S
snowman10
Guest
Can anyone give me some information on the apostolate of Communion and Liberation?
DU
DU
- Status
M
Mot_Juste
Guest
(bump) Anyone know anything about this group?
–Bill
–Bill
M
Mamamull
Guest
In these links it seems that CL is faithful to the magisterium and was lauded by Servant of God, John Paul II, the Great.
catholicculture.org/sites/site_view.cfm?recnum=961
cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=29047
ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/COMLIB.TXT
So, while the Liberation makes one think of Liberation theology and that problem it is, it seems that this apostolate is not associated with said problem.
catholicculture.org/sites/site_view.cfm?recnum=961
cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=29047
ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/COMLIB.TXT
So, while the Liberation makes one think of Liberation theology and that problem it is, it seems that this apostolate is not associated with said problem.
G
Gilbert
Guest
G
Gilbert
Guest
Communion and Liberation is an ecclesial movement whose purpose is the education to Christian maturity of its adherents and collaboration in the mission of the Church in all the spheres of contemporary life.
It began in Italy in 1954 when Fr Luigi Giussani established
a Christian presence in Berchet high school in Milan with a group
called Gioventù Studentesca (Student Youth), GS for short.
The current name of the movement, Communion and Liberation (CL), appeared for the first time in 1969. It synthesizes the conviction that the Christian event, lived in communion, is the foundation of the authentic liberation of man. Communion and Liberation is today present in about seventy countries throughout the world. There is no type of membership card, but only the free participation of persons. The basic instrument for the formation of adherents is weekly catechesis, called “School of Community.”
The official magazine of the Movement is the international monthly, Traces – Litterae Communionis
It began in Italy in 1954 when Fr Luigi Giussani established
a Christian presence in Berchet high school in Milan with a group
called Gioventù Studentesca (Student Youth), GS for short.
The current name of the movement, Communion and Liberation (CL), appeared for the first time in 1969. It synthesizes the conviction that the Christian event, lived in communion, is the foundation of the authentic liberation of man. Communion and Liberation is today present in about seventy countries throughout the world. There is no type of membership card, but only the free participation of persons. The basic instrument for the formation of adherents is weekly catechesis, called “School of Community.”
The official magazine of the Movement is the international monthly, Traces – Litterae Communionis
G
Gilbert
Guest
The Fraternity of Communion and Liberation
This is the eminent group among those born from the movement, whose origins and aims it shares. It was recognized as a Lay Association of Pontifical Right on February 11, 1982. The decree of approval of the Fraternity’s request for recognition reads that the Holy Father himself was “benevolently pleased to encourage the Pontifical Council for the Laity” that the recognition procedure might have a positive outcome. The letter accompanying the decree, signed by the then Cardinal Opilio Rossi, recognizes that the Fraternity of CL’s contribution to the Church in her work of evangelization is “of outstanding importance and pastoral urgency,” especially in “distant” de-Christianized areas where “the basic principles of human life and social interchange are at stake.” The ecclesial nature of the Association, the letter concludes, makes obvious its “full cooperation and communion with the Bishops, headed by the supreme Pastor of the Church,” down to the pastoral life of the diocese, to which it offers “its experience and contribution.”
This recognition from the Pontifical Council for the Laity amounted to de facto approval of the educational experience of CL.
The first “Fraternity” groups were formed around the mid-1970s at the initiative of some former university students who wanted to go more deeply into what it means to belong to the Church, also within the conditions of adult life and the responsibilities it brings, in communion with others.
Today the Fraternity’s groups host 50,000 people who have made the decision to commit themselves to a way of life that supports the path to holiness, acknowledged as the true aim of existence. The life of the Fraternity normally takes place through the free formation of groups who consider that commitment to be the reason for their friendship and sharing.
Belonging to the Fraternity calls for a minimal rule of personal ascesis, daily moments of prayer, participation in encounters of spiritual formation including an annual retreat, and commitment to the support, financial and otherwise, of the charitable, missionary, and cultural initiatives promoted or sustained by the Fraternity.
Recent years have witnessed also in Italy and abroad the rise of Fraternity groups formed by diocesan priests (the first of these took the name of Studium Christi) who in this way intend to help each other pursue more deeply their vocation and the accomplishment of their mission.
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the pontifical recognition of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, John Paul II writes Fr Giussani a long autograph letter. Subsequently, Fr Giussani writes all the members of the Fraternity to call attention to the great value of the Pope’s letter and to the importance of the indications conveyed.
