‘I thank you for the effort of translating in an artistic response the extraordinary life of Saint Curé d’Ars’, Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, said at the end of the ConcerTheatre ‘Ars Amoris – the Love that comes from Ars’ which had its first performance on Thursday 14 January at the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo.

Speaking to the 550 priests from 31 countries, meeting together for their annual retreat, the Archbishop reaffirmed the importance of making God’s love visible in today’s society: ‘This is all the lay faithful expect from a priest, as Chiara Lubich affirmed 35 years ago: “Love, the gospel is the real “revolution”.’

The Love that comes from Ars, he continued, is ‘the art of loving, the ability of knowing how to love every person always and everywhere, in every situation and circumstance.’

He recalled how the inspiring spark of Chiara Lubich’s charism had been ‘a renewed revelation of God as Love.’ This charism ‘whilst being part of the life of one specific person, is, in reality, universal, as love, and also unity, are at the heart of the gospel message and of the history and life of the Church itself.’

‘Not just an abstract feeling of love,’ he pointed out, ‘but the Love made visible in Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ, the Love which was nailed to the cross for us and for our sins, the Love of Jesus Forsaken.’

And he concluded: ‘Dearest priests, friends of the Focolare Movement, you are called in a very special way, particularly because of the responsibility implied in having met such a beautiful and fruitful charism, to live this radical measure of love.’ ‘Today I want to leave you with a real “missionary mandate”: be faithful witnesses of love and unity in your dioceses, in your presbyteries, competing with each other in loving your fellow brothers and in faithful obedience to the Church.’