Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - In occasion del 50th anniversary of the founding of the church Movement “Communion and Liberation”, the most recent work of its Founder Mons. Luigi Giussani a book titled “Perché la Chiesa” “Why the Church” was presented in Rome on May 5. Fides spoke about the book with Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy who was among the presenters of the volume.
Your Eminence the book’s statement of presentation said: “Giussani introduces us to the event of the Church, a life which touches us today, a historic event whose only significance is to exist to offer mankind the chance of reaching certainty about Christ ”...
As I said when I presented the book, last Wednesday in Rome, this book is a new song, in the biblical sense: new, because of the newness contained in the unfathomable mystery of God and mankind, a song because it is sung with art, with the art of fidelity to Sacred Scripture, to the Church’s living Tradition and Teaching, with the art of the Church’s theology which is the theology of life (cfr. Ps 47,8).
Within the framework of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Communion and Liberation, this book by Mons. Giussani is a wonderful gift for the movement and I would say for the whole Church. I hope priests will benefit from it taking time to read and reflect on this work which extends horizons and helps the Gospel to breath more deeply!
I must also say that in the pages of “Why the Church” one is very much aware of a special characteristic which renders its theological content ever valid, resistant to the passing of time and this I thinks is a fundamental trait of don Giussani the author: one has the strong impression of reading a highly personal work which reveals with singular power and transparency the vital experience of the Author. With this work he offers us not only a doctrinal book but a proper ecclesiological “letter”, in which the believing and fraternal heart of the priest, guide and shepherd of believers, shares and reveals himself to his readers, although never renouncing profundity or thought or theological precision.
What strikes you most Your Eminence about Giussani the priest?
What strikes me most? I think what strikes me most is the sincerity of his love and faith for Jesus Christ who comes as the Incarnate Word in search of each one of us whom with He wishes to be united, wholly united.
Don Guissani witnesses to us the absolute centrality of love for God made Man in the fullness of time.
There comes to mind the episode of Peter and the Risen Lord when Peter looks at Jesus and confesses, “Lord you know everything, you know that I love you ”.
I like to think of Giussani the priest, as Peter in front of the Lord, totally open to Him, concentrated on Him, with no other aspiration than a love which becomes more and more adoration of the Mystery of Christ’s infinite love for men and women of every time and every place.
This Love has been evoked intensely by Don Giussani, also in recent times, almost as if to echo the Holy Father, as Divine Mercy; as if to give a special commitment to Communion and Liberation Movement. God’s Loving Mercy is in fact the central message/gift of the Risen Lord and it is also the nuptial robe and new song of the Virgin Mother, Mother of the Church!
Don Giussani in the last chapter summarises the Marian perspective of the entire content of the volume, and he writes: “The Church is the continuity of the Incarnation in history which allows men and women of today to enter into a relationship with Christ… The most evocative and concise formula which expresses the Church’s self-awareness of being the prolongation of Christ in history is Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam (pp. 307, 309).
Your Eminence what would you wish Communion and Liberation on this occasion?
In the spirit of joy and gratitude which the whole Movement is living on this the eve of the 25th anniversary of its founding, I make my own the wish expressed by the Holy Father in his Letter to Mons. Luigi Giussani, in which the Pope wrote: “ renew continually the discovery of the charisma which fascinated you and it will lead you ever more powerfully to become servants of the One power, Christ the Lord!"
This is a beautiful call to look ahead, with an impetus of knowledge and love for Christ, authentic faith and humble prayer to multiply the talents entrusted by Divine Providence to Communion and Liberation.
At the dawn of the third millennium the world needs, more than ever, to experience again the presence of Jesus in the Church, in the hearts of the Christian faithful, to really meet Him along the path of life, to feel Him close with his goodness rich in mercy (cfr. Eph 2,4).
In this light of truth no one better than the Mother of Christ knows and reveals this profound, ineffable mystery of God’s Loving Mercy who bears the name of her Son. No one better than Mary can accompany us and open for us the Heart of God!
So this wish becomes a prayer, particularly insistent in this dawn of the third millennium, that this Truth about Christ, his Mother and the whole Church, may reveal itself in all its beauty and light to the men and women of this new millennium: “Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam” (L.A.) (Agenzia Fides 8/5/2004; Righe 71; Parole 885)
