Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare movement, 88, died early March 14, 2008, in her room near the Focolare headquarters in Rocca di Papa, Italy. She is pictured with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1982. Bishop Mulvey noted that of his great memories are the times he spent with Lubich. (CNS photo/KNA)

Bishop William Michael Mulvey said he now laughs when people ask him about how he found the Focolare Movement.

"I didn't go looking for it, it found me!" he says of the events which introduced him to the ecclesial movement also known as the Work of Mary, which began in 1943, in Trent, Northern Italy, during World War II. Made up of people of all ages and walks of life, the Focolare is a home that welcomes all those who want to build unity and peace in the world.

"I was in Gregorian University in Rome and somebody heard about this new spirituality in Rome and somebody put me in charge of the bus. Normally I wouldn't have gone to things like that but since I was in charge of the bus I thought I should go with the bus." He added that he was also looking for a spiritual light to follow.

"I think what's always attracted me was a sense of joy which is also rooted in an embrace of the cross each day, kind of verifying the words of Jesus,' the joy that only I can give you."'

His second encounter with the Movement was in 1978, while he was an associate pastor in a parish in Austin. "After a very tiring Christmas season, I started again the search for spirituality. A young woman who was visiting the parish and was attending daily Mass radiated a sense of joy and life. It was she who re-introduced me to the Focolare. Our conversation was like a moment of annunciation: ‘Here is your way to follow.'

"As I began to not only explore the spirituality itself, but to live the Gospel concretely, I began to experience a new sense of life within me. I found that the Gospel was not just a beautiful theory to talk about, to exegete, to pray over, but it was words that give life.

"It seemed that word by word, sentence by sentence, parable by parable, the Gospel came to life within me. In finding that life, I knew that it was something that I wanted to share with others. As my homilies began to be formed around not just a theory, but an experience of truth and life, I was able to pass that on to others by bringing the Gospel.

"As time went on and I began to explore and incorporate the spirit of unity (the charism of the Focolare) in my life, I found that my ministry also had a certain flavor to it. As in any walk of life, or vocation, one encounters people, and one encounters difficulties, or better, the cross. I must say that what has given most life to me in my ministry is to be able to see that each person that I work with, each person that I minister to, each community that I am sent to shepherd, each person is a part of that prayer of Jesus, ‘Father, may they all be one.'

"Focusing my ministry on the prayer of Jesus for unity and communion among peoples has given me the direction that I searched for many years ago without giving a name to it. I have also found the fruitfulness of living the cross. In the spirituality of the Work of Mary, each cross comes alive as I recognize the forsaken Christ in each difficulty. I have discovered that he is the way to building communion.

"As I now face a new call to ministry in the Church, I will apply the same spirit of unity and communion to my ministry as a bishop. Focolare president Maria Voce wrote to me, ‘Certain that Our Lady will be close to you and help you in this new service to the Church, we are committed together in bringing God's love to everyone.'

"I will always remain grateful to Chiara Lubich for her ‘yes' to God's call in founding the movement, and to Father Silvano Cola, who showed me the way to live such a great charism of unity in the Church as a priest. God gives these charisms for a reason because they are needed. If we don't need something, God's not going to give it. I think the world is screaming for communion among nations, among peoples, among cultures, among families, across the spectrum.

"As a bishop I think it will be as important if not even more important because one of the documents of the church says the bishop's charism is communion, to bring people together and I'm so thrilled to be in the Diocese of Corpus Christ, the body of Christ, so we can be the body of Christ."

He stressed that it's "not a great thing if we have the name but we don't have the reality. Hopefully my ministry can bring it about more, of course that doesn't mean that it already wasn't there, but even more."