By editor - 20 June, 2013
The words life, love, light have been connected to the name of Chiara Luce Badano since the day of her beatification, and these words are now continued on this website officially dedicated to the young woman. It is being visited and appreciated by people of all ages and from all over the world.
There are sections such as the one entitled LOVE, which focuses on the spirituality that Chiara Luce lived, along with news of the projects that are being brought ahead by the Chiara Badano Foundation.
The section on “At Sassello” is all about the Centre of Spirituality at La Maddalena, a small hamlet in Sassello, Italy, which was the birthplace of Chiara Luce.
The “Publications” link provides news, editorials, CDs and DVDs. The latest language to be added is Portuguese. The main aim of the site is the desire to spread the message of this young woman who witnessed to the Gospel.
Chiara Luce is also on Facebook with over 54,000 contacts. But beyond the numbers, the life and depth of Chiara Luce continues to uplift and to spread.
“I’m feeling a bit down,” one person writes on her Facebook wall, “and then you appear with that candid expression on your face and that genuine smile of yours, your eyes filled with love. And like magic my heart is calmed. Thanks.”
On 25th September 2010 the young Chiara Luce, who died aged 18 years old, was beatified. A group of more than 30 Irish people joined tens of thousands of young people in Rome for the beatification and thousands more from Ireland and all over the world followed the service streamed live on the internet.
Chiara Luce Badano died just over 20 years ago saying to her parents, “Be happy, because I am happy!” Her life, detailed on Facebook and elsewhere, has inspired many young people.
She was always a striking, outgoing and lively person, but God’s plan for her life became apparent when at seventeen she was diagnosed with an incurable illness.
Playing tennis one afternoon, she felt an excruciating pain in her shoulder. Tests revealed that she had an aggressive bone cancer.
From the time of her diagnosis, Chiara’s life became a series of hospitalisations and treatments, which she faced with great courage, offering each for Jesus.
When she could no longer walk, she commented: “If they asked me now if I want to walk, I’d say no, because this way I’m closer to Jesus.”
She was ill for two short years and died in 1990 . In 2009 the miraculous cure of an Italian boy from meningitis through her intercession, paved the way to her being declared blessed.
Bishop Pier Giorgio Micchiardi, the postulator of Chiara Luce’s cause for canonisation, said at the time there is a need for holiness nowadays too.
“We need to help young people to find a direction, an aim, to overcome insecurity and loneliness. This witness of faith and fortitude in a young person of today is surprising: it makes an impression, it instigates many people to change their lives, we have almost daily testimony of it.”
Chiara Luce was involved in the Focolare, which is present in 182 countries, reaching 5 million people. Its aim is to contribute towards the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer, ‘May they all be one’, through the commitment of its members to live the gospel law of love.
See: www.chiaraluce.org
