… Which word is it that the Holy Spirit imprinted like a seal on this house, on our Movement, when God first thought of it and started forming it here on earth?

We know what it is. The word is “unity.” Unity is the word that sums up our entire spirituality. Unity with God, unity with our neighbours. Or rather, unity with our neighbours in order to reach unity with God.

The Holy Spirit, in fact, revealed to us a way that is distinctly ours, a fully Gospel-based way to unite us with God,

to find God. … We seek God and find him by passing through our neighbour, by loving our neighbour. We find God when we strive to bring about unity with our neighbour, with every neighbour, if we establish the presence of Jesus among us. Only in this way are we guaranteed unity with God and we can find him alive and beating in our hearts. It is this unity with God which then, in turn, urges us to go out to our neighbours, and helps us to ensure that our love for them is not pretence, nor insufficient, or superficial, but rather is radical, full and complete, given substance through sacrifice, always ready to give our life, and capable of bringing about unity.

Our Statutes place unity at the basis of everything, as the norm of every norm, as the rule to be

observed before every other rule. Unity is the word for us; it is the rock.

We have no meaning in life except in this word, where everything acquires meaning – our every action, every prayer, every breath. And if we concentrate on living this word, if we live it as well as we possibly can, everything will certainly be safe, we will be safe and also that part of the Movement entrusted to us will be safe.

Perhaps, in the future, the Work of Mary, both as a whole or in some of the zones,

will go through quite different times from what we are experiencing now, when we have so many consolations, fruits, light, fire.

Moments of darkness or despair may well arise, there might be persecutions

or temptations. … There might be misfortunes or disasters… But if we stand firm on the rock

of unity, nothing can touch us, everything will go ahead as before.

Chiara Lubich
in “Conference Calls – Conversations via Telephone and Satellite Connections”, 2022 New City, pages 342-344