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 published: 2006-06-09

"Dilexit Ecclesiam"

A Summary of Four Years in Rome

 

Dilexit Ecclesiam

Dilexit Ecclesiam

Dilexit Ecclesiam

 

El Papa, la iglesia en su belleza, y Schoenstatt en su misión

The Pope, the Church in its beauty, and Schoenstatt with its mission

Der Papst, die Kirche in ihrer Schönheit, und Schönstatt mittendrin

 
 

Una misión para la iglesia

A mission for the church

Eine Sendung für die Kirche

Fotos: POS Santos © 2006

 

 

 

ROME, Fr. Alberto Eronti. We are on the threshold of the month which is popularly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It will be a special month for me since on June 18th, I will leave Rome and begin my return journey to Argentina where I hope to begin my new tasks at the beginning of September.  I have been in Rome - "Heart of the Church"- for more than four years.  It has been a unique opportunity to experience the Church:  its Catholicity, its visible head - two Popes - its Tribunals and that swarm of races and all types of habits seen at the Universities, Institutes and Catholic Athenaeums.  The world present in Rome the "eternal city!"  If the ancient Romans said "Rome, head of the world," the Church can say : "Rome, center and showcase of its universality."  Today I write my last circular letter from Rome.

What is the outcome of what I have experienced during this time?  What emotions overcome me?  There is a lot I could say, but I can sum it up in this phrase:  I believe I have learned to love the Church more.....the "true" Church.  Throughout these years, I have had as a guide the words of our Father and Founder:  "Dilexit Ecclesiam."  He loved the Church!  To love is to give one's own life serving and encouraging the life of another or others.  I am not the one who will weigh the personal outcome of what took place, but I can share thoughts and feelings on what was lived and experinced.

THE TRUE CHURCH

The true Church has lights and shadows.  The lights reflect its beauty, the shadows reflect its weaknesses.  But, I tell myself.....this true Church "was born from the opened side" of Christ.  When we see the Unity Cross, we see that Mary gathers into a chalice the "blood and water" which came from the heart of Jesus after He was pierced with a lance.  Mary who had shortly before received the "task" of Mother of the "beloved disciple," embraces the new life:  her Son will continue to be present among mankind .....through and in His Church.

I have been able to experience the true Church which is born and reborn in each Eucharist and in each hour of Eucharistic Adoration.  The fulfillment of the mandate:  "do this in memory of me," constitutes the life of the church.  Without Eucharist there is no Church because without Eucharist there is no discipleship.  In this sense,  I have had the grace to see and feel total and passionate love for the Eucharist and the Church - which John Paul II lived - even to the point of consuming himself in love  in Her and through Her.  For me it was the opportunity to more deeply and vividly understand the words of Father Kentenich.  To love, to love to the extreme of giving one's life, to risk one's own reputation and security for Jesus Christ and the Church.

I AM THE CHURCH

The true Church believes, hopes and loves in the ups and downs of life.  Heaven is both hope and goal, but the Church is born  - or not born - in daily life, in the simplicity and concretness of daily life.  The Church - the community of disciples of Jesus -  "risks itself" in each baptized person called to be light, salt and leaven.  Without the deep and vibrant feeling "I am the Church," the Church will not be able to fulfill its mission to be "soul of the world" nor evangelizer of culture.  It is popularly said that "the rope is cut at the weakest point."  This means that each one of us is part of the fiber of the rope, but also that each one of us is morally responsible for the part one has been given.  Today, there are many weak fibers in the rope of the Church because the life of many baptized persons is not coherent.  This cohesion we call in Schoenstatt "everyday sanctity" and "faithful and most faithful fulfillment of one's duties according to one's state of life."

The true Church lives, works, trusts and is born in mission territories.  What do we know of it?  Little or nothing, but there are hundreds and thousands of disciples of Jesus who because they love Him have decided to give their lives so  that other brethern may find the love of Jesus and may have LIFE in HIM.  I have often asked myself what makes a person leave the security and comfort of his country to go to the insecurity, lack of comfort and challenge of lands called mission territories?  Love..... only the love received from Jesus Christ and converted into love for Him and through Him for mankind can explain such a surrender.

TO LOVE WITH UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

The true Church knows of threats, jails, attempts on somebody's life, kidnapping and martyrdom.  Yes, today in the 21st century, man can be an instrument of not loving and vehemently attacking those who love LOVE.  Here in Rome, I have witnessed the pain and suffering of many brother and sister missionaries.  Some, like the Trappist monks of the Atlas monastery in Algeria, shed their blood to "prove to the Moslem brethern that Christ loves them with unconditional love!"

The true Church knows of children who leave Her, forget Her and even hate Her as a mother and follow the "singing of mermaids" and present day idols.  There are children of the Church who have forgotten the Magna Carta of the Kingdom of God: the Beattitudes.  They are seeking the desired happiness by other means.  The true Church has "blemishes and wrinkles" produced by the weaknesses of her sons and daughters because while the Church is holy in her Foundation, She  is composed of men and women capable for love or capable of not loving.

All that has been said has made me reflect on the text from "Heavenwards" (# 115, Spanish version) where Father Kentenich - before the Eucharistic presence of Christ - speaks of adoration, atonement, thanksgiving and petition.  The first is to adore because first is always the infinity of God, His love, His light and His beauty.  But, there is so much to atone for!   Atonement is to repair, to remake, to renew and also to ask for forgiveness for oneself and for others.  Nevertheless, gratitude is necessary because it shows that we have feelings and we recognize the love of God in its nearness, in its gifts, and in its guidance.  He who is grateful feels loved and recognized.  Petition.....there are so many to pray for, there is so much to ask for!  Asking belongs to the heart of a child who while in need seeks help from his father or his mother.

THE BEAUTY OF THE MOTHER CHURCH

During these years, I have learned more about all of this, but above all to love the Church just as she is - because that is how Jesus Christ loves Her, because that is how Mary loves Her and because that is how our Founder loved Her.  Who would not want that his mother never lose her beauty?  The Mother Church has in Mary the immaculate image.  All of the beauty of the Church shines forth in Mary.  As Mary's partners we are co-responsible for the beauty of the Mother church.....that beauty which Jesus lit up fully and in holiness as He allowed it to flow from "the wound in His side."  Let us implore the grace to live the motto of the Encounter of the Pope with the Movements and New Communities:  "the beauty of being Christian and the joy of sharing it."  May all have a blessed month os June contemplating with Mary the open Heart of the Son.  In the Eucharist and from the Matri Ecclesiae Shrine, I am grateful to God and to each one of you for the prayers and the accompaniment of these four years.  May the Mother of the Church grant us abundantly her unconditional love to the Family of God on earth.  Amen!

Translation: Carlos Cantú Family Federation La Feria, Texas USA


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