Evangelisation in the Focolare Movement —its ways and fruits

The following is the text of the principal address written by Chiara Lubich and delivered by Natalia Dallapiccola, one of the first focolarine, at a meeting for Evangelicals Lutherans of theFocolare Movement held in Berlin last September.

Chiara Lubich

My heart is filled with great joy today—and I know that many of you feel the same—in meeting with so many people of our Movement who belong to the Evangelical Church, or who, as Evangelicals, want to take advantage of this occasion to know more about our Movement.

There is great joy because this meeting of ours undoubtedly bears witness to one reality. It seems to me that it says one thing: that in this century, God has loved Christianity and has looked at the whole of Christianity in various ways, and not least among them is the way that concerns us.

He was not satisfied with the fact that Christians, because of the ecumenical spirit, which has spread like fire in this period of history, feel that they are already one through the baptism they all have in common as sons and daughters of God, and through other elements of unity that have re-emerged. He sent on earth one of His gifts, one of His charisms whose purpose is that of enriching not only one Church; rather this charism has been accepted by Christians of all Churches. It is a charism which unites hearts even more in the one faith we all have in Jesus Christ, going beyond all differences still present.

As a result, all of us, Evangelicals, Catholics, Reformed Church, Methodists and the other Christians, enjoy even now in a truer and more deeply-felt way, the presence of Jesus among us: «Where two or three are united in my name, I am there in their

midst» (Mt. 18:20), and as much as it is possible in the present situation, the unity invoked by Jesus: «May they all be one» (Jn. 17:21). This, then, is the reason for my joy. Now let us pass on to the theme we must consider. It is entitled: «Evangelization in the Focolare Movement: its ways and fruits».

The Movement, in fact, has different aspects or vocations. One very important vocation is undoubtedly that of evangelizing, first of all, of evangelizing ourselves. And so we will speak about evangelization, about the typical evangelization of our Movement.

The word evangelization, as you know, comes from «?????????????», [bringing good news], the Gospel. In order to understand the type of evangelization the Movement is called to develop, it will be helpful, indeed necessary, to consider the important role that the Gospel has in the life of the Movement. And to understand this, we must look at how the Holy Spirit presented the Gospel to the first members of our Movement.

We know that two thousand years of Church history teach us that every Movement born in the heart of the Church, through the work of the Holy Spirit, needs to return constantly to its beginnings. This will guarantee its continual development and everlasting fruitfulness. It has been seen that movements which have taken short-cuts or searched for other ways so as to achieve more astounding results, abandoning the spirit of their origins, have gone backwards and sometimes even experienced failure. It is for this reason that we return to the early days.

What, then, has the Gospel been for us?

First, we must say that the circumstances we lived in—through which God often spoke to us—gave to the Gospel at that time (approximately fifty years ago) a position of absolute prominence. Due to the need to seek refuge in the air-raid shelters many times a day during the Second World War, we could bring with us only the small book of the Gospel. That was the book we opened and read, that book alone.

Secondly, the light of the charism, which was beginning to work in our hearts, made us understand the words it contained in an absolutely new way: as being clear-cut and totally different from other words, because anyone, of any race, age, nation or latitude would be able to live them. They were words suited not only to the times of Jesus or to other times, but to all times, and they could be put into practice.

Thirdly, that same flame of the charism, as soon as it was enkindled, strongly urged us to put them into practice.

And we had many opportunities to do so during those days.

* We had read in Matthew, for example, «Love your neighbour as yourself» (Mt. 19:19), and as soon as the alarm stopped, we had the opportunity to help a mother carry her children and accompany them home.

* We had read: «I was hungry and you gave me food» (Mt. 25:35), and we had the opportunity to cook big pots of soup and invite the poor to our table.

* We had read: «Always treat others as you would like them to treat you» (Mt. 7:12) and we devoted ourselves to the wounded, the sick, prisoners, to those who needed clothes.

* We consoled, gave advice and assisted in all ways, using the remarkable quantity of goods that arrived to us from Providence for having «asked», as it says in the Gospel: «Ask and it will be given to you» (Mt. 7:7) or for having given and received the hundredfold ,as the Gospel also says (cf. Mt. 19:29).

