The fifth anniversary of the passing away of Chiara Lubich fell on March 14. Commemorating her in the local context brings back to mind the conferment on her of the honorary degree in psychology by the University of Malta on February 26, 1999. This was the 10th out of 16 doctorate degrees in different disciplines awarded to her by universities from all over the world, from the US to the UK and from Thailand to Poland.
Many see in Chiara Lubich a witness to human history in its journey towards universal brotherhood
I was present. Sir Temi Zammit hall, at the University, in Msida, was packed with people, the audience overflowing onto the foyer and the quadrangle. Distinguished guests from the highest echelons of the State, the Church and civil society mingled with people from all walks of life.
The excitement was really intense as the Chancellor of the University bestowed her with the degree.
Chiara Lubich then inflamed us all with her oration. She did not hesitate to explain her firm conviction that the awareness that God is love is essential for the psychic fulfilment of the human being. The climax was her explanation of how Jesus crucified and forsaken is the epitome of love, the renunciation to self for love. She explained that this renunciation to self to reach out to others is an essential passage to full psychological maturity.
She concluded her oration by explaining the psychological effects of love in communion for reasons that are external to the community but are the result of the very character of love which creates communion. I quote from her: “Love one another as I have loved you… that they may all be one” (see Jn 15:12; 17:21). Obviously, this is religious in nature. But the psychological effects are extraordinary: each one, being a relationship of love with others, as a consequence becomes fulfilled as an authentic person. This, in brief, is our spirituality from a psychological perspective.”
Chiara Lubich was born on January 22, 1920. Against the backdrop of World War II, she had a powerful religious experience, which she immediately communicated to her closest friends. She relates: “One day, I found myself with my new companions in a dark, candle-lit cellar, a book of the Gospels in hand. I opened it. There was Jesus’s prayer before he died: ‘Father… May they all be one’ (Jn 17:11, 21). (…) Those words seemed to come to life, giving us the conviction that we were born for that page of the Gospel”.
This seed sown in Chiara gave life to a gospel-based, collective spirituality – the spirituality of unity.
This spirituality “has produced a modern school of holiness(...) a holiness of the people summed up in faithfulness to love as the essence of the gospel”, writes Piero Coda, professor of fundamental theology at the Lateran Pontifical University of Rome. He continues that “this takes place in a communion lived with everyone, going beyond every kind of diversity based on culture, social class or walk of life where, in fact, these differences are seen as gifts offered and put in common”.
The spirituality of unity is the soil from which the Focolare Movement’s many activities and projects draw sustenance.
The worldwide Focolare Movement, born in the Catholic Church, has come to embrace members of other Christian Churches, those who follow other world religions and also persons who do not have any particular religious conviction.
In her address to Unesco in December 1996, on receiving the Prize for Peace Education, Chiara Lubich said: “If fruitful dialogues are initiated with everyone, including the faithful of other religions and people from a wide range of cultures, they will find affirmation for the values they hold and, together, we will set out to achieve the fullness of unity we all desire.”
Many see in Chiara Lubich a witness to human history in its journey towards universal brotherhood.