This is the eminent group among those born from the movement, whose origins and aims it shares. It was recognized as a Lay Association of Pontifical Right on February 11, 1982. The decree of approval of the Fraternity’s request for recognition reads that the Holy Father himself was “benevolently pleased to encourage the Pontifical Council for the Laity” that the recognition procedure might have a positive outcome. The letter accompanying the decree, signed by the then Cardinal Opilio Rossi, recognizes that the Fraternity of CL’s contribution to the Church in her work of evangelization is “of outstanding importance and pastoral urgency,” especially in “distant” de-Christianized areas where “the basic principles of human life and social interchange are at stake.” The ecclesial nature of the Association, the letter concludes, makes obvious its “full cooperation and communion with the Bishops, headed by the supreme Pastor of the Church,” down to the pastoral life of the diocese, to which it offers “its experience and contribution.”
This recognition from the Pontifical Council for the Laity amounted to de facto approval of the educational experience of CL.
The first “Fraternity” groups were formed around the mid-1970s at the initiative of some former university students who wanted to go more deeply into what it means to belong to the Church, also within the conditions of adult life and the responsibilities it brings, in communion with others.
Today the Fraternity’s groups host 50,000 people who have made the decision to commit themselves to a way of life that supports the path to holiness, acknowledged as the true aim of existence. The life of the Fraternity normally takes place through the free formation of groups who consider that commitment to be the reason for their friendship and sharing.
Belonging to the Fraternity calls for a minimal rule of personal ascesis, daily moments of prayer, participation in encounters of spiritual formation including an annual retreat, and commitment to the support, financial and otherwise, of the charitable, missionary, and cultural initiatives promoted or sustained by the Fraternity.
Recent years have witnessed also in Italy and abroad the rise of Fraternity groups formed by diocesan priests (the first of these took the name of Studium Christi) who in this way intend to help each other pursue more deeply their vocation and the accomplishment of their mission.
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the pontifical recognition of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, John Paul II writes Fr Giussani a long autograph letter. Subsequently, Fr Giussani writes all the members of the Fraternity to call attention to the great value of the Pope’s letter and to the importance of the indications conveyed.
G
Gilbert
Guest
The Association known as Memores Domini unites the members of Communion and Liberation who follow a vocation of total dedication to God while living in the world.
The principal factors of the life of the Memores Domini are contemplation, understood as tending to keep one’s mind constantly trained on Christ, and mission, i.e., the passion for carrying the Christian announcement into the life of all men.
The Memor Domini "is a layperson who freely lives a life totally immersed in the world with total personal responsibility” (Memores Domini – Interview with Msgr Luigi Giussani) and commits himself to the mission by living his professional occupation as the locus of the memory of Christ, in other words, by making it an offering.
Associates aim at pursuing a life of Christian perfection by practicing the Evangelical Counsels “which can be synthesized into the categories in which the Church traditionally summarizes the imitation of Christ. Obedience, in the sense that the spiritual effort and the ascetic life are made easier and more authentic by sequela. Poverty, as detachment from individual possession of money and things. Virginity, as giving up a family in favor of a total devotion to Christ also in a formal sense” (interview cited above).
The Memores Domini – sometimes called the “Adult Group” – practice a common life in houses whose purpose is mutual edification for memory in view of the mission, sustained by a climate of silence, common prayer, and fraternal sharing.
The Memores Domini originated in Milan in 1964, within the sphere of the experience of Gioventù Studentesca.
After spreading through various dioceses, the Association was erected canonically by the Bishop of Piacenza, Msgr Enrico Manfredini, on 14 June 1981. Seven years later, on 8 December 1988, the Memores Domini were approved by the Holy See, which recognized their juridical status as a “Private Universal Ecclesial Association.”
Responsible for the Association is the Founder Msgr Luigi Giussani. He holds the office of President of the Directors Council, the organism charged with the general direction of the Association.
The Memores Domini are present in 29 countries besides Italy.
The principal factors of the life of the Memores Domini are contemplation, understood as tending to keep one’s mind constantly trained on Christ, and mission, i.e., the passion for carrying the Christian announcement into the life of all men.
The Memor Domini "is a layperson who freely lives a life totally immersed in the world with total personal responsibility” (Memores Domini – Interview with Msgr Luigi Giussani) and commits himself to the mission by living his professional occupation as the locus of the memory of Christ, in other words, by making it an offering.
Associates aim at pursuing a life of Christian perfection by practicing the Evangelical Counsels “which can be synthesized into the categories in which the Church traditionally summarizes the imitation of Christ. Obedience, in the sense that the spiritual effort and the ascetic life are made easier and more authentic by sequela. Poverty, as detachment from individual possession of money and things. Virginity, as giving up a family in favor of a total devotion to Christ also in a formal sense” (interview cited above).
The Memores Domini – sometimes called the “Adult Group” – practice a common life in houses whose purpose is mutual edification for memory in view of the mission, sustained by a climate of silence, common prayer, and fraternal sharing.
The Memores Domini originated in Milan in 1964, within the sphere of the experience of Gioventù Studentesca.
After spreading through various dioceses, the Association was erected canonically by the Bishop of Piacenza, Msgr Enrico Manfredini, on 14 June 1981. Seven years later, on 8 December 1988, the Memores Domini were approved by the Holy See, which recognized their juridical status as a “Private Universal Ecclesial Association.”
Responsible for the Association is the Founder Msgr Luigi Giussani. He holds the office of President of the Directors Council, the organism charged with the general direction of the Association.
The Memores Domini are present in 29 countries besides Italy.
G
Gilbert
Guest
The priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St Charles Borromeo
The Fraternity of the Missionaries of St Charles Borromeo was born in September 1985 within Communion and Liberation as a priestly association. Encouraged by Fr Giussani, the young priests who formed it wished to support each other in their vocation and to respond ideally to the call to go into all the world expressed to the movement by John Paul II during the papal audience for the thirtieth anniversary of CL (September 29, 1984). The result was a missionary Fraternity, recognized in 1989 as a Society of Apostolic Life by Cardinal Ugo Poletti. Fraternity and mission are the governing words of this young community: to serve man in their availability to go wherever the needs of the Church and the life of the Movement require the presence of priests, taking the experience of the Movement into the whole world “through priestly missionary energy,” in the words of its founder, Fr Massimo Camisasca, and to live a communion that is at the same time mutual aid and the method of a missionary presence in the various spheres: parish, school, university. The priests of the Fraternity live in “houses” that, scattered now over five continents, aim at being a sign to men of the companionship of Christ and an occasion for Him to be known from a new angle.
The priests of the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo are men who wish to belong to the Movement and to let themselves learn constantly from its charism. The Fraternity especially wants, by its very existence, to demonstrate that the charism granted to Fr Giussani is capable of educating and sustaining on the priestly path young men who have received or brought to fruition their vocation through the Movement and who are called to live their priesthood for the whole Church and for all their life.
The Fraternity of the Missionaries of St Charles Borromeo was born in September 1985 within Communion and Liberation as a priestly association. Encouraged by Fr Giussani, the young priests who formed it wished to support each other in their vocation and to respond ideally to the call to go into all the world expressed to the movement by John Paul II during the papal audience for the thirtieth anniversary of CL (September 29, 1984). The result was a missionary Fraternity, recognized in 1989 as a Society of Apostolic Life by Cardinal Ugo Poletti. Fraternity and mission are the governing words of this young community: to serve man in their availability to go wherever the needs of the Church and the life of the Movement require the presence of priests, taking the experience of the Movement into the whole world “through priestly missionary energy,” in the words of its founder, Fr Massimo Camisasca, and to live a communion that is at the same time mutual aid and the method of a missionary presence in the various spheres: parish, school, university. The priests of the Fraternity live in “houses” that, scattered now over five continents, aim at being a sign to men of the companionship of Christ and an occasion for Him to be known from a new angle.
The priests of the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo are men who wish to belong to the Movement and to let themselves learn constantly from its charism. The Fraternity especially wants, by its very existence, to demonstrate that the charism granted to Fr Giussani is capable of educating and sustaining on the priestly path young men who have received or brought to fruition their vocation through the Movement and who are called to live their priesthood for the whole Church and for all their life.
G
Gilbert
Guest
Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Assumption
Falling under the charism imparted to Fr Giussani is also the religious Institute of the Sisters of Charity of the Assumption, established in 1993 by Pontifical Decree as an autonomous Institute, separate from that of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, which many young women from CL had entered from the 1960s onwards. Fr Giussani had in fact been deeply impressed by the simplicity and charity with which these nuns lived and had recognized an accord with his own way of understanding and living the Christian life; thus he directed toward this experience the vocations arising within the Movement that were most sensitive to the aspect of charity. Events within the Church after Vatican II led to a progressive differentiation, culminating in the birth of a new religious family, which finds in Fr Giussani the guide for living today the charism of its founder, Fr Stephen Pernet, who lived in France in the nineteenth century.
Struck by the material and moral misery in which workers’ families lived and their distance from the Church, Fr Pernet created a work in which women who were living a total devotion to Christ in the religious life placed themselves at the service of families, sharing their concrete need by caring for the sick and helping in the home, witnessing in this way to the love of Christ present in the Church and reawakening faith by means of charity. This was from its beginnings an apostolic work, aimed, as its founder said, at “remaking a people for God.”
The Sisters of Charity of the Assumption continue today the same mission, taking into account the changes in society that often make it necessary for them to work within the network of services set up by local administrations, but without losing their own identity. Their work is aimed at the family, through helping in the home, caring for the sick, for children in difficulty, the elderly, always with full respect for the dignity of the person, who is worthy of respect for the sole fact that he or she exists. The result is a fascinating adventure in sharing, in which man is given value because he was wanted and loved by Christ, and his story has a meaning because it has a destiny of hope.
