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The urgency of
re-launching the ecumenical dialogue at the beginning of this third
millennium is under our eyes. The XX century history itself demands it,
a century that has seen the birth of ecumenism and a lot of progress in
the moving closer of the Churches The actual situation of the world also
demands it, a situation that needs a Christian testimony. We need a
personal and communitarian evangelisation, a reciprocal help among the
Churches, an evangelisation in reciprocal collaboration, against the
temptation of a “self-secularisation” of the Church –it is a term used
by the Catholic Cardinal J. Meissner during the recent synod of the
Bishops. Especially in Europe, the progressive unity among the nations
asks for the actuation of concrete programmes of dialogue and of a
coming closer among the Christians, so that they may take the word and
witness to the truth all together. The way of spirituality puts us
under the sovereignty of God the Father, in the grace of the Holy
Spirit. This way is the life of the Disciples of Christ, who are
faithful to the Gospel and to the grace of Baptism, which inserts us in
Christ. Today, this looks like a privileged way of life and of specific
testimony for different reasons, first, because of a growing hunger or a
diffused exigency of spirituality, which the XXI century man
experiences. Man hungers for another world, which our own world cannot
give. Today’s man aspires to the newness, which can come form the One
who makes all thing new, starting from the communication of the Spirit
with our spirits in reciprocal relation, so that the true new realities
may appear in the noblest sense of the term. Finally, because the way
of the spiritual ecumenism has been has one of the first most
authoritative and fruitful ways of ecumenism, because of its theological
and vital nature, which I shall try to make clear. In fact, the way of
spirituality opens us to the ecumenism of life, to the ecumenism of the
people, to the possibility of finding human bases on which to be
one. It opens us also to the possibility of finding peaks of
communion with God, where we can be in Him one thing, as he himself
makes us one. The way of spirituality is the privileged way of
ecumenism, by its very nature. It is not an ecumenism of dialogues,
though they are intense at doctrinal and intellectual exchanges, but
moments in which we are the actors of the dialogue itself. The
spirituality is an experience of the Spirit, which we make before the
Holy Trinity, with the grace of Christ present among us, according to
his promise, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is in the
presence of God, “in cospectu Dei”, that we seek the ways of
dialogue to put ourselves under the grace of God, allowing Him to
inspire us It is also the occasion where we fundamentally give
ourselves what He has put in us and our specific experience of God. This
causes a reciprocal enrichment, not primarily, of what we think, but of
what God has given us, in the sharing of our traditions, which unite us,
and in enriching the spiritual experiences. The spirituality is in the
way of our best charism, if we want to say it with St. Paul, since it is
a love experience lived among us.
The way of spirituality
makes us broadminded, reciprocally open to one another and to the
Spirit, to grow in charity and to become instruments of the wisdom of
the Holy Spirit, reaching high peaks of Christian communion in God. It
is the communion, which the saints of our respective churches have
attained and in which they are one.
The exercise of
ecumenism in religious life is born from the nature of consecration to
Christ and to the mission, as collaboration for the coming of God’s
Kingdom The religious persons consecrate themselves to this mission till
death. This ideal is at the centre of our ecclesial vocation, as much as
the unity of the believers in Christ belongs to the feeling of Christ.
We receive the call to this ecumenical way and to this concrete exercise
of ecumenism in the measure in which we receive the call to “to feel
the Church” and to feel with the Church (CL 46)
Throughout Church
History, in moments of divisions, in the concrete presence of our
Founders, in the ecclesial events that brought to light the need of
recomposing the unity of Christians, this aspect has gone on to be
completely illumined, especially during the past tens of years. Many
religious families have treasured up the heritage of their founders;
others have newly been born just in view of living this aspect of the
contemporary Church.
However, ecumenism,
today, does not belong only to one charism; it belongs to every charism.
In fact the charism grows and widens dynamically in communion with the
Church that has committed herself to this task with increased passion
during the past tens of years of the XX century, Therefore, it is not an
aspect of the “elite” made up exclusively of religious. It is a
spiritual aspect that belongs truly to all. Our Holy Founders would
vibrate with this passion for unity, if they were alive today in the
Church..
