{"id":291582,"date":"2008-03-17T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-17T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/chiara-lubichs-life-has-been-a-song-to-the-love-of-god-a-god-who-is-love\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:39:44","slug":"chiara-lubichs-life-has-been-a-song-to-the-love-of-god-a-god-who-is-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/chiara-lubichs-life-has-been-a-song-to-the-love-of-god-a-god-who-is-love\/","title":{"rendered":"“Chiara Lubich\u2019s life has been a song to the love of God, a God who is Love”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Authorities, Dear members of the Focolare Movement, Dear brothers and sisters,<\/em> The first reading encouraged us to meditate again on the well-known verse from the book of Job.<\/strong> The just man, harshly tested, proclaims, in fact, almost cries out: \u201cI know that my Redeemer lives\u2026Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him\u201d (Job 19: 25, 27). While we pay our last respects to Chiara Lubich, the words of the saintly Job evoke in us the memory of the burning desire to encounter Christ that marked her whole life, and even more intensely during her last months and days in which she was tested with the worsening of her condition that stripped her of all physical energy, in a gradual ascent to Calvary, culminating in the sweet return to the bosom of the Father. Chiara travelled the final leg of her earthly pilgrimage accompanied by the prayers and affection <\/strong>of her people who gathered around her in a wide and uninterrupted embrace. In the heart of the night, weak but decided was her final \u201cyes\u201d to the mystical spouse of her soul, Jesus \u201cforsaken and risen.\u201d Now everything has been truly completed: the dream of the beginning has become a reality, the passionate desire has been quenched. Chiara is meeting the One she loved without seeing and, filled with joy, she can exclaim: \u201cYes, my Redeemer lives!\u201d The news of her death gave rise to a huge wave of condolences from every sphere<\/strong>, from thousands of men and women worldwide, believers and non-believers, the powerful and poor of the earth. Benedict XVI, who immediately sent his comforting blessing, is now through me renewing the assurance of his participation in the great suffering of her spiritual family. Exponents of other Christian Churches and different religions joined their voices to the choir of deep esteem and profound participation. Also the mass media highlighted the work she did to spread Gospel love among people of different cultures, faiths and formations. In effect \u2013 we could well say \u2013 Chiara Lubich\u2019s life has been a song to the love of God, a God who is Love. \u201cWhoever remains in love remains in God and God in him\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (1 Jn 4:16). How many times Chiara meditated on these words and how many times she mentioned them in her writings; for example, in the \u201cWords of Life\u201d which hundreds of thousands of people draw from for their spiritual growth! There is no other way to know God and to give meaning and value to human existence. Only Love, divine Love makes us capable of \u201cgenerating\u201d love, to love even our enemies. This is the novelty of Christianity, and herein lies the entire Gospel. But how should we live Love? After the Last Supper, in his moving farewell to the apostles \u2013 we just heard it \u2013 Jesus prayed \u201cso that all may be one.\u201d Christ\u2019s prayer therefore supports his friends\u2019 journey in every age. It is his Spirit that brings to life living witnesses of the Gospel in the Church; and it is still him, the living God, to guide us in our times of sadness and doubt, of difficulty and suffering. Whoever trusts in him fears nothing, neither the effort of going through stormy seas, nor every type of obstacle or adversity. Whoever builds his house on Christ, builds on the rock of Love which supports all, overcomes all and conquers all. The XX century is constellated with the bright lights of this divine love.<\/strong> It should not only be remembered for the wonderful conquests made in the technical and scientific fields and for its economic progress, which however has not eliminated but at times exacerbated the unjust distribution of resources and goods among peoples; it will not remain in history only for the efforts made to build peace, which however have not deterred horrendous crimes against humanity and conflicts and wars that have bloodied vast regions of the globe. The last century, though filled with many contradictions, is the century in which God gave life to countless heroic men and women who, while caring for the wounds of the sick and suffering and sharing in the lot of the young, the poor and the least, distributed the bread of charity that heals hearts, opens minds to the truth, rebuilds trust and gives renewed thrust to lives that have been broken by violence, injustice, and sin. Some of these pioneers of charity have already been recognized as saints and blessed by the Church: Fr. Guanella, Fr. Orione, Fr. Calabria, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and still others.