Collective Spirituality and its instruments

In the following article Chiara Lubich describes a collective spirituality which has come to life in our times but which already forms the life of many thousands of people from all the Christian Churches and also other Religions throughout the world. Encompassing the treasures of the past, this collective spirituality can be proposed as a response to the most urgent needs and highest aspirations of humanity today.

Chiara Lubich

In recent years, after reflecting on various points of our spirituality, we began to look once more in the whole of the Movement at its aspects. We did so also in the light particular events which occurred. In 1991 after two journeys (in North America, in the United States, and in South America, in Brazil) we spoke about its economic and social aspect which finds its fullest expression in the so-called economy of communion. In 1992, we looked at the theme of the new evangelisation and highlighted how the Movement's charism of unity offers a proposal of evangelisation which is really new and fruitful. And inculturation which is one of the contents of evangelisation was at the centre of our journey in Africa, giving a hope that in this area too the Movement has something to say concerning this particular issue.

This year we shall begin to consider the spiritual aspect of the Movement and in particular the particular characteristic of its spirituality, namely, its being communitarian, or better, collective, as Paul VI said.

We know that in the two thousand years since the time of Jesus, many spiritualities have flowered in all of the Churches, inasmuch as they have been faithful to the Word of God, one after the other and at times simultaneously. They are beautiful, rich and profound, and so today, the Church, the Bride of Christ is adorned with the most precious pearls, with the rarest diamonds. In this manner — as we say — if Jesus is the incarnate Word, the Church — in the fullness of all the spiritual experiences of history — is a gospel unfolded in time and space.

Going to God alone

In the midst of so much splendour one element is always present in these spiritualities: it is primarily the individual who goes to God. The studies done by our experts, at least at first glance, show that a collective spirituality, like this spirituality of unity, is appearing in the Church for the first time. Yes, in the past there were experiences in those brought about by people who put love at the basis of their spiritual life.

St. Basil is an example of this. For him the first commandment regarding love of God and the second regarding love of neighbour were at the foundation of the life of his community. St. Augustine is also pre-eminent. For him, mutual love and unity were of supreme value. We feel particularly close to him.

However, Father Jesus Castellano, professor of Spiritual Theology at the Teresianum in Rome, and consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a person with a deep knowledge of our spiriutality said: "In the history of Christian spirituality we hear: 'Christ is iin me, he lives within me,' and this is the perspective of the individual spirituality, of life in Christ; or we hear that Christ is present in our brothers and sisters, and this is the perspective of charity, of the works of charity. But what is missing is to discover that if Christ is in me and Christ is in the other person, then Christ in me loves Christ who is in you and vice versa and there is reciprocal giving and receiving.

Going to God together

"There is also a communitarian spirituality," he continues, "which is ecclesial, and modelled on the Mystical Body... This spirituality usually referred to as a current of spirituality in our century, the century of the rediscovery of the Church. However, that "something more" which (the Movement) gives us with the collective spirituality is the vision and action of a communion, of an ecclesial life, 'modelled on the Mystical Body', in which there is the mutual giving of oneself and the dimension of becoming 'one'".

"Even though present-day authors offer some intuitions or statements on this dimension of theology and spirituality, they have no suggestions to offer for putting it into practice in everyday life. And this is true for the simplest things like 'keeping Jesus in our midst', which is the alpha and the omega, to its more demanding dimensions like the economy of communion or inculturation.

Some examples of experiences of collective spirituality can be found in the history of spirituality. Although to tell the truth, they are few. But even these rare experiences were proposed neither as a doctrine nor even less as a spirituality which could be lived by everyone in everyday situations.

Certainly, there is a spirituality centred on trinitarian indwelling, but on an individual level. Normally speaking, authors do not consider the consequences of such an indwelling as an awareness of a communion among people who have the same grace. One does not reach the point, as in the Movement of realising that if the Trinity is in me and in you, then the Trinity is among us, we are in a trinitarian relationship and so our relationship is like the Trinity, indeed it is the Trinity who lives in us this relationship".

Signs of the Times

Modern theologians foresaw a collective spirituality for our times and the Second Vatican Council called for it.

Karl Rahner, in speaking of the spirituality of the Church of the future, imagines it, he says, as being in a "fraternal communion in which it is possible to make the same basic experience of the Spirit together". He affirms: "Those of us who are older (...)have been spiritually formed in an individualist way. (...)" If there ever was an experience of the Spriit made in common and commonly held to be so, ... it is clearly the experience of the first Pentecost in the Church, an event, we must presume, which did not consist certainly in the casual meeting of a collection of mystics who lived individually, but in the experience of the Spirit made by the community. I think that in the spirituality of the future, the element of fraternal spiritual communion, of a spirituality lived together, can play a more decisive role, and that slowly but surely, we must proceed along this way".