The Institute is today made up of some one hundred Sisters. The itinerary of their formation, while faithful to the characteristics of the religious life in the Church, follows closely in method and contents that of Memores Domini, recognizing in it the unparalleled richness that Fr Giussani’s charism offers for articulation of the experience of virginity. The Sisters are present in Italy in Milan, Turin, Trieste, Rome, and Naples, and in Spain with the recently formed community of Cordoba…
Falling under the charism imparted to Fr Giussani is also the religious Institute of the Sisters of Charity of the Assumption, established in 1993 by Pontifical Decree as an autonomous Institute, separate from that of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, which many young women from CL had entered from the 1960s onwards. Fr Giussani had in fact been deeply impressed by the simplicity and charity with which these nuns lived and had recognized an accord with his own way of understanding and living the Christian life; thus he directed toward this experience the vocations arising within the Movement that were most sensitive to the aspect of charity. Events within the Church after Vatican II led to a progressive differentiation, culminating in the birth of a new religious family, which finds in Fr Giussani the guide for living today the charism of its founder, Fr Stephen Pernet, who lived in France in the nineteenth century.
Struck by the material and moral misery in which workers’ families lived and their distance from the Church, Fr Pernet created a work in which women who were living a total devotion to Christ in the religious life placed themselves at the service of families, sharing their concrete need by caring for the sick and helping in the home, witnessing in this way to the love of Christ present in the Church and reawakening faith by means of charity. This was from its beginnings an apostolic work, aimed, as its founder said, at “remaking a people for God.”
The Sisters of Charity of the Assumption continue today the same mission, taking into account the changes in society that often make it necessary for them to work within the network of services set up by local administrations, but without losing their own identity. Their work is aimed at the family, through helping in the home, caring for the sick, for children in difficulty, the elderly, always with full respect for the dignity of the person, who is worthy of respect for the sole fact that he or she exists. The result is a fascinating adventure in sharing, in which man is given value because he was wanted and loved by Christ, and his story has a meaning because it has a destiny of hope.
The Institute is today made up of some one hundred Sisters. The itinerary of their formation, while faithful to the characteristics of the religious life in the Church, follows closely in method and contents that of Memores Domini, recognizing in it the unparalleled richness that Fr Giussani’s charism offers for articulation of the experience of virginity. The Sisters are present in Italy in Milan, Turin, Trieste, Rome, and Naples, and in Spain with the recently formed community of Cordoba…
G
Gilbert
Guest
The Company of Works
The Company of Works is a non-profit organization established on July 11, 1986. It arose through the free initiative of young university graduates—CL members and otherwise—as a living witness to an education and a mature faith. The association’s aim is to “promote the spirit of mutual collaboration and assistance for an optimal utilization of resources and energies, to aid the insertion of young people and the unemployed into the world of work, in continuity with the social presence of Catholics and in light of the teachings of the magisterium of the Church” (from art. 4 of the Statute).
The Company of Works unites in a network tens of thousands of members between small and medium-sized businesses, charitable and cultural associations, and not-for-profit organizations with headquarters in Italy and abroad.
The Company represents a unique element in the panorama of civic associations: it is not a corporation or a holding company, nor an off-shoot of political parties nor is it involved in defending the interests of any category. It does not participate in the management of its members’ organizations.
The “glue” holding the Association together is the shared recognition that a commitment undertaken with the ideals of mutuality, attention to need, and the development of talents improves the quality of work and of social and economic life.
In these years, the Company of Works has been the prime mover and arena for the cultural articulation of important civic battles fought under the banner “More society, less State:” those for freedom of education and for respect of the principle of subsidiarity.
The Company of Works is a non-profit organization established on July 11, 1986. It arose through the free initiative of young university graduates—CL members and otherwise—as a living witness to an education and a mature faith. The association’s aim is to “promote the spirit of mutual collaboration and assistance for an optimal utilization of resources and energies, to aid the insertion of young people and the unemployed into the world of work, in continuity with the social presence of Catholics and in light of the teachings of the magisterium of the Church” (from art. 4 of the Statute).
The Company of Works unites in a network tens of thousands of members between small and medium-sized businesses, charitable and cultural associations, and not-for-profit organizations with headquarters in Italy and abroad.
The Company represents a unique element in the panorama of civic associations: it is not a corporation or a holding company, nor an off-shoot of political parties nor is it involved in defending the interests of any category. It does not participate in the management of its members’ organizations.
The “glue” holding the Association together is the shared recognition that a commitment undertaken with the ideals of mutuality, attention to need, and the development of talents improves the quality of work and of social and economic life.
In these years, the Company of Works has been the prime mover and arena for the cultural articulation of important civic battles fought under the banner “More society, less State:” those for freedom of education and for respect of the principle of subsidiarity.
G
Gilbert
Guest
With an average of 700,000 attendances every year, the Rimini Meeting, held annually since 1980 for one week in the second half of August, in the city which gives it its name, is the most well-attended summer festival of culture, seminars, music and entertainment in the whole world.
Despite the large number of different events scheduled each year, so many people flock to the appointment - often as many as 5-10 thousand with peaks well above this figure - that the single events are always extremely well attended, including those of a highly complex cultural nature, such as university and post-graduate level art, theology, philosophy and science lessons.
Apart from a small group of 7 people who work full-time all year round preparing the gathering, this large Rimini festival is organised, set up, managed and then taken down by volunteers, 2000 altogether from all over Italy and another 10 countries of the world… The number of people who volunteer is always higher than that required and this alone is enough to make the Rimini Meeting a unique occurrence at both national and international level.
Another interesting aspect is that the Rimini Meeting is explicitly inspired by a Roman Catholic view of the world, the result of the initiative of individuals and groups who live their Christian experience through “Comunione e Liberazione” (Communion and Liberation), one of the ecclesiastic movements which has most actively taken part in the history of the Church over the last few decades of this century.
At the roots of the Rimini Meeting, therefore, lies a view of the world certainly not held by the majority of people in the culture of our time; a view considered by the established order of contemporary thinkers to be, at best, nobly “specific”, incapable of universal relevance. On the contrary, the Meeting wants to be a place where the Christian faith “loudly announces to the world its love of human nature.”
Leaving aside all diversity, behind peaceful encounter and dialogue between different people and experiences lie not shared doubts, but a shared human condition. The fact of having met something acknowledged to be radically certain does not close a person up but rather stimulates a desire for the discovery and recognition of all that is beautiful and good, following the invitation of St. Paul to “sift everything and keep that which has value.” Thus reason, an indispensable tool of the ego, sure of its guidance, becomes a door ever open onto Mystery, onto that something reason perceives but whose substance is elusive: that “unexpected” something that is, in the words of Montale, “our only hope”.
Although in the guise of an extraordinary and paradigmatic festival, the Rimini Meeting is a place where people create and live in a cultural horizon different from that which predominates in the Western world today. In this horizon they try to situate the experiences and conditions of contemporary human beings, and they offer the results of this attempt to any and all. In this sense, the Rimini Meeting is a source of interest for all curious, lively, and attentive people, whatever their view of the world.
Despite the large number of different events scheduled each year, so many people flock to the appointment - often as many as 5-10 thousand with peaks well above this figure - that the single events are always extremely well attended, including those of a highly complex cultural nature, such as university and post-graduate level art, theology, philosophy and science lessons.
Apart from a small group of 7 people who work full-time all year round preparing the gathering, this large Rimini festival is organised, set up, managed and then taken down by volunteers, 2000 altogether from all over Italy and another 10 countries of the world… The number of people who volunteer is always higher than that required and this alone is enough to make the Rimini Meeting a unique occurrence at both national and international level.
Another interesting aspect is that the Rimini Meeting is explicitly inspired by a Roman Catholic view of the world, the result of the initiative of individuals and groups who live their Christian experience through “Comunione e Liberazione” (Communion and Liberation), one of the ecclesiastic movements which has most actively taken part in the history of the Church over the last few decades of this century.
At the roots of the Rimini Meeting, therefore, lies a view of the world certainly not held by the majority of people in the culture of our time; a view considered by the established order of contemporary thinkers to be, at best, nobly “specific”, incapable of universal relevance. On the contrary, the Meeting wants to be a place where the Christian faith “loudly announces to the world its love of human nature.”
Leaving aside all diversity, behind peaceful encounter and dialogue between different people and experiences lie not shared doubts, but a shared human condition. The fact of having met something acknowledged to be radically certain does not close a person up but rather stimulates a desire for the discovery and recognition of all that is beautiful and good, following the invitation of St. Paul to “sift everything and keep that which has value.” Thus reason, an indispensable tool of the ego, sure of its guidance, becomes a door ever open onto Mystery, onto that something reason perceives but whose substance is elusive: that “unexpected” something that is, in the words of Montale, “our only hope”.
Although in the guise of an extraordinary and paradigmatic festival, the Rimini Meeting is a place where people create and live in a cultural horizon different from that which predominates in the Western world today. In this horizon they try to situate the experiences and conditions of contemporary human beings, and they offer the results of this attempt to any and all. In this sense, the Rimini Meeting is a source of interest for all curious, lively, and attentive people, whatever their view of the world.
G
Gilbert
Guest
comunioneliberazione.org/funerale/ratzing240205_eng.html
Dear Brothers in the episcopate and in the priesthood, “the disciples rejoiced to see Jesus.” These words of the Gospel just read indicate the centre of the personality and of the life of our dear Fr Giussani.
