English
Malti[:mt]Fl-11 ta’ Awwissu niċċelebraw il-festa ta’ Santa Chiara t’Assisi. F’din il-ġurnata, għal snin, il-Moviment tal-Fokolari kien jiffesteġġa wkoll lil Chiara Lubich. Meta twieldet hi kienet ġiet mogħtija l-isem ta’ Silvia Lubich, iżda aktar ‘l quddiem ħadet l-isem ta’ Chiara, għax, kif irrakkuntat hi stess fir-rivista «Fides» fl-1948, tant kienet milquta mill-għażla ta’ Alla li għamlet il-Qaddisa ta’ Assisi.
Fl-11 ta’ Awwissu niċċelebraw il-festa ta’ Santa Chiara t’Assisi. F’din il-ġurnata, għal snin, il-Moviment tal-Fokolari kien jiffesteġġa wkoll lil Chiara Lubich. Meta twieldet hi kienet ġiet mogħtija l-isem ta’ Silvia Lubich, iżda aktar ‘l quddiem ħadet l-isem ta’ Chiara, għax, kif irrakkuntat hi stess fir-rivista «Fides» fl-1948, tant kienet milquta mill-għażla ta’ Alla li għamlet il-Qaddisa ta’ Assisi.
«Kien żmien il-gwerra. U aħna, tfajliet li kellna għal qalbna tant ħolm dwar il-ġejjieni: dar, skola, persuni għeżież, karriera… bdejna naraw kollox jiġġarraf quddiem għajnejna. U l-Mulej lissen bil-fatti waħda mill-kliem eterni tiegħu: «Kollox huwa frugħa, xejn ħlief frugħa…». (…)
U ntbaħna li ideal wieħed huwa veru u ma jmut qatt: Alla. Filwaqt li bdejna naraw il-qerda li ġabet tant mibegħda, fil-moħħ żagħżugħ tagħna feġġ b’mod ħaj Dak li ma jmutx. RajnieH u ħabbejnieH fl-essenza tiegħu: «Deus caritas est».
Il-ħsibijiet u l-aspirazzjonijiet tagħna kienu ssiġillati minn bint oħra ta’ żmenijiet oħra, li ma tantx kienu differenti minn dawk tagħna: Chiara t’Assisi. Din għarfet iddawwal bid-dawl divin tagħha dlamijiet id-dnub u ssaħħan qlub kiesħa silġ bl-egoiżmu, il-mibegħda u l-ħdura.
Hi wkoll rat il-frugħa tad-dinja, għax il-Fqajjar t’Assisi, eżempju ħaj tal-faqar, għallimha «titlef kollox biex tirbaħ lil Ġesù Kristu».
Meta f’nofs ta’ lejl ħarbet mill-kastell tax-Scifi biex tmur il-Porziuncola u l qaddis staqsieha:«Binti x’tixtieq?», hi wkoll wieġbet: «Alla».
Impressjonana l-fatt li din iż-żagħżugħa sabiħa, ta’ tmintax-il sena, mimlija tama, għarfet tiġbor ix-xewqat kollha ta’ qalbha f’Dak li hu biss jistħoqqlu mħabbitna. U bħalha, aħna ħassejna l-istess xewqa.
U għidna: «Alla hu l-ideal tagħna. Kif nagħmlu biex nagħtuh lilna nfusna b’mod sħiħ?». It-tweġiba tiegħu kienet: «Ħobbni b’qalbek kollha….».
U kif inħobbuh? «Min iħobbni jħares il-kmandamenti tiegħi. Ħobb lill-proxxmu tiegħek bħalek innifsek». Ħarisna lejn xulxin u ddeċidejna li «nħobbu lil xulxin biex inħobbu lilU».
Aktar ma wieħed “jgħix”il-Vanġelu, aktar jifhem».
Chiara Lubich
Rivista «Fides» fl-1948
[:en]It was a time of war. Everything crumbled before us, young as we were, attached to our dreams for the future: a home, our studies, people dear to us, our career.
The Lord was teaching us, through events, one of his eternal truths: “All is vanity, nothing but vanity…”.
It was that total and multifold devastation of everything that formed the objective of our small hearts, that brought forth our Ideal. We saw other young women launch themselves with sincere enthusiasm into working for the salvation and better future of our nation.
It was easy to talk about the Ideal in that life dead to all that could humanly attract one. We felt that only one idea was real and immortal: God. In the face of that destruction provoked by hatred, the One who does not die appeared more alive than ever to our young minds. And we saw Him and loved Him wherever He was absent: “Deus caritas est”.
Our thoughts and aspirations were sealed by another young girl who in other times, not so different than ours, was able to illuminate with her divine light the darkness of sin and to melt the frozen hearts of egoism, hatred and grudges: Clare of Assisi. She too, like us, saw the vanity of the world, because the Poor one of Assisi, a living example of poverty, had educated her to «lose everything so as to gain Jesus Christ.»
She too, having run away from the castle of the Scifi family, at midnight at the Porziuncola, before taking off her rich garments, had responded to the saint when he asked her: “My daughter, what do you desire?” “God,” she answered.
We were struck by the fact that a young eighteen-year-old, beautiful, full of hope for the future, knew how to contain all the desires of her heart in the one Being worthy of our love.
And we too, just like her, felt that same desire. We said: “God is our ideal. How can we give our whole life to him?”
He had said: “Love me with all your heart…”. But how could we love Him?
“Whoever loves me observes my commandments. Love your neighbour as yourself.” We looked at one another and we decided to “love one another so as to love Him”. The more one “lives” the Gospel, the better one understands it.
Chiara Lubich
Extract from ‘Fides’ Journal, 48 (1948), n. 10, pp. 279-280.
[:]
Add Comment