31 Jan 1999 | Non categorizzato, Word of
If you are a believer you have a task to fulfill in relationship to others, toward those who do not know God.
Christians, in fact, cannot shun the world, hide from it, or regard religion as a private matter. Rather Christians must live in the world because of a responsibility, a mission before al people: that of being the light that shines.
You, too, are given this task, and if you do not fulfill it, you will be like salt that has lost its flavor or light that has gone out in the darkness, no longer useful.
«In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and give praise to your Father in heaven.»
This light is made visible through “good works.” It shines through the good works of Christians.
You may say: “But not only Christians do good works. There are others who work toward progress, who promote social justice…”
You are right. But while Christians also do and must do these things, their specific task is not this alone. Christians must do good works with a new spirit, that spirit by which it is no longer they who live, but Christ who lives in them.
St. Matthew does not, in fact, refer only to isolated works of charity (such as visiting prisoners, clothing the naked, or any of the other works of mercy dictated by the needs of today) but to the Christians’ complete adherence to the will of God in such a way that his or her whole life becomes a “good work.”
If Christians act this way, then the praise for what they do will not be addressed to their persons but to Christ in them. Thus, through them, God will be present in the world. This, then, is the task of Christians: to let the light that is in them shine through, and to be the “sign” of this presence of God among his people.
«In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and give praise to your Father in heaven.»
If this is the characteristic of one believer’s good works, then the Christian community in the midst of the world must also have the same specific function: to reveal by its life, the presence of God that manifests itself wherever two or more are united in his name, and whose presence has been promised to his Church until the very end of time.
The early Church gave great importance to these words of Jesus. Especially in difficult times when Christians were subjected to slander, they were urged to refrain from violence. Their behavior was to be the best refutation of the lies spoken against them.
In St. Paul’s second letter to Titus we read: “Urge the young men to be self-controlled. You yourself, in all things, must be an example in good works. Be sincere and serious in your teaching. Use sound words that cannot be criticized, so that your enemies may be put to shame by not having anything bad to say about us” Ttitus 2:6-8).
«In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and give praise to your Father in heaven.»
Also today, the light which leads people to God is the Christian life lived well.
I’ll tell you a story.
Antoinette was an Italian girl who, because of her work, moved to France. She had a job in an office where many of the other employees didn’t take their work very seriously. Being a Christian she therefore tried to treat each person as she would Jesus. She helped everybody and was always calm and smiling. Often someone would get angry and shout at her, or make fun of her attitude, saying: “Since you like to work so much, you can do my typing too.”
Antoinette would remain silent and do the work. She knew that they weren’t really mean at heart, that they probably had their troubles.
One day the office manager came to talk to her while the others were away. “Now you must tell me how you manage never to lose your patience and to smile all the time.” She answered, a little embarrassed, “Well, I just try to keep calm, and to look for the positive side to everything.”
The manager banged his fist on the desk saying, “No, God must have something to do with it, I’m sure! Otherwise it would be impossible. And to think that I didn’t believe in God!”
A few days later Antoinette was called to the manager’s office. He told her he wanted to transfer her to another department, so that she could “transform ” it in the same way that she had transformed the present office.
“In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and give praise to your Father in heaven.”
