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By Chiara Lubich • July 2003 |
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When we look at a tree, we admire its foliage and flowers and we look
forward to its fruit, but there are also the roots from which the tree
draws life. And so it is with each one of us. We are called to give, to
love, to serve, to create relationships of brotherhood, to work towards
building a more just world. But we too need roots: our inner life of union
with God, our personal rapport of love with him that motivates and nurtures
our life of brotherly communion and our commitment to society.
It is equally true that our love of neighbor in turn nurtures love for
God and makes it more spirited and concrete, just as it is true that light
and warmth, through the leaves, reinforce the roots. Love of God and love
of neighbor are expressions of the same love. The interior life and the
exterior life are rooted in each other.
The Word of Life chosen for this month invites us to nurture with special
care our inner life, especially through meditation, moments of solitude
and silence, so as to go in depth in our personal relationship with God.
What Jesus once said to his disciples when he saw that they were tired
after having generously given of themselves to others, he repeats to us
as well:
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Jesus himself now and again took a break from his many activities. There
were the sick to heal, crowds to instruct and feed, sinners to convert,
the poor to help and console, the disciples to guide. And yet, even though
everyone was looking for him, he would withdraw into the mountains
to be alone with his Father (see Mk 1:35, Lk 5:16). It was like returning
home, and in this personal and silent conversation he found the words
he would then say to his people (see Jn 8:26), he understood his mission
better, and he regained the
strength to face the new day.
He wants us to do the same:
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
It’s not easy to stop what we are doing. At times we are so taken
up by the frenzy of
work and activities that we are like machines that have gone out of control.
Society often dictates a frenetic pace of life for us: “Produce more
and more, advance in your career, be the best….” It’s not
easy to reach some degree of solitude and silence outside and inside of
ourselves; and yet, these are the necessary conditions for listening to
the voice of God, for seeing how our lives measure up to his word, for
cultivating and deepening our relationship of love with him. Without his
life force within us, there is a risk that our activities will be without
direction and all our hustle and bustle will remain ineffective.
Because of this, there is a need for periods, even brief ones, of physical
and mental rest to attenuate and even avoid the stress that so often assails
us. At times this might seem to be a waste of time, and yet, in this case
too we must trust Jesus’ invitation:
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Jesus brings his disciples away by themselves so that they can stay with
him and in him find rest: “Come to me, all you who labor and are
burdened, and I will give you rest… and you will find rest for yourselves”
(Mt 11:28-29). The best rest is that in which we take time to “stay”
with Jesus, to live in his grace, in his love, allowing ourselves to be
shaped and guided by his words.
Especially before prayer, the privileged moment for “staying with
him,” it is good to disconnect ourselves from everything else, to
rest a little, to collect our thoughts, to enter into the secret and silence
of our inner room (Mt 6:6). We shouldn’t measure the amount of time
we spend in prayer. In this case, the more time we spend the more we gain.
It will be like immersing ourselves in union with God where we will find
peace. In this way we will reach an uninterrupted “conversation”
with him, a continuous state of recollection beyond the time set aside
for prayer. This has been my experience for many years now. Once I wrote
this prayer:
“Lord,
in my heart I hold you, the treasure
that must inspire my every move.
You follow me, watch over me.
Let yours be my loving, rejoicing
and suffering.
Let no one catch a sigh.
Hidden in your tabernacle I live,
I work for everyone.
Let the touch of my hand be yours,
yours alone the tone of my voice.”
Even when it is not possible for us to get away from the noise and turmoil
of the world around us, we can go deep into our hearts and search for
God. He is always there. At times it is enough to say: “This is for
you, Jesus” before each activity and each encounter. This too is
a way of withdrawing, of stepping back from what is going on around us
and giving everything a supernatural motivation and foundation. We should
also offer him every suffering, whether great or small.
In this way our rapport with him will be perfected. Our physical well-being will benefit; we will return to our activities with new strength, and our love will take on a fresh sprint.
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,
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