Essential Writings: Spirituality Dialogue Culture
'This selection and arrangement of Chiara Lubich s spiritual writings opens up the heart and soul of one of the most significant religious figures of our times. In our own day, there may be nothing more important than giving witness to the hope and the possibility of unity between and among people of all faiths -- and of those with no faith at all. This is precisely what Chiara Lubich has done with her one and only precious life. And this is the legacy she leaves to her followers in the Focolare Movement throughout the world and to anyone concerned with the unity of all people.' --Michael Downey, Editor,The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality'What Chiara Lubich s writings ... challenge us to is the discovery of what unity really means: not simply unity between believers, but the unity that alone will heal the terrible and murderous conflicts between human beings the world over.' --Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury'Through Chiara Lubich, surely a living saint of our age, has come a gift to every person on earth -- the spirituality of unity. This charism, a call to fulfill Jesus' final testament, 'May they all be one,' announces life-giving hope to divided peoples hungry for the living bread of love and reconciliation. HerEssential Writingsshows us how this `good news' can transform our lives and our world.' --Paul Crow, Leading International Ecumenist'Lubich is essentially a mystic: she was illuminated as a young woman in bombed-out Trento; filled with fire and vision, she set about putting into practice the words of John's Gospel, 'that all may be one.' Her great contribution to Christian spirituality is to take prayer into human relationships. In a world fractured by clashing narratives, she offers the possibility of 'going to God together....' Like the Holy Spirit Focolare has a genius for relationship, one forged in a spirituality of kenosis, or self-emptying, which is developed in the first third of this book. The object is to 'lose God within us for God in our brothers and sisters' -- to seek the Kingdom of God not just within us but within people, 'to speak in order to become one with others,' as she says in her classic essay, 'The Spirituality of Communion.' 'If you cannot always pray, you can always love,' she says. Two people 'fused in the name of Christ' become a 'divine power in the world' she notes in 'The Dream of a God': the soul endures pain by thinking of the pain or joy of others; this is 'the little secret that builds, brick by brick, the city of God within us and among us....' For anyone wanting to get inside the mind and heart of one of the Church's most significant contemporary figures, it cannot be bettered; it is also just the thing to hand the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints when -- as it surely will -- that time comes.' --Austin Ivereigh,The Tablet`Through Chiara Lubich, surely a living saint of our age, has come a gift to every person on earth -- the spirituality of unity. This charism, a call to fulfill Jesus' final testament, `May they all be one,' announces life-giving hope to divided peoples hungry for the living bread of love and reconciliation. HerEssential Writingsshows us how this `good news' can transform our lives and our world.' --Paul Crow, Leading International Ecumenist