Since we live their
charism, we, children of our founders, interpret today their desires to
live the issues of an authentic passion for unity
This passion for unity
belongs also to our religious nature. We welcome the call to favour an
authentic spirituality of communion, according to what CL 46 and 50,
particularly CL 51, remind us, since we have the task to open and
re-open all the dialogues in the Church.
1. A
historical experience
The consecrated life has
lived multiple experiences from the time in which the ecumenical
movement started in the XX century, even when the Catholic Church had
not yet wedded totally the cause of ecumenism. This finally took place
during the pontificate of John XXIII and then in the Council of Vatican
II. Several Monastic communities, like those of the Benedictines of
Chévétogne, founded by D. Lambert Beaudoin, religious of various orders
and pioneering theologians of ecumenism, like Y.M. Congar, L. Bouyer and
many more, were courageous pioneers of ecumenism. Many women religious
have offered a living example of dedication for the cause of ecumenism
such as Blessed Gabriella Sagheddu, remembered by John II in his
letter, Ut unum sint no. 27, as an apostle of prayer for the
unity of Christians, M. Elizabeth Hesblad, Foundress of the Order of the
Most Holy Saviour and St. Brigid. M. Elizabeth Roussel, a discalced
Carmelite expulsed by China, who founded a Carmelite Monastery of
Byzantine rite to pray and to offer one’s life for the unity.
The presence of
monasteries of contemplative life, both male and female, in countries
with prevalently Orthodox and Protestant brothers has made a living and
palpable concrete service to the spiritual ecumenism of religious life.
They were new foundations inspired to the values of monasticism and of
the Word, like Bose in Italy and many more, which have become centres
of ecumenical dialogue : the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in
Mazille (Cluny), wanted by R. Shutz near Taizè, as the expression of the
Catholic monasticism. We should speak also of many religious
Congregations and of many more monastic communities born to contribute
to the unity of Christians, like the religious of Atonement.
The ecumenism is now an
essential dimension of the consecrated life also through new kinds of
charismatic action, aiming at this concrete exercise.
2. Some
indications by the magisterium of the Church
The ecumenical
Dossier on religious life and ecumenism in the magiterium of the
Church is particularly rich. We have common doctrinal texts of theology
and spirituality of ecumenism , like the Decree Unitatis
Redintegratio, the Encyclical Ut unum sint, the Letter
Orientale Lumen –both in 1995- and other minor texts.
As a relevant
orientating document, we have the Ecumenical Directory 1993, and the
very good subsidy of the PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE
CHRISTIAN UNITY: The ecumenical dimension for the formation of
those who devote their life to the pastoral ministry,
Rome 1997. We want to
remember some documents and orientations specifically for the religious
life and ecumenism.
No. 2 of the Decree
Perfectae Caritatis , about the orientations needed for the renewal of
Religious Life, alludes to the participation in the worries of the
Church for the ecumenical field.
With more abundance of
data, the Ecumenical Directory of 1993 offers an ample space to
the ecumenism in religious life, in nos. 50-51, with the following
guidelines:
50.
The care to re-establish
the unity of Christians concerns the whole Church. The sacred
ministers, therefore, and the laity, the religious orders, the religious
Congregations and the Societies of apostolic life, by the very nature of
their tasks in the Church and in virtue of their context of life, have
the specific occasions of favouring the ecumenical ideal and action. In
conformity with one’s own charism and Constitutions –some of which go
back to a time before the division of Christians- in the light of one’s
own spirit and finality, we encourage the previously mentioned
Institutes and Societies to actuate the following perspectives and
activities, according to their concrete possibility and the limits of
their rules of life:
-
a. to favour the
awareness of the ecumenical importance of the particular forms of
life, since the conversion of the heart, personal holiness, public and
private prayer and the disinterested service to the Church and the
world are the heart of the ecumenical movement;
-
b . to let others
understand the ecumenical dimension of of the Christian call to
holiness of life, offering occasions to foster the progress of
spiritual formation, contemplation, adoration and praise of God, as
well as the service to the neighbours.
