6. Indigo - Love Generates Wisdom

Love Generates Wisdom

Just as love lived by the members of the Movement creates communion, radiates, uplifts, heals, creates a home, it also generates light and wisdom.

In the history of the Focolare there is a very well- known event that we have always held to be a fundamental and founding moment for this aspect.

I refer to that day in the 1940s, in the first focolare of Piazza Cappuccini, Trent, when I left the books I loved so much, putting them in the attic.

By doing this I was resolving a contradiction I felt had become clear in my life: seeking the truth in philosophy while truth is wholly present in the eucharistic Jesus I re­ceived every morning.

In fact, a light of the Holy Spirit had made me under­stand clearly that I would find the truth, the full, authen­tic, indisputable, sublime, and profound truth, in him, the Truth: "I am the way and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6).

"I Saw a Light"

This episode, I believe, marks the beginning of the as­pect we are dealing with here.

I recently found in our archives a letter I wrote to a friend during those early days.

"Look, I am a person passing through this world.

"I have seen many beautiful and good things and I have always been attracted only by them.

"One day (one indefinable day), I saw a light. It seemed to me to be more beautiful than the other beautiful things, and I followed it.

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"I realized that it was the Truth."

This letter surprised me: why, I wondered, was I able to say such a thing? And I came to the conclusion that the light I spoke about was the charism given to us by the Holy Spirit and which later the Church studied and, us­ing its gift of discernment, approved.

What I have found interesting in the writings, talks, and diary entries about this sixth aspect which, to keep things simple, I will call the indigo, is that they are not usually lengthy thoughts that have been fully worked out and elaborated. They are drops, perhaps of wisdom or of sound human judgement, that add to or explain more com­pletely things that are already known. Or they are just the drawing out of the consequences of what we think, but I have chosen them and wished to highlight them simply because, being beautiful, they have in themselves, I think, a ray of that beauty which is, at the same time, the truth of God. Others are predictions that are astounding be­cause, years and years later, they have been fulfilled.

Assisi, Paris, Hollywood

We can look at the 1950s. In 1954 the Holy Spirit illuminated us about the seven aspects of love, and since 1955 we have spoken about the indigo. And then some­thing happened which surprised us very much: it seemed as if, from that point on, the Holy Spirit wished to com­municate to us his plans for our Movement. He made us understand that, in the course of time, there would be three moments in the Work of Mary, defined by these names: Assisi, Paris and Hollywood. They were already in Focolare DNA, so to speak, because of the charism that had brought it about and had always guided it, but they came to light fully only a few decades later.

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It was something I would bring up again only in 1988'. I said:

"In our Movement, we can single out three periods: the first occurred when our spirituality, our lifestyle, was born. And we called it 'Assisi.'

"The second period came when I began to study in or­der to compare the aspects of our spirituality with the doctrine of the Church. We saw that they matched up with each other, while foreseeing that this would also open up new horizons. I shared this with everyone.

"In this regard, we were deeply affected and also some­what fearful because of a remark attributed to Saint Francis, who was concerned that his friars might become attached to books: 'Paris, Paris, you destroy Assisi.' "

We affirmed: "We want Paris, but also Assisi. We live our spirituality, but we want to study too."

And now, the third period has already opened up, one that we have given the title of another symbolic place:

Hollywood. It presents and will present to the public the message of our Movement through various art forms and through the media.

Let's address our theme more directly now.

What is Wisdom?

We quote the following section from a book of 1964 that we liked very much. It was written by the theologian Father Raimondo Spiazzi:

"The gift of wisdom puts the soul in contact with eter­nal realities. ... It scrutinizes the depths of God and discerns his radiant beauty. The soul beholds that which

1. These are excerpts from spoken talks adapted for written presenta­tion.

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it cannot repeat, and without ever being quenched it drinks from this exhaustible source with an ever-growing desire, as a deer longs for streams of water.

"But, having discovered and almost tasted God, with this light in its eyes, the soul is able to look at the world and to see it clearly . . . judging everything from a divine viewpoint, almost projecting over everything the light of God's infinite gaze.

"In the mind of a wise Christian there is, as it were, a reconstruction of the ideal order that exists in the mind of God. The unfolding of eras and ages, the interwoven course of events, the How of things, the historical process, the development of its own life all are seen from the perspec­tive of their dependence-convergence relationship to a di­vine plan . . . having the same mental synthesis as God who sees each thing in the Word, who loves each thing in the Spirit, and who knows all by loving, and loves all in the very act of his infinite contemplation."²

"A member of the Movement must possess wisdom." We stated this and repeated it in our writings, in our vari­ous Statutes. We considered it a command.

