Towards
a Luminous Future
On
Chiara Lubich’s Theology: A note by Father Catalino.
G. Arévalo, S. J. of Loyola School of Theology
In the introduction to Chiara Lubich’s Essential
Writings, (page xxviii) Fr Jesus Castellano Cervara,
of the Teresianum in Rome, “the late renowned
Carmelite and leading expert in spirituality,”
has written this remarkable comment:
It
can be affirmed that Chiara Lubich’s spiritual
doctrine is one of Christian spirituality’s all
time greatest highpoints and syntheses … This
might seem an excessive statement but it is possible
to foresee the day that historians of spirituality and
mysticism, theologians and teachers, will recognize
in her an eminent witness of the spirituality of the
whole Christian era and a person in whom the spiritual
ways that have emerged along the course of history converge
and harmonize, enriching each other and being redirected
toward a luminous future. Dottrina Spirituale, Roma,
2001, 27-28.
These
present remarks are made from a theological point of
view, not from that of spirituality. But may I be allowed
to cite the present Jesuit General, Fr Adolfo Nicolás,
who had been a theology teacher for a great many years
of his life before being elected General Superior of
the Jesuits:
I
am more and more convinced that there is a growing,
though greatly silent, consensus that true theology
is spirituality and that both, theology and spirituality
are much more “spiritual integral practice”
than mental intellectual speculation and research. It
is obvious that there is no science without reflection
and research; but we have also reached a moment in history
when there is no science any more without ongoing contact
with global realities, without imagination, creativity
and holistic perspectives. … It is not abstract
ideas of the left side of the brain that count, but
the opening of the heart to the deepest truth of being,
relating and building a more harmonious world. “2000
years: a treasure cave of wisdom,” 1 January 2000,
Landas, vol.13, no.2 (pp 42-43)
A
couple of brief comments, which really could use some
fuller explanation.
Point
One. It is with that note from Fr Adolfo Nicolás
in mind, I believe, that the theology of Chiara Lubich
is to be reflected on and (if you wish) evaluated. Her
theology, as is true also of the theology found in the
writings of other founders of movements and of religious
congregations and communities, is primarily rooted in,
and oriented towards “integral spiritual practice”,
toward a new way of living out the Gospel in life and
deed. It is not made up, in its bottom-line, of “ideas
of the left side of the brain”, but really directed
toward that “opening of the heart to the deepest
truth of existence and being, relating to and building
a more harmonious world.” In this sense, Fr. Castellano
Cervera’s evaluation of Chiara’s person
as one “in whom the spiritual ways that have emerged
along the course of history converge and harmonize …
being redirected toward a harmonious future,”
– finds verification.
A
passage from Professor Piero Coda’s introduction
to Essential Writings is appropriate at this point.
Chiara
Lubich’s spirituality seems to have been developed
precisely for energizing and fleshing out that “aggiornamento”
of the Church’s life required by the current era
of human history, and which John XXIII spoke of when
he called the Second Vatican Council. (Essential Writings,
Introduction, page 22).
Point
Two. It is in the light of these remarks that we must
look on Chiara’s “new way of life, …
(her) new way of doing things embraced by millions of
people” and the theology underlying that “new
way”. A new way which (she herself says) “has
brought peace and unity to a world in great need of
rediscovering and reestablishing peace.” (Essential
Writings, 12) Chiara’s spirituality of unity is
thus proclaimed “according to a precise plan of
God” (her own words) not to Catholics only, but
to also all Christians across all continents, to people
of the major non-Christian religions (e.g., in Asia,
Buddhists and Muslims), and more generally, to people
of good will all over the world. (I have myself just
been re-reading Pope Paul VI’s magnificent first
encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam of 1964, and rediscovering
essentially the same vision there.) For Chiara what
is at the very heart of the Gospel, “ut unum sint,
that they may be one,” explodes and radiates in
and through the spirituality of unity, breaking new
ground in people’s lives, breaking into the structures
of society: economy and work, politics and ethics, medicine,
education, art, et al.” (11), reaching out to
all realities which are involved in “co-creating
with God, in building the earthy city.” This “explosion”
and “radiation” [Chiara’s own words]
of the gospel spirit and spirituality of unity, of course
also makes a significant contribution to the building
up of the heavenly city.”
In
Chiara’s person and mission, this new spirit is
directed by God himself toward “bringing the whole
world closer to being [becoming!] in reality one community,
one family,” under the one God as loving Father
of all people.(13)
(Note:
“more academic” theological grounding of
this great “explosion/radiation” as coming
forth from the Gospel of Jesus calls for challenging
and exciting work, already being done by people like
Gerard Rossé in, e.g., The Spirituality of Communion
[in the Johannine Writings, 1998], which I personally
have found very helpful.)