This is what the Gospel urged us to do: to live it, to be the living Gospel. So, not merely studying the Word of God—this is a task for some people; not just learning it by heart—even though living it led us to know it very well; not simply meditating on its words; no: we had to live the Gospel. As a matter of fact, this was what the Gospel asked of us when it spoke of building the house on rock (cf. Mt. 7:24).

In living the Word and always putting our souls in contact with it, Christ was born and grew within us. And Christ, who is the living Gospel, could not help but evangelize. Thus, this way of living led to an initial evangelization.

The people who saw us moving about in this way became curious about the new way of life they had discovered in us, about the joy that flowered in us from the «new person» which Paul speaks of (2Cor. 5:17),and they asked why we acted so differently from the usual way of acting in the world.

“And so we spoke and spoke about the Gospel, and our words entered into their hearts because they had first seen them lived. And many, many people followed us.”

We were interested in all of the Gospel, in all the words Jesus had spoken so that we could live them. Now too, all the words of the Gospel are of interest to the Movement which month after month, through the Word of Life, invites its members (a few million) to take a phrase of the Gospel and live it together.

But one special episode characterized the early days. One day, gathered together in a cellar of the city of Trent so as to shelter themselves from the war, the first focolarine opened the Gospel of John at chapter 17 and read the prayer for unity. Although it was difficult to comprehend, at least for them, they felt they could understand it. What was especially clear to them was the idea that they had been born for that page of the Gospel, that it was the Magna Charta of all that was about to blossom in the Church.

From that moment on, through this new charism which is defined as «the charism of unity», we understood the Gospel, all the Gospel, from one very precise angle, unity: Gospel unity, which was later authoritatively described by Paul VI as the synthesis of the Gospel 1, as the summary of Christ's divine desires 2 .

We saw the purpose of the Gospel and the New Testament in general as unity: Jesus had lived and spoken, He had died and risen so that all Christians would be one in Him and through Him in the Father, and one with one another.

At the same time, the Spirit made clear to us not only our vocation and the goal to strive for, but He also gave us the key to it.

“Jesus crucified in His cry of abandonment had experienced the greatest separation, the greatest disunity, the greatest division imaginable.”

At another stage, again during those early days, we can say that it was revealed to us, the way, the means for reaching unity: Jesus crucified who in His cry of abandonment: «My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?» (Mt. 27:46) had experienced the greatest separation, the greatest disunity, the greatest division imaginable. Out of love for us, He seemed to have fallen into an infinite, fathomless division: that of feeling that He, God, was separated, abandoned by God. And He experienced this in order to re-unite us, sinners, with God and with one another.

Only by looking at Him, only by following Him, who abandoned in this way had re-abandoned Himself to the Father: «Father, into your hands I commit my spirit» (Lk. 23:46), would we also be able to overcome every division. And we gave ourselves to Him, as does everyone in the Movement who wants to contribute without half-measures to bringing unity into the world.

Unity, therefore; first of all, unity with God, unity which we can reach by loving Jesus forsaken every time we feel that we are a little distant or very far from God. Unity with God which is achieved by being one with His Word, which is His will, by living His Word, by being His Word and that is, by bearing witness, which as we have seen, gives rise to an initial, spontaneous evangelization. This is what Jesus' prayer for unity asks for, first and foremost.

* To be one with Jesus, with His Word, leads to being one with Him in our neighbours. And this is required today more than ever before. People listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers. 3

* To be one with our neighbours which becomes concrete through deeds, which is translated into love in practical terms.

In the early days, as we have seen, it was expressed through actions by individuals and small groups. Now it is expressed in the Movement through actions and works in various parts of the world, also on a large scale. Like Jesus, we must begin to do and then to teach (cf. Acts 1:1).

“People listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers...Like Jesus, we must begin to do and then to teach.”

In this regard, Saint John Chrysostom comments: «Jesus says that we must first do and then teach others. He places doing good before teaching, thus showing that we will be able to teach effectively only if we have first put into practice what we are teaching, and never otherwise.» 4 We must be, therefore, we must be a concrete expression of love towards others, and only then can we speak. But we must also be one among ourselves. We are one among ourselves by the grace we have already obtained through baptism. To express this, however, our response is needed, that is, our mutual love to the point of being ready to give our life for one another: «Love one another, as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends» (Jn. 15:12-13). Being one among ourselves, as Christians should be, already contains an apostolic power: «May they be one,» said Jesus, «so that the world may believe» (cf. Jn. 17:21).

