Pedagogy of the oppressed. 21st century. 2005 (3rd ed.) ISBN 978-8432320781

Buber, M. (1923).  I and Thou. Herder 2017 978-8425439797

Bárcena, F. & Mèlich, J.C. (2000).  Education as an Ethical Event. Paidós. 2002 978-8449308987

Noddings, N. (1984).  Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. University of California Press. 2003 (2nd ed.) 978-0520238640