-
Considering the nature and exigencies of places and persons, to
organise meetings with Christians of different Churches and ecclesial
communities for liturgical prayers, reflections, spiritual exercises
and for a deeper understanding of the Christian spiritual traditions;
-
to
keep relations with monasteries or coenobitic communities of different
Christian communities for the exchange of spiritual and intellectual
richness and of apostolic experiences. In fact, the development of the
religious charism of these Communities could bring a real contribution
for the entire ecumenical movement. This could arouse also a fruitful
spiritual emulation;
-
to
keep in mind the ecumenical activity, according to the principles of
this Directory, in giving orientations to one’s own educational
institutions;
-
to
collaborate with other Christians in common action for the social
justice, the economic development, the improvement of sanitary
conditions , the safeguard of the environment, the peace and
reconciliation among the nations and the communities;
-
“As
far as religious conditions allow it, we must promote such an
ecumenical action as the Catholics, excluding every form of
indifferentism, of confusion and competition may collaborate
fraternally with the separated brothers, according to the norms of the
Decree on ecumenism. They can do it, as far as it is possible, through
a common profession of faith in God and in Jesus Christ, before the
nations and through collaboration in the technical and social field,
as well as in the religious and cultural one. Above all, they can
collaborate for the cause of Christ, their common Lord, united in His
name”
56.
In carrying on these activities they will observe the norms , which
the diocesan Bishops, the Synods of the Oriental Catholic Churches or
the Episcopal Conferences will have established for the ecumenical
activity, considered as an element of their co-operation with the
apostolate in a given territory. They will keep close relations with
the various diocesan or national ecumenical commissions and, in given
cases, with the pontifical Council for the promotion of the unity of
Christians.
51.
At the beginning of this
ecumenical activity, it is opportune that the institutes of consecrated
life and the Societies of apostolic life, at the level of their central
authority, to appoint a delegate or a commission, with the task of
promoting and ensuring an ecumenical commitment. These delegates or
commissions will have the function of favouring the ecumenical formation
of all the members, of collaborating with the specialised ecumenical
formation of the counsellors for the ecumenical questions with
authorities at general or local level of the Institutes or Societies;
their particular task will be to realise and assure the above mentioned
activities. (No.50).
The synod on Religious
Life, with the post-synod Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata,
has brought this dimension to a deep emergence. Among the Delegates
present in the Synod we remember te participation of brothers and
sisters from different Christian traditions like: the Orthodox
Metropolitan Bishop of Pathmos and the reformed nun Monique de Vries.
The interventions of the fathers in the Synod and of other invited
persons were full of lively sensitivity towards some aspects of the
monastic life of the East and the West.
Even in the Western
churches and ecclesial communities, we feel the desire to foster a
re-flourishing of life according to the evangelical counsels, after the
clamorous refusal of the XVI century. In fact, today we see a rich
oriental monasticism of men and women, religious communities in the
Anglican and protestant religion under different names, some of which
take their inspiration from Catholic Saints, like Francis, Benedict,
Theresa of Avila, or communities of women deacons from various
denominations. They are often places of communion and celebrations, of
reciprocity and ecumenical hospitality
In this context, we can
remember the concrete orientation that the Exhortation Vita
Consecrata has expressed on ecumenism in nos. 100-102.
“(To the service of the
Christian Unity) 100.
The prayer of Christ to
the Father before his Passion, so that his disciples may remain in
unity” (see John 17, 21-23), continues in the prayer and action of the
Church. How could the persons called to consecrated life not feel
involved in it? The Synod has particularly perceived the wound of
disunion still existing among the believers in Christ, along with the
urgency of prayer and work to promote the unity of all Christians. The
ecumenical sensitivity of the consecrated women and men derives also
from the awareness that monasticism is kept and flourishes in other
churches and ecclesial communities, as in the case of oriental
churches. The profession of the evangelical counsels is renewed, as in
the Anglican Communion and the communities of Reformation The Synod has
highlighted the deep bond of consecrated life with the cause of
ecumenism and the urgency of a more intense form of testimony in this
field. Since the soul of ecumenism is prayer with conversion, there is
no doubt that the institutes of consecrated life and the Societies of
apostolic life have the particular duty of cultivating this commitment.