Therefore, we have two ways of «being»: being one with God and through Him, with our brothers and sisters. And being one among ourselves. These ways of being—as we have seen—do not stop here, but they spontaneously pass on to proclamation, often because we are asked. And only through proclaiming is evangelization complete. Yes, we need to speak, too. The apostles spoke. We might think that they did so because of the special mandate they received from Jesus: «Go and preach...» (cf. Mt. 16:15). But the early Christians, often simple lay people, also spoke and it was through them that the Gospel reached all the known world at that time. We, too, have spoken from the very beginning of the Movement. We have spoken quite a lot! We spoke and we wrote to everyone: to friends, relatives.... And then, because we were always growing in number, we spoke to larger groups of people. Today also, we particularly feel that it is necessary to speak. And it is exactly what our Bishops are suggesting to us in this time. One of the Bishops has invited us to «speak», he said insistently, «about the things we have heard (...), of your ideal (...), speak openly as the Apostles did. Don't speak only with the people you know, who come to your meetings, but speak about these things every time you have the chance. Speak, speak about Jesus in your midst, (...) about unity, speak (...) perhaps with people who don't believe yet, with people who don't really want to listen to you...» 5

Yes, we are convinced that we must speak, and it is what we encourage one another to do. Above all, in the zones (like Eastern Europe) where the Church has been silent for decades, we need to speak; indeed, we need to learn again how to speak. And also in the West, at times for many reasons, some valid and some not, we think that we should not speak. Often, we are blocked by the thought of what people will think of us, or by the fear of being criticized and mocked; other times, perhaps we aren't very eager to commit ourselves. No, we must speak if we want to follow Jesus; indeed, we must «proclaim from the housetops» (cf. Mt. 10:27). And speaking in this way is always synonymous with proclaiming or preparing to proclaim the Gospel through the various dialogues which, preceded by the witness of life, we must begin with everyone.

We can proclaim in our homes, schools, offices, factories, parliaments, centres for recreation and sports, and so forth, wherever we live out our lives. We have a particular preference for speaking in the places suggested to us, we believe, by the Holy Spirit, which are our typical apostolic activities: the day meetings, congresses, conventions for the various "worlds" of civil society (the "worlds" of art, medicine, politics and so forth) the priestly and religious society (the "worlds" of the missions, the parish, the seminary, and so forth). Then there are the Mariapolises, Genfests, and so on.

“...evangelization typical of the Movement...”

We try to carry out these apostolic activities in accord with what we have learned, following certain tactics we have understood and used not only during the early period of the Movement, but from its very first days, since they were so essential, we believe, to our evangelization!

We cannot consider a Day Meeting as being of the Focolare Movement if, for example, we have not first prepared and then introduced in among those attending the so-called «leaven» (cf. Mt. 13:31-33), that is, people who have Jesus in their midst because they are united in His name, intent on welcoming and serving all the participants. Similarly, it is not one of our Day Meetings if we speak without having prepared ourselves by listening to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who speaks in us and also among us when we are united. It is not one of our Day Meetings if we have not prepared it perfectly in every detail. There can be no Mariapolis without asking everyone, as if it were an admission ticket, to love the other participants. These are just a few examples.

At this point we have models drawn from experience of how all our activities should be carried out. And we must be faithful to them. It is with these methods and precise formats that the Movement has journeyed so far, fruitfully bringing ahead the Kingdom of God. These then are the principal means that the Lord has offered to us for our evangelization.

In the same way, we use the communications media (magazines, books, documentaries, radio, television), always basing these various ways of «speaking» on the foundation of «living».

