SEOUL (UCAN) -- Happiness for Gemma Ryu Yeon-sil once meant expensive clothes and designer-brand makeup, but through the Focolare Movement she says she found greater happiness by having less and sharing more.

Speaking on stage to the 3,700 Focolarini and others who gathered May 26 for Genfest 2004 in Seoul, the college student in her early 20s said soon after she put God at the center of her life, she realized "external beauty did not last long" and she "quit attachment" to luxury goods.

"Marvelously, I have felt that the more I give my things to others, the more pleasure grows inside me," said Ryu. "I'm experiencing the truth that real happiness does not come from a life for myself but from a life sharing and loving others, like Jesus did," she added.

Other Korean Focolare Gen, the movement's shorthand for New Generation, or young members, also shared experiences related to their spiritual commitment to work toward a united world. Genfest 2004 was arranged in four sections -- individuals, families, society, world -- in each of which that aspect of living Focolare spirituality was featured.

Focolare is a Catholic lay movement founded by Chiara Lubich, an Italian woman, in 1943, during World War II. Its name comes from the Italian word for "hearth." Genfest 2004 in Seoul was the third local Genfest. A world Genfest is held in Rome in every five years.

The Seoul event included music by a live band, dances, pantomimes and a video of Lubich conversing with young people.

Gabriel Lee Jong-soo, assistant of the Gen Movement in Sough Korea and organizer of the festival, said it aimed to show the need for love, unity and peace in the "dark situation" affecting the nation.

"Currently, this society is full of selfishness and self-centeredness, the origins of social evils. From the Focolarinis' experience, we tried to compose the Genfest in order to show Christian solidarity for a united world," Lee told UCA News on May 26.

Through life-sharing, Gen members reflected on selfishness and self-centered thoughts, and pledged to live differently through Focolare spirituality.

A mother and daughter told the crowd their story.

Luisa Yoon Bok-hee sent her daughter to Gen gatherings including the world Genfest in 2000. At that gathering in Rome, she said, her "problematic daughter" felt God's love and became active in the Focolare Movement.

She explained that she had tried earlier to talk to her daughter, but there used to be a "huge wall" between them. "Mothers think that hair should be black, but nowadays children think hair can be yellow, red or violet," she said, reflecting on their differences.

Her daughter, Amata Lee Hye-jin, said that when she took part in the Rome Genfest she saw young people who see everyone else as their brothers and sisters, who are ready to volunteer and sacrifice themselves. "The experience of the world Genfest brought me to God," she said.

Apart from the sharing of Koreans, Focolarini from Japan, the Philippines and Thailand also shared their stories and performed folk dances at the event.

Redi Onuki Hiromi who came with two other Japanese, told UCA News: "I came here to share Japan Focolare activities with our Korean friends. We are students and an office worker, and we had to sacrifice study and work in Japan for the Genfest. However, this is worth sacrificing."

Joseph Jung Sang-hoon, a festival staff worker, saw the Genfest as like "completing a mosaic." He told UCA News: "Life sharing, dances, songs and other performances should be at the exact location for the good picture. Each team's efforts made a good picture of Genfest today."

The Focolare Movement, approved by Blessed Pope John XXIII in 1962, aims to develop unity among all peoples and religions. It was introduced to South Korea in 1969 and claimed to have some 20,000 South Korean members in 2003.

END