“God is interested in the divine bond, the Holy Spirit, the One who makes us children of God and brothers and sisters of one another, the sole bond of fraternity”. [1]

The Holy Spirit is the power of God at work.“You are light, joy, beauty. You seize and captivate souls, you inflame hearts, you inspire deep and decisive thoughts of holiness with unexpected personal commitments. You achieve what many sermons cannot teach [2]. In Chiara Lubich’s spirituality, “the Holy Spirit is considered, above all, for what he is in God and for humankind. He is the bond of unity between the divine Persons, Father and Son, and the bond of unity among Christians. […] The Holy Spirit, breath of Jesus and atmosphere of heaven, is also the breath of his body, the Church. And we are aware of his presence if the Church is itself in the full sense; that is, if it is kingdom of God, heaven come down on earth, because of unity.” [3] When the spirituality of communion is lived out, it offers, through the action of the Holy Spirit, a particular contribution especially in the ecumenical sphere: “It will bind into one all those who live it, so that they will feel solidarity among them and already be, in a certain way, one. They will be conscious of forming, we might say, a single Christian people which, with all that is happening as a result of the other forces inspired by the Spirit in this ecumenical age, can be leaven for the full communion among the Churches. It will be in effect the implementation of another dialogue, added to the dialogues of charity, prayer and theology: the dialogue of the people” [4]. Because, although not homogeneous, it avoids extremes. For example, it enables Orthodox Christians to feel the breath of the Holy Spirit [5]. The Romanian-Orthodox Archimandrite, Dalea, in fact affirmed: “This spirit of the Movement brings the Fathers of the Church into today’s world to embody unity in truth” [6]. In an even wider dimension, since “The Spirit, like the wind, blows where it wills” (Jn. 3:8), “He can be present in the hearts of non-Christians of good will, he is in a certain way the bond of unity also with them” [7].

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, “La dottrina spirituale”, Mondadori, 2001 pag.190

  3. [3]

    3. Chiara Lubich, Dal discorso “III tema sulla spiritualità collettiva”, in Una via nuova, Città Nuova 2002, pag.

  4. [4]

    4. C. Lubich, Una spiritualità per la riconciliazione, in La dottrina spirituale, a cura di Michel Vandeleene con i saggi di Piero Coda e Jesus Castellano, Mondadori, Milano 2001 pagg. 374 – 375

  5. [5]

    5. Cfr. H. Blaumeiser, Ortodossi e cattolici per l’unità, in Gen’s, n.7 1978 pag. 3

  6. [6]

    6. Archivio del Centro “Uno”, segreteria ecumenica del Movimento dei Focolari; citato in Back J. Patricia, Il contributo del Movimento dei Focolari alla koinonia ecumenica, una spiritualità del nostro tempo al servizio dell’unità, Città Nuova, Roma, 1988, pag. 182

  7. [7]

    7. Chiara Lubich, Dal discorso “III tema sulla spiritualità collettiva”, in Una via nuova, Città Nuova 2002, pag. 28

Riferimenti bibliografici

  • La dottrina spirituale, a cura di Michel Vandeleen, Mondadori, Milano 2001
  • Una via nuova. La spiritualità dell’unità, Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova 2002
  • Lo Spirito Santo, a cura di F. Gillet e R. Silva, Città Nuova, Roma 2018