n. 10
ottobre 2006

 

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THE EXERCISE OF ECUMENISM IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE

di P. Jesús Castellano Cervera o.c.d

 

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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:

  1. 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;

  2. 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.

  3. 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;
  4. 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;
  5. to keep  in mind the ecumenical activity, according to the principles of this Directory,  in giving orientations to one’s own educational institutions;
  6. 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;
  7. “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.

 

[1] 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).

About the forms of religious life in other Christian confessions you may use the news collected  by F:ESPOSITO, Monachesimo orientale e comunitá religiose nelle Chiese della Riforma, in AA.VV., Per una presenza dei religiosi nella Chiesa e nel mondo (a cura di A. Favale), LDC, Torino-Leumann, 1970, pp.57-111, (to be updated with other contributions).

 

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