One day, when she was a child, her mother had asked her to clear the table. Chiara Luce’s immediate response was: “I don’t want to,” and folding her arms across her chest, she walked out of the room. After a few steps, however, she turned back saying: “How is that Gospel story again? About the father who had asked his sons to go and work in the vineyard… Mommy, help me put my apron on,” and she proceeded to clear the table.

This was Chiara Luce Badano, a newly proclaimed blessed. She possessed a generous and lively personality. Born in 1971 in Sassello, Italy, she was an only child conceived after 11 years of marriage.

At age 9, she heard about the Focolare’s ideal of unity and discovered a whole new way of living and thinking which satisfied her thirst for God. After a Focolare youth gathering she wrote: “I have rediscovered the Gospel in a new light. I realized that I wasn’t a true Christian because I wasn’t living it fully. Now I want to make this magnificent book the only aim of my life.” Her parents also embraced the spirituality of unity, and they lived it together.

She began an intense correspondence with Focolare founder Chiara Lubich which lasted until the very end of her life. In November 1983, Chiara Luce wrote to her, “I discovered that Jesus Forsaken (when on the cross he cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’) is the key to unity and I want to choose him as my spouse and be ready when he comes. I realized that I can find him in those who are far away from him, in all atheists, and that I must love them in a very special way.” And she never questioned this choice.

Endowed with a beautiful voice, Chiara Luce loved music. Very active, she was into different sports like swimming, tennis and hiking. She had many friends who shared her life-choice. Involved in many activities in her parish and diocese, she didn’t talk much about God, commenting: “I should not speak about God, but give him with my actions.” She and her friends never missed a chance to strengthen their unity by sharing experiences of living out the Gospel – on the phone, with little notes, at parties, on trips and during days spent together. They put their goods in common and Chiara Luce always kept in her room a list of the things she owned, in order to make them available to those who needed them.

At 17, while playing tennis, a searing pain in her shoulder turned out to be the first sign of bone cancer. “The illness arrived just at the right moment because I was going in the wrong direction,” she wrote. “Our ideal of unity was becoming secondary, but today you cannot imagine what my relationship with God is like.”

In February 1989, the treatment that followed her first surgery was very painful. Her friends took turns to be with her at the hospital. Each time there was a new pain, Chiara Luce offered this “surprise” without hesitation, “It’s for you, Jesus; if you want it, I want it too.” Jesus Forsaken, who did not feel the comforting presence of the Father, supported her in her toughest moments.

Her doctor, an atheist critical of the Church, said, “Since I met Chiara (Luce), something has changed in me. In her I find consistency and everything about Christianity makes sense to me.”

In spite of the fact that she was slowly becoming paralyzed, Chiara Luce remained incredibly cheerful during her three-year-long illness, and kept in touch by phone with a youth group in a nearby city. She also participated in the Focolare’s meetings and activities through messages and postcards.

On July 19, 1990, she wrote to Chiara Lubich: “Medicine has laid down its arms. Since we stopped the treatment, the pain in my back has increased. But it’s my Spouse who’s coming to visit me. I repeat with you, ‘If you want it, I want it too.’” The immediate reply was, “Don’t be afraid, Chiara Luce, and say your ‘yes’ to Him moment by moment. God loves you immensely and wants to penetrate the most intimate recesses of your soul allowing you to experience a foretaste of heaven.”

When her mother told her that she didn’t know what she would do without her, Chiara Luce said, “Trust in God, and you’ll have done all you need to do!” Her last words to her parents were: “Be happy, because I’m happy.”

Chiara Luce passed away on October 7, 1990. Hundreds of young people attended her funeral which was celebrated by her bishop, Msgr. Livio Maritano. In 1999, the same bishop initiated the process for her beatification saying: “Her life was meaningful, especially for young people. We need holiness today, too.” And one of her friends commented: “She has left us a trail of light which today still helps me tremendously.”.

Last year, a young boy in Italy was dying from meningitis. His organs were shutting down. His parents learned about Chiara Luce’s story and sought her intercession. Afterwards, he was fully healed. A panel of doctors has not been able to give any medical explanation for this turn of events.

After Pope Benedict XVI recognized this event as a miraculous healing last December, the Church will soon proclaim Chiara Luce Badano as “blessed,” a model for holiness for people of all ages.

Christine Kelly

The beatification ceremony will be held on September 25, 2010 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love (Rome, Italy). There will be a Youth Fest in the evening and a thanksgiving Mass the following morning.

“One of my classmates has chickenpox and everyone is afraid to visit her. My parents have agreed that it’s okay for me to bring her homework, so she won’t feel alone. I think that love is more important than fear.”