Fr Giussani grew up in a home—as he himself said—poor as far as bread was concerned, but rich with music, and thus from the start he was touched, or better, wounded, by the desire for beauty. He was not satisfied with any beauty whatever, a banal beauty, he was looking rather for Beauty itself, infinite Beauty, and thus he found Christ, in Christ true beauty, the path of life, the true joy.
Already as a boy, along with other young men, he created a community called Studium Christi. Their program was to speak of nothing else but Christ, because everything else seemed to be a waste of time. Naturally, he was able to overcome the unilaterality, but he always kept the substance. Only Christ gives meaning to the whole of our life. Fr Giussani always kept the eyes of his life and of his heart fixed on Christ. In this way, he understood that Christianity is not an intellectual system, a packet of dogmas, a moralism, Christianity is rather an encounter, a love story; it is an event.
This love affair with Christ, this love story which is the whole of his life was however far from every superficial enthusiasm, from every vague romanticism. Really seeing Christ, he knew that to encounter Christ means to follow Christ. This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that passes also—as we heard in the psalm—through the “valley of darkness.” In the Gospel, we heard of the last darkness of Christ’s suffering, of the apparent absence of God, when the world’s Sun was eclipsed. He knew that to follow is to pass through a “valley of darkness,” to take the way of the cross, and to live all the same in true joy.
Why is it so? The Lord himself translated this mystery of the cross, which is really the mystery of love, with a formula in which the whole reality of our life is explained. The Lord says, “Whoever seeks his life, will lose it and whoever loses his life, will find it.”
Dear Brothers in the episcopate and in the priesthood, “the disciples rejoiced to see Jesus.” These words of the Gospel just read indicate the centre of the personality and of the life of our dear Fr Giussani.
Fr Giussani grew up in a home—as he himself said—poor as far as bread was concerned, but rich with music, and thus from the start he was touched, or better, wounded, by the desire for beauty. He was not satisfied with any beauty whatever, a banal beauty, he was looking rather for Beauty itself, infinite Beauty, and thus he found Christ, in Christ true beauty, the path of life, the true joy.
Already as a boy, along with other young men, he created a community called Studium Christi. Their program was to speak of nothing else but Christ, because everything else seemed to be a waste of time. Naturally, he was able to overcome the unilaterality, but he always kept the substance. Only Christ gives meaning to the whole of our life. Fr Giussani always kept the eyes of his life and of his heart fixed on Christ. In this way, he understood that Christianity is not an intellectual system, a packet of dogmas, a moralism, Christianity is rather an encounter, a love story; it is an event.
This love affair with Christ, this love story which is the whole of his life was however far from every superficial enthusiasm, from every vague romanticism. Really seeing Christ, he knew that to encounter Christ means to follow Christ. This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that passes also—as we heard in the psalm—through the “valley of darkness.” In the Gospel, we heard of the last darkness of Christ’s suffering, of the apparent absence of God, when the world’s Sun was eclipsed. He knew that to follow is to pass through a “valley of darkness,” to take the way of the cross, and to live all the same in true joy.
Why is it so? The Lord himself translated this mystery of the cross, which is really the mystery of love, with a formula in which the whole reality of our life is explained. The Lord says, “Whoever seeks his life, will lose it and whoever loses his life, will find it.”
G
Gilbert
Guest
…
Fr Giussani really wanted not to have his life for himself, but he gave life, and exactly in this way found life not only for himself, but for many others. He practised what we heard in the Gospel: he did not want to be served but to served, he was a faithful servant of the Gospel, he gave out all the wealth of his heart, he gave out all the divine wealth of the Gospel, with which he was penetrated and, serving in this way, giving his life, this life of his gave rich fruit—as we see in this moment—he has become really father of many and, having led people not to himself, but to Christ, he really won hearts, he has helped to make the world better and to open the world’s doors for heaven.
This centrality of Christ in his life gave him also the gift of discernment, of deciphering correctly the signs of the times in a difficult time, full of temptations and of errors, as we know. Think of 1968 and the following years. A first group of his followers went to Brazil and found itself face to face with extreme poverty, with extreme misery. What can be done? How can we respond? And there was a great temptation to say, “for the moment we have to set Christ aside, set God aside, because there are more pressing needs, we have first to change the structure, the external things, first we must improve the earth, then we can find heaven again.” It was the great temptation of that moment to transform Christianity into a moralism and moralism into politics, to substitute believing with doing. Because what does faith imply? We can cay, “in this moment we have to do something.” And all the same, in this way, by substituting faith with moralism, believing with doing, we fall into particularisms, we lose most of all the criteria and the orientations, and in the end we don’t build, but divide.