The main subjects dealt with in these large meetings of ours are, first of all, aspects of our spirituality which is, as we know, a compendium of all the Christian realities and truths and commands of God: God Love, the will of God, love of neighbour, mutual love, unity, Jesus crucified and forsaken; the Word, and so on. Then there is a news up-dating on the developments of the Movement in that particular zone or in different parts of the world, which is almost like a narration of the acts of our apostles. In addition, there is a presentation of Gospel experiences in which the life of one member of a Church or group can give an idea of the very life of that Church. There is always an enlightened and in-depth report on the latest documents of one's Church, on its dialogues and also on the life of Christianity in general, as well as information about members of the world religions and other cultures.

But there is still another most original way of evangelizing in the Movement, and that is through all its structures. It might seem strange,that but it is not if we explain one reality.

The very physiognomy of the Movement seems to evangelize.

Logically, the Movement has a Statute. In it mutual love, which brings the presence of Jesus among brothers and sisters(Mt. 18:20) is the norm of norms, the rule which comes before every other rule. Therefore, the adherents of our Movement cannot put into practice other norms of their vocation unless Jesus is in their midst. And wherever Jesus is, He evangelizes. He does so through the centres of the Movement, the focolares themselves, the nuclei, the Gen units, the activities and so on, and particularly through our little cities (there are more than twelve throughout the world) which are—because of the number of inhabitants united in this way—powerful means of apostolate.

Our evangelization is directed at all types of people, of all ages, races, nations, vocations, languages.... Through the various branches of the Movement, we reach the consecrated, married people, families as such, committed lay people, priests, men and women religious, young people and children, adherents and friends of all social categories and of every religion. This evangelization of ours produces a rapid and continual growth of the Kingdom of God so that the Movement, now present all over the world, also has that characteristic note of the Church which is universality.

This rapid spreading was already noticed in the first two months of the life of our Movement: in 1944, when approximately five hundred people had already assimilated its message and formed a community that was bursting with life, thus calling to mind the communities described in the letters and Acts of the Apostles. Even now, because the Movement evangelizes in this way, it is never at a standstill; it grows every year and has become—and this is the way it has been described—«a people». This is true also because its typical evangelization brings about particular and totally committed callings completely at the service of God. This enables the Movement always to be active on the missions, and thus to reflect another characteristic of the Church which is its missionary spirit.

“As the Kingdom of God spreads, of course, there are conversions to Christ.”

As the Kingdom of God spreads, of course, there are conversions to Christ, as the first step for many towards personal sanctification. There are conversions from a life without God to a Christian life; from a life which had drifted away from God to a return to Him; from a lukewarm life to a fervent life and from a fervent life to a perfect and holy life. In fact, it is precisely because of the encounter with the Gospel, with the Word of God listened to and put into practice that people are sanctified. Jesus said: «Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth» (Jn. 17:17).

What takes place in us is described by Clement of Alexandria: «He who obeys the Lord and follows Scripture... is fully transformed into the image of the Master: he comes to live like God in flesh. But this height cannot be reached by those who do not follow God's lead: and He leads through the divinely inspired Scriptures». 6 In all sincerity and only so as to give glory to God, we can affirm that the Movement has formed small, and not so small perfect Christians who have now reached Heaven! In fact, we could consider and describe it as a Movement for the sanctification of people.

Besides, since the majority of the Movement's members are lay people, it brings the light of its gospel-based spirituality to human work and to our contact with all of creation, and it helps us to restore all things in Christ. One consequence of this is the communion of goods. Because we underline mutual love, the communion of goods comes about spontaneously as it did among the early Christians. We have lived this from the very beginning of the Movement. We have lived it throughout these decades in various ways according to the different vocations. And we are living it now, especially with the birth and development of what we call the «economy of communion» which blossomed this past year all over the world. We will speak of it today as of a new springtime. Moreover, because this evangelization is totally based on love, it gives wisdom. Jesus says: «I will manifest myself to the one who loves me» (Jn. 14:21). And this is true. We have noticed in the Movement that even children who are five or six years old, at times give answers filled with wisdom. And the same applies in a much greater degree, of course, to the adults. For this reason, the Movement is also seen as a school; indeed, as the fount of a new doctrine which summarizes and widens the range of knowledge already acquired.

Human endeavour watered by the divine Scriptures.

But this evangelization has other effects. It brings peace, and this is His own gift: peace between individuals and God, peace among people and peace with nature which is the work of the same Creator. It makes people experience the joy promised to those who live in unity. Because it emphasizes the reality of Jesus crucified and forsaken (cf. Mt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34), it generates social and charitable works. We are familiar with the words of our common Father of the Church, Saint John Damascene: «Like a tree planted by a stream of water, so also the soul, watered by the divine Scriptures, grows and prospers... and is always adorned with green leaves, works, that is, which are beautiful in the eyes of God.» 7

This evangelization also makes people experience the evangelical promises, like the hundredfold or receiving what they ask for. This is often a daily experience in the Movement. Besides, Jesus said so: «If my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it» (Jn. 15:7). Thus the Movement is an example of the typical life of the children of God on earth. Certainly, this evangelization also brings forth the hatred of the world, but this was foreseen (cf. Jn. 17:14), and it is the price for all the rest.

“The most interesting effects of our evangelization is that concerning the dialogues.”

In conclusion, I would like to point out what might be one of the most interesting effects of our evangelization: that concerning the dialogues. The fact is that by «being» before «speaking» (being one with Jesus to the point of being another Him; being one with our neighbours to the point of having Jesus among us) the true subject of evangelization is not so much ourselves, modern lay, priestly or religious missionaries. It is Jesus. It is Jesus who presents Himself to the world beneath our poor selves; it is He who evangelizes. This is the way the Holy Spirit has conceived the Movement's plan of evangelization.

And here we can only imagine the countless consequences. No one can remain indifferent to Him. This is why members of the same Church, previously indifferent to one another, now recognize one another as brothers and sisters and treat one another as such. This is why groups, families, associations, parishes, religious communities and dioceses are friendly with one another, thus advancing in the Church the full accomplishment of Jesus' Testament. This is why Christians of various Churches of the West and of the East (the Christians who follow the Movement belong to approximately 200 Churches) have re-discovered that they are brothers and sisters in Jesus and live in unity, as much as possible. This is why the followers of other religions do not remain indifferent. Jesus touches everyone. We have seen large crowds of people adhere to Christ. This happened years ago with an African people in the Cameroon. After having observed for years to see if the behaviour of the Movement's members was coherent with their words, they believed in Jesus. And in recent months, the king of a tribe near this people has expressed the desire that his subjects freely become Christians.

Jesus, the first and true evangelizer of the Movement, gave us the opportunity to establish a profound friendship with Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Shintoists. Although in their hearts they do not feel drawn towards Christ, they want to remain closely united to us and to belong in some way to the Movement, thirsty to hear about Jesus, especially about Jesus forsaken. At times, these people are so purified by the practices of their religion that they enjoy the presence of Jesus among us to the point of stating that they are aware of His presence. Important personalities of national renown have also invited the faithful of their own Religion to educate the young people according to the spirit of the Focolare Movement.

Jesus touches also those who call themselves non-believers. We are linked to them at least by the aim of making the world a better place, a more united world, with a more solid brotherhood. In the meantime, they assimilate Christian principles which are wonderfully engrafted into their upright consciences. Others find Jesus and the Church.

My dear friends, this is something of our evangelization. I know that it is alive in the Evangelical Church. But this meeting of ours is aimed at opening us even more to the work of the Holy Spirit.

If yours is called the Evangelical Church, I think it is because it gives the utmost importance to the Gospel. Bonhoeffer wrote: «What we call life, sufferings and faults, are not, in fact, the reality; our life, worries, faults and salvation are there in Holy Scripture. (...) Only in Holy Scripture do we learn about our own life's story.» 8 But there are various ways to give the Gospel. And every way is certainly useful. In the Movement you will undoubtedly find a special way to incarnate it, to be living Gospels in the world so that the world itself may reflect the Gospel.

May the Holy Spirit make us realize the value of the charism He has given to us and may He strengthen our wills so that it may produce the greatest number of fruits.

3 Evangelii Nuntiandi 41: EV 5, 1634; Redemptoris Missio 42.

5 Bishop Siro Silvestri, Bishop of La Spezia, to the Mariapolis of Bardonecchia for Piemonte and Liguria, July 10, 1991.

6 Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7,16 (PG 9,539).

8 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, La Vita Comune, (Queriniana, 1976), p. 76-77 (Original title: Gemeinsames Leben).