I would like to quote part of a talk given by Pope Paul VI. He refers to Jesus’ New Commandment and explains that it “transforms and sublimates friendship into fraternal love, in so far as it commits us to love one another as he himself loved us.” The Pope emphasized how Jesus reached the point of proposing this to his Apostles, “wanting them to be in full communion, in other words, in unity of life.”
This is clear in Jesus’ prayer to the Father: “That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you” (Jn 17:21–22) … We can see this in a document from the Second Vatican Council, in which the Council Fathers say: “… the Lord Jesus, when he prayed to the Father, ‘that they all may be one … as we are one’ opened up vistas closed to human reason, for he implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine persons, and the unity of God’s children in truth and charity” (Gaudium et Spes, 24).
It says, “vistas closed to human reason,” but we could say, they are “accessible” to us when we allow God to live in our midst, because they are accessible to Jesus who lives among us and not to our own capabilities. It is the life of the Trinity that can be reflected on earth.
And this is the model we have to tend toward; this is the path we should follow today, too, so as to be authentic Christians, to bring the life of heaven on earth. Following this path, we can bring into the world a way to reach holiness together, for which unity is the training ground, because in unity we train ourselves to live charity to the point of laying down our lives for one another, and so to become saints together… Therefore unity is a gift, it is a commitment, but it is also a goal.
The third dimension is unity as a goal. This unity enables us to evangelize in our own particular way. Because what does Scripture say? It says, “That they may all be one … so that the world may believe.” Unity is not an end in itself. We must be one so that the world may believe. Our unity is directed toward the world, toward others.
Let’s look now at the world we live in. How can we evangelize this world? How can we help? How can we solve the dramatic problems in the world today? The first thing we have to do is to be convinced of the treasure that the charism of unity represents and that we can bring the treasure of unity wherever we are, because it does not depend on us. We received it as a charism: it is a grace and a gift of God. Therefore this treasure of unity, which God has given to us, can be given to others.
In 1984, Focolare founder Chiara Lubich wrote, “Before all else, God wants from us that we bring to life living cells everywhere, with Christ in our midst; cells that are ever more ardent, ever more numerous. God wants us to enkindle ever bigger fires in families, offices, factories, schools, parishes and convents.”
Many other examples come to mind: in refugee camps, to bring the fire there … in hospitals for those wounded in war; in the lines of those looking for bread or for work but not finding it; in a strike; in the ports where those rescued from the seas arrive (the ones who actually make it, not counting those who die on the way).
We should “light fires” in all these places. We are called to light fires “to feed the blaze of the love of God in the Church and in society. Are we not called focolarini, (bearers of fire) and the places where we live focolares (where the fire burns)?”
We are called to light fires and to do it with joy. Why? Because unity is the source of joy. Very often we forget that the world needs a smile, that the world needs joy. And we’ve got it because Jesus said, “that they may be one so that the world may believe” and “that they may have the fullness of my joy.” So obviously, if we have unity, we have joy, the fullness of joy. We must distribute this joy generously, and do the work of lighting fires with the joy of those who know they are bearers of joy.
How can we do this? Through our dialogues: within the Catholic Church, and certainly for those Christians of other denominations within their own churches; then dialogue among all Christians, so as to reach full communion; then with people of other religions, so as to live the Golden Rule together; and with all people of goodwill, so as to help build peace and universal brotherhood; and dialogue with the various fields of culture, so as to influence this world’s ideas with principles that are valid for all and that everyone wants.
But ours is never an abstract dialogue. It is always a dialogue with people, with brothers and sisters we love … the dialogue we will have with each person so as to reach that person, and then the next person and then the next, and the next, so we will reach dialogue “with everyone.” Then, we will reach universal brotherhood and fulfill our charism of unity …
By doing this we will live out the impetus that Pope Francis is giving us, the mercy that we can have toward all, because we are embracing the anguish of humanity with a love that is made of mercy.
I made a list so that we can remember the points.
First: what is unity? It is a gift of God.
Second: our commitment to obtain this gift means to offer ourselves once again to God as instruments. To see everyone as a candidate for unity, and not just the poor. Therefore, to place unity before any particular activity. To live this in every present moment with the neighbors we have beside us, not waiting to live it when we have lots of people around, and living it with the measure of the “as” that is explained by Jesus Forsaken, who gives us the measure and shows us the way [he died on the cross and felt abandoned by his Father out of love for us. This is our commitment.
What should we look to as our goal? The whole of humanity. The goal is to be “one” so that the world may believe. Thus the goal is humanity made one, humankind in the fulfilled plan of God, which is universal brotherhood. How can we get there? By “lighting fires of love,” forming living cells everywhere. We have seen that it is possible everywhere, with joy, even in the most tragic situations, but always with openness to dialogue with every neighbor, with every brother or sister.
This is our charism, and this is what we want to rediscover this year. If we set out to live it — and I am sure we will all try to live it together — with this kind of energy, a revolution can happen, because we can offer the world this new presence of God, which is a presence of Jesus among us, who will certainly find the solution and the answers to the anguish of humanity today.
Maria Voce
Last installment of a talk given in Montet, Switzerland, on August 16, 2015 to a primarily Catholic audience.