It is, therefore, urgent that the life of consecrated persons open more
spaces to the ecumenical prayer and to an authentically evangelical
testimony. This, with the force of the Spirit, will enable us to knock
down the walls of division and prejudices among the Christians”.
In synthesis, the Synod
has reminded us that there are experiences of consecrated life also
under different names. In the monastic life and in consecration a
spiritual ecumenism of conversion emerges, which offers a particular
attention to prayer and to the dynamism of dialogue in the Holy Spirit.
.
“(Forms of ecumenical
dialogue) 101
- There are many forms of ecumenical dialogue pleasing to the common
Father, signs of the will to walk together towards perfect unity along
the way of truth and of love. They are: the sharing of the lectio
Divina in search of the truth; the participation in common prayer, in
which the Lord guarantees his presence (Matthew 18, 20). It is important
also the dialogue of friendship and charity, which makes us to feel how
beautiful it is to live together as brothers (see Psalm 133(132). The
cordial hospitality practised towards the brothers and sisters of
different Christian confessions, the mutual knowledge and the exchange
of gifts and the collaboration in creative initiatives of service
constitute a true testimony.
Even the knowledge of
history, of doctrine, of liturgy, of charitable and apostolic activities
of other Christians will not fail to be of advantage to an ever more
incisive ecumenical action. I wish to encourage those institutes, which,
because of a born character or a successive call, are dedicated to the
promotion of Christian unity, cultivating initiatives of study and
concrete action. In reality, no institute of consecrated life must feel
exempted from the ecumenical work. I turn my thought to the Catholic
oriental churches, in the hope that through the flourishing of the male
and female monasticism constantly implored, they can benefit the unity
of the Orthodox churches, thanks to the dialogue of charity and to the
sharing of the common spirituality, patrimony of the undivided church in
the first millennium. In a particular way, I entrust the spiritual
ecumenism of prayer, of heart conversion and of charity to the
monasteries of contemplative life. I encourage their presence in places
where there are Chrstian communities of different confessions. Their
total dedication to “the unique necessary thing” (see Luke 10, 42), to
the cult of God and the intercession for the salvation of the world,
together with their testimony of Gospel life, according to their
charism, will never fail to be a stimulus for the unity wanted by Jesus
and asked from the Father for his disciples”.
We notice the insistence
of certain ways of dialogue in the Spirit, which are proper and
characteristic of the traditional religious life, like the Lectio
Divina, the dialogue and friendship with other Christians, reciprocal
hospitality, mutual knowledge, exchanges of gifts and possible
collaboration in the spirit of charity, progress in reciprocal
historical, liturgical, theological and spiritual knowledge
3. Some
personal experiences
Ecumenism is not a
theory; it is a history, an experience. Lived experience is important
also in the area of ecumenical spirituality. This is why I want to offer
some of my experiences of ecumenical dialogue in the area of
spirituality. I do this to the end of re-awaking many valid experiences
of the latest years, which open the heart to hope. Ecumenism has its
narrative theology also in the field of spirituality.
