“From the torn heart of Jesus forsaken flowed thespirituality which generates unity, that spiritualitywhich is both particular and universal—just as hisforsakenness is one pain among many of his passion,but one that sums up all.”[1]
“One day we asked ourselves what was the greatest suffering of Jesus on the cross, and it seemed to us that it was that cry, uttered after three hours of agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Cf Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34). It is like the swan song of the God-Man who had poured out everything of himself for his brothers and sisters.” [2] In that pain, that Man represented and embodied the anguish of humanity, loneliness, aridity, disappointment, failure, weakness, separation, defeat, sin. He is therefore also an image of the rifts between people, between conflicting ideologies. But by “Loving Jesus Forsaken we find the motivation and the strength never to flee from these evils, these divisions, but to accept them, consume them and give them our individual and collective remedy” [3]In the embrace of the pain experienced, “He turned out to be: speech for the mute, the answer for the ignorant, light for the blind, a voice for the deaf, rest for the weary, hope for the despairing, satisfaction for the hungry, reality for the deceived, victory for the failure, daring for the timid, joy for the sorrowful, certainty for the uncertain, normality for the strange, company for the lonely, unity for the separated, thatwhich is uniquely useful for the useless. The rejected felt chosen. Jesus forsaken was peace for the restless, a home for the evicted, and reunion for the outcast.Because of him, people were transformed, and the senselessness of suffering acquired meaning”[4].So in everyday life, “Therefore, let’s concentrate on loving our brothers and sisters, with all the painful nuances thismight entail, as the concrete proof of our decision to be ready to die for one another. This requires that we overcome the small or big obstacles out of love for Jesus Forsaken, so that our unity may always be full.” [5].The impact on life in the light of this aspect of Chiara Lubich’s spirituality affects not only the life of individuals, but also groups of people, thus becoming the key to implementing that unity to be composed and recomposed between Christians of different Churches. “It became more than ever apparent to us that the very division between Christians is a countenance of Jesus forsaken” [6]. The same applies to the relationship with the faithful of different religions and with people who, not identifying with a particular religious faith, live according to noble values.
Riferimenti bibliografici
- La dottrina spirituale, a cura di Michel Vandeleene, Mondadori, Milano 2001
- Una via nuova. La spiritualità dell’unità, Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova 2002
- Il Grido, Chiara Lubich, Città Nuova 2001
- Gesù Abbandonato, a cura di Hubertus Blaumeiser, Città Nuova, Roma 2016