Word of Life

August 2007

God is with us always, even in pain and difficulty. For this reason it is possible for us to experience that, in the end, nothing can defeat us.

Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. (Heb 12: 1-2)

The life of Christians, such as those who were sent the letter to the Hebrews, is beset by trials and sufferings. At times it’s almost enough to make us lose heart: why not choose an easier way, why not give up?
The author of this letter, however, urges us to keep going along the road we have begun; it’s difficult, it’s costly, but the way of the Gospel is the one that leads to the fullness of life. Indeed he encourages Christians to run and not to yield even under the burden of suffering.

When we have chosen to follow Jesus we are like any athlete. To reach the goal we need perseverance, which is to say stamina, ‘stickability’, and this comes from the conviction that God is with us and from an unshaken resolve to make it to the end.

Above all, we are urged to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, who went ahead of us and is our guide. Jesus on the cross, especially when he felt forsaken by the Father, is the model of courage, of perseverance, of endurance. He remained steadfast in the midst of the trial and abandoned himself back into the hands of the God he felt had abandoned him. (see Luke 23: 46)

Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.

Jesus faced, with courage, the greatest of trials without giving in. He is our example in running our race and shows us how to overcome our trials. Each suffering or trial in life has already been taken on by Jesus in his forsakenness on the cross.

Chiara Lubich shows us how to keep our gaze fixed on him.

‘Are we gripped by fear? Doesn’t Jesus in his forsakenness on the cross appear ravaged by the fear that the Father has forgotten him?’ When we are overwhelmed by dejection and discouragement, we can still look to Jesus who in that moment ‘seemed drowned by the feeling that in his passion he lacked any comfort from the Father and seemed to be losing the courage to endure his terrible trial to the end…. Do circumstances make us disoriented? Jesus in that bitter agony seemed no longer to understand anything of what was happening to him since he cried out “Why?” … And when we are surprised by disappointments or we are wounded by trauma, or an unexpected misfortune, an illness, an absurd situation, we can always remember Jesus forsaken who in his suffering personified these and a thousand other trials.’
In every difficulty of ours he is beside us, ready to share our every suffering.

Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.

How then should we live this Word?

By looking to Jesus and learning ‘to call him by name in the trials of our life. Like this we will speak to him as: Jesus forsaken – loneliness, Jesus forsaken – doubt, Jesus forsaken – wound, Jesus forsaken – trial, Jesus forsaken – desolation, and so forth.

‘And being called by name, he will find himself discovered and recognized beneath each painful circumstance and he will respond to us with more love; and as we embrace him he will become for us: our peace, our comfort, our courage, our balance, our health, our victory. He will be the explanation to everything and the solution for everything.’

Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.

This is how it was for Louise who found a leaflet with the commentary to this Word of Life many years ago. As she says: ‘Terrible news came unexpectedly. My eldest son, 29 years old, was in a traffic accident and had been seriously injured. I ran to the hospital with my heart in my mouth. My son was there, immobile, a blank look in his eyes. I felt desperate. On one of the excruciating days of waiting that followed, I found myself by the hospital chapel. There I found the Word of Life which invited me to keep my gaze on Jesus forsaken. I read it attentively: yes, I told myself, it really speaks about my trial…. The intensive care unit, devoid of hope, no longer seemed like a martyrdom to me: it now connected me to the love of God. And I was able, while holding my son’s hand, to pray for him as he was leaving me. He did die and yet I have never felt him so alive.’

By Fabio Ciardi and Gabriella Fallacara

Next Month: Pursue justice, piety, integrity, love, fortitude, and gentleness. (1 Tim. 6: 11)

Meditation:

Chiara Lubich, In cammino col risorto, Città Nuova, Rome 1994, p. 148-9.
Chiara Lubich, In cammino col risorto, p. 149.