Kelma tal-Ħajja

[:mt]Kelma tal-Ħajja ta’ Settembru[:en]September Word of Life[:]

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“Agħtu, u jingħatalkom. Kejl tajjeb, marsus, mheżheż sewwa u mburġat iqegħdulkom f’ħoġorkom” (Lq 6, 38).

“Kien hemm jisimgħuh kotra kbira ta’ dixxipli u folla kbira ta’ nies minn kull naħa tal-Lhudija u Ġerusalem u mix-xtajta ta’ Tir u Sidon …”:[1]. Din hi d-daħla li San Luqa jikteb għad-diskors twil ta’ Ġesù, fejn insibu l-beatitudnijiet, x’titlob minna s-Saltna t’Alla u x’iwiegħed il-Missier lil uliedu.

B’libertà kbira Ġesù ħabbar dak li ried jgħid lil nisa u rġiel ta’ ġnus u kulturi differenti, li marru hemm jisimgħuh. Dan hu messaġġ għad-dinja kollha, u aħna lkoll, maħluqa minn Alla Mħabba xbieha Tiegħu, nistgħu nilqgħuