Chiara Lubich: a solemn change of direction

On 14 March 2008, 15 years ago, Chiara Lubich concluded her earthly life. A few years earlier, in a world-wide connection she quoted the short but intense verse from Psalm 15 (16) ‘You Lord, are my only good’ and invited the communities of the Movement around the world to approach this prayer by giving it centrality in their daily lives.

Thank you, thank you! In the “link-up” we truly experience love that “reaches out and  comes back” because of how thankful you are and the way you make it your own.

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In specific circumstances, an excellent prayer that we can say with renewed enthusiasm and with all our mind and heart is: “You Lord; are my only good.”          Ps 16:2.

In fact, we all realize that, quite often, while we are working, writing, speaking or resting, or doing something else, that some slight attachment can creep into our hearts, attachment to ourselves, to things or other people. Giving in to these would be a terrible setback for our spiritual life.

Saint John of the Cross said: “It makes no difference whether a bird is held down by a thread or by a rope. However fine the thread is, the bird is bound as if by a cord, until it can break it to fly away.  And he continues saying: “It is the same for a person who is bound to something. Despite all their virtues, they will never achieve the freedom of union with God.”

In these situations, we must really act immediately, and nothing can be more helpful – this is a recent experience of mine – than to say often to Jesus forsaken: “You, Lord, are my only good. My only good. I have no other.”

I believe this is a very important prayer and extremely pleasing to God. It prevents us from being covered with the dust of earthly things. In living this, we are amazed – I am always struck by this and always have been – by how that phrase, “only,” (“You Lord are my only good”) gives a solemn change of direction to our spiritual life. It immediately puts us straight, as if it were the trustworthy needle in the compass of our journey towards God.

Moreover, this way of acting is very much in line with our spirituality, in which the positive aspect prevails: by living what is good, whatever is wrong disappears. We are not so much called to detach ourselves from something (from ourselves or things or people), but to fill ourselves with something (with love for him who is “everything” for us). Instead of saying “no,” we prefer to say “yes.”

This prayer, “You, Lord are my only good,” is a wonderful way to live as true Christians who love God with all their heart and soul, and not halfheartedly.

It’s also a sublime way to prepare ourselves for all the times we meet him in his daily inspirations. It will also prepare us for our solemn meeting with him, at the dawn of that eternal day when the only thing that matters will be our love for God, and for him, our love for every neighbor.

“You, Lord, are my only good.” What wisdom, what understanding, what light, what strength, what love, what perfection there is in those few words! May the Lord grant us to experience all the power contained in them.

Chiara Lubich

(Chiara Lubich, Conversazioni in collegamento telefonico, Città Nuova, 2019, pp. 630-632)

^[1]   See ^{Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Book 1, ch. 11.}