From 15th to 18th January, I will be in the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo, a suburb in Rome, attending a spiritual gathering specially geared towards diocesan priests. About 800 priests, mostly from Eastern and Western European countries, half the size of the world diocesan priests who are members of Focolare Movement, will be attending.<br/><br/>
It was when I was studying in Rome (around 1967) that Fr Filippo Comissari, PIME, introduced me to this ecumenical movement. In 1970, one year before I left the seminary, I went to the “Priestly School”, organized by priests in this movement, to experience the unity of diocesan priests in everyday living.<br/><br/>
You might be wondering about the necessity of such experiences; afterall, would life in the seminary not a practicum for living the spirit of unity? Indeed, in theory this may not be necessary; in practice, however, the need is real, since, if God had not seen the lack of unity in daily living within the Church, He would not have given Chiara Lubich the special grace of charism of unity, to reignite the Prayer of Jesus—“that they may be one, Father”.<br/><br/>
The likes of St Francis of Assisi, St Dominic, and St Ignatius of Loyola were all messengers of God, living a certain aspect of the spirit of the Gospel according to the needs of particular periods in time. After WWII, unity was what people longed for, and the UN was created for this purpose; likewise, the Vatican II documents were also based on the foundation of “unity in Christ”. “For where two or three are gathered together [meaning living in mutual love] in my name, there am I in the midst of them”—this word of life is the everyday goal of every member of the Focolare movement.