In 2012, a book-interview with Maria “Emmaus” Voce was published under the title “La scomessa di Emmaus” (Emmaus’ bet). Following the book launch, Lucetta Scaraffia, an editorial writer of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, commented that Emmaus should never again assert, as she did in the book, that she had nothing significant to say. In fact, just going through her interviews, talks, messages, etc. in the course of her twelve-year presidency of the Focolare Movement would simply belie such a statement.
Emmaus Voce has just completed her second term as President of the Focolare Movement, also known as the Work of Mary, the only Catholic ecclesial movement that will always have a woman as its President, as provided for by its Statutes. When Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Movement, asked St. Pope John Paul II his opinion on this matter, the Pope enthusiastically expressed his approval explaining how in the Church, the Marian principle, which is co-essential with the Petrine principle, needs to be present.
Scaraffia affirmed that she has always been fascinated by that extraordinary woman, Chiara Lubich, who understood and anticipated the times. She gifted the Church with a “female lung” necessary for her (the Church) to face modern times, even before the campaign for the emancipation of women became popular.
Upon Emmaus Voce fell the difficult task of being the first successor of Chiara Lubich. When asked what she thought was the role of women in the Church, Emmaus spoke of important characteristics that Chiara often referred to: women’s greater capacity to love and to suffer, developed, especially through their motherhood, and therefore, their particular ability to create the family. So, in a Church that wants more and more to be a family, to be communion, the woman has an important part to play. However, Emmaus also referred to the Scripture passage that clearly states that “there is neither Jew nor Greek… there is not male or female…” (Galatians 3:28), meaning that man and woman share equal responsibility in the Church. What matters is not either being a man or a woman, but “being Christ” in the Church.
Has the Church given women sufficient space and recognition? Emmaus believes that women must take on their responsibility and know how to make use of the space given to them. To be able to shine and be recognized, they have to fully exercise their potential, their characteristics as women – love, understanding, motherhood, and fostering reciprocal aid. This is what gives women authority and leadership in the Church.
During the years of her presidency, Emmaus has always tried to keep the Focolare Movement faithful to Chiara’s ideals and to support everything that was being done towards the achievement of universal fraternity. She feels it necessary “to go back to the roots, to the inspiration, to the charism as it poured forth.” This means living the charism as God asks us today, not as He asked yesterday; actualizing it as Chiara would want us to do today, not as she did it in the past. She has not hesitated to explore new methods and open up new horizons while faithfully fixing her gaze on Chiara’s goal: to contribute to the realization of that unity that Jesus asked from the Father in his testament: “that they may all be one…” (Jn 17:21). Definitely, her horizons stretch much farther than the role of women in the Church. The Work of Mary works for the unity of all men and women, in the Church and beyond the Church, for the unity of all humanity.
Chiara does not want to be copied. She wants to go on living… in us. And this is what Emmaus is asking Chiara today: “To help us be, as she was, a continuation of Mary on earth.” Mary was a creature, who lived during her time, but God’s design on her will not pass. Mary gave birth to Jesus on earth. If we love one another radically and authentically, the way Jesus loves us, He will be born in our midst, here and now. The charism that God gave to Chiara was meant to bring Jesus back on earth. Historically, Jesus made the blind see, the lame walk, sinners turn away from their old life and embrace a new one… Jesus today wants to transform the world, to see weapons set aside so that there may be peace, to see wealth shared and gaps diminish, to see people respect one another beyond differences in religion, race, culture, age, and social class, to see solidarity lived out… This is not a utopia, Emmaus affirms, but a challenge we have to take on. We have to do everything to achieve it in our own small way, even if this means that, in our lifetime, we can achieve only a millionth part of God’s plan, but it is our task to achieve that millionth part.
Today, Emmaus shares with us a fantastic light. Jesus – who became man in Mary’s womb 2,000 years ago – did not come alone. He came with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus cannot be separated from the Trinity, from the eternal interrelationship of love among the three Divine Persons. When Jesus became man, he brought the life of heaven on earth so that all men and women could experience it. This is made possible when people love one another as the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity do. It is this love then that has the power to transform the world.
Nilda Castro
