Rome. (written before 1963)
Living everything “within”, living and dying, makes sense…
Those who love You sincerely, Lord, often feel Your presence in the silence of their room or in the depths of their heart, and this sensation moves them to the very core of their being.
They thank You for being so near to them – indeed, for being everything to them: for being the One who gives meaning to their living and their dying.
They thank You… but often the way and the words with which to thank You elude them.
They only know that You love them and that they love You, and there is nothing so sweet here on earth that is even remotely similar.
What they experience when You draw near is paradise and, almost involuntarily, there spring to their lips the words: “If this is paradise, then it is truly wonderful!”
They thank You, Lord, for their lives and for having guided them this far. There may be lingering shadows to darken this foretaste of heaven, but when You reveal Yourself, all else recedes into the distance.
Nothing else exists.
You, and only You, exist.
And this is the only truth.
Chiara Lubich
(taken from Fragments of Wisdom, 1992, p. 17)
