Fr. Giussani, speaking of the prayer of the Angelus to recite in the morning, at noon and in the evening, said that it was the content of the three pillars which supported the arch of day. On every pillar, even physically, is “downloaded” the weight of the bridge. There are moments, in fact, in which one can rediscover that, at the bottom of everything, there is a foundation that is not only human: our life rests on the initiative of God, who dwells among us.
So too does the Fraternity of St. Charles is built and stands on three pillars whose foundation, so to speak, is the constant work of God.
They are the three words present in our long official name, which are often omitted when it is shortened to “The St. Charles.” Our complete name, in fact, is the Fraternity of Priests of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, and the pillars are: fraternity, priestly, and missionary. Fr. Massimo always taught us that even the order in which the three words are expressed is significant to understand who we are. We are above all brothers, called, that is, by one Father. What we seek to share through common life is the awareness that we did not choose ourselves but it was Another who called us together.
The Fraternity of St. Charles is built and stands on three pillars whose foundation is the constant work of God.
This awareness emerges through the encounter -or the clash!- of our subjectivities within the objectivity of the house in which we live.
Married people, in a certain sense, choose each other and yet, even the path of marriage, like every other form of vocation, passes through this strait in which even the spouses are called to recognize the objectivity of a call on which is founded the reciprocal preference and that has an origin ultimately in God.
Our Directory reads: “The hidden Mystery of the Trinity has the face of God made man, that is, it has the face of the persons to whom I belong as the closeness of God become man. Not because it is a face that exhausts the truth but because no one can know the truth if not through that face. Therefore, the face of the one who was placed beside us is for us the ultimate terminus of election.”
The second pillar is priesthood. The communion from which we are generated calls us, entrusting to us a specific task, that of immersing ourselves in a particular way with Christ, singular and eternal priest.
Priesthood is an immense gift that we will never finish understanding. In his book, St. John Paul II writes that “the priestly vocation is a mystery. It is a mystery of a marvelous exchange – admirabile commercium – between God and man. He gives to Christ his humanity so that He can use it as an instrument of salvation, almost making of this man another self.”
In the path of becoming one with Christ we discover the secret of every vocation: the gift of self. Only in this way can every human life be fully realized.
The priest is he who makes his life a channel of grace between heaven and earth: he brings God among men to bring men to God.
Lastly, in our name, we find the word “missionary.” We are sent out to the whole world to rediscover and to grow the gift we have received, together with those to whom we are sent. Freely you have received, freely give, says the Gospel.
In these words of Jesus is enclosed the origin of the mission of every Christian: gratitude. Fr. Giussani writes, in fact, that the missionary impetus of the Church that brings her “to witness Christ to the ends of the world, which comes much more from within than from a necessity or from an external appeal.”
These three words are the expression of the singular grand word with which the Mystery embraces us: His mercy.
In many of our houses there is what we call “the day of the house.” It is a day dedicated to fraternal life, in which we can converse without rushing, spend time together, and see something beautiful.
Often, only on that day can we celebrate Mass together. It is truly a beautiful and meaningful moment: to be all around the same altar to receive and bring Christ to the people to whom we are sent. It is a moment in which our being brothers, priests and missionaries is visible.
The pages that follow attempt to narrate these three words, distinct but inseparable for each one of us, expression of the singular grand word with which the Mystery embraces us: His mercy.
