Memores Domini Vocational Companionship Continuous passion for one’s own humanity and guided companionship: these are the two conditions for living the presence of Christ today and everyday. A conversation with Antonio Giavini, one of the responsibles edited by Luca Doninelli «Not a road, but the road.” These words open up an infinite prospect on our life. It seems to me that they touch the very nature of our Fraternity in its depth. Certainly. The idea on which the Fraternity–and therefore the whole Movement–is founded is simply the consciousness that only Christ present saves what is human. The question immediately arises: How can I, today, live the presence of Christ? In the companionship understood as the place of Christ’s on-going presence for the person. In other words, this is what makes it possible for the beginning to continue, to go on living the terms of the beginning, which are the “I” and the “You.” In relationship to life, in all its aspects, the “I” is no longer alone, and not to be alone means that the “I” can no longer reduce reality to its own image of it, but tackles it according to the point of view common to us and to God. In other words? Christ becomes our companion on the way in so far as His companionship is continually given to us: Memores Domini. Naturally, this is true for every vocation, because every vocation has this trajectory within it. The Memores Domini conceive of themselves as the companionship of Christ in the world. On what conditions is this possible now, here, in this instant? Substantially, there are two conditions: first of all, truth of self, love for being, continuous passion for one’s own humanity. It’s the third premise of The Religious Sense. In the second place, a guided companionship–and I stress “guided”–because the guarantee of the continuity of the origin of the charism is in the relationship with the authority. So, what is the difference between the Fraternity and the Memores Domini? It’s not a question of difference or equality, but of origin. The origin of both the Fraternity and the Memores Domini is one. It’s a question of two particular stresses of the one charism that generates us. The central point is to understand that what saves what is human in me is the relationship with Christ present here and now. And the mode of this relationship is called “charism,” which is expressed in a permanent companionship. Without this, it all becomes formal. Let’s stay on the theme of permanence. This is the heart of the question: what lasts. Fr Giussani’s intuition, when he gave life to the Fraternity, is a clear sign of his fatherhood in our regard. In a certain sense, we can say that he wants to guarantee the future of his children–not in the associative, economic, or social sense, but in the ontological sense: the continuity of his children in the companionship of Christ; Christ, God’s companionship to man. This is what constitutes the whole dramatic nature of human life, whatever be the form in which each one’s vocation is realized. To continue in the origin is to continue in the struggle. There are those who say, “I have understood what Fr Giussani says,” and those who are continually ready to change. The point of view common to God and to me is attained when I let my gaze follow His, and this is possible within the mystery of the guided companionship. Why do you speak of mystery in connection with the guided companionship? Because it’s not a question of guidance chosen with sentimental or political categories. The mystery of authority is the mystery of Christ. The authority is Christ present. Here lies the difference between the correct conception of Church and the conception prevalent today, which reduces the Church to an idea. This is always possible for everyone. One of the greatest risks, even among us, is of reducing the charism to an idea. In this sense, what we have said is evident: what marks a true human position is the desire to be corrected, because that charism belongs to an Other. So we have to look for correction continually. Both the Memores Domini and the Fraternity have a rule. How would you define the content of the rule? The content of the rule is correction: not doing things myself, but doing things together. But not in the sense of collegiality! The old Communist Party would have been able to give us that… No, what collegiality? Doing things together means doing things with Christ. When we speak of the mystery of the guided companionship, this is what we mean. If you no longer perceive the guidance, you no longer perceive the Mystery. The Memores Domini Association unites people of Communion and Liberation who follow a vocation of total dedication to God, living in the world. The Memores Domini began in Milan in 1964, in the sphere of the experience of GS. After spreading to various dioceses, the Association was established canonically by Bishop Enrico Manfredini of Piacenza on June 14, 1981. Seven years later, on December 8, 1988, the Memores Domini Association was approved by the Holy See, which recognized its juridical status as “universal private ecclesial association.” The first stable experience of living together began in December 1968, in a restored farmhouse at the gates of Milan. Currently, there are about 300 houses, 80 of which are abroad.