Fr. JC Maximilian

Is it Possible to Live This Way? Vol. 1 Faith

There is a basic format to gestures of Communion and Liberation. Whether it is the weekly “School of Community” or a retreat of a day or a weekend, there is a basic structure or format. First there is the lesson. In School of Community, like this “virtual School of Community”, the lesson is the reading from the book that is being covered; at a retreat it would be the conference given by who ever is leading the retreat. Then, after a period of quiet time for reflecting on what was said during the lesson, there is the Assembly. This is basically a time to ask questions about the lesson, and to give a witness to how what was said in the lesson helped you make a judgment about your life. Msgr. Guissani had a basic rule about questions during the assembly; “don’t ask question if they don’t refer to things that are felt, if they don’t openly express feelings that are experienced” (IPLW-Faith, p. 42). This helps keep you from becoming abstract about the material; the whole point is that Jesus is present NOW, HERE in our lives. Needless to say, an assembly can cover a wide range of issues. I am not even going to try to summarize all the issues discussed in this assembly, but rather only those that spoke to my heart.

Maybe it is because I am a psychologist by training, who tends to lean towards the more cognitive schools of psychology, but I feel that one of the biggest problems with too many people today is that they are too emotional. They are emotivists, placing their emotions as the most important think in their lives and the standard by which they evaluate everything. In my humble opinion, this leads to irrationality. The emotions are really just another part of our senses. While they are important, as are all the senses, for as St. Thomas says the senses enlightens the intellect, they are also what we have most in common with the animals. What makes us something other than mere beasts of another sort, is our intellect and will. We can make judgments about our senses, including our emotions.

When I first encountered Communion and Liberation one concern I had was there was a lot of talk about emotions; what do you feel? There is a discussion in this Assembly that gave me the best understanding and assurance that Giussani was not prone to devolving into emotivism. He defines emotion as “the psychological reaction in front of something you encounter” (IPLW-Faith, p. 44). Giussani says that in order to experience the exceptionality of an encounter more has to happen, namely the judgment of the mind. A judgment is a comparison between our heart’s criteria and the reality that you happen upon. The heart’s criteria are our existential need/desire for happiness, truth, goodness, beauty.

Msgr. Giussani acknowledges that for many people today, there is an impulsive, quick “yes” to experiences as corresponding to what they think their hearts desire. This leads to addictions. Basically emotions have become the same as a judgment, and as Giussani says, this only leads to our ruin. He affirmed my own belief about emotivism when he says that making emotion the same as judgment is the predominance of the beast, the animal. Emotion is a reaction; it needs to be judged.

I am sure that we have all have had the experience of falling in love. Yes, even as a priest, I have had the experience of falling in love. Falling in love is a very powerful emotion. In and of itself it is not good or bad. What do we do with such a feeling, such an emotion? If I allowed the emotion to become the same as a judgment, I am afraid I would have ruined my priestly vocation sometime ago. When I was in practice as a psychologist, more than once I had clients who made a huge mess of their lives because they fell in love, made that emotion the same as their judgment, and ran off to pursue the object of their love at the cost of a spouse and family. I know a few priests who have made the same mistake. The problem is not in the emotion of falling in love. The problem is in the failure to judge that emotion. We need to ask ourselves, “does this emotion correspond to the destiny that God has given me? Does it correspond to my path for happiness?” This means looking at the commitments I have already made in my life, especially if I have taken a long period of time to evaluate them. I mean, I was in the seminary for five years, a deacon for another year, and now a priest for nearly five years. I have spent a lot of time in prayerful reflection to come to recognize that God has called me to be a priest. If I met someone tomorrow and “fell in love with her” it would be rather foolish for me to just dump my priesthood to pursue a romantic relationship with her. It would be impulsive, and irrational. St. John’s Gospel, in the Prologue, describes Jesus as the Logos, and while that is Greek for “Word”, it also means “reason” (hence we get the word “logic” from it). God is Reason; to act irrationally is not following God.

This leads me to the other thing discussed in this assembly which struck me as very important — the idea of companionship. Elsewhere Giussani describes “friendship” as witnesses that point out the presence of Christ in your life. It is very easy to get carried away by our emotions. That is why it is important to have good Christian friends, who are also doing their best to follow the Lord. This companionship, which is the real beginning of Communion and Liberation, reminds us of the Presence of Christ in our lives. Our friends can help keep us grounded when our emotions want to carry us away, and we want to make emotion the same as judgment. The importance of the weekly School of Community is the formation of such holy, spiritual friendships who are are companions on the road. They can challenge our preconceptions, and affirm our judgments (in CL this is often called verification).

Personally, this has been the most important aspect of CL for me. Even now, when I am at a parish where I have not (yet) established a School of Community, I value my association with CL. A priest friend of mine, also involved in the Movement, we have decided to “meet” each week via video-chat (on Skype) to do School of Community. Of course it would be better if we could get together each week in person, but we are over 2 hours away, and neither of us can afford the travel time that it would entail each week. But the hour each week to pray and do School of Community together is something we have told each other is vital for living our priesthood. It also means that I do my best to make the time to go to the CL retreats and spiritual exercises. I cannot always make it, but the companionship is important. It helps me keep my priesthood, my life, grounded in reality.

All of us need that. We need at least one other person with whom we can be completely honest, and who will be completely honest with us. In 12-Step programs they call it your sponsor. It might be your spiritual director, or regular confessor. It might be that friend or two who you know are on the same journey as you are. It is the “Communion” in CL, and it helps us become truly free, truly liberated to become what God has called us to be.