Youth
Genfest from Living
City May 2012
Like many generations before us, we will go to the Genfest in Budapest this August with anticipation and
excitement. Will you join us?
By Rosa Kim
“The
energy in the stadium was so high that it quite literally could not
be contained.” That is how Laura Kellerman
from Abeline, Texas, described her experience at the
last Genfest in 2000.
“There we were — 21,000 young people of diverse
backgrounds, and all of us had chosen the same adventure: unity. I
knew at that critical time of my life I was being called to live
the Focolare spirituality of unity, not by my parents or the friends
sitting on either side of me but personally by God.”
It has been over a decade since the last Genfest, which was part of
World Youth Day in 2000. This year young people from all over the world will
gather in Budapest, Hungary, from August 31 to
September 2 in celebration of our spirituality of unity, our faith and each
other. For many, it will be the first event of its kind.
So, what is the Genfest? It is a gathering of worldwide youth who are
convinced that a united world is possible through living out the Gospel. The
theme of the event is “Let’s bridge.” The program will be a celebration
consisting of musical and artistic moments, personal witnesses and
presentations showcasing a variety of current initiatives and social projects
by Focolare youth. Various issues in the fields of economy, art, politics,
interreligious dialogue and communications, among others, will be addressed as
well as solutions and examples illustrating how to build bridges of fraternity
in
these fields.
these fields.
Paul Hartmann from New York, who was part of the performance group
from the U.S. for Genfest 1995, explained, “We practiced for four months to
offer our five-minute performance for the world.” Waiting their turn to
perform, he recalled how they huddled in to slap hands and repeated to each
other, “You have all my unity.” This was to “let each other know the reason for
being there: not to show off our talents but to share the
artistic fruit of what our unity had formed. The Genfest is still one
of the greatest experiences of my life.”
“Genfest 1990 was my transformation,” said Guadalupe Salas from San Antonio, Texas.
“I remember people from all cultures hugging and some with tears in their
eyes.” She remembered becoming filled with emotion, not from the excitement or
the music but “seeing people of the world … I couldn’t help but fall in love again right then and there with the
world and its people.”
Erika Croatto, from Houston,
Texas, had a similar impression
in seeing so many cultures clad in all kinds of traditional attire. She felt
the certainty in her heart that a united world, a world without violence and
conflicts, was indeed possible. “[Focolare founder] Chiara Lubich came and
spoke to us, and I will never forget when she reminded us that we have only one
life to live and that we must use it well! It was as though God had imprinted
in my heart what he wanted to tell me through Chiara.”
Anne Masters of Chicago was a part of a
group of youth from the U.S.
working on a “Stomp”-like performance for Genfest 2000. They gathered for
one intensive month of creating and practicing their performance before heading
off to Rome for
their Genfest. During that month, they practiced endlessly until the
rhythms from the show became a part
of them.
of them.
“As compelling as our performance became, we all began to realize that
we had all arrived in search of something deeper,” she remembers. As days
turned into weeks, “our common experiences forged us into a new family; the
beauty as well as power of the relationship growing between my new brothers and
sisters and me allowed me to see my life back home in a new light, and we were
ready for our pilgrimage to Rome.”
When they did indeed arrive in Rome,
they were welcomed with the sticky, hot Italian summer air.
Yet their discomfort quickly vanished as Pope John Paul II’s voice
echoed through Saint Peter’s Square: “Dear friends who have traveled so
many miles in so many ways to come to Rome, let me begin by asking you a
question: What have you come in search of? Who have you come here to find?”
As she listened, Anne remembers feeling “free and emptied of
all the distractions of life, close to God and my true self.” At the end of her
pilgrimage, as she reflected back on her journey from Chicago
to that moment, she realized that “Providence
had arranged every experience in my life for this moment. I felt ready to go
back and embrace any challenge because truly great things were in store for
me.”
So, what are we in search of? Whom do we go to find? Like many
generations before us, we will go to the Genfest this August with anticipation
and excitement, with open and curious hearts for an experience of God with
thousands of other like-minded young people from all over the world. Will you
join us?
More info: www.genfest.org and contact a Focolare center (see p.29).
Genfest 2000. More than 21,000 young people attended that
festival in Rome,
during World Youth Day
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