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By Chiara Lubich April 2003 |
Jesus is in the garden of olives, a place called Gethsemane. The long-awaited
hour has arrived. It is the crucial moment of his life. He falls to the
ground and implores God, calling him “Father” with tenderness
and trust. He asks to be spared from “drinking the cup” (Mk
14:36), an expression which refers to his passion and death. Jesus prays
that that hour may pass…. But in the end he submits completely to
his Father’s will:
“Not what I will but what you will.”
Jesus knows that his passion is not a chance event, nor simply something
decided by men, but a plan of God. He will be brought to trial and rejected
by men, but the “cup” comes from the hand of God.
Jesus teaches us that the Father has a design of love for each one of
us, that he loves us personally and that if we believe in this love and
respond with our love—that’s the condition—he directs all
things toward good. For Jesus nothing happens by chance, not even his
passion and death. And this was followed by the Resurrection, a feast
day Christians are celebrating this month.
The example of the risen Jesus should be a source of light for our lives.
We should learn how to see everything that happens to us, everything that
occurs, everything around us and even everything that makes us suffer
as something that God wills or that he permits because he loves us. Everything
then will take on meaning in our lives; everything will be extremely useful,
even what might seem in a given moment to be incomprehensible and absurd,
even what might plunge us into mortal anguish, as happened to Jesus. With
him we need only repeat, with an act of total trust in the Father’s
love:
“Not what I will but what you will.”
His will is that we live, and that we joyfully thank him for the gifts
we’ve received. His will is not, as we might sometimes think, a burden
that we have to resign ourselves to, especially when we encounter suffering;
nor is it a sequence of monotonous acts allotted to us during our lifetime.
The will of God is his voice that continually speaks to us and invites
us. It is the way in which he expresses his love in order to give us the
fullness of his life.
We could represent it with the image of the sun whose rays are like his
will for each one of us. Each of us walks along a ray, distinct from the
ray of the person next to us, but always along a ray of the sun, that
is, the will of God. So we all do only one will, that of God, but it is
different for each one of us. The closer the rays get to the sun, the
closer they get to each other. For us too, the closer we come to God,
by carrying out the divine will more and more perfectly, the closer we
draw to one another … until all will be one.
By living in this way, everything changes in our life. Instead of seeking
out the people we like and loving only them, we go out to all those the
will of God puts next to us. Instead of preferring the things we like,
we are able to do what the will of God indicates and prefer it. Being
completely intent on doing what God wants in each moment (“what you
will”) makes us detached from everything else, as a consequence,
and from ourselves as well (“not what I will”). This detachment
is not something we deliberately strive for—we seek God alone—but
we will indeed attain it. Then our joy will be full. All we have to do
is immerse ourselves entirely in each fleeting moment and in that moment
carry out the will of God, repeating:
“Not what I will but what you will.”
The past no longer exists; the future is not yet here. Just as someone
traveling by train would never think of walking up and down the aisle
in order to reach his destination sooner, but remains seated, so we should
remain in the present. The train of time moves ahead on its own. We can
love God only in the present moment by saying our own yes—the strongest,
most complete, and the most vigorous yes to his will.
Let us love, therefore, by giving that smile, by doing that job, by driving
that car, by cooking that meal, by organizing that activity for someone
in need.
Trials and sufferings should not frighten us if, with Jesus, we know
how to recognize God’s will in them, that is, his love for each one
of us. Indeed, we might pray in this way:
Lord, help me not to fear anything,
For all that will happen
Will simply be your will!
Lord, help me not to desire anything,
For nothing is more desirable than your will.
What matters in life?
What matters is your will.
Grant that nothing may disturb me,
For in everything is your will.
Grant that nothing swells my pride,
For all is your will.
1) See Mk 14:36.
The commentary to the Word of Life is translated in 90 different languages and dialects, and reaches more than 14 million people worldwide, through the press, and radio and TV programs. If you would like to read experiences of life related to this or to past "Words of Life," they can be found in Living City magazine, the monthly publication of the Focolare Movement. For information, or to subscribe, write to: Living City, P.O. Box 837, Bronx, NY 10465.
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