La carità nella Bibbia e nella liturgia: Tommaso Federici

The main intention of this article is to take into account and to explain Tommaso Federici's basic purpose to contribute to the renewal of the evangelical proclamation of the “divine charity”, of solidarity, through a return to the sources, its biblical, patristic and liturgical sources. It should be noted that Tommaso Federici was a biblical and liturgical scholar well-know particularly in Italy and a consultant member of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, which has its office in the Secretariat for Christian Unity. Federici’s argument is simple: he carefully analyzes and distinguishes the main texts in order to lay the foundations that will have an impact on the life of the whole Church and must guide our relationship with our neighbors in the world, in history, and in culture. Precisely because “the mystagogy on the historical life of Christ for the liturgy of the Community is also and supremely a mystagogy of charity”. This mystagogy of charity is, in other words, the presupposition and the background of a liberation that implies the “uninterrupted conversion of the heart as an opening of human existence towards God, oneself, one's neighbor and the world. Thus the mystagogy of charity finds in the biblical-liturgical scheme its most decisive force. The great events of the Jesus's life and the constants condition our understanding and our living, and so everything runs towards the hump of the divine Goodness communicated... that offer not only precious material and decisive ideas, but also is simply the indispensable key to understanding Christian life, especially the charity of Christians”.