Ecclesial Movements and the Marian
Profile of the Church

Lecture at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, London - 16th June 2004

This lecture was the final one in a series of lectures by key figures from Lay Movements on Mission and Evangelisation. Chiara's topic was "Ecclesial Movements and the Marian Profile of the Church"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great joy for me to be here this evening in this great St. Mary’s College of the University of Surrey.

The subject entrusted to me in the series of conferences on mission and evangelisation is: "Ecclesial Movements and the Marian Profile of the Church".

The flowering of ecclesial movements is certainly one of the Spirit’s gifts to our times. John Paul II himself said this. From the beginning of his pontificate he has always considered them as a great spiritual resource and as a "motive of hope" for the Church and for humanity. (See note 1)

These movements came into great evidence in the Catholic Church on the vigil of Pentecost, 1998. St. Peter’s Square in Rome, as well as the nearby streets and squares, were crowded with three to four hundred thousand people. They had gathered around John Paul II who wished to entrust to them, to those who were following the event on radio or television, and to history, an absolutely unexpected announcement: his vision of the Church today. He affirmed that just as there is the institutional, hierarchical aspect in the Church, which is very important and essential, there is also the charismatic aspect of the Church which is in profound communion with the hierarchical aspect. This aspect is the effect of the various charisms given by the Holy Spirit to his Spouse, the Church down through the centuries and present now also in the new movements and ecclesial communities.

Thus the Holy Father assigned to us, participants of more than sixty ecclesial movements present on that day, our place in the Church. We were – this is what he said – "a significant expression" of the charismatic aspect of the Church, although not the only ones. (See note 2) The joy that filled our hearts on that day was indeed immense.

In view of this event, we can ask ourselves: who could have prompted the Holy Father to speak in this way? Undoubtedly it was the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, knowing his great devotion to the Mother of God and the bond which she, who is filled with charisms, has with all that concerns these gifts, we must think that he was prompted to do so also by Mary.

Does not this Marian profile we are speaking of today in this land which glories in being Mary’s domain, concern her?

Hans Urs von Balthasar, the well-known and distinguished Swiss theologian wrote in-depth about the Marian profile. He affirmed that, in the Church, the Spouse of Christ, there are two distinct profiles or principles in communion with one another: the Petrine profile, expressed by the Popes, who continue Peter, and by the hierarchy; and the Marian profile, which is the presence of Mary through the centuries in the many old and new charisms which enrich and beautify the Church with religious families, with ecclesial movements and new communities.

This Marian profile reminds us that the Church is built not only on the apostles, but also on the prophets. It would therefore be expressed by the charismatic aspect, by the prophetic, spiritual, holy aspect, which has always been found in the Church, as it is now.

For von Balthasar, the Petrine, hierarchical principle is linked with the external structures of the Church, with the objective holiness of Scripture, sacraments, ministries, and includes other elements like canon law. The Marian principle is a subjective spirit found in Mary and lived out in a dynamic manner in all that leads to the Church’s sanctity. The inner Marian principle of the Church is the core which the institutional structure serves and which lasts into eternity. (See note 3)

In his Christmas address to the Roman Curia on the occasion of the 1987 Marian Year, the Pope spoke of the relationship between these two profiles. He said: "The Immaculate Mary precedes all others, including obviously Peter himself and the Apostles. (…). A contemporary theologian – alluding to von Balthasar – has well commented: "Mary is ‘Queen of the Apostles’ without any claim to apostolic powers: she has other and greater powers." (See note 4)

But if the Marian profile is so important in the Church and if the ecclesial movements are one of its significant expressions, let us try to understand something more about the way men, women, young people and adults, priests, religious and bishops can, through them, see Mary as their model, imitate her, indeed, in a certain way, "relive her" so as to make her present – as much as this is possible – on earth.

Some providential spiritualities necessary for our times have risen up in these modern movements. In fact, the Holy Spirit is never sparing in giving to the Church, from time to time, spiritualities for which the Church feels a special need. They are almost like a medicine, at times, for the evils of individual eras or new thrusts to live the Gospel with greater fullness.

This is the case also with the ecclesial reality I represent: the "Work of Mary" or the "Focolare Movement", which is also an expression of the Marian profile of the Church. Von Balthasar, who knew the Movement, was convinced of this and he wrote so.

In this movement, Mary certainly appears to be at work, suggesting a communitarian, universal spirituality, all hers, the "spirituality of unity", which teaches many men and women how to be authentic Christians today, following her example.

The various aspects of Christian life which the Holy Spirit underlined in our spirituality may be present in more or less the same way and expressed in a similar way in the spiritualities of other movements.

This "spirituality of unity" has in recent years been the object of a rather special course of events in the Catholic Church. In fact, at the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the Holy Father John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Novo millennio ineunte, promoted it as the spirituality of the Church under the name of spirituality of communion.

In it Mary gives precise and very important indications to people of our times. We know that today, as always, people want to find a reason for living. In the western world, for instance, there is a searching for being which, however, actually aims more on having than on being. In practice, this way of seeing things is translated by men and women today above all in terms of a demand for well-being and freedom in all fields: this way of seeing things is quite limited and filled with risks.

And so Mary speaks – through this "spirituality of unity" or "of communion" – to the heart of people today and invites them not to make of wellbeing or futile ideals all destined to pass, the primary goal of life, but to live for God, as she did.

Mary lived of God, of faith and love of God. God was everything for her.

On the other hand, God alone gives full meaning to our life on earth; he alone assures us of the next life, which exists and which will never end, even though many people in the modern world do not take this into account.

Yes, in order to accomplish something worthwhile and great in our life, we too, men and women today, must make this drastic change in our lifestyle: no longer putting ourselves, our tastes and pleasures at the centre of our interests, but God.

How does Mary present God to people today?

She presents him as he truly is, she presents him as Love. The true God is Love. We need to realize this.

But if this is true, we will soon understand that we are not alone in managing our lives. There is Someone with us who thinks about us, who loves us, who is more a Father to us than our earthly father. We will understand that if such a Father was capable one day of sending his Son on earth to die for us, we can be sure that he will intervene in all our other needs.

Jesus explains the Father’s love in this way: "Even the hairs of your head have all been counted" (Lk 12:7) and "Do not worry about these things, do not say: 'What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed?' (...) Your heavenly Father knows you need them all" (Mt 6:31).

To believe in God as Love then. To be able to repeat what John the Evangelist wrote: "And we have believed in love" (cf. 1 John 4:16).

But we should not limit ourselves to believing that God loves us. Mary teaches us that we must respond to his love with our love.

We must love God in return.

We might think at times that loving God is a question of words or sentiments. No, loving God means doing his will. Thus we should not do our own will but God's will. This means that we should adapt ourselves to his plan of love, because he has a plan for each one of us, which is always wonderful, rewarding, and brings happiness.

Many people today plan out their lives by themselves. It usually deals with having a good social position. Work is viewed as a means for acquiring this. Free time is geared towards searching for experiences, acquaintances, pleasures. An exaggerated amount of time and importance is given to travelling, amusements and shows, as if this were everything.

It is clearly a plan which totally lacks any Christian dimension, which gives fleeting happiness here on earth and certainly does not prepare for the next life.
To decide, instead, to accomplish in the course of life not our own will, but the will of God who loves us as only he can – as Mary did – means to prepare ourselves for making life a wonderful, divine adventure. Those who have done this know what extraordinary surprises are in store.

In fact, by doing God's will, the Lord responds to our love with his love. If we generously give what we have to our brothers and sisters, he abundantly fills us with goods. If we seek his kingdom, he gives us more than what is necessary. If we put him in the first place in our hearts, even before our relatives and every good, he fills us a hundred times over. And with the hundredfold, he also gives us eternal life. Let’s try it. It’s true.

Doing God’s will, therefore, and above all, that which is expressed in a special command: love of neighbour. It is very important because Jesus considers done to himself what we do to others. At the end of our lives we will be examined on love. Do you remember? "I was hungry – Jesus will tell us at the final judgment – and you gave me food" (Mt 25:35-36).

However, Christian love does not go in one direction alone. It is not directed only towards others. This love should also return to us. In fact, the pearl of the Gospel is mutual love, reciprocal charity characteristic of Christians. "Love one another," Jesus said, "as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12). Mary, all taken up as she was with her Jesus, reminds us that this commandment is particularly important to him, because he calls it his and says that it is new. It is the synthesis of the Gospels.

The fact is that when Jesus came on earth, he did not come from nowhere as each one of us, but he came from heaven.

When an emigrant goes to a distant country, he adapts himself to his new environment, but also brings his own ways and customs and often continues to speak his own language. Likewise Jesus adapted himself here on earth to the life of every person, but he brought with him – because he was God – the lifestyle of heaven, of the Trinity, which is love, reciprocal love.

The early Christians had understood Jesus’ teaching on mutual love. They had centred it as the focal point of the Good News and they put it into practice with great zeal. As a matter of fact, the pagans who observed them said: "Look at how they love one another... how they are ready to die for one another." (See note 5)

If we love one another as Jesus loved us, a surprising supernatural phenomenon will take place in our lives. Jesus will be spiritually present among us because he said: "Where two or three are united in my name (as He wants and therefore in mutual love), I am in their midst" (Mt 18:20).

Mary necessarily loves this presence of Jesus among her children. She who gave Jesus physically to the world wants nothing more than to see him spiritually alive among Christians in today's world.

Thus we must commit ourselves to living mutual charity with all our heart.

If we do so, we will be able to expand Christianity widely and effectively in the secularised society around us. In seeing our mutual love, men and women also in the modern world will believe because it is written, "May they be one (in love)," said Jesus, "so that the world may believe" (Jn 17:21).

This is what the early Christians experienced. And such was the divine force that emanated from this way of living Christianity that before long they had spread to practically all parts of the world known at that time. As Tertullian affirmed: "We were born yesterday, and yet we have already invaded the entire world.... 6

A wonderful ideal, which cannot help but attract us too!

To choose God who is Love as the ideal of our life; to do his will, to love our neighbour and to love one another: these are the initial teachings that Mary offers us through the spirituality of unity.

But there is more: Mary also gives people today a new explanation of suffering, of the suffering which everyone, sooner or later, encounters in life.

In contemporary society suffering is viewed with fear because it is not understood. Also different forms of entertainment, television, and advertising tend to present only images of wellbeing and security. Above all, people would like to exorcise death, almost as if it did not exist. Anything that makes people suffer is considered solely as misfortune.

What significance, instead, does suffering have for Mary? What is the best way to face it? The person who explained it to us with his words and with his own life was Jesus.

He suffered and he died. Certainly everything was caused by the men who condemned, scourged and crucified him. But he always saw another, deeper meaning in his suffering and death. He suffered and died in order to reunite us to God, since we had separated ourselves from him by sinning, and to reunite us to one another.

From the moment Jesus was on the cross, our suffering too, all suffering acquired a meaning similar to his.

People suffer surely because of negative factors like accidents, illnesses and misfortunes.... But God who is Love for us, as he was for Jesus, unveils another dimension to each person's suffering. Through suffering people contribute to their own perfection; or they cooperate towards that of their brothers and sisters. In this way, they and others will see the resurrection – as Jesus did – which is full and everlasting life.

The saints were familiar with this new way of understanding suffering. In fact, in every suffering that unexpectedly turned up, they did not see only the external, material and earthly aspects. Rather, they discerned the hand of God which permitted everything so that with Christ they could work for their own spiritual good and that of others.

Looking at the Crucifix, they grasped the value of suffering. For this reason, they identified themselves with it and found union with God.

Today, according to the experience of the Focolare Movement, Our Lady points out to us a particular suffering of Jesus, that supreme suffering at the apex of his passion when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46).

In that terrible moment, the Son of God had the impression that the Father, who was one with him, had abandoned him. And the anguish he experienced in his inmost being was of such depth that it cannot be explained. In his divine heart he experienced that separation from God which human beings had brought upon themselves through sin, with all the consequences. He felt all the weight of our sins.... However, despite all this he abandoned himself once again to the Father with total trust, "Father," he said, "into your hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46).

Mary, drawing our attention to Jesus crucified and abandoned, wants to help us to find the strength to overcome every difficulty.

If our heart also suffers, in a certain way, the abandonment of God, spiritual aridity, darkness, confusion within us or if we are gripped by doubt or by the burden of our sins, we will think of him. Going deep into our hearts, we will tell him that we want to do as he did. We want to accept suffering. We will say "yes" to him. In this way our union with God will grow and we will help others to find this union or to strengthen it.

Finally, Mary extends another invitation to people of our times through the spirituality of unity. She orients them towards universal fraternity, towards the unity of the human family.

Even though our planet is afflicted by many tensions, and today even by terrorism, in various ways Our Lady presses people on towards unity: it’s a sign of the times! And she wants this on all levels. She wants families and the different generations to be united. She asks for unity among ethnic groups, races, among nations, among Christians, and as much as possible, with the faithful of other religions and, at least on an operative level, with all people who do not have any religious affiliation but who seek the good of the human person. She loves all humanity and she wants it to be united in one single family. She wants universal fraternity.

And because love is inscribed in the DNA of every man and woman, and it makes them capable of loving, if we also love them, fraternity becomes possible.

These are a few of the requests Our Lady has expressed through a movement in the Church.

Millions of people are already following these indications, which are also very universal. They experience great spiritual joy and the consequent solutions to many personal, family and social problems. They have been transformed into authentic apostles of dialogue and the civilization of love.

With Mary, the leading lay person of the Church, and with her spirituality, we also, lay people, will be able to rise to the task the Church asks of us in our times: to work for our sanctification which is the universal vocation of all Christians, and to contribute to the renewal and expansion of the Church; to animate with the Christian spirit the realities of the world we are involved in.

In this way the characteristic contribution that the Marian profile brings to the Church will be much greater and everyone will see the Church as being more beautiful, more holy, more dynamic, more like a family. It will be a Church that is loving, welcoming, better oriented towards its new frontiers: that of ecumenism, of interreligious dialogue, of dialogue with non-believers; with constant innovations, constant conversions, new vocations; a charismatic Church, a Marian, missionary, evangelizing Church. And all this will be for the glory of God and his Mother.

Chiara Lubich

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Notes:
1 Homily given on the Vigil of Pentecost, in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, XIX/1 (1996), p. 1373.
2 John Paul II, Message to the world congress of ecclesial movements, 27 May 1998, in I Movimenti nella Chiesa, cit. n. 4, p.18.
3 Cf. B. Leahy, Il principio mariano nella Chiesa, Roma 1999.
4 H. U. von Balthasar, Neue Klarstellungen, trad. it., Milano 1980, p. 181.
5 Tertullian, Apologetico, a cura di A. resta Barrile, Bologna 1980, p. 145.
6 Tertullian, cit., cap. 37,4, p. 139.