Fiat Dove


FIAT SPIRITUALITY
        





Historical
Background

   Founding Group

   Incorporation

   The FIAT Rosary

   The FIAT Prayer

   Celebration of
   the Nativity of Mary

   John Paul II's
   Support of FIAT

Historical Background: Founding Group

In 1981, as the Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens related, "the little group known as F.I.A.T. - Family International Apostolic Team - was born in Paray-le-Monial [France], during a Renewal retreat.

"It included several young couples, who had asked to pray together that they might receive Baptism in the Spirit. This intimate ceremony took place in the Carmelite chapel which still exists in Paray-le-Monial. I gave a homily, in which I quoted these words from Scripture: 'Old people will have dreams and the young will have visions.'" (2a, p. 276.)

From the beginning, the goal, inspired by Veronica O'Brien, was to help each other to be Christians who dare openly to witness their faith in the world.

In July 1984, Cardinal Suenens received from the original group the following poem which "recalled their early hopes and points to future paths . . . .

FIAT

"The old have dreams and the young have visions."
So many dreams are barely sketched,
So many dreams are beginning to take shape,
So many dreams have already come true.

Thank you for having dreamed them
and for having made them real.
Thus giving us
a more solid grounding,
a greater openness,
greater hope with which to face the future.

Our visions are very ordinary -
and, yet, in spite of that, they are extraordinary;
for, more than ever, we see
the hand of God on each one of us,
on our families,
on our countries,
on our world.

Yes, we set forth in life
armed with trust in the wonders of God.

Thank you for all that you stand for,
for all you have given us
of time, of love, of wisdom, of joy,
of prayer, of trust, of humour.

In Ea,
Your little FIAT
(which, please God, will be very big someday) (2a, p. 277)