But we might wonder: how is it possible to "command" wisdom?

The same Holy Spirit who commands something (through the Statutes he inspired), also gives us the an­swer.

And in time, the answer became increasingly clear for us.

how TO acquire wisdom

We can acquire wisdom in four ways: by asking God for it, by loving God and neighbor, by loving Jesus for­saken, and by bringing Jesus into our midst.

2. R. Spiazzi, Lo Spirito Santo e la vita cristiana (Rome, 1964), p. 229.

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1) We have always prayed for wisdom, ever since the earliest days, I would say, when to prepare ourselves to speak before the small audiences of that time we some­times stayed even an hour in front of Jesus in the taber­nacle. We would repeat to him, "You are everything, I am nothing," so that he, and he alone, would speak through us. This is how everything began, and we should remem­ber this.

Still today we pray to the Father, fairly frequently us­ing a prayer we call a consenserint. As is widely known, this is the name we give to the prayer taught us by Jesus when he said: "If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven" (Mt 18:19). We often pray together like this before giving a talk, in order to have the Holy Spirit.

2) Another way to acquire wisdom is by loving: by lov­ing God and neighbor.

It has always been our conviction, proven by experi­ence, that loving brings light. In fact, right from the be­ginning, these words of Jesus have had a special place in our hearts: "They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them" (Jn 14:21).

Saint Bede said: "To the one who has love for the Word [in which Christ is present], will also be given the intelli­gence to understand the Word that he loves; while the one who does not love the Word will have no taste what­soever for the delights of true wisdom. Even if he believes he possesses it, as a result of natural gifts and study, he will not possess it."³

"To have wisdom," we used to explain, "it is necessary

3. Bede, Comments) at Vangelo di Marco, vol. 1 (Rome, 1970), p. 129.

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to be another Jesus, and to be another Jesus it is necessary to love: the light that comes from loving is wisdom." As a bicycle light comes on when you pedal, so wisdom lights up in us when we love.

We would recall an Oriental proverb: "Give me your heart [that is, love] and I will give you a pair of eyes," which means: love, and I will make you see. . We have wisdom, therefore, by loving.

3) We also acquire wisdom by loving Jesus crucified and forsaken.

In Chapter Four of our current Statutes, it says: "The persons who are part of the Work of Mary will try to have true Christian wisdom before anything else: Tor God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom' (Wis 7:28).

"For this reason, embracing Christ's cross and forsakenness with him, they will try to make the Risen Lord shine out in their hearts. It is he who pours out the gifts of the Spirit" (art. 58).

I had already said in 1967 that we have wisdom when we love Jesus forsaken:

"If we do not love the cross, if we do not live only by means of it, then in our hearts there is no true love for God and for our brothers and sisters, nor is there wisdom.

"As we did when we had scarcely been born to this new life, we repeat the same words each morning when offer­ing up our day: 'Because you are forsaken Jesus, because you are desolate Mary.' And Jesus forsaken is the totality of wisdom for us."⁴

We read in the letters of Bernard of Clairvaux what he once said to a professor in Paris: "I have heard that you comment on the books of the Prophets. But can you truly

4. Chiara Lubich, Unpublished Diary, 17 May 1967.

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say that you understand their lessons and, more impor­tantly, their teaching on Christ? You would understand Christ better by following him than by teaching about him."

Louis de Montfort almost identifies wisdom with the cross. From him we understand that the tree of the cross distills from itself eternal nectar; that is, wisdom, a ray, a reflection, a participation in the eternal Wisdom which is the Word of God.

He says that suffering teaches things that cannot be learned from any other art. It holds the highest teaching chair. Suffering is a teacher of wisdom, and the one who has wisdom is blessed. Blessed, in fact, are the ones who are suffering. They will be consoled not only with their reward in the next life but with the contemplation of heav­enly things in this life.⁵

4) The fourth way to have wisdom is by having Jesus in our midst.

"Moreover," continue the Statutes, "they will strive to be united so that Christ who is present where there is mutual love may pour forth among them the gifts of the Spirit" (art. 58).