Monsignor Giussani, with his fearless and unfailing faith, knew that, even in this situation, Christ, the encounter with Him, remains central, because whoever does not give God, gives too little, and whoever does not give God, whoever does not make people find God in the Fact of Christ, does not build, but destroys, because he gets human activity lost in ideological and false dogmatisms.
Fr Giussani kept the centrality of Christ and, exactly in this way, with social works, with necessary service, he helped mankind in this difficult world, where the responsibility of Christians for the poor in the world is enormous and urgent.
Whoever believes has also to pass through the “valley of darkness,” the dark valleys of discernment, as well as adversities, opposition and ideological hostilities that even took the form of threats to eliminate his people physically, so as to get rid of this other voice that is not content merely with doing things, but brings a greater message , and thus also a greater light.
In virtue of the faith, Monsignor Giussani passed fearlessly through these dark valleys and naturally, with the novelty he carried with him, found it difficult to find a niche inside the Church. Even though the Holy Spirit, according to the needs of the times, creates something new, which is really the return to the origins, it is difficult to see one’s way and to find peaceful harmony in the great communion of the Universal Church. Fr Giussani’s love for Christ was also love for the Church, and thus he always remained a faithful servant, faithful to the Holy Father and faithful to his Bishops.
With his foundations he also gave new interpretation to the mystery of the Church.
Fr Giussani really wanted not to have his life for himself, but he gave life, and exactly in this way found life not only for himself, but for many others. He practised what we heard in the Gospel: he did not want to be served but to served, he was a faithful servant of the Gospel, he gave out all the wealth of his heart, he gave out all the divine wealth of the Gospel, with which he was penetrated and, serving in this way, giving his life, this life of his gave rich fruit—as we see in this moment—he has become really father of many and, having led people not to himself, but to Christ, he really won hearts, he has helped to make the world better and to open the world’s doors for heaven.
This centrality of Christ in his life gave him also the gift of discernment, of deciphering correctly the signs of the times in a difficult time, full of temptations and of errors, as we know. Think of 1968 and the following years. A first group of his followers went to Brazil and found itself face to face with extreme poverty, with extreme misery. What can be done? How can we respond? And there was a great temptation to say, “for the moment we have to set Christ aside, set God aside, because there are more pressing needs, we have first to change the structure, the external things, first we must improve the earth, then we can find heaven again.” It was the great temptation of that moment to transform Christianity into a moralism and moralism into politics, to substitute believing with doing. Because what does faith imply? We can cay, “in this moment we have to do something.” And all the same, in this way, by substituting faith with moralism, believing with doing, we fall into particularisms, we lose most of all the criteria and the orientations, and in the end we don’t build, but divide.
Monsignor Giussani, with his fearless and unfailing faith, knew that, even in this situation, Christ, the encounter with Him, remains central, because whoever does not give God, gives too little, and whoever does not give God, whoever does not make people find God in the Fact of Christ, does not build, but destroys, because he gets human activity lost in ideological and false dogmatisms.
Fr Giussani kept the centrality of Christ and, exactly in this way, with social works, with necessary service, he helped mankind in this difficult world, where the responsibility of Christians for the poor in the world is enormous and urgent.
Whoever believes has also to pass through the “valley of darkness,” the dark valleys of discernment, as well as adversities, opposition and ideological hostilities that even took the form of threats to eliminate his people physically, so as to get rid of this other voice that is not content merely with doing things, but brings a greater message , and thus also a greater light.
In virtue of the faith, Monsignor Giussani passed fearlessly through these dark valleys and naturally, with the novelty he carried with him, found it difficult to find a niche inside the Church. Even though the Holy Spirit, according to the needs of the times, creates something new, which is really the return to the origins, it is difficult to see one’s way and to find peaceful harmony in the great communion of the Universal Church. Fr Giussani’s love for Christ was also love for the Church, and thus he always remained a faithful servant, faithful to the Holy Father and faithful to his Bishops.
With his foundations he also gave new interpretation to the mystery of the Church.
G
Gilbert
Guest
Communion and Liberation brings to mind immediately this discovery proper of the modern era, freedom. It also brings to mind St Ambrose’s phrase, “Ubi fides est libertas.” Cardinal Biffi drew our attention to the near coincidence of this phrase of St Ambrose with the foundation of Communion and Liberation. Focussing on freedom as a gift proper of faith, he also told us that freedom, in order to be true, human freedom, freedom in truth, needs communion. An isolated freedom, a freedom only for the “I,” would be a lie, and would destroy human communion. In order to be true, and therefore in order to be efficient, freedom needs communion, and not just any kind of communion, but ultimately communion with truth itself, with love itself, with Christ, with the Trinitarian God. Thus is built community that creates freedom and gives joy.