\u00a0\u00a0 It was also the century where new ecclesial Movements came to life<\/strong>, and Chiara Lubich found her place in this constellation with a charism that is all hers and that is distinguished for its physiognomy and apostolic action. The foundress of the Focolare Movement, with a silent and humble style, did not create institutions at the service of humanity, but she dedicated herself to lighting the fire of the love of God in human hearts. She gave life to people who would themselves be love, who live the charism of unity and communion with God and neighbour; people who spread \u201clove that is unity,\u201d making of themselves, their homes, their work a \u201cfocolare\u201d [hearth] where the burning fire becomes contagious and enflames all that surrounds it. This mission is possible for everyone because the Gospel is within everyone\u2019s reach: Bishops and priests, children, youth and adults, consecrated and lay people, couples, families and communities, all called to live the ideal of unity: \u201cThat all may be one!\u201d In the last interview that she gave, which came out in the very days of her agony, Chiara stated that \u201cthe wonder of mutual love is the life source of the Mystical Body of Christ.\u201d The Focolare Movement is therefore committed to live the Gospel to the letter<\/strong>, \u201cthe most powerful and effective social revolution,\u201d and from it were born the \u201cNew Families\u201d and \u201cNew Humanity\u201d movements, the Citt\u00e0 Nuova Publishing House, the little town of Loppiano and other towns of witness in the different continents, and lay branches such as the \u201cVolunteers of God.\u201d In the climate of renewal brought about by the pontificate of blessed John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, it found fertile ground for its courageous ecumenical scope and its quest to dialogue with other faiths. During the years of the youth protests, the GEN movement catalyzed thousands and thousands of youth, fascinating them with the ideal of Gospel-based love, expanding its concrete reach with \u201cYouth for a United World.\u201d Chiara proposed the Gospel with no half measures also to children, to teenagers for whom the \u201cYoung for Unity\u201d movement was founded. In Brazil, in order to meet the needs of the many who lived in poverty on the outskirts of cities, she launched the project for an \u201ceconomy of communion in freedom,\u201d giving rise to a new economic theory and praxis based on fraternity, for a sustainable development in favour of all. May the Lord grant that many scholars and economic experts take on the economy of communion as a viable resource to shape a new shared world order! And still, how many other meetings with representatives from different faiths, with political and cultural exponents! Mariapolis, city of Mary: this is how she wished to call the gatherings and the proposals for a society renewed by Gospel love. Why city of Mary? Because for Chiara the Virgin Mary \u201cis the precious key for entering into the Gospel.\u201d And perhaps, precisely for this reason, she was able to highlight in an effective and constructive way the \u201cMarian profile\u201d in the Church. She decided to entrust her Work to Mary, by giving it her name: the Work of Mary. The Movement, Chiara stated, \u201cwill remain on earth as another Mary: all Gospel, nothing other than the Gospel and, because it is the Gospel, it will not die.\u201d And how can we not imagine that it was the Holy Virgin herself to accompany Chiara to the threshold of eternity? Dear brothers and sisters, let us continue our Eucharistic celebration<\/strong> by placing our thank you to the Lord on the altar for the witness given to us by this sister in Christ, for her prophetic intuitions which preceded and prepared the great changes in history and the extraordinary events lived by the Church in the XX century. Our thanks is joined to Chiara\u2019s thank you. Considering the many gifts and graces she received, Chiara used to say that when she would be face to face with God, and the Lord would ask her name, she would simply respond: \u201cMy name is THANK YOU. Thank you, Lord, for everything and for ever.\u201d It is now up to us, especially her spiritual children, to carry on the work of the mission which she began<\/strong>. From Heaven, where we like to think she is being welcomed by Jesus her spouse, she will continue to journey with us and to help us out. Today, while we say good-bye to her with affection, let us listen to her very words that she often loved to repeat: \u201cI would like the Work of Mary, at the end of time, compact, while it awaits to appear before Jesus forsaken and risen, to be able to repeat \u2013 making its own the words that always move me by the Belgian theologian Jacques Leclercq: \u201c\u2026 On your day, my God, I will come to You\u2026 I will come to You, my God \u2026 with my wildest dream: with the world in my arms.\u201d This was Chiara\u2019s dream, may it also be our unceasing desire: \u201cFather, may they all be one, so that the world may believe.\u201d Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homily by His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, at the Funeral for Chiara Lubich, 18 March 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}