{"id":329088,"date":"2017-04-14T01:10:18","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T23:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/the-encounter-with-pain\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:06:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:06:59","slug":"the-encounter-with-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/the-encounter-with-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"The encounter with pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-150639 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/20170414-01.jpg\" alt=\"20170414-01\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/>First step: prepare yourself <\/strong>In the morning, as I wake up, I prepare myself by saying: \u00abToday I shall await Him.\u00bb I don\u2019t know what the day will bring, but I know that in an unforeseen way, Jesus Forsaken will come to me: in the difficulties, disappointments, perhaps also in my shortcomings, and in bad and painful news. I declare that He will come, and that I am awaiting him.  <strong>Second step: recognise him<\/strong> During the day, almost always in an unexpected manner, I meet the negativity around me or in me. At these moments it is important to recognize him immediately without hesitation. He, in his abandonment, is already present in every need or fault: in such a way that every pain is \u201chis sacrament\u201d and what matters, within the sign of this pain, is to recognise the countenance of the Crucified and Abandoned, loving and adoring him immediately.  <strong>Third step: call him by his name<\/strong> Upon meeting him, I am not only aware, but observe and greet him. I call him by his name. Giving a name to every countenance of Jesus Forsaken is a precious exercise and much more than a superficial act. It is no longer \u201ca thing\u201d but a \u201cYou.\u201d Precisely in this way, every action of mine becomes contemplation.  <strong>Fourth step: welcome him warmly<\/strong> Prepare a feast for Jesus Forsaken. By this I mean welcoming him not only hesitatingly, as if it were an inevitable fact, or like welcoming someone who, despite being a friend, drops by at the wrong moment. Furthermore, I don\u2019t want him to sit in the waiting room even for an instant, but will welcome him right away, in the heart of my love and joyful willingness. This is the transition of pain to love, passing through the abandonment in Easter.\u00a0 Only through one who loves in this way will the Forsaken give joy to the world. The feast we prepare for the Forsaken is that feast day which will not see the sunset, because Love never sets.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/movimento-dei-focolari\/scelte-e-impegno\/vescovi\/\"><em>Klaus Hemmerle<\/em><\/a>  Published in the Gen\u2019s Magazine 36, Roma 2006, n. 1, p. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Klaus Hemmerle (1929-1994), once Bishop of Aachen (Germany), proposes \u201cfour steps\u201d to recognise and embrace the face of Jesus forsaken in every suffering.<\/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-329088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329088","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=329088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}