SEIBERT: My forever yes

A fresco of the Holy Spirit at Santa Santa Maria delle Vigne Basilica in Genoa, Italy. (Pascal Deloche / Godong)When I was a young adult, nearing the end of my college degree, I wrote a letter to Chiara Lubich, founder of the Work of Mary (Focolare Movement), and I asked her for a “Word of Life” as was customary at the time for all those striving to put the Focolare spirituality into practice.

A Word of Life is a Scripture verse to live by, and Lubich would suggest a verse from Scripture to each person who asked her. She responded with a letter encouraging me to live by this verse from the Gospel of Luke: “I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word” (Lk 1:38).

At the time, I did not yet know what God was calling me to do, but I was beginning to ask the question, deep within me: What does God want for my life?

While I had dreams of getting married and having a family, I felt a longing for something more: to give my life for something great, and to make a real difference in the world. Above all, I longed for happiness and fulfillment. I slowly began to understand that God was calling me to devote my life to Him with the vocation of consecrated life, within the Work of Mary, and that God wants my happiness, too.

When, several years later, I gave my joyful yes to God, with that first leap into the unknown, I was already sure that I wanted to adhere to God’s plan for my life, even without knowing exactly where it would take me.

Since then, I have lived in community with women from all over the world, for several years in Florence, Rome, and in Chicago, before moving to Houston last year. There is joy and excitement in the first “yes,” but it is also a “yes” that needs to be renewed day by day. Each day, I need to choose as Mary did, to say my “yes” to God and to cooperate with him in bringing Jesus into the world.

We consecrated men and women of the Work of Mary/Focolare Movement are called to be “carriers of fire,” the fire of God’s love and the spirituality of unity, and to bring this flame for the whole community. 

But I cannot carry the fire for others if I do not first guard and protect the flame within me. The vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, motivated by love for God and love for others, allow me to put my energies at the service of others and to magnify God’s presence among all of us.

This “yes” that I said in the beginning is now a fuller, more conscious “yes.” Knowing the difficulty of putting God first in my life, the pain of losing a family member and the challenges of life in community, brings me into a closer, deeper relationship with Jesus in His suffering and purifies my love for God, allowing me to experience the joy of His resurrection as well. And the vows are what close the circle: motivated by love, they increase the love that circulates.

The vow of poverty leads me to put in common my spiritual and physical goods and needs, and to experience God’s richness, which in turn is shared with those around me. The vow of chastity leads me to try to love each person with the measure of God’s love — pure and selfless — and to bring them to God. The vow of obedience leads me to strive to bring Jesus into my interactions and to take responsibility for the well-being of those around me, so that we can together discern God’s will for us. These vows allow my gift of self to God to bear fruit. Therefore, these vows I have pronounced are for the whole community; for those in my Focolare household, and for each person in the wider community. I’m grateful to have many people to celebrate with me.

This past December, I traveled to Rome to the international center of the Focolare Movement/Work of Mary. During the Mass of the Vows, when I said my “yes” forever, I experienced the joy of being part of one big family, with the 25 others who made their final vows, as well as the 600 consecrated men and women who were present that day for the annual retreat.

With Margaret Karram, the president of the Focolare Movement/Work of Mary, we prayed together that, with these vows and our dedication to living mutual and constant love, we could receive God’s peace in our hearts and in our communities. We also prayed that our love for one another would help us to bring God into the world, and to bring the world to God. 

Claire Seibert is a consecrated woman with the Work of Mary (Focolare Movement).