Focolare Movement

Unity, the leaven of society

Feb 21, 2016

Klaus Hemmerle was in love with the Word of God. We offer an excerpt from the homily he gave at his episcopal ordination in Aachen, November 8, 1975.

“The lines of John’s Gospel converge in the sentence which for quite some time has had deep and infinite meaning for me: ‘. . . may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me’ (see Jn 17:21). This is how we are to live. [. . .] the Unity of the Church, the unity of those that find themselves beyond the confines of our Roman Catholic Church, the unity amongst all those who acknowledge faith in the one God, the Living One, and therefore with Jews and Muslims. That unity between Church and society in which the one does not find itself beside the other in a parallel sense or in an oppositional way, but Church and society enter into a reciprocal relationship, highlighting the fact that the unity which God gives is the leaven of society, the leaven that makes man free. It is the unity that makes us truly free, because we can only be ourselves in the fullest sense only where God has the right to be God in the fullest sense and therefore can give us everything He wishes to give us. And He doesn’t wish to give us anything less than His own interior mystery: Trinitarian unity. [. . .] But this is not a mere programme, because you never get very far with programmes. It must above all become life [. . .] I also have to begin to live this unity. And for this reason I trust in the fact that all of you, dear brothers and sisters, will help me, and that we can do this together, in reciprocity.” Bishop Klaus Hemmerle Source: W. Hagemann, Klaus Hemmerle innamorato della Parola di Dio, (Rome: Città Nuova, Rome, 2013) p. 337-338.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

Youth, Cities and Peace: the Nairobi Charter and the contribution of the new generations

Youth, Cities and Peace: the Nairobi Charter and the contribution of the new generations

Acting as a network, both locally and internationally, to promote a culture of peace rooted in responsibility, collaboration and the inclusion of the new generations: this is the message that emerged from the conference held in Kenya entitled “Cities, Communities, Care-Youth in Action for Sustaining Peace”, organized by New Humanity, the NGO of the Focolare Movement.

Towards the 2026 General Assembly

Towards the 2026 General Assembly

The Focolare Movement is preparing for its General Assembly, which will take place in March 2026. Many steps have already been taken, and there are still many more steps to take before reaching the end of this journey. To find out more, we have asked some questions to the Preparatory Commission of the Assembly (CPA).