The first experience I
want to allude to is that of the inter-Christian symposia which they
celebrated during the past ten years, annually at first and then
biannually. They are celebrated among Catholics invited by the
Franciscan Institute of Spirituality in the “Anthonianum” and Greek
Orthodox Christians,. These are almost all lay professors in the
Aristotle University of Thessalonica. From 1992 up to date, they have
been celebrating seven symposia, according to this order and thematic:
Crete, the Orthodox Academy of Kolibari ((8-10 September, 1992):
Prayer and contemplation; Salonicco, University of Salonicco (5-9
September 1993): Spirituality of monasticism in the Eastern and
Western Monasticim; Venezia, St. George island (5-7 September
1994): Spirituality and ecclesial life in the East and in the West, Alessandropouli
in Grece ( 3-7 September 1995): Christian East and West: a soul for
Europe; ( 5-8 September, 1997) : holiness and life in the Spirit in
the Eastern and Western tradition; Veroia, old Perea, in the region
Macedonia (4-9 September,1999): Charism and institution in the eastern
and Western tradition; Reggio Calabria (2-4 September, 2001):soteriological
perspectives in the Eastern and Western tradition. They celebrated
Other Symposia, in which I did not participate, in Ioannina Greece
(2003) and
Assisi (2005).
The themes proposed in
these symposia were very interesting. They have always safeguarded the
ecumenical reciprocity with celebrations sometimes in Italy, other times
in Greece, with balance between the two traditions, with the balanced
contribution of the speakers. They published the acts of some symposia
in Greek and in Italian. These meetings did not limit themselves to the
study of spirituality, but extended also to spiritual experiences. The
encounter with people, visits to the local churches and their pastors,
experiences of liturgical celebrations, where the groups tried to share
the best of their traditions, with mutual edification and esteem of
one’s own traditions. We could share the lived spirituality also
through encounters with the people. Other fruits grew surely among us,
like an exquisite friendship, which we translate into periodical
meetings, with an exchange of gifts and mutual coming closer. It is
good to know that Letters and encouraging messages from the Pope and
the ecumenical Patriarch, as well as from the representatives of the
<Holy See and the ecumenical Patriarchate, were not missing (see:
Appendix no. 1).
The second experience
of Spirituality and ecumenism lived by me was that of the St. Elias
Fraternity. This is an ecumenical group of Bishops, priests, deacons,
monks, nuns and laypersons of different Christian churches around the
Carmelite women Monastery of Saint-Rémy-Montbard in France. Today, the
monastery has a branch in Staceni, Romania, not far from Toplitza. It is
a territory where Catholic Romanians of Latin rite, Roman Catholics of
Hungarian language, Greek Catholics, Ortodox and Lutherans live
together. In this Fraternity, which counts also brothers and sisters
from Hebraism, under the protection of Brother Elias, the bond of
reciprocal prayer unites them all, represented by the word-prayer of
Elias, “God lives, and I am in front of him”. In these Carmelite
Monasteries and in other residences, they share moments of doctrinal
exchanges on the spirituality. They remain united with the help of a
magazine called Miketav, published in French and Romanian, and
participate in several liturgical celebrations. They celebrate together
especially on the week of prayers for the unity of Christians, the Holy
Week, the feast of St. Elias. They organise ecumenical pilgrimages,
which favour reciprocal knowledge of persons and places. It is a
concrete example of sharing our ecumenical spirituality. Even in this
case the studied, lived and shared spirituality becomes the royal way
for our coming closer and reciprocal understand, which favours the
growth of reciprocity with a noteworthy mutual enrichment. (See:
Appendix n. 2).
4. The
ways of ecumenism today
The ways of ecumenism
today, particularly in Europe before a changed situation, urge us to be
more and more united, to work together, to pray together in the Lord,
both in the East and in the West. This spiritual praxis –this concrete
ecumenical spirituality- came out recently in the meeting of the
Christian Churches of Europe in Strasbourg in April 2001. After the
meeting of Basilea, 1989, and that of Graz in 1997, this third meeting
of Christians in Europe was organised by the Conferences of the European
Churches (KEK) and by the Council of the European Episcopal Conferences
(CCEE). The meeting landed in the publishing of a Charta ecumenical,
which contain the guidelines for a growth of collaboration among the
Churches in Europe, on the basis of a typically spiritual experience.