Chiara
Lubich has herself formulated, “as the other side
of the same coin” (i.e., of her spirituality of
unity in love) the reality/mystery of Jesus crucified
and forsaken.
It
was a new spirituality … that the Holy Spirit
was pouring out upon the earth. It was a new ideal …
Time made everything clearer: God was calling us to
Unity … and Jesus forsaken was its secret; he
was the condition to fulfilling Jesus’ final testament:
“May they all be one.”
I
have experienced that every soul that finds itself in
the front lines of Unity and for Unity, knows how to
stand alone, supported only by suffering love as strong
as that of Jesus forsaken.
The
book of light that God is writing in my soul has two
aspects: a luminous page of mysterious love: Unity.
A luminous page of mysterious suffering: Jesus forsaken.
They are two faces of the same coin.
As
we read through these first writings, we realize that
our God-given charism is oriented toward “May
they all be one.” To achieve this aim we were
given a road, a key, a secret: Jesus forsaken. (Essential
Writings, 24-26)
Apologies
to the Focolarini here present. They know well this
linking of “Ut unum sint” and “My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” as central
to the meaning of their charism, central to the theology
and spirituality of Chiara Lubich’s person, message
and work. But truly, it is not widely known, outside
the boundaries of “the Work of Mary.” Yet
it is at one with the Church’s own spiritual center,
the Paschal Mystery.
When
I have spoken of it to some people, they find this link-up,
or these “two sides of the same coin” as
rather puzzling; they do not (at least at first glance)
see what – theologically – connects the
“two sides of the coin” – intrinsically,
as it were, and indivisibly. Of course this indivisible,
intrinsic linkage is one of those “you must live
it out, before its meaning clearly emerges” sort
of thing with which the Christian life (above all, Christian
spirituality) is filled with. In our time, we think
of Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s “secret darkness
of soul” and her radiant mission and work, also
as “two sides of the same coin”. Again,
the Paschal Mystery.
Theologically,
this core of Chiara Lubich’s theology/spirituality
I find highly challenging, theologically, in the sense
of challenging “faith seeking understanding”,
fides quaerens intellectum. We want to understand it
more fully and, more importantly, more deeply. For we
know this is at the heart of the Focolare spirituality,
at the heart of Chiara Lubich’s message and mission
for the Church and the world today, as she and her Focolare
family help us toward that “luminous future”
for which she was called by the Father of Love and Lord
of History, called to fulfill a mission which has truly
just begun, a mission of such immense and joyous promise.
Fr.
Catalino Arevalo
A commentary sent by Jesuit Theologian, Fr. Catalino
Arevalo for the book-launch of Chiara Lubich’s
Essential Writings last March 14, 2009 at the University
of Santo Tomas.
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When
the charism of unity inspires
“We
are living in a time characterized, perhaps as never
before, by the anguishing experience of fragmentation
and multiplicity, where one finds it hard to intuit
the practical and productive ways to encounter and dialogue.
Sophia presents an innovative cultural proposal: to
make it possible for sciences to open up spaces of reasoning
and for different cultures and religions to meet up
“in a disarmed openness to the mystery of God
and to each other so as to build peace among humanity.”
Piero
Coda, Rector of Sophia University Institute
 “May
the new academic center, promoting an authentic Christian
thought capable of connecting faith and reason, favor
a wider, integral vision of knowledge with other religions
and cultures, as well as the intellectual and spiritual
growth of the young generations.” This was the
wish Pope Benedict XVI expressed for the academic center
Sophia University Institute (SUI), inaugurated last
December 1, 2008 in the international little town of
the Focolare in Loppiano, Florence Italy.
The
Pope’s telegram, signed by Vatican Secretary of
State Tarcisio Bertone, was welcomed with clamorous
applause and read by the Grand Chancellor of Sophia,
Archbishop of Florence, Giuseppe Betori, before an audience
of 2,000. Present among them were university rectors
and notable figures from the academe interested in collaboration
and cultural exchanges, who came from many countries:
India, United States, Thailand, Kenya, Japan, Philippines,
Venezuela and Costa Rica. There was also a real interest
on the part of politicians, with ambassadors, deputies,
and local officials in attendance. Representatives came
from the ecumenical world, as well as Jews, Muslims,
Hindus and Buddhists.
