Siria, Coree, Centr’Africa. Anche nella cittadella ogni giorno alle 12 si prega per la pace. Degli oltre 700 cittadini, alcuni provengono da Paesi in guerra.
In front of “these absurd wars, only God can meet the need of peace in humanity. We would really like a strong, powerful prayer”-“with a renewed faith that God can do it -if we ask this in unity- and that God meets our requirements”. This was stated by Maria Voce, the President of the Focolare Movement, last December, when she talked to a few hundred young people, called 葬gen鋳 (acronym for ”new generation”- ie young people of the Focolare Movement), proposing them, along with everyone else in the world, the custom of the TIME OUT prayer.
What is it? – Every day at 12pm local Italian time, it is proposed to stop for a minute of prayer and ask God for the gift of peace. This was suggested for the very first time by Chiara Lubich during the Gulf War in 1991, and at that time – Maria Voce, the President of the Focolare Movement, still recalls – “God heard everyone痴 prayers”.
In Loppiano, every day, wherever we are, we practice the Time Out. And we propose this also to our friends and visitors who came to visit us during the weekends. The conflicts -in fact- are not far away realities that we hear about only through (the) mass media, which do not affect us. Conversely, there are many citizens in Loppiano who come from many parts of the world who are at war, such as Korea, Central Africa, Syria, Egypt … and for this reason we all wish to be near them and ask God that this violence may soon end.
It is an invitation that we make to all people! Time Out can be done wherever we are, also helping to spread it. Young people have already started to spread the news even on social networks, creating on Facebook the event named Time Out for peace.