Carrón: "By converting ourselves to Christ, we can touch with our hands that this is useful for life"

To bring the joy of being Christians in all ambits of daily life. This is what has always animated the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, and is still today the way indicated to its members for the new evangelization. Among the Fathers participating in the Synod on the new evangelization was Fr. Julián Carrón, President of CL. Paolo Ondarza interviewed him:
A. - On rereading the document Porta Fidei, I was struck by the fact that the Pope starts off by saying that today faith cannot be taken for granted: it is not an obvious presupposition. With this impression, and then on rereading the Instrumentum Laboris for the preparation of the Synod, I was very struck by the passage that expresses concern for the fact that Christianity is not being communicated in the places where human life is lived out: the workplace, the neighborhood... This is truly a challenge we have to face, because at the moment we arouse no interest. This speaks to us of the challenge that Christianity become a reality present in us, in our way of tackling day-to-day things, because otherwise it will be difficult for men to be interested in what we do when we meet for Mass on Sundays.

Q. - So, we need to be in the places where people are, intercepting people and their demand for the absolute. In your concrete experience, how is this expressed?
A. - It means a constant attempt to be present, now, as before, in the environment, in the school, in the university, and in the work place, where with our always “ironic” effort–we try to make Christianity present as proposal and witness. We have this at heart because in this way we ourselves can verify–in concrete life, in work, in the family, in relationships–the truth of what we believe in. And first of all, we want this for ourselves, because if this is true for us, then we can demonstrate to others how faith is capable of renewing day-to-day life.

Q. - It has to start from an experience of personal conversion?
A. - Certainly, it is the beginning of any communication of faith. It’s the first step. By converting ourselves to Christ, we can touch with our hands that this conversion is useful for life, for our life, for the life of our fellow- men and for the life of the world.

Q. - Today, all this has a further motive, if we think of the crisis in values– even at the political level–that our society is going through. How, then, can this commitment be expressed?
A. - Already in the way in which, for example, each one lives his professionalism in his place of work, in the way in which he is present in his neighborhood, or in the small town where he lives. If what prevails is this newness of life, along with the desire to communicate it to others so that it becomes a good for others–stressing therefore the aspect of the
common good that can have returns for everyone–it means that this can then also reach people who are directly committed in the political field.

Q. - What is your wish at the beginning of the Year of Faith?
A. - My wish, and my desire, for me and for all the friends, and for all Christians, is what the Pope tells us: to be able to rediscover the value of faith, so as to be able to end this Year of Faith more convinced, more persuaded than ever of the fact that faith is the most precious gift we have been given in life.