{"id":329428,"date":"2017-08-27T00:10:57","date_gmt":"2017-08-26T22:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/maria-voce-dialogue-a-lifestyle-2\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:08:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:08:09","slug":"maria-voce-dialogue-a-lifestyle-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/maria-voce-dialogue-a-lifestyle-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Voce: Dialogue, A Lifestyle \/2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EmmausAfter describing the points of the Art of Loving<\/em>, with the expressions that <\/strong>Chiara Lubich<\/a> was fond of using,<\/strong> Maria Voce<\/a> asked: \u201cBut how do you live this art which is not based on feelings or good intentions, but is practiced according to the measure intended by Jesus, which is to lay down one\u2019s life? Is there a key, a secret that would help in making us more and more capable of living up to that measure?\u201d Then she talked<\/strong> about the \u201cculminating moment\u201d of Jesus\u2019s passion when he felt abandoned by the Father (Mt 27:46). Nevertheless, he placed himself in the Father\u2019s hands (Lk 23:46), overcoming \u201cthat immense pain and with that he brought humankind into the bosom of the Father and into communion with one another.\u201d \u201cHow can we live this mystery <\/strong>of the Forsaken-Risen Jesus<\/a>? How are we to progress on the ecumenical journey when we clash over questions about truth? The Apostle Paul writes to the Philippians: \u2018Have the same sentiments as Christ Jesus who even though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at, but emptied himself and took on the form of a slave, being made in human likeness\u2019 (cf Phil 2:5). With this attitude we are able to convey the truth of Christ in a way that is credible. Christ emptied himself of everything, as a gift of love.\u201d She quoted from Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for the Unity of Christians, on January 25th:<\/strong> \u201cIf we live this death to ourselves for Jesus, out old lifestyle is relegated to the past and, as happened to Paul, we enter into a new manner of life and of communion.\u201d \u201cChiara Lubich calls this new manner of life: Jesus in our midst. She refers to Jesus\u2019s promise to be in the midst of any who are united in his name, which means in his love (Mt 18:20). This presence of the Risen Lord amongst his own is determining for ecumenism.\u201d From 1996, following an encounter with a thousand Anglicans and Catholics, <\/strong>Chiara began to talk about an \u201cecumenism of the people\u201d. It was on that spirit that the journey of Together for Europe<\/em> was begun, communion and collaboration among more than 300 movements and communities from different Churches. \u201cWithout authentic reconciliation,\u201d Maria Voce affirmed<\/strong>, \u201cwe\u2019ll never progress on the way towards unity. And this reconciliation characterizes the communion among the movements still today.\u201d Finally, the president concludes: <\/strong>\u201cIn the light of the events in Lund on October 31, 2016 when Pope Francis and the President of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Dr Munib Younan, commemorated the beginning of the 500 years of the Reform, I felt I had to give a new push to the ecumenical involvement that marks our Movement.\u201d The Declaration of Ottmaring was drawn up in the ecumenical community near Augsburg to \u201chelp us to think ecumenically, to remember that any brother or sister I meet, be they from my own Church or another Church, belong to the Body of Christ, to that body for which Christ gave his life. This is an absolute commitment we take on as Focolare Movement, and which can make us enter today into every aspect of human life. Ecumenism is a necessity of the times. It has to go forward. Because it corresponds to the need for God that everyone has, even unknowingly. If people are given the opportunity of an encounter with Jesus in the midst of Christians who love one another, their faith will be enkindled in them and their way of acting will change, they will seek justice and peace, and will work for solidarity among peoples. Only if we Christians are united will the world encounter God.<\/strong> See the full Italian text<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Invited last May by the Malta Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, some excerpts from part 2 of the presentation given by the Focolare president – Dialogue or dialogues? A lifestyle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}