In January 2022, the Loppiano citadel began broadcasting two radio programs that can be downloaded (podcasts) directly onto cell phones, which can contribute to deepening and living the spirituality of the Focolare Movement. They are “Word of Life” and “Drops of Light”. The author is Maffino Redi Maghenzani, a citizen of Loppiano and a multifaceted artist. We interviewed him to learn more about these two new initiatives.
Redi, let’s start with “Drops of Light,” which is a brand new idea. Can you tell us what this radio program is about?
“Drops of Light” is a monthly program that wants to offer radio listeners short excerpts, “drops” in fact, taken from the speeches that Chiara Lubich gave on the most diverse occasions. Thanks to the Chiara Lubich Center and the Santa Chiara Audiovisual Center, we have been able to use the original audio recordings, the texts of which the publishing house, Città Nuova, has collected and published in a volume entitled “Discorsi in ambito civile ed ecclesiale” (Civil and Ecclesiastical Speeches). We will leaf through this book and its contents with Chiara’s own voice from month to month.
How did the idea come about?
For the past three years I have been collaborating with other citizens of Loppiano on a program for Radio Mater, a Catholic ecclesial radio station. A few months ago, during the musical break of a program, one of the editors from Lecco (Radio Mater is based there) asked me why the voice of Chiara Lubich was only rarely heard on national and local radio stations. Thus, the spark, the idea of creating something useful came about.
How does the spreading of these podcasts occur?
The channels are varied. There are currently 15 radio stations involved nationwide. But we leave it to the free initiative of our radio listeners in different Italian cities to contact their radio stations so that they can propose both “Drops of Light” and “Word of Life”. Then, soon, a page dedicated to these two podcasts will be available on the website of the Loppiano citadel. They are already present on the website of the Focolare Movement in Italy.
Redi, you mentioned the Word of Life…can we say that the radio version of the Word of Life is not really a novelty?
If the program “Drops of Light” started only now in this first month of 2022, the first radio version of the “Word of Life” dates back to 1998 in Verona, the headquarters of Radio Telepace. Here we started a broadcast to spread the Word of Life with experiences. Since then, 24 years of collaboration have passed, with a total of 277 broadcasts.
How did the web version of the Word of Life come about?
It was born from the spontaneous collaboration of three friends, Pasquale Bernardi of Noale (Venice), Anna Lollo of Tindari (Messina) and Fr. Placido D’Omina. Anna prepares the images, Pasquale transforms them into video, while they get the track of my voice from the radio program. The video, in Italy, besides being on YouTube, is also broadcasted by some local televisions.
The service of Anna, Pasquale and Fr. Placido has now multiplied, because, thanks to them, the video goes to different parts of the world (Vietnam, Philippines, Croatia, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Brazil, Korea, Belgium, Germany, Japan…). They are done with a different language on the spot.
So, thank you Redi, and happy 2022 with the “Drops of Light” and “Word of Life” podcasts!
“Gocce di luce”
“Parola di vita” di gennaio 2022