The head of the Communion and Liberation Movement, Father Julián Carrón wrote an editorial for tomorrow's (July 14, 2011) edition of the L'Osservatore Romano about the forthcoming Day of Prayer in Assisi on October 27, recognizing the theme of peace and justice.
The Day for Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World, convoked in Assisi next October 27 by Benedict XVI is an audacious gesture, just as Blessed John Paul II's initiative was, 25 years ago.
"In the name of what can (Pope Wojtyla) call exponents of all religions together to pray in Assisi?" asked Don Luigi Giussani twenty-five years ago. He answered, "If one understands the nature of man, the heart of man, it is his religious sense, it is in the religious sense that all men find equality and identity. The most profound meaning in the human heart is religious sentiment, destiny on the one hand and the usefulness of the present on the other. If we want to use the right terms, a sense of religion is the only sense which is truly catholic, which means suitable for everyone and belonging to everyone."
The religious sense - this original nucleus of needs and evidence (of truth, beauty, justice and happiness) with which every man comes up against reality - is that which unites men of every time and place. It expresses an awareness of our dependency on the Mystery which makes all things. This is why Don Giussani has always taught us to value, "religious creativity considering the dignity of this effort of man. Every human being has an inevitable need to search for his ultimate meaning, definitive and absolute, from his contingent position. Every religious construction reflects the fact that each man does what he can. This is what all religious constructions have in common: an attempt.
What is different is their means of expression which depends on many factors; but such variations never weaken its value. (Luigi Giussani, All'origine della pretesa cristiana [At The Origin of the Christian Claim], Milano, Rizzoli, 2001, p. 18).
In time, this serious pursuit also reveals the ambiguity with which human beings achieve an objective rapport with their own religious sense. A sense which should be like a light that illuminates men on their journey through life, becomes instead - because it is still a mystery and human reason is injured by sin - at the mercy of individual interpretation, so that its concrete value in daily life is easily forgotten or reduced.
Father Julián CarrónPresident of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation
L'Osservatore Romano
July 14, 2011
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