Benedict
XVI, while expressing “real appreciation”
for this cultural initiative, recalled how it was “strongly
desired by Chiara Lubich.” The event , in fact,
“represents the realization of a great dream that
Chiara Lubich had ardently cherished in her heart since
the 1960’ as Emmaus Maria Voce, president of the
Focolare and vice-chancellor of the University Institute,
underscored. “This dream was nurtured by the awareness
that the charism of unity given to her by the Holy Spirit
contained a patrimony of such light that one day it
would be expressed in a doctrine, in a new school of
thought.”
Chiara
herself gave the new University Institute the Greek
name “Sophia,” because it hopes to foster
Wisdom so that different disciplines like philosophy,
theology, economics, science, medicine and politics
may be imbued with it and thus be helped to develop
an integral and authentic humanity.
The
Grand Chancellor, Archbishop of Florence, Giuseppe Bertori,
emphasized the communitarian dimension of culture, stating
that “we cannot really understand what it means
to create culture if we do not understand the importance
of community life: for this reason the university is
constituted like a community of professors and students.
A new university institute with clear Christian aspirations
is an important opportunity both for those who are part
of it, as well as for society.”
We
are living “in a time characterized, perhaps as
never before, by the anguishing experience of fragmentation
and multiplicity, where one finds it hard to intuit
the practical and productive ways to encounter and dialogue,”
underscored Piero Coda, rector of the new academic center.
“Sophia presents an innovative cultural proposal:
to make it possible for sciences to open up spaces of
reasoning and for different cultures and religions to
meet together “in a disarmed openness to the mystery
of God and to each other so as to build peace among
humanity.”
Many
authorities, from the cultural and scientific fields
voiced the hope that Sophia has awakened, that is, to
find the connection between studies and life. Dr. Anthony
Cernera from the USA, president of the International
Federation for Catholic Universities, in fact indicated
the bridging the gap between heart and mind as “one
of the fundamental challenges of our time.” He
further sustained that “the role of the academic
world does not only regard ‘the mind,’ but
that the education of a person needs to embrace the
whole person.”
The
physicist Ugo Amaldi dealt with the debated questions
posed by genetic engineering on the genetically modified
organisms in the agricultural field and questions on
nuclear energy, all which call for political decisions
and democratic participation. He indicated a goal to
the newborn University Institute: to be “a place
of trust,” for an exchange between scientists,
technologists and citizens that would not be stained
by personal interests or suspicions. It is a goal that
the scientist sees as attainable on “the fertile
ground of Loppiano” where the SUI stands: “because
here intellectual trust has its roots in mutual love.
Here in a new way citizens can live their membership
in a society that calls for complex technological decisions,
where they can be informed and debate with one another,
with the certitude of not being manipulated.”
The
urgency to recompose the fragmentation was also underscored
by Cardinal Grokolewski, prefect for the Congregation
for Catholic Education, in a message read by the vice-secretary
of the Vatican department, Bishop Vincenzo Zani. “To
a university marked by the compartmentalizing and the
functionality of the learning processes, it is necessary
to offer academic programs aimed at unity of knowledge,
built through patient and rigorous interdisciplinary
research, and enlightened by the Gospel message.”
He defined this goal of the University Institute “an
intellectual and moral force, destined to spread its
positive effects for the benefit of all humanity.”
According to the Cardinal, this “qualified academic
institution is particularly suited to respond to the
needs of a new humanism.”
The
first protagonists in this new cultural initiative are
its students. Their personal experiences and impressions,
shared in the afternoon of the inauguration, were very
incisive. Benedictine Ingalite Batabana from Congo,
with a degree in philosophy, represented the students
when she said, “The trans-disciplinary nature
and the intercultural dynamics of Sophia are the answers
to my deepest desires. A life founded on mutual love,”
she said, “is the necessary humus for studies
that lead to a greater aspiration and generate new insights.
We are aware that we are experiencing this new humanism
born from the Gospel, and we can be the expression of
a new way of thinking at the service of humanity’s
hopes.”
Today
new possibilities for collaboration and exchanges come
out from the encounter between the professors at Sophia
and rectors from a few universities which in these past
few years have conferred Chiara Lubich with an honorary
degree: Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut
(USA), Liverpool Hope University (Great Britain), The
Catholic University Cecilio Acosta in Maracaibo (Venezuela):
the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila
(Philippines), and the Claretianum Institute of the
Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. The common commitment
they have assumed is that of promoting exchanges and
informal meetings, but on-going ones between the “friends
of Sophia,” as the rectors defined themselves.
A moment of sharing with the 50 university professors
present at the inauguration concluded with the common
commitment not only to launch different collaborations,
but also to become instruments of a live and efficacious
presence of wisdom in their own university centers,
as vice-chancellor Maria Voce expressed in her final
wish for them.
This article was taken from the Focolare’s
official website: www.focolare.org.
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