On the one hand, the parish is, of course, the most immediate and visible institutional expression of the Church, the place where the Church is seen locally.^[2] It is like an on-going, supportive sacramental-hierarchical access point to the gift from God of the apostolic faith and teaching, life and worship.

On the other hand, there are also communities and spiritualities that have come to life through “charisms” (meaning “gifts”) from the Holy Spirit that help us live out the Gospel in our everyday life.

Some years ago, the then Cardinal Ratzinger, in a talk on movements,.^[3] offered a review of the history of the Church to show that, as well as the essential supporting sacramental and hierarchical structures of the Church, spontaneous communities of life have sprung up throughout the history of the Church, offering renewed ways of living out the Gospel corresponding to the needs of particular periods in history.

Some examples. The monastic communities of St. Benedict (c 480-547) with their stability and motto of “prayer and work” were important at the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire and the migrations of peoples in Europe. The Irish monks brought the Gospel faith to continental Europe.

The fraternal communities of St. Francis of Assisi (1181/2 – 1226) and Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) were significant in Medieval Europe when city-states were locked into conflict with one another and when the Church risked becoming too bourgeois. The “friars”, brothers, as they were called, brought a wave of brotherhood, community among the city-states. The Franciscans also played an important role here in Ireland.

The Carmelite renewal advanced by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) offered experiences of interior renewal in prayer at a time when subjective, personal experience was highly valued.

Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) established the Jesuit communities at a turbulent moment of European history that coincided with the discovery of new world frontiers.

If we were to examine each of the communities, it would be possible to show how each one, based on a charism, opened up a window onto the Gospel that was important for that time.

Today’s Communities

In the past hundred years, many new communities have come to life in the Catholic. This is happening precisely at a time when the Church has, in its official teachings, emphasised the importance of lay people in bringing ahead the Church’s evangelising mission.^[4]

What people experience in movements is that Jesus is not just limited to the Church building or Sunday Mass but he is with us, present among us when we love one another. When describing their encounter with a community or movement, most people speak of their faith coming alive. We will listen shortly to some testimonies describing that.

In my own case, when I was in the second year of the seminary, feeling an emptiness or dissatisfaction within myself and beginning to wonder what was really needed to be a priest, I was invited to a meeting of the Focolare. I was immediately bowled over by the atmosphere of mutual love and life around me at that meeting. I was especially struck by the testimony of a married couple describing how they tried to live the Gospel of mutual love throughout the day, always starting again to be the first to love. They explained how that mutual love brought them to experience the Invisible but real presence of Jesus among them in accordance with Jesus’ promise: “where two or more are gathered in my name I am there among them”.

In those few hours I realised that though I wanted to be a priest my life was really orbiting around myself and my plans, instead of orbiting around the presence of Jesus who could be present among two or more gathered in his name. I realised I had to start all over again, putting God in the first place and not priesthood, the God who is Love, the God has come among us in Jesus Christ! And so, the words of Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare really struck me:

“If we are united, Jesus is among us. And this has value. It is worth more than any other treasure that our heart may possess; more than mother, father, brothers, sisters, children. It is worth more than our house, our work, or our property; more than the works of art in a great city like Rome; more than our business deals; more than nature which surrounds us with flowers and fields, the sea and the starts; more than our own soul.

It is he who inspiring his saints with his eternal truths, leaves his mark upon every age. This too is his hour. Not so much the hour of a saint but of him, of him among us, of him living in us as we build up – in the unity of love – his Mystical Body”.

It could be said that coming into contact with a movement is an encounter with a charism, a gift of the Spirit. And as a result, people are invaded by a radical new awareness of the Good News: ‘God, the God revealed by Jesus, is love. He is my Father and he loves me immensely’.’

That’s why Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict say charism and institution are “co-essential”. In other words, we need the sacraments, the hierarchy and the apostolic faith preached by bishops and priests. But for the Church to be Church we also need the new outpourings of the Spirit through charisms that give rise to new experiences of God within the Church in the form of communities and movements that are important for the Church’s evangelization today.