“We understood the Eucharist as the generator and bond of unity; Mary as the Mother of beautiful Love and unity; we deepened our understanding of the Church as communion in love; the Holy Spirit as Love made a Person.” [1]

In unity ‘you feel, you see, you enjoy the presence of Jesus. Everyone rejoices in his presence, everyone suffers from his absence. It is peace, joy, love, ardour, the Spirit himself. And the Spirit of the Risen Jesus in our midst enables us to be Jesus, and we appear to others too as a continuation of him, the Body of Christ, Church [2].In the autumn of 1949, Chiara Lubich understood how this spiritual presence of Christ, made present in the body formed by several people united in His name, gives life to living cells and that “We must create continually these living cells of the mystical body of Christ – which are brothers and sisters united in his name – to give life to the whole body” [3]. Referring to chapter 18 of St Matthew’s Gospel, verse 20, it is clear that a large group of people is not necessary, but rather the emphasis should be placed on the presence of Jesus even between only two, in order for this reality that is Church to come about: “Yes, because we are often just a small group united and inserted juridically into the entire Church of Christ. Therefore, even if there are only a few of us, we are ‘Church’, ‘living Church’, because of the presence of Jesus among us” [4]. Because it is a living reality, open to the world and in dialogue, it is the Church that journeys and which, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, is in the company of “that third Person among us who gives divine value to all our actions. Then it will no longer be we who act in life, as wretched and limited people, alone and afflicted as we are. The Almighty will journey with us. And those who are united to him bear great fruit. We will increase from one cell to many cells, forming always new tissue” [5]. Dialogue that opens up to the world, including dialogue with people of faiths other than Christian, and with those who do not identify with a particular religious sphere, enables us to experience the meaning of the universal Church. Chiara, referring to the Fathers, recalls that “St Thomas said that the Church is not to be measured only by the number of Catholics but, since Jesus Christ died for all people, it is to be measured by the number of all those for whom he died, that is, by the whole of humanity. […] Through dialogue, the Church opens up to that ‘self which is outside itself’” [6].atmosphere of heroism, of the highest generosity .. .’ And these effects, this atmosphere, are the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus, that is, the Holy

Note

  1. [1]

    1.Chiara Lubich, Lublino (Polonia), 19 giugno 1996, in Dottorati Honoris causa conferiti a Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova, 2016, pag. 43

  2. [2]

    2. Chiara Lubich, L’unità e Gesù abbandonato, Città Nuova, 1994, pag. 84

  3. [3]

    3. Chiara Lubich, in Gesù in mezzo, a cura di Judith Povilus e Donato Falmi, Città Nuova, Roma 2019, pag. 113

  4. [4]

    4. Chiara Lubich, in Gesù in mezzo, a cura di Judith Povilus e Donato Falmi, Città Nuova, Roma 2019, pag. 114

  5. [5]

    5. Chiara Lubich, in Gesù in mezzo, a cura di Judith Povilus e Donato Falmi, Città Nuova, Roma 2019, pagg. 114-115

  6. [6]

    6. Chiara Lubich, in rivista Il Regno – 15 maggio 2001

Riferimenti bibliografici

  • La dottrina spirituale, a cura di Michel Vandeleene, Mondadori, Milano 2001
  • Una via nuova. La spiritualità dell’unità, Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova 2002
  • La Chiesa, a cura di B. Leahy e H. Blaumeiser, Città Nuova, Roma 2018