In turning its attention to the Church as the Body of Christ and the people gathered in the unity of love of the Trinity, the Second Vatican Council "modifies," writes De Fiores, "the underlying framework of spiritual life and pastoral care, giving it a more ecclesial meaning. The salvation and perfection of one's own soul, about which the preachers and spiritual authors insisted, is liberated from an individualistic preoccupation... One senses the need... to live intensely the links of evangelical fraternity right to the point of forming a community like that of the early Christian community described as ideal in the Acts of the Apostles."

The Holy Father, Paul VI, when he was still a cardinal, said that in these times what is episodic will have to become the norm, and that the extraordinary saint, while venerated, will have to give way to collective holiness, to the people of God which is santified. Ours is an era in which Christian collectivism is coming fully to light. It is an era when people strive not only for the kingdom of God in individuals but the kingdom of God in the midst of people.

The First Signs of a Collective Spirituality

But how can we describe our communitarian spirituality? What are its characteristics? First of all, let's see how it was born. Were there any significant events that show us that we were truly born for a collective spirituality?

One revealing sign might be that desire we expressed when under the bombings. We wanted that if we should have to die our common desire was to be placed in one tomb with the inscription written on it: "And we have believed in love" (1 Jn 4:16). It was this faith in love which brought us to start the new life by loving the poor in the many ways we all know. This experience quite soon enlightened us on the need of loving every neighbour in order to be Christians.

And here, in all of us first women focolarine loving the neighbour, there came about the realisation of the new commandment and the decision of every one of us which was formulated in a kind of "pact": "I am ready to die for you. I for you. I for you. Everyone for each other". As years went by this pact later was recognised as the basis on which the whole Movement was constructed. The pact showed what the Movement's nature was to be: reciprocal love (right to the point of giving one's life) which gave rise to a collective spirituality.

This was the fundamental even of those early days of our life. What it called forth as a consequence as the spiritual communion of our experiences and the communion of goods. This reciprocal love had to reach the point of consuming us in one, right to the point of bringing us to experience unity.

Another episode was that of the cellar when we read the testament of Jesus, which appeared to us as the magna charta of what was coming to birth. There was such a radical and total love for the neighbour that we forgot every other objective, even that of holiness as it was then understood. If we, who had been called to a new way, had pursued it, we would not have been immune of self-love or selfishness. Personal holiness would have emerged from our living unity.

Then come the first ideas on fraternal unity. This comes from 1947. It is a definition of unity, given after having experienced it: "Oh, unity, unity! What a divine beauty! We do not have human words to say what it is! It is Jesus".

In a letter from 1948 we read:

"Unity! But who would dare to speak of it? It is ineffable like God! You sense it, see it, enjoy it but... it is ineffable! Everyone rejoices in its presence, everyone suffers in its absence. It is peace, joy, love, ardour, an atmosphere of heroism, of highest generosity. It is Jesus among us!".

The needs of the past

In past centuries people thought of going to God alone. This dates back to that distant period in history when the fervour of the early Christians (which had forged the community of Jerusalem into one heart and one soul) had begun to wane and the persecutions had ended. At this point many Christians decided to save their faith by withdrawing to the desert. It was the age of the hermits. This saved many Christian principles and resulted in many hermits becoming saints, but often the importance of one's neighbour was undervalued. He or she was even looked upon as an obstacle in the way to God.

Apa Arsenio said: "Flee from human beings, and you will be saved". And still, many centuries later, in the famous book, The Imitation of Christ, it is written: "The greatest saints avoided when they could the company of others, and preferred to serve God in solitude. On holy man says: 'Each time I have been in the company of people, I have come away less of a man myself'... The one who distances himself from friends and acquaintances draws close to God and his angels".

Of course, an individual spirituality is never only individual. Because of the reality of the Mystical Body of Christ, what takes place in one person always has a certain influence on others. This is true also because these Christians offered and are still offering prayers and penance to God for the sake of others.

The Needs of Today

Today, times have changed. Now the Holy Spirit is calling men and women to walk side by side with others, to be one heart and one soul with all those who want to do so. The Holy Spirit urged our Movement, twenty years before the Council, to make this very decisive move towards our neighbours. In our spirituality, we go to God by means of our neighbour. "I - my neighbour - ", we say. We go to God with our neighbour, with our brothers and sisters, or better, we go to God through our neighbour.

Instruments of the Individual Spiritualities.

But what is the difference between an individual spirituality and a communitarian or collective one?

The individual spiritualities have precise needs:

— Solitude and fleeing from people in order to reach mystical union with the Trinity within one's self. The classic example is the way of St. Teresa of Avila who strove to be united to the Lord in the centre of her heart where He dwells.

— In order to safeguard solitude, silence is necessary.

— Separation from the world is obtained through a cloistered life, the veil, the habit.

— In order to imitate the passion of Christ, difference forms of penance, at time very harsh ones, fasting and vigils are practised.

— One often places oneself in obedience to a superior.

— Vows of chastity and poverty are taken

— Long periods of time are spent in one's cell in prayer and meditation.

The Neighbour

In our collective way, we undoubtedly love solitude and silence so as, to listen well to God's voice in one's heart and, for example, to act upon Jesus' invitation to "go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret" (Mt 6:6), as Jesus did on the mountain. We strive for silence in order to avoid useless words... and distance from other people is kept if contact with them should lead to sin. Generally speaking, however, the neighbour is welcomed. Unity with others in the name of Jesus is sought so as to guarantee his presence in our midst. Here we see the importance, for example, of the Focolare which offers 24 hours a day a precious possibility, but also of every other small or great community. Christ is loved in each and every brother and sister, Christ who can be alive or can be reborn in each of them through our help as well.

We often use the well-known image of a garden: with the more individual spiritualities, it is as if we are in a magnificent garden, but we observe just one flower: the presence of God within you. In a collective spirituality, we look at and love all the flowers of the garden, every presence of Christ in people. And you love it as yourself.

Here again, I say that the communitarian way is not and cannot be only communitarian (we must remember that we will present ourselves alone to God's judgement). When we are alone, after having loved our neighbours, we might take up a book for meditation and we feel union with God. Then one lives a little like the hermits, the Trappists, the Cistercians, but after having loved the neighbours. Therefore it can be said that whoever goes to one's neighbour in a correct manner, in a Gospel manner of loving as the Gospel teaches, finds himself more human, indeed more Christ.

The Word

Since we strive to be united with our brothers and sisters, the word which is a means of communication is loved in a special way. In the Movement we speak of making ourselves one with the brother or sister in that "technique of unity" which is known to us all, so that the brothers or sisters, fully convinced that they are loved, find the courage to love and then they too enter into the collective way. Those who are in positions of responsibility have individual talks with others so as to ensure that they are persevering in the way of perfection (because if we do not go ahead, we go backwards), to enlighten, advise, instruct, always waiting in a total emptiness of oneself for the Holy Spirit to suggest the right word for that person in that moment.

In every community we speak in order to share our experiences on the Word of life or we speak about our spiritual life, conscious that if the fire is not communicated it goes out and that this communion of soul is of great spiritual value. Saint Laurence Justinian gives a lovely explanation of this:

"Nothing in the world renders more praise to God and most reveals him as worthy of praise than the humble and fraternal exchange of spiritual gifts. Charity is necessary for such gifts because they cannot flourish in solitude. It is a precept of the Lord to always exercise this virtue, through word and deed, towards our brothers. Therefore, if you do not want to transgress his laws be considered souls who dispise by not taking care of the salvation of their brothers, those who have received graces from heaven, should work how out with great commitment how to pour these divine gifts which were communicated to them upon the others, especially the gifts which can help them along the way of perfection".

We also speak in the moment of truth, when we help one another with negative or positive observations concerning each other in order to become saints together. We speak in the large or small meetings in order to keep alight the fire of the love of God from which the goals of the Movement are achieved. And when we are not speaking, we are writing: we write letters, articles, books, diaries so that the Kingdom of God may go ahead in peoople's hearts. All the modern means of communication are used.

But whenever we speak or write must always be a speaking of heaving; our objective must be the supernatural life in accordance with the words of St. Paul: "You must look for the things that are in heaven; let your thoughts be on heavenly things..." (Col. 3: 1-2). All that does not obey this line must definitely be mortified.

Penance and Vows directed towards unity

In our collective spirituality there are no veils which cover or distinguish us from others, as there is no particular religious habit, unless it is a precise will of God for us, especially if we belong to some religious order. Generally speaking, we dress like others in order not to separate oruselves from others, being like others so that our love can reach everyone without any obstacle getting in the way.

With regard to penances, in the Movement we do all the penances required of us as Christians, especially those recommended by the Church. But we have a particular love for those penances which the life of unity with our brothers and sisters offer us. This life of unity is not easy for the "old man" who lives always within us. Fraternal unity is not something constructed once and for all. One needs to always reconstruct it. If, when unity exists and through it the presence of Jesus in our midst, brothers and sisters experience great joy, the joy promised by Jesus in his prayer for unity, when unity decreases, shadows creep in and also disorientation. A type of purgatory is lived. This is the penance which we must be ready to confront.

This is where our love for Jesus crucified and forsaken, key of unity comes in. It is here out of love for him by resolving firstly every suffering within ourselves, we make every effort to re-build unity. The Holy Spirit instructed us very early on about this typical penance of ours. Already in 1945 we wrote:

"Do not be afraid to suffer. (...) But seek the suffering that is offered to you by the will of God, that will of God which is mutual love - the new commandment - the pearl of the Gospel. (...)

"Then drawn by the cross (...), you will work to fuse your small community into a single block and this will give great glory to God! Then God will live among you; you will feel His presence. You will rejoice in His presence: He will give you His light, He will inflame you with His love! But to reach this point, you must pledge your lives completely to Christ Crucified".

With regard to making vows, of course they have an ascetical purpose for us as they do for everyone (morfification of oneself with obedience, of one's flesh with chastity, of attachment to goods with poverty). But the vows have a particular significance for us suggested by the collective spirituality. The vows facilitate unity, they serve the community. Obedience renders unity with one's superiors more sure, chastity helps you have a hear which is pure and so able to love Jesus in every neighbour, poverty serves tobe ready to realise the communion of goods with one's brothers and sisters.

Communitarian Prayer

In the Movement we pray and liturgical prayer, such as the Eucharist, is especially value because it is the prayer of the Church. Everything else can be left aside if something necessitates this, but never the mass. One of our characteristic prayers is the collective one taught by Jesus: "If two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven" (Mt 18:19).

When we meditate, it is on Sacred Scripture, or the writings of the saints, or documents of the Church suitable for meditation or else texts with regard to our spirituality, but then, at an appropriate moment, we communicate to our brothers and sisters the fruit of our meditation, since we must look after the other's holiness as our own.

We have retreat days in the Movement and spiritual exercises. In our yearly plan we have spiritual themes which are proposed for meditation in silence or in solitude, but our programmes also include fraternal conversations and communciation and common edification.

Jesus in the midst

In the individual ways for the Christian to love God he or she must often pass through a certain climb, going up various steps walking towards the mountain of perfection. The collective way too has its progressions but it places the Christian immediately on the summit, up high. It is the presence of Jesus in the midst which demands this. Jesus who lives in the midst and in each one cannot be half-ways. He is always perfect. One grows in perfection.

In the collective way, since one is already up high, one walks along the watershed overcoming all the small and large trials with Jesus Crucified and forsaken, right to the point of reaching the goal which God has marked out for us.

For us who go along this way of unity, Jesus in the midst is essential.

We need to always revive his presence in our focolare centres, in our nuclei, in our units, in our meetings, our centres, our small towns, our families, and in our communities. And if the will of God wants us to be far away and alone in the world, while we support ourselves with love for Jesus Crucified and Forsaken, we must seek out every chance to estbalish his presence with some brother or sister of the Ideal. Only in this way will we always have the light, strength, peace and ardour.

It is Jesus in the midst who brings that "something more" which characterising our charism. Just as two magnetic poles, though they have the current, do not produce light until they are united, similarly, tow persons do not experience the typical light of the charism of unity until they are united in Christ through charity.

Jesus in our midst is the very nature of our life, not just an occasional presence among us. He must always be present. His presence is not only a point of arrival; it is also a point of departure: "Above all, hold unfailing your love for one another" (1 Pt. 4:8).

For us, everything has meaning and value in the apostolate, in studies, in work, also in prayer and in our tending towards sanctity if, before everything else, we have Jesus in the midst with our brothers and sisters. For example, we cannot share our souls without having Jesus in the midst. This is the norm of all norms of our live. We will reach holiness if we go together in unity towards God.

The Exterior Castle

St. Teresa of Avila, doctor of the Church speaks of an "interior castle", the reality of the soul inhabited at its centre by His Majesty, to be discovered and illuminated throughout life by overcoming various trials. This is the height of holiness in an predominantly individual way of holiness, even if she drew many of her daughters into this experience.

The moment has come, however, or so it seems to us, to discover, illuminate and build not only the "interior castle", but also the "exterior castle". We see the entire Movement as an exterior castle where Christ is present and sheds light on all its parts, from the centre to the edges.

If we think of where this spirituality reaches, even beyond the structures of the Focolare Movement, as for example to bishops, reviving tin this manner the collegiality among them and with the Holy Father, we immediately see that this charism does not only make of the |Movement an exterior castle. It helps to make the whole Church an exterior castle. And this is our dream. Through it the Church is more one and more holy.