We are more and more convinced that "we must have wisdom individually (through the risen Lord in us) and collectively (with Jesus among us). From this we have to learn to be 'fountains that overflow.' "

A typical sign of someone speaking with wisdom is a listener's exclamation, "How beautiful!" Such a comment is never in reference to a purely human way of reasoning, but to something that is supernatural. For example, if our words are able to show the golden thread that links the events of our lives, filling us with admiration, it means

5. L. G. Montfort, Amore dell'Etema Sapienza, n. 180.

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that there is wisdom present.

And there has been abundant wisdom in our Move­ment, in outlining both its spirituality and its structure.

the one teacher

As we often recall, even before our adventure of living the spirituality of unity, I had wanted to know God, and I seemed to have heard these words in my heart: "I will be your Teacher."

And he really has been a teacher for me and for many others.

This is why I was able to say at the University of Buenos Airesinl998:

"It is with surprise that I can affirm now, only for the glory of God, that after decades spent in following this splendid and demanding way, the Lord, in his goodness, led me and those who are part of the Focolare to know something of his infinite wisdom. This did not involve only the study of God, theology, but also, so it would seem, other realms of knowledge, thus giving us an insight into how we can renew the different disciplines of human knowledge from within, in order to make them authentic, true and pleasing to him."''

In this regard, we would like to recall what is written in the Book of Wisdom:

Although she is but one, she can do all things,

and while remaining in herself,

she renews all things. . . .

She is more beautiful than the sun,

and excels every constellation of the stars.

Compared with the light she is found to be superior,

6. Chiara Lubich, Lecture given on the occasion of the reception of the doctorate honoris causa in humanities, Buenos Aires, 6 April 1998.

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for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. (Wis 7:27-30)

Study

study AT THE service OF wisdom

Let us now speak about study.

Study is necessary but under one condition: "The in­digo is not so much study as wisdom because it is a color of love, love that becomes wisdom, that illuminates."

Study is not something added on to wisdom but a means of amplifying it, of making it more radiant. "The alpha and omega," we continue to read, "is always wisdom. The origin is wisdom and the end is wisdom: God."

We also made clear the place of study: "Study is ... the footstool of wisdom."

In any case, study is important for us. We always knew that "to increase wisdom it is necessary to study."

And, thanks be to God, so far it appears that "Paris has not destroyed Assisi." Study has been at the service of wisdom.

The following writing, too, encourages study: "But it could be much more (at the service of wisdom). A seventh part of our life (thinking of the seven aspects of love) should always be devoted to study."

As early as 1960 we find written:

"Wisdom will be supported and equipped by the knowl­edge of theology and of any other secular knowledge that may be useful. Theology, however, should never suffocate wisdom but, rather, theology should help wisdom."

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And we insisted:

"I was filled with joy at the thought that in our Move­ment study is viewed as one of the seven expressions of our life, as an aspect of love. This can be so, however, on the condition that it serves our love of God and neighbor. Otherwise study is an obstacle; it is Paris destroying Assisi."

"Inundations"

There is a comment (among the many) that makes it clear how study even in the fields of the sciences and the humanities is also something that God specifically wants of us. In time, this point proved to be true, and especially now in view of the so-called "inundations."⁷

With regard to the studies of the Focolarini, for example, we said as early as 1966:

"As far studies in the fields of science and the humani­ties are concerned, the Focolarini should keep up to date on their professional knowledge and should always im­prove it. We should keep in mind that as time passes many Focolarini with the same profession will come together to work in the projects that will be set up. Consequently, they will have to put in common, with Jesus in their midst, the ideas and insights they will have acquired day by day.

"The presence of Jesus in the midst of those who work in the same field will enhance the presence of Jesus in that sector, and it will also enlighten that field of work itself.

"At the same time, these Focolarini will be able to be leaven in Centers of the Movement [that deal with spe­cific 'inundations']."

7. The term "inundations," from "the streams of living water" in John Chrvsostom (In Johannem homilia, 51, PG 59, 294), is intended to signify the penetration of the life and light of the charism of unity into various human activities.

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our theology

"With regard to theological studies, we foresee the Focolarini attending courses at the level of higher educa­tion."

And there is a thought that frequently recurs:

"With regard to theology, we ought to focus on the doctrine of the Body of Christ." This should be studied and perfected in every detail.

"The resulting legacy will be shared with others in the Work of Mary and will also be an enrichment for the Church."

