[:mt]Nixħtu kull inkwiet tagħna fi ħdan il-Missier[:en]Casting all our worries onto the Father[:]

[:mt]Ħsieb ta’ Chiara Lubich (mill-Kollegament CH, 26 ta’ Marzu 1987)

“Intom tafu li l-ispiritwalità tagħna (li hi t-triq tagħna biex nitqaddsu) isserraħ fuq punt li minnu twieldet din l-ispiritwalità kollha kemm hi: il-fidi fl-imħabba t’Alla, nagħrfu li m’aħniex waħidna, li m’aħniex iltiema għax għandna Missier li jħobbna. Din il-fidi nistgħu ngħixuha meta jkollna xi ħsieb li jtaqqalna, li ma jħalliniex kwieti. Xi drabi jista’ jkun biża’ dwar il-ġejjieni, inkwiet minħabba saħħitna, biża’ kbir minħabba f’xi periklu, diqa ta’ qalb minħabba qrabatna, inkwiet fuq ix-xogħol, dubji għax ma nafux x’naqbdu nagħmlu, biża’ għax nisimgħu xi aħbarijiet koroh, u biżgħat oħra ta’ kull xorta…

Huwa propju f’dawn il-mumenti, f’dawn il-waqtiet ta’ qtigħ il-qalb li Alla jridna nemmnu f’imħabbtu u jitlob minna att ta’ fiduċja: (…) Hu jrid li napprofittaw ruħna minn dawn iċ-ċircustanzi ta’ tbatija biex nuruH li nemmnu f’imħabbtu. U dan ifisser li nemmnu li hu Missierna u li jaħseb fina. U għalhekk nixħtu fi ħdanu kull inkwiet li jkollna. Ngħabbuh fuqu.

L-Iskrittura tgħid: “Ixħtu fuqu l-ħsibijiet kollha tagħkom għax hu jaħseb fihom” (1 Pt 5,7). U kif jafferma kumment, fil-prattika dan ifisser li bħalma piż jitgħabba fuq si bhima tat-tagħbija, hekk l-Insara għandhom jgħabbu l-inkwiet tagħhom fuq il-Missier tas-Smewwiet. Alla hu Missier u Hu jrid li wliedu jkunu ferħana; għalhekk Hu jieħu fuqu l-piżijiet kollha tagħhom. Barra minn hekk, Alla hu Mħabba u Hu jrid li wliedu jkunu mħabba.

Imma l-inkwiet, il-qtigħ il-qalb, il-biża’, dawn kollha huma affarijiet li jinblukkaw lil ruħna, li jagħlquna fina nfusna u li ma jħalluniex ninfetħu għal Alla billi nagħmlu r-rieda tiegħu u għall-proxxmu billi nsiru ħaġa waħda miegħu u nħobbuh kif jixraq. Fl-ewwel żmenijiet tal-Moviment meta l-Ispirtu s-Santu beda jgħallimna nagħmlu l-ewwel passi fil-ħajja tal-imħabba (…), ma bqajniex ngħixu l-ħajja b’mod uman biss, imma bdejna ngħixuha b’mod sopranaturali, divin. Dan ifisser li bdejna nħobbu. U la l-inkwiet ifixkel ‘l-imħabba, l-Ispirtu s-Santu kellu jgħallimna kif nagħmlu biex ma nħalluhx ifixkilna.

U hekk għamel. Niftakar li konna ngħidu li kif ma tistax iżżomm ġamra taħraq fuq idejk u malajr tneħħiha għax inkella taħraqlek idek, hekk irridu nagħmlu b’dak li jinkwietana: nixħtuh mill-ewwel fi ħdan il-Missier. U ma niftakar ebda darba li xħetna xi nkwiet fi ħdanU u Hu ma ħax ħsiebna.

Għeżież, mhux dejjem faċli li nemmnu, li nemmnu f’Alla mħabba; imma hemm bżonn li nagħmlu ħilitna kollha biex nagħmlu dan f’kull sitwazzjoni, anki f’dawk diffiċli li tant jikkonfonduna. Hu ma jitlaqniex, imma jieħu ħsiebna. (…) Mela, ejjew nixħtu kull inkwiet tagħma fi ħdanu. U nkunu ħielsa biex inħobbu. Inkunu nistgħu niġru aktar fit-triq tal-imħabba li, kif nafu, twassal għall-qdusija.”

Chiara Lubich

(Mollens, Svizzera, 26.3.1987)

[:en]A spiritual reflection by Chiara Lubich, Conference Call, Mollens, Switzerland, March 26, 1987

“As we are aware, our spirituality (our path to holiness) is based on a point from which all else has flowed: belief in God’s love, being conscious that we are not alone; we are not orphans, we have a Father above who loves us.

One way of applying this faith in God is when we are worried about something that makes us anxious. Sometimes it is fear for the future, or concerns about our health or impending dangers; we might be worried about members of our family or apprehensive about something we have to do; we might be overwhelmed by the shock of bad news. There are all kinds of fears.

Well then, at times like these, precisely in times when everything is uncertain, God wants us to believe in his love and asks of us an act of trust. (…) He wants us to make good use of these painful situations to prove to him that we do believe in his love. This means believing that he is a Father to us (…).

Scripture says: “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Pt 5:7). This means in practice that Christians must offload all their worries onto their heavenly Father, in the same way as a load is put on a beast of burden. The fact is that God is our Father and he wants his children’s happiness. This is why they unload every burden onto him. Besides, God is love and he wants his children to be love.

All these worries and fears block our soul, causing us to close in onourselves, thereby preventing us from being open to God’s will and from loving our neighbours.

In the early times of the Focolare Movement, when the Holy Spirit was teaching us our first steps on the path of love, “casting all our anxiety onto the Father” was something we did every day, and often several times a day. In fact we were leaving behind a purely human way of living so as to live more according to God’s ways.

Worries are stumbling blocks to love. So the Holy Spirit had to teach us how to get rid of them. And he did. I remember we used to say that just as you cannot hold a hot coal in your hand, but you would drop it at once so as not to get burned, so too with the same speed we had to cast every worry onto the Father. I can’t remember any worry cast into the Father’s heart which he did not take care of. It is not always easy to believe and to have faith in God’s love. But we must make the effort to believe on every occasion, even the most tangled.

We will then witness God’s intervention time and time again. He will not desert us, he will take care of us. I know that many amongst are in difficult situations. The thought of this conference call is especially for them. But also for everyone else: There are so many situations to be faced in life!

There is such a great need that Someone else think of us! Let’s cast every worry onto him. We will then be free to love. We’ll progress faster on the path of love which, as we know, leads to holiness.”

Chiara Lubich
(Mollens, Switzerland)

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