Foundations of the Magnificat Community

One body and one spirit,
as one is the hope to which you have been called,
that of your vocation

Ephesians 4:4

Foreword to the Statute of the Magnificat Community *

The Magnificat Community is a Covenant Community,
which has at its center the one Lord Christ Jesus.
All community life is developed on the indication of a word
that from the very beginning was considered fundamental and prophetic:
“With Jesus, on Jesus, build.”

Indeed, we believe that Christianity
before even a doctrine or morality,
is the very person of Jesus Christ.
Those who have met him and experienced him burn with a desire to know him
and want to model their lives on his teachings,
which the Magisterium of the Church authoritatively in his name
re-proposes and actualizes.

We believe that at the beginning of our community life
is the love of Christ who loved us and brought us together
giving us the grace to love him in turn in our brothers and sisters.

We believe that the Community is a monastery with invisible walls,
where every day we try to live in the school of Christ,
Master and Lord.

We believe that the Community is called
to build its life on the Eucharist,
celebrated, adored and lived.
In it it finds the necessary strength
to bring God’s plan to fruition;
therefore, each Fraternity, has a place
where it is possible to nourish its Eucharistic spirituality
through adoration.

We believe that the Lord,
to make us free and able to love,
with selfless love, God and our brothers and sisters,
calls us to live according to the spirit of the “Four Promises“:
Poverty, Permanent Forgiveness, Love Building, Service.

We believe that the primary and necessary condition
for living community life is Poverty;
with it we choose a simple and sober lifestyle
that is a sign for the world.

We believe that Permanent Forgiveness
makes us willing to forgive
as Jesus forgave us
and to fight the inclination to judgment.

We believe that the Construction of Love
leads us to recognize in each brother the person of Christ
and commits us to resolve faulty relationships
taking the first step to true reconciliation.

We believe that in the Communityspiritual accompaniment
realizes a concrete form of mutual submission (cf. Ephesians 5:21).
It is an expression of the body’s love for each of its members
and embraces every sphere of life.

We believe that the charity generated by the Eucharist
makes us “generous of heart“(Exodus 25:2)
to live Service to God, to the poor, to humanity, to the Church.

We believe that the name Magnificat
indicates that each member of the Community
intends to combine contemplation withaction,
like Mary who, as soon as she received the gift of Jesus in herself,
hurried to bring it to Elizabeth.

We believe that the Community has arisen
for the new evangelization.
This mission it fulfills not for itself, but for the Church
and accomplishes it through its own witness of life
and proclamation of the Gospel.

We believe that Christ cannot be divided (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:13),
which is why the Community is in communion with all Christians
and seeks the unity of God’s people
“together with all who in every place
call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ“(1 Corinthians 1:2).

* Text approved by Monsignor Giuseppe Chiaretti, Archbishop of Perugia – Città della Pieve, and delivered to the Community on January 4, 2005, on the occasion of the Fifth General Convention held at that time in Montesilvano (PE).