nearing the end of Lent

 from The King's College, New York City

 "Sometimes we stop at the crosses that day by day you have in store for us. We moan and squirm like a goat caught in a bramble bush. We blame this or that, dreaming up a thousand reasons, and invent anything possible to free ourselves from the bare and harsh beams of the cross. 

But then there appears on the horizon a new and radiant dawn, and we gather the fragrant fruits you have brought to maturity in spite of our imperfect behavior. In the face of such miracles of your divine love, we understand the deepest meaning of suffering: It is the price that we had to pay.

Lord, I thank you for the existence of suffering. Had you not permitted it, we could not have followed you, nor would we know the deep joy of personal union with you.

If I close myself up in sorrow, I end up contemplating my own misery. But when I remember that on that night you too were overcome by fear, and when I pour my own drop of sorrow into your heart, then I realize that all this serves to open wide my heart to all of humanity and to shower the world with your graces."

                                                 -  Chiara Lubich, from Magnificat, March 2024