June 2001
Don't think that just because you walk the streets of the world you can look at all the advertisements indiscriminately and buy just any publication from the newsstand or bookstore. Don't think that just because you are in the world, you can adopt everything the world does, for instance, a relaxed morality, abortion, divorce, hatred, violence, dishonesty…
No! No! You are in the world; no on can deny that.
But you are a Christian; therefore, you are not of the world.
This fact makes a great difference. It places you among those who live not according to what the world says, but according to what the voice of God suggests to them from within. It is in the heart of every human being. If you listen to it, it will lead you into a kingdom that is not of this world, where true love, justice, purity, meekness, and evangelical poverty are lived, where self-control is the norm.
Why do many young people become followers of the Oriental religions, hoping to find some silence and to discover the secret of certain spiritual masters of the East, who, after a long process of mortifying their inferior self, radiate a kind of love that touches everyone who meets them?
It is a very natural reaction to the uproarious sounds of the world, to the noise around us and within us which leaves no room for the silence we need in order to hear God's voice.
But is it really necessary to go to the East, when for two thousand years Christ has been saying to you: “Deny yourself… deny yourself”?
The world is coming at you head-on, like a river in flood, and you must go against the current. For a Christian the world is like a thick forest land and you have to look very carefully where to step. And where should you step? In the footprints which Christ himself laid down for you while he was passing through this world; these footsteps are his words: Today, he repeats to you:
«If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself…»
If you follow Christ, you may be scorned, misunderstood, laughed at, slandered, isolated. You must be ready to lose face, to give up the easy-going, socially acceptable way of being a Christian.
But there is more:
«… take up his cross daily and follow me.»
Whether we like it or not, suffering is a part of everyone's life, yours as well. Sufferings, great and small, come our way every day.
Do you try to avoid them? Do you rebel against them? Do you feel like cursing them? Then you are not a Christian.
Even amidst tears, Christians love the cross. They love suffering because they know that suffering has value. God had innumerable ways at his disposal by which he could have saved humankind. When he chose to use suffering, he did it for a reason.
It's important to remember, however, that after having carried the cross and having been nailed to it, Jesus rose.
Resurrection is also your destiny if you do not despise but accept with love the suffering brought on by your faithfulness to a Christian way of life, and every other suffering that each day brings with it. By doing so you will see that even here on earth the cross is a way leading to a joy you have never experienced before. You will begin to grow spiritually. The kingdom of God will become firmly established in you. Little by little the world around you will begin to look like a fake construction made of cardboard. You will no longer envy anyone.
Then you will be able to call yourself a follower of Christ.
«If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me».
And, like Christ whom you have followed, you will be light and love for the countless suffering people in today's world.
Chiara Lubich
[:it]«Ti dono la croce che il Papa ha dato a me»
Chiara Lubich in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Engagements at an ecclesial and civic level. Meetings with members of the Focolare Movement in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Ukraine. Prominence given by to this visit by the media in the Czech Republic. The expansion of the Focolare Movement in Eastern Europe during the 1960s . Program – The spread of the Focolare Movement First visit to the Czech Republic On 27 April, a press conference was held with Chiara Lubich. It was attended by journalists from leading national television networks and radio stations, from independent newspapers as well as from the Christian press. On 28 April, Chiara gave a talk on “The New Evangelisation” to the 2nd National Gathering of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in Prague. On 30 April she spoke to around 2,000 members of the Focolare Movement who had come together for a three-day meeting in Prague from the Ukraine, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Lucia Fronza e Antoni Baggio, representatives of the international secretariat of the Movement for Unity in Politics, met with a group of about 60 adherents of the Focolare Movement who work in the field of politics. They presented the birth of this new initiative, its developments and current actions. On 3 May, Chiara was invited by the Episcopal Conference of the Czech Republic to speak on “The Charismatic Dimensions of the Church and the New Evangelisation”. Giuseppe