impossible until now." Chiara understood that the unity that she and her first companions were experiencing was destined for the whole world. In 1946 she already proposed that they aim at universal brotherhood, indicating the way that this can be done. "Look at all people as children of the one Father. Let our thoughts and the affection of our hearts go beyond the barriers imposed by our human vision of life, and develop the habit of constantly opening ourselves to the reality of being one human family in only one Father: God." While Chiara and her first companions believed they were simply living the Gospel, the phrases that were coming into relief formed the basic principles of a spirituality of unity or “spirituality of communion”. This spirituality would be recognized by the Catholic Church and leaders of other Christian Churches as a gift of the Holy Spirit for our age. Chiara gradually deepened these principles in her spiritual writings. The spirituality of unity developed as a rich and solid synthesis of Christian experience, a remarkable patrimony of ideas and life experiences, with a distinctly communitarian character. Twenty years later, it proved to be in total harmony with the documents of the Second Vatican Council. It has also had a social, cultural, political and economic impact on society. A decisive choice On May 13, 1944, the city of Trento was subjected to heavy bombing. The Lubich home was also damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. The family decided to look for shelter in a mountain village, while Chiara made the difficult choice to stay in the city to support the increasingly numerous group of young women who were inspired by her actions and her words. While she was going through the streets, looking for her friends, a woman, distraught with grief, grabbed her by the shoulders, shouting at her that four of her family members had been killed. For Chiara, this was a call to set aside her own pain to take on the pain of humanity. In the autumn of 1944, Chiara was offered a small apartment in Piazza Cappuccini, where she went to live with some of her companions. This would be the seed of a small and rather unique community. The warmth of their love earned them the nickname, “focolare”, the Italian word for “hearth". Even though they had no intention of starting anything, this small household