And this is linked to another important concept:

"Naturally, the doctrine of the Body of Christ (which implies living in accordance with the Trinitarian model) will have repercussions also on the whole of society which then, at least for those who work in the Work of Mary, will be built in the image and likeness of the Body of Christ."

how TO study

With regard to the way of studying, in 1974 a seminar­ian asked me the following question: "How can we study theology without the risk of being overwhelmed by it or of losing sight of our total commitment to the ideal and to the Gospel?" I replied:

"It's very simple. I, too, studied, and I was told four­teen times to stop and then to start again. I remember the last hour I spent studying. I'll never forget it. I was sitting on a rug on the floor, with an atlas on one side (I was studying for a geography exam) and my notes on the other. I said to myself: 'Now, I really want to study well in order to do God's will, and I won't go ahead unless I know the material covered as well as I know the Hail Mary.' And this is what I did.

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"I felt my studying was like incense offered to God be­cause it was a matter of doing God's will well. I remember I had the impression that that last hour of study was a real masterpiece. When the hour was over, it was time to do another will of God: to prepare the meal for the Focolarine, who were coming back from work, since I was the only one at home.

"That day I was told to leave my studies permanently. I was happy because life is love; it is not study. What mat­tered was doing God's will, for that was the way to love.

"If we study in this way, there is no danger that we will become overly attached to our studies."

We also try to study in the right way because study "done well can favor contemplation." Teresa ofAvila, doc­tor of the Church, was convinced of this, and she was an expert in contemplation. She felt that learned people, "if they are truly learned, are aided in contemplation," and therefore in acquiring wisdom.

The following words from 1960 tell us more about how to approach study.

"Studying has no value for us unless it is a fruit of our love. It has been said that 'the unlearned rise up and snatch the kingdom of God, and we, with all our study, are going to the depths of hell.' This was said about those who gave more importance to study than to the spirit of piety, of prayer."

we study because we love

For us, then, love must be the reason for our study. I found the following text of mine:

"Why do we want to study? Why do we never want to stop studying? Because we love God. When you love some­one, when you fall in love, you want to know everything about the other person. We want to know all we can about God so that we can love him more and more. In this way,

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studying will not be a burden for our soul, something that turns off our spirit of contemplation, but it will be like fuel added to the fire."

Moreover, study must not only be the effect of charity, but it must also serve charity.

For us, as for Saint Bernard, all knowledge, and the knowledge of scripture itself, must "serve charity." Ber­nard himself said in a famous sermon, "All my lofty phi­losophy, today, consists in knowing that Jesus is, and that he was crucified."

And when Bernard began to journey with his first com­panions along the path that God had indicated to him, and "he chose God alone," it is said that "his life with these companions was charity." "People who saw how they loved one another recognized that God was in them."

It must be the same for us, including those who dedi­cate much time to study

Love must be the soul of study.

Speaking to a group of intellectuals, John Paul II said that scholars and theologians should keep Therese of Lisieux before them as their model because love is what can make a living theology.⁸

He might well have referred to Saint Thomas Aquinas as the model of scholars. Instead, the Pope pointed to Therese of Lisieux.

A New Doctrine

We have long thought that the charism of unity or, bet­ter still, the life of unity would give rise to a doctrine. In fact, as the Father generated the Son, his Word, his Light,

8. Talk to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, L'Osservatore Romano, 25 October 1997, p. 5.

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his Beauty, the life of unity will bring forth a theory, a doctrine.

Here are some thoughts about this:

"Without your life this doctrine could not come to be, just as the Father needs to exist in order to generate the Son, for the doctrine is like the Son in relation to the Father. This new reality (the doctrine), which involves us all, would not keep going if we were not living in this way. . . . This Gospel-based life is like a school, indeed, like the source of a new doctrine that sums up and broad­ens the fields of knowledge already acquired. This doc­trine will be a new synthesis, because the ideal of unity brings about the unity ofopposites. In the theological field there are many schools: the ideal has the power, with Jesus in our midst, to bring about a synthesis and not a com­promise."

And we see this doctrine as related to Mary:

"A new theology will emerge, a theology of the Church, which is also a Marian theology because it is the theology of the Work of Mary. The presence of Mary here, with her particular charism, will help us to gather all the fruits that have emerged down through the centuries from all the charisms, all the schools of thought, so as to bring about a new synthesis, a Marian synthesis, the synthesis which humanity awaits today. . . . And this will bathe the face of the Church not only with love but with light because Jesus is the light that came into the world."

One day, while I was speaking with an Apostolic Nun­cio in Africa about the "seeds of the Word" present in every culture, I seemed to understand that the doctrine which comes from the charism of unity is not based on any human culture, for it comes from the Holy Spirit.

And thus this doctrine is a light that has no specific "color." It is a white light that can serve all cultures; it can pierce to the depths of each human being because Jesus is the man, not just a man but the Man.

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I wrote this about the indigo:

"What I am interested in is the doctrine that is being drawn out. I don't drink wine by eating grapes. I drink wine after the grapes have been crushed. The wine refers to the doctrine drawn out from the bunch of grapes and the bunch of grapes refers to our entire experience. The wine is the doctrine with which we must all be inebriated:

all illuminated, all happy."

the abba school

The following are rather new thoughts, which undoubt­edly contain a prediction.

"Our impression is that the Lord is not only developing a new doctrine in the Work of Mary, but he is also incar­nating it in the most varied forms of life, and these will form a whole range of fields of experimentation and will be, in themselves, part of the school (the 'inundations' are linked to the Abba School)⁹.

"Consequently, in order to study Christian social doc­trine competently (in view of our specific contribution), we will have to consider how people live in those indus­tries and business firms that the Work of Mary will build. Likewise, to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the prob­lems associated with education, we will have to examine the schools in which our ideal is lived. Thus, the entire Work of Mary will appear like a testing ground for this doctrine; and, at the same time, it will generate the doc­trine."

What we have been saying since 1967 is noteworthy:

"I would like our Movement (given that the contribu­tion we must give to the Church is not to be so

9. The Abba School is an interdisciplinary group of scholars of the Focolare Movement who meet together to explore the doctrinal con­tent of Chiara Lubich's charism.

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much something like, for example, the Compagnons Bdtisseurs)¹⁰ to be a work of light.

"Our spirituality should give rise to a culture, a phi­losophy, a sociology, a theology. It is something very much to be hoped for. What I mean is that among all the con­crete things that should emerge from the Focolare Move­ment, this one is the most appropriate, the most logical.

"This would be one of the works, I believe, that our Movement must accomplish precisely because it has a spirituality.

"Since it is Christianity seen with the eye of the twen­tieth century, with the demands of the twentieth century, which presupposes all of the past, it must perforce have its scholars."

We find signs of our present-day Abba School already in 1974.

"Reading these pages" gave you glimmer of insight that made you understand a number of things. Above all, they gave you a surge of hope that these glimmers would one day become light. These glimmers of insight were of the most varied sort, going from the field of sociology to that of politics and of science. Now we have come together today, precisely to start gathering these insights.

"However, nothing of all this can come about unless we are able to recreate that climate, that atmosphere of unity, that most elevated unity which is the 'Soul.'¹²1 think that today, December 2, 1974, could remain a historic day be-

10. An association that began in Belgium in 1953 with the aim of help­ing the victims of the Second World War.

11. The pages come from the years 1949 and 1950 and contain the intui­tions referred to in the following footnote.

12. This expression ofChiara Lubich refers to an experience of profound unity experienced by her with the first men and women Focolarini in 1949 and then transmitted to the members of the Focolare. The no­tion of the "Soul" brings to mind the life of the first Christians, "The community of believers was of one heart and mind" (Acts 4:32).

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cause it could mark the rebirth of the Work of Mary's doctrine."

Mary, Model of Wisdom

I would like to conclude with a thought taken from the Book of Wisdom:

Wisdom is radiant and unfading,

and she is easily discerned

by those who love her,

and is found by those who seek her.

She hastens to make herself known

to those who desire her.

One who rises early to seek her

will have no difficulty,

for she will be found sitting at the gate.

To fix one's thought on her

is perfect understanding,

and one who is vigilant on her account

will soon be free from care.

(Wis6:12-15)

Our Lady is called the Seat of Wisdom, not because she spoke, not because she was a doctor of the Church, not because she had a professorial chair, not because she founded a university. She is the Seat of Wisdom be-cause she gave Christ, Wisdom Incarnate, to the world. She did something concrete. It is the same for us: we shall have wisdom if we live in such a way that Jesus is in us, is among us, that his presence is concrete.

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