The other foundation, the Memores Domini, brings to mind again the second Gospel read today: the memory that the Lord gave us in the Holy Eucharist, memory that is not merely a remembrance of the past, but memory that creates present, memory in which He gives Himself into our hands and into our hearts, and thus makes us live.
Through valleys of darkness. In the last period of his life, Fr Giussani had to pass through the dark valley of sickness, of infirmity, of pain, of suffering, but here, too, his eyes were fixed on Jesus, and thus he remained true in all the suffering, seeing Jesus, he was able to rejoice; the joy of the Risen One was present, who even in the passion is the Risen One and gives us the true light and joy, and he knew that—as the psalm says—even passing though this valley, “I fear no evil because I know that You are with me, and I will dwell in the Father’s house.” This was his great strength, knowing that “You are with me.”
My dear faithful, dear young people above all, let us take this message to heart, let us not lose sight of Christ and let us not forget that without God nothing good can be built and that God remains enigmatic if he is not recognized in the face of Christ.
Now your dear friend Fr Giussani has reached the other world, and we are convinced that the door of the Father’s house has opened, we are convinced that now this word is fully realized: they rejoiced to see Jesus. He is rejoicing with a joy that no one can take from him. In this moment we wish to thank the Lord for the great gift of this priest, of this faithful servant of the Gospel, of this father. We entrust his soul to the goodness of his Lord and ours.
In this hour we wish to pray particularly, too, for the health of the Holy Father, taken once more into Hospital. May the Lord accompany him and give him strength and health. And let us pray that the Lord enlighten us, give us the faith that builds the world, the faith that makes us find the path of life, true joy.
Amen.
The other foundation, the Memores Domini, brings to mind again the second Gospel read today: the memory that the Lord gave us in the Holy Eucharist, memory that is not merely a remembrance of the past, but memory that creates present, memory in which He gives Himself into our hands and into our hearts, and thus makes us live.
Through valleys of darkness. In the last period of his life, Fr Giussani had to pass through the dark valley of sickness, of infirmity, of pain, of suffering, but here, too, his eyes were fixed on Jesus, and thus he remained true in all the suffering, seeing Jesus, he was able to rejoice; the joy of the Risen One was present, who even in the passion is the Risen One and gives us the true light and joy, and he knew that—as the psalm says—even passing though this valley, “I fear no evil because I know that You are with me, and I will dwell in the Father’s house.” This was his great strength, knowing that “You are with me.”
My dear faithful, dear young people above all, let us take this message to heart, let us not lose sight of Christ and let us not forget that without God nothing good can be built and that God remains enigmatic if he is not recognized in the face of Christ.
Now your dear friend Fr Giussani has reached the other world, and we are convinced that the door of the Father’s house has opened, we are convinced that now this word is fully realized: they rejoiced to see Jesus. He is rejoicing with a joy that no one can take from him. In this moment we wish to thank the Lord for the great gift of this priest, of this faithful servant of the Gospel, of this father. We entrust his soul to the goodness of his Lord and ours.
In this hour we wish to pray particularly, too, for the health of the Holy Father, taken once more into Hospital. May the Lord accompany him and give him strength and health. And let us pray that the Lord enlighten us, give us the faith that builds the world, the faith that makes us find the path of life, true joy.
Amen.
G
Geremia
Guest
What does he mean by this? What is Christianity without its rich Thomistic intellectual heritage (e.g., that one can know with natural reason alone at least God’s existence and, negatively, some of His nature), its “packet of dogmas” that comprise the Deposit of Faith, and the most highly developed moral system of any other religion? How is Christianity an “event” or “experience”? It does not arise out of ourselves; Christ gave us the Church.
Msgr. Giussani frequently speaks of Christianity as an “experience.” E.g., in his Il senso religioso pag. 16: All of the experiences of my humanity and of my personality are filtered through the sieve of a primordial “original experience” that constitutes my identity in the way I face everything. Each man has a right and a duty to learn that it is always possible to compare every proposal with this “elementary experience.” It must also become his habit.
St. Pius X - “PASCENDI DOMINICI GREGIS”
15. But this doctrine of experience is also under another aspect entirely contrary to Catholic truth. It is extended and applied to tradition, as hitherto understood by the Church, and destroys it. By the Modernists, tradition is understood as a communication to others, through preaching by means of the intellectual formula, of an original experience. To this formula, in addition to its representative value, they attribute a species of suggestive efficacy which acts both in the person who believes, to stimulate the religious sentiment should it happen to have grown sluggish and to renew the experience once acquired, and in those who do not yet believe, to awake for the first time the religious sentiment in them and to produce the experience.
Pascendi contains more quotes pertaining to Msgr. Giussani’s ultimately Protestant view of faith, tradition, and religion. Click here for more information. If I am mistaken, please tell me how Msgr. Giussani does not conflict with Pascendi. Thank you
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