{"id":331126,"date":"2022-11-25T12:14:45","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T11:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webdev.flars.net\/lets-disarm-ourselves\/"},"modified":"2022-11-25T12:14:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T11:14:45","slug":"lets-disarm-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/lets-disarm-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s disarm ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friends of Together for Europe<\/em> in Porto (Portugal)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen we disarm, expropriate and open ourselves to the God-Man who makes new all things, then, He cancels our wicked past and donates to us a new time in which all things are possible\u201d <\/em>(1)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m feeling a little embarrassed. I\u2019ve been asked: how was the Meeting with my friends in Porto, and, after all, what is this \u2018Together for Europe\u2019<\/em> all about? What could 166 persons coming from 19 different Countries, and belonging to 45 Movements and Communities from 8 Churches achieve, knowing that \u201clike attracts like\u201d, and diversity rarely \u2013 perhaps never \u2013 can become a force of cohesion?<\/strong> Added to this there are the diverse geopolitical, cultural, historic and confessional views: now, what will the Russians and the Ukrainians, present in our midst, do?<\/strong> The idea of \u2018Europe\u2019 is not popular anymore; why keep on chasing utopias and useless dreams in this polarized society?<\/p>\n

While my mind was being bombarded by these thoughts and possible responses, I remembered that, when asked, Jesus did not explain how and where he lived; his response was a simple invitation: \u201ccome and see<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> (Jn 1,39). Those present in Porto did indeed \u201ccome and see\u201d.<\/p>\n

I witnessed the communion between 11 Portuguese Movements; these, with great commitment and generosity provided a home, food and technology, and, above all, created a \u2018family\u2019 among all those taking part.<\/p>\n

I listened to experts who, through their expertise, have widened the horizons of an attentive audience.<\/p>\n

I saw ecclesial leaders who, through their presence and prayers, wanted not only to bless the gathering, but also to show their strong support for this ecumenical network.<\/p>\n

I was glad to meet young people who have given a meaning to their life after taking important decisions; these young people, showing generosity, impetus and poetry, spoke about future concrete projects for their Countries and cities.<\/p>\n

I felt a sense of gratitude toward those who, after years of sterling service, are moving on to take up new tasks; there were tearful eyes when, with open hearts, we renewed the Pact of mutual love.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell: I saw a small people, who, like the \u2018chosen\u2019 one, keeps on looking for water in the desert. To drink and to provide water for others.<\/p>\n

When we gathered for the nightly ecumenical prayer in the majestic Igreja do Cedofeita <\/em>church in Porto,<\/strong> I sat on the back pew. Then a friend invited me to move and sit on the front pew; from there, behind the alter, I could see a statue the likes of which I have never seen before: it did not present the suffering Redeemer on the cross or the Risen Lord who conquered death. It was a big statue showing a \u2018disarmed\u2019 Christ,<\/strong> with dropped hands, coming out of a base full of cracks \u2013 an icon of the polarizations and the divisions in us, among us and around us.<\/p>\n

I fixed my gaze upon him. We, too, ought to disarm ourselves! <\/em>Here lies, perhaps, the secret of the force of cohesion! Could this be the key idea that will allow Europe and the entire \u2018Together<\/em>\u2019 to open up to new horizons and possibilities?<\/p>\n

Ilona Toth<\/em><\/p>\n

(1) Excerpt from a text by Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople<\/p>\n

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Friends of Together for Europe in Porto (Portugal) \u201cWhen we disarm, expropriate and open ourselves to the God-Man who makes new all things, then, He cancels our wicked past and donates to us a new time in which all things are possible\u201d (1) I\u2019m feeling a little embarrassed. I\u2019ve been asked: how was the Meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Unity in Diversity: Together for Europe in Porto","_seopress_titles_desc":"Discover the unity and hope emerging from Together for Europe's meeting in Porto, where diversity becomes cohesion. Explore their impactful ecumenical network.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2421,3136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-331126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2022-friends-porto","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.together4europe.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}