THE CHURCH
AMONG THE PEOPLE
Stacks Image 94
Focus | Insights
Spirituality of unity
Laity like us


Chiara Lubich


Beyond her very unique role, Mary was also a model of a life of faith lived in the midst of the normality of daily life, and a model of particular relevance for us in this time of the pandemic. It is a time in which we are invited to discover the dimensions and potential of being "Church" in ways that we are not yet fully aware. Excerpted text by the author: C. Lubich, Essential Writings, New City Press, (Hyde Park, New York) 2007, pg. 112.1
Today, much is said about the role of the laity. The layperson is “the Church “and perhaps the figure of the laity would come into greater prominence if some aspects of Mary were explained more fully and more clearly. From our point of view Mary, even though one of a kind, exceptional, is the model of the layperson. [...]

Mary is a layperson like us who demonstrates that the essence of Christianity is love and that even priests and bishops, before being priests and bishops must first be true Christians, living crucifixes as Jesus was, who founded his Church on the cross.

Mary, by highlighting in the Church the fundamental quality of love which makes it one, presents to the world the Bride of Christ as Jesus wanted it to be and every person today awaits: ordered charity, organized charity. Only by emphasizing this fundamental quality can the Church today fulfill properly its function of contact and dialogue with the world, which often finds the hierarchy less interesting, but is sensitive to the witness of love in the Church, the soul of the world.




________________________________
1 New City Press Publishing House: https://www.newcitypress.com/



Stacks Image 111
Please click on the icon if you wish to open in Adobe Reader or wish to print or share the article.