Chiara Lubich
1 Jan 1999 | Non categorizzato
A youth from Ivory Coast narrates how she succeeded, during her teens, in not giving way to grudge and hatred. I was born in Man, a little city built on green hills in the most picturesque area of the Ivory Coast. From my house, I have a clear view of Mount Toukoui, the highest peak in my country. I grew up here with my parents and nine brothers. I had a very serene childhood… at least until my father sought a relationship with another woman and began to neglect the family. From that moment, the atmosphere at home became intolerable, full of tension and ill feeling which often exploded in violent quarrels. My mother often cried. We children were disoriented in the face of this situation which was so unexpected and, for us, unacceptable. We all lived under the strain of a growing oppression. In this troubled period, when I was about thirteen years old, I made some new friends. They were my age and they wanted to put the Gospel into practice. They wanted to do this with simplicity, more with actions than with words. They tried to look at the events of their daily lives, and the people around them, in the light of the love of God. When I was with them, I really felt at home, valued, loved, and the load of bitterness that weighed on my heart became easier to carry. The situation in my family, however, worsened because my mother, exasperated by the difficult relationship with my father, decided to leave home. This was a traumatic moment in my life. I felt so alone and discouraged and I asked myself how I could possibly see God’s love in what was happening and how I could continue to love my father and help my mother. I knew that Jesus loved me and was close to me, but I wasn’t able to think a single thought that didn’t end up as a giant question mark. Something within me was crushed. The only word which hammered away in my head and in my heart was ‘Why?’. My father’s new wife came to live with us but neither myself nor my brothers were able, or willing, to build a relationship with her or accept her. The older ones among us, especially, rejected her and quarrelled constantly with her and with our father. In this situation of conflict, my father became more and more unhappy. He started to drink, neglecting little by little to look after himself and the rest of the family. He cut himself off from everyone. Sometimes we felt as though we were living in a nightmare. In order to give a bit of relief to our family, and allow us to continue with our schooling, some of our uncles invited us to take turns to stay with them. As the years passed, two separate clans were formed within my family. On the one hand there was my father, his wife and their children, and on the other, my brothers. I tried very hard not to take sides with either of these groups or to be involved in their arguments. The only thing I really wanted was to have a family and to live in an atmosphere of real affection. Instead, I was always alone, powerless, asking myself over and over again, the same question, ‘Why?’ In the very darkest moments, it was my relationship with my friends with whom I tried to live the Gospel which gave me the strength to keep on loving both of these clans. Whenever we met together, and shared the steps we made in living the words of the Gospel, that atmosphere of unity gave new light and strength to all of us. One evening, when I felt really at rock bottom, completely blocked by the suffering caused by my family problems, I rediscovered with the help of my friends, how close Jesus was to me when, on the cross, he cried out to the Father, “My God, why have you abandoned me?” That was the moment of his greatest suffering. Through this new understanding, every ‘why’ I uttered, acquired a much deeper meaning for me, since I too felt torn within. United to the cry of Jesus, my ‘why’ became a precious pearl to be transformed into love for others, through a greater and more practical love. During the year I lived with my uncles and I worked as hard as possible at school. Every holidays I went back home and I tried to do all I could to help, starting from the humblest domestic jobs. Often in the evenings, I found my father drunk, asleep on the doorstep of our house. It used to break my heart to see him in this condition, so I used to take him to his room, put him to bed and do everything possible for him so that he might feel loved, even in those moments in which he himself wasn’t loving. When I finished secondary school, I enrolled in the University of Abidjan situated on the coast, a modern city almost 500 kilometres from Man. The relationship with my father deteriorated. I no longer managed to find an opening to talk to him or to rebuild our communication and affection. I blamed him and his wife for all the suffering of my adolescence. I felt hurt and betrayed, robbed of the affection of a family, forced to grow up alone in those years when I most needed the support of my parents. Finally, I decided that I never wanted to see my father again. The next time I met with my friends, I couldn’t contain myself any longer and all my anger flared up: “I want to take revenge for all the pain that he and his wife have caused me. I’m going to go home and destroy everything she owns, because she’s the one who broke up my family and forced my mother out “. I was out of my mind with the pain I had endured for so long in silence. I had lost the truest part of myself, my relationship with Jesus who in so many moments had given me the joy and strength to react with love to the difficulties and misunderstandings I encountered. My friends listened to my outburst with profound attention. While participating in what I was saying, they did not judge me in any way. This was a very strong moment for me. I suddenly discovered that the weight, previously unbearable, was now being carried together with them. The fire of love which had gone out in my heart was lit up again in me more strongly than before. I thought again of that phrase of Jesus to “forgive seventy times seven”. It was much more difficult to live these words than to take revenge, but I wanted with all my strength to truly forgive my father. It wasn’t easy. I made many efforts and had many failures, but it was all worthwhile. When I got my degree I couldn’t bring myself to tell my father. I still lacked the courage to face him. I found a good job in a business. That was when my mother, with whom I had a beautiful relationship, urged me to call my father to let him know. I hesitated, but then I understood that the moment had finally come to take a real step towards him. I rang him up. He was happy to hear my voice and proud of my exam results. He sent me a jar of honey and from that moment on he began to give me a weekly update of himself and his life. I felt very moved by the experience of finally gathering the unexpected fruits of my suffering, through my small gesture of true forgiveness. When I finally set aside the yoke of bitterness, everything, even the smallest things became full of light, more beautiful and easier. I understood that when Jesus comes into our life, he transforms it and never leaves us on our own. Then my father came to visit me. We spoke at length and he confided his problems and his efforts to free himself from the slavery of alcohol. He entrusted to me a large sum of money to support my brothers during their studies. By the time he left I couldn’t say which of us was more uplifted, my father or myself; we had re-established our relationship and our hearts were filled with warmth. With the excuse of the money I was administering, I was able to reunite my brothers. Together, we decided to bury the past. We planned a big surprise for my father and all of us went to visit him at his home. From that moment we all started to look at him with new eyes so that through us he could find the strength and the affection that he lacked. Now I am truly peaceful and I have rediscovered the will to live. S. F. (Ivory Coast)
31 Dec 1998 | Non categorizzato, Word of
During the month of January, Christians throughout the world join together in prayer and special meetings to celebrate their common faith. The theme chosen for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is taken from the book of Revelation. Let’s read the entire passage:
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his people,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away” (Rev. 21:1-7).
This month’s Word of Life is an exhortation: if we want to be part of his people, we must allow him to live among us.
But how is this possible, and what can we do in order to foretaste something, while still on earth, of the endless joy we will have in seeing God?
This is exactly what Jesus revealed to us, this is the very meaning of his coming: to communicate his life of love with the Father, so that we too can live it.
We Christians can live this phrase even now and have God among us. To have him among us requires certain conditions, as affirmed by the Fathers of the Church. For Basil, the essential condition is living according to the will of God; for John Chrysostom, it is to love our neighbor as Jesus did; for Theodore the Studite, it is mutual love; and for Origen, it is accord in thought and in feeling, so as to arrive at that concord which “unites, and contains the Son of God.”
The key for allowing God to dwell among us is found in Jesus’ teachings: “Love one another as I have loved you” (cf. Jn. 13:34). Mutual love is the key to the presence of God. “God remains in us,” (1Jn. 4:12) “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20), says Jesus.
«God will dwell with them; they will be his people.»
In this light then, the fulfillment of all the promises of the Old Covenant – “My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Ez. 37:27) – is not far off and unattainable.
Everything is already accomplished in Jesus who continues, beyond his historical existence, to be present among those who live according to the new law of mutual love, that is, the norm which makes them a people, the people of God.
This Word of Life is therefore a pressing call, especially for us Christians, to witness through love to the presence of God. “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). Living out the new commandment sets forth the conditions for the presence of Jesus among all people.
We cannot do anything unless this presence is guaranteed, a presence which gives meaning to the supernatural brotherhood that Jesus brought on earth for all humanity.
«God will dwell with them; they will be his people.»
First of all, it is up to us, Christians, even though we belong to different ecclesial communities, to let the world see “one people” made up of every ethnic group, race, and culture, adults and children, unwell and well. One people to which we can apply the words said of the first Christians: “Look at how they love one another and are ready to give their life for one another.”
This is the “miracle” humanity is waiting for in order to regain hope. It will also give an essential contribution to progress in ecumenism, the journey towards full and visible unity among Christians. It’s a “miracle” within our reach, or better, of the one who, dwelling among his own united by love, can change the destiny of the world and lead all humanity towards unity.
Chiara Lubich
8 Dec 1998 | Non categorizzato
3 Dec 1998 | Non categorizzato
2 Dec 1998 | Non categorizzato