The twelve important and
practical commitments of the Charta constitute a kind of updated and
advanced ecumenical spirituality. It is a promising fruit of the
ecumenical dialogue and commitment at the beginning of this third
millennium, capable of reviving initiatives and dialogue at the level of
people of God. It is enough to remember the twelve points, reading them
not in a pure theological and pastoral key, but in line with a lived
specific and, therefore, realised spirituality. In fact, we could not
concretise our commitments, without a life of communion in love, without
the blow of the Spirit, who helps us to be one, to collaborate and
fulfil our commitments together. A concrete exercise of these
commitments allows us to breathe the charity of Christ and the grace of
the Holy Spirit
Here is a synthesis of
the twelve points:
We welcome the
call to the unity of faith. Our commitment to progress together
towards the total unity of Christian faith, according to the Gospel of
Christ, flows from the profession of faith lived in the Trinity
To announce the Gospel
together –We
cannot realise a spirituality of proclamation without a mutual
re-evangelisation, as we have already remembered.
Going one towards the
other – A
commitment to the encounter, to a re-reading the history of our
churches, to the heart renewal, to a reciprocal enrichment of our
traditions.
Working together –
We must try
to develop a specific fantasy of ecumenical charity towards our
brothers in faith and towards the others.
Praying together –
There is no
doubt that the joy of our Father widens when He sees us praying together
in the name of His Son, under the motion of the Holy Spirit.
Continuing the dialogue
– This is an
expression of the ecumenical hope, the true spirituality of hope, which
does not submit to divisions, does not relent before failures and
misunderstandings, but proceeds always in the daily “perseverance” to
fulfil the design of God, which characterised the first Christian
community
Contributing and
moulding Europe -
Several parts and voices
remind us of the need to mould Europe in the spirit, a Europe with the
Spirit. The Christian churches cannot remain inactive and passive before
the building up of Europe, if this does not take with itself the blow of
the great evangelical tradition, which forged Europe in due time. Even
the three great European ecclesial traditions –orthodox, Catholic and
Protestant- must give their contribution for a Europe of the Spirit..
To reconcile peoples and
cultures –
Before the danger of nationalisms, the ecumenical spirituality assumes
the political dimension of reconciliation among the peoples and
cultures, to overcome division with sharing, opposition with communion.
The spirituality assumes also the historical and social burden proper of
the Gospel message from our Master and the great masters of ecumenism.
Safeguarding creation –
This
dimension, proper of the spirituality at the end of past century and of
the second millennium, and which has worried the Churches in several
ecumenical assemblies, shows the fruitfulness of spirituality that does
not forget the first creating love of God. It does not forget the
creation of the world, creature of God and the last call to the
eschatological renewal, with new heavens and a new earth.
Deepening the communion
with Hebraism –
This task takes us to an
attentive consideration of our roots and opens us to our Hebrew
brothers. It opens us, first, to a mutual appreciation of persons and
the refusal of every sort of racism, then to the due attention to their
spiritual heritage.
Cultivating our
relations with Islam -
This is a commitment of
the utmost actuality exhorting all to a common effort, to reciprocal
respect and to collaboration with themes of common interest.
The encounter with other
religions, visions and the world
The strength of the
Christian unity and the unitary vision of God’s design, urge us
to open dialogues,
as Paul VI stated in his Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam suam,
quoting GS no. 92. It must be a dialogue that opens first within every
Church, to be a witness of unity, but also dialogues outside one’s own
Church, towards other religions and towards all men and women, who
belong to same human family, being all of them God’s creatures. If the
Christians move together towards others, with the strength of testimony
and the credibility of the Christian message, our brothers will not fail
to recognise the values of the Gospel present in all cultures. Soemebody
has written that “any truth, no matter where it comes from, is inspired
by the Holy Spirit” (M.Petri Lombardi, Sententiae in IV Libris
distinctae, l. 1, d. XLVI, c. VII: Spicilegiǔm bonaventurianǔm
IV: T.I, Pars II, 320s., 32s.; cf I-Iiae, q. XIX, a.5, ad ulm). This
is a series of planning commitments for an ecumenical spirituality in
the present and the future
5. An ecumenical method of coming closer, meeting and recognising one
another.
llowing ourselves to become a space for the presence of Christ
Now we can put together some fundamental lines to live a true ecumenism,
starting from the specific sensitivity of religious life in the
following of Christ and in constant a tension to holiness according to
the Gospel.
Primarily, to consider and recognise the other as God considers and
recognises him
Before the brothers and sisters with whom Baptism unites us, we must
recognise us as Christians, as disciples of Jesus and must go deep into
our relations starting from the dignity of Holy Baptism. We must
definitively catch in the other the grace of the presence of Christ
through Baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. If I exclude this
relation –as truly Christian- I cannot recognise the work and the
presence of Christ in the other. If I open my heart to the other, I
offer a space to Jesus, allowing him to come among us through our
reciprocal charity.
This is how we can overcome prejudices, we can put together things,
which unite us and proceed towards the creation of a community for a
communion built up on the word and fraternal love
From this first communion flows the need and possibility of witnessing
together our unity with others, through an apostolic action carried on
together.
At this point, I wish to remember that in the 2001 Easter vigil,
celebrated with the Orthodox Christians in Nizny Novgorod, Russia, I
almost heard the voice of the Spirit inviting me to recognise that, the
celebrated Eucharist, the presence of Christ made of that church an
authentic Church of the Lord, come out of his sufferings. It was a
Church, whom I had to love and recognise with the same love as that of
Christ, who gave up himself for the Orthodox communities.
I
remember the emotion of an Anglican Bishop whom we asked to bless us
after his visit to the Chapel Redemptoris Mater. He felt moved
because I recognised him the way his own Church recognised him and
treated him with a particular deference.
From
learning (mathein) to suffering (pathein)
There cannot be
ecumenism without suffering and without a fatigued learning. In
ecumenism we must learn the other and from the other through the
suffering of the I that opens to the otherness and “alters” it. “When I
recognise the other, I expose myself to the joys and suffering of my own
transformation, not just to conform myself to the other, but to place
myself in the other” ( J. Moltmann). Bishop K. Koch of Basilea made this
consideration in his presentation of the ecumenical spirituality. We
learn and suffer together. Then, a true ecumenism of empathy towards the
other, as well as an understanding that generates sympathy, will bloom
out.
Believing the other and
going towards the other with a positive attitude is another form of
ecumenical spirituality, which develops a benevolent sensitivity towards
the other, turning our glance constantly to him. . We must be careful
not to provoke useless contrasts and to grow in the attitude of learning
from the other. It is advisable to accept a justified criticism of our
attitudes to the ecumenism as a chance to offer further clarifications
and, eventually, to proceed to a communion of conversion to what is
good, always in a reciprocal reconciling attitude.
Ecumenism is the work of
grace; we need to create the space for Christ so that he may act in and
among us.
Praying together and keeping a prayerful attitude
The act of praying as a
method of spiritual ecumenism supposes self-forgetfulness and forgetting
our differences to offer a space to Christ the Lord. We ought to pray
together in his name and get attuned with a prayerful symphony. To pray
together is a great gift, helping us to witness to one another our
relation with God, bringing it to evidence with our silence, singing,
common and spontaneous prayer. Prayer allows us to approach the Holy
Spirit together, to feel our poverties, to implore together the grace of
unity. It allows the Spirit to touch us and to urge us towards the
fullness of the visible unity
Identity e reciprocity
The ecumenical communion
demands the honesty of presenting ourselves in dialogue with the truth,
without any kind of giving in. We must be faithful to our belief and our
own Church.
Yet, identity does not
suffice. We need reciprocity and, therefore, we are truly all invited to
a reciprocal listening, to the sharing of the best realities in our
traditions: doctrine, experiences, testimonies, liturgical celebrations,
as well as hospitality, prayer in the hope of sharing the Eucharist
itself.
Perhaps there are things
that unite us and constitute the abc of the ecumenical spirituality,
just because confessional prejudices and explicit ecumenical
prohibitions are not present.
I herewith mention some
of them, which I consider important and realisable, as well as capable
of rendering us grateful before the Father, in the presence of Christ
and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What comes first is the
awareness of our confession of faith before God. This confession does
not exclude the others, rather, it is a glorification of the mystery
revealed to us and which we want to understand better and better in the
ineffability of the mystery, without reciprocal anathema, searching the
wise humble understanding of the saving revelation, trying to live
according to the faith we have professed. This is the principle of
spirituality based on the truth of faith
Secondly, beyond our
ideologies and as submission to the true theology, wisdom of God in
Christ and in the Spirit, we must read, meditate, contemplate together
the Word of God, with his force and wisdom, asking the Holy Spirit the
full revelation of its sense, which nobody can monopolise. It is the
spirituality of the Word, listened to, meditated, contemplated and
reciprocally donated. Thirdly, we can be one in prayer, in silent prayer
entrusted to the intercession of the Spirit in our hearts. Sometimes
with the participation in the prayer of others, to whom we offer
hospitality, in an ecumenical prayer realised of the basis od
reciprocity, as it often happens. This is the spirituality of the
ecumenical prayer
Finally, we must and can
do it without any impediment, practising the reciprocal charity of
judgement, of words, of action and collaboration. It is the spirituality
of communion in the same love of Christ, sign of the disciples,
guarantee of the presence of Christ in and among us
From the above proposed
experiences and enunciated principles, we clearly deduct how the true
ecumenical spirituality, towards which ecumenism tends, is that of
sharing the best part of our churches. To listen to the conference of a
monk of mount Athos – the Igumeno from the monastery of Iviron –
Vassilios Gondikakis, impressed me a lot. Before the mutual
misunderstandings, he reiterated the reminder of being what we are up to
the depth in our respective churches, “Be Catholic up to the depth2, he
said, “and allow us to be Orthodox up to the depth”. This is a
presupposition for the Spirit to operate the miracle of unity in and
with us.
Conclusion:
Ecumenism, spirituality of the future
Before the existing difficulties of ecumenical dialogue, seen the delays
of the theological dialogue, the studied, shared and lived together
spirituality, as I have tried to describe in this paper, presents itself
as a royal way of a future that will lead us towards the convergence of
heart and mind.
To live the spirituality means, in concrete, to leave the space for
Christ in us and among us, following the way of the Spirit, finding
ourselves at the vertex where the Lord convokes us to, without
forgetting that He will come to the rescue to save us in our humility
and poverty.
Spirituality is also the awareness of our communion in poverty with
which nobody can feel self-sufficient, even less before God: all of us
need the others. Our submission to the Spirit of the Lord is,
undoubtedly, a way of welcoming the mystery. It is a way of faith in the
power of God, a Marian attitude, after the imitation of the Virgin Mary,
who welcomed joyfully the annunciation that what is impossible to man is
possible for God. Thus, she offered her vital space to God, so that He
might go on working wonders1.
Note of Bibliography:: For the
study of our theme we suggest, as meaningful voices of Spirituality and
ecumenism, the Dictionaries : GWEN CASHMORE E JEAN PLUS,
Spiritualità nel movimento ecumenico, in: Dizionario del
Movimento ecumenico, EDB, Bologna, 1994, pp. 1035-1040; REGIS
LANDUS, Ecumenismo spirituale, Ibid. pp. 461-462; JOHN.
B; CARDEN, Preghiera nel
Movimento ecumenico, ivi., pp. 878- 881; S. SPINSANTI,
Ecumenismo spirituale, in Nuovo Dizionario di Spiritualità,
Ed. Paoline, Roma, 1979, pp. 460-478; S. VIRGULIN, Ecumenismo,
in: Dizionario Enciclopedico di Spiritualità, Città Nuova Roma,
1990, pp. 864-867.
D. FERNANDEZ, Ecumenismo, in
Diccionario Teológico de la vida consagrada, Madrid,
Publicaciones Claretianas, 1989, pp. 551-562 (versione anche in lingua
italiana, Ancora, Milano, 1994, pp. 673-683).
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