Zanghì, editor of the Focolare’s cultural journal “New Humanity”, spoke on the theme “Jesus Crucified and Forsaken, Key to the Spirituality of Communion” drawing parallels between it and the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II, “Novo Millennio Ineunte”. Fr Silvano Cola, delegate for the Dialogue among Movements and New Communities, spoke on the topic “Dialogue and Communion among the New Charisms”. Chiara Lubich concluded her visit in the Czech Republic with a visit to the newborn little town of the Focolare Movement in Vinor, in the vicinity of the Prague. From the 6th of May, visit to Slovakia 7-8 May – Meeting with the men and women focolarini of the Czech Republic and Slovakia 9 May – Chiara Lubich has been invited to give her personal experience, and the experience of the Focolare Movement, to the Episcopal Conference. 10 May – Chiara has been received by the President of the Parliament, Josef Migas, and by the Vice President, Pavol Hrusovsky. This has been followed by a meeting with a delegation of MPs and representatives of various political groups. Chiara will speak on “Fraternity in Politics”. On 12 May, at the Sports Stadium in Bratislava, more than 5,000 people will gather for a meeting which will include experiences from the beginnings of the Focolare Movement, local experiences and artistic contributions. There will be a presentation on the spirituality of the Movement with its impact on youth, on the family, on the economy, in politics and within the Church. In the afternoon, Chiara Lubich will illustrate one of the cardinal points of the spirituality, “Unity and Jesus Crucified and Abandoned”, with the growth and development of various dialogues, including ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.
May 2001
Jesus is giving his powerful, intense farewell address to his apostles, and he has just assured them, among other things, that they will see him again, because he will reveal himself to those who love him.
Then Jude asks him why he intends to reveal himself only to them and not to everyone. The disciple was hoping for a great public manifestation of Jesus, one that could change the course of history, and that would be, in his opinion, more effective for the salvation of the world. In fact, the apostles thought of Jesus as the long-awaited prophet of the last days who would reveal himself to everyone as the King of Israel and, putting himself at the head of the people of God, would definitively establish the Kingdom of the Lord.
Instead, Jesus explains that he will not reveal himself in a spectacular and external way. His will be a simple but extraordinary “coming” of the Trinity into the hearts of the faithful, wherever there is faith and love.
With this answer, Jesus indicates how he will remain in the midst of his own after his death, and he explains how it will be possible to establish a relationship with him.
«If anyone loves me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.»
Jesus can be present in Christians and in the midst of the community not only after his death, but in a certain sense even now. There is no need to wait for the future. The temple that welcomes him is not so much one of bricks and mortar, but rather it is the very heart of the Christian, which thus becomes the new tabernacle, the living dwelling place of the Trinity.
«If anyone loves me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him» (John 14:23).
But how can Christians achieve this? How can they have God come and dwell in their hearts? How can they enter into this profound communion with him?
Through love for Jesus, a love that is not mere sentimentalism, but a love that is translated into everyday living, and more precisely, into keeping his words.
It is to this love on the part of a Christian, verified by facts, that God responds with his own love: the Trinity comes to dwell in the person's heart.
«If anyone loves me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him» (John 14:23).
“… keep my words”.
What are the words that the Christian is called to keep?
In John's Gospel, “my words” are often synonymous with “my commandments”. Therefore, the Christian is called to keep Jesus' commandments. But these should not be viewed as a list of laws. They should be understood as being summed up in what Jesus illustrated by washing his disciples' feet: the commandment of mutual love. God commands all Christians to love one another to the point of giving themselves completely, as Jesus taught and did.
«If anyone loves me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him» (John 14:23).
How can we live this Word of Life well? How can we reach the point in which the Father himself will love us and the Trinity will come to dwell within us? By loving one another with all our hearts, and doing it with decision and perseverance.
It is principally through loving in this way that we Christians can begin to live that deep-reaching Christian asceticism that the crucified Jesus demands of us. For, the practice of mutual love causes the other virtues to blossom in our hearts and this love is also the surest gauge of Christian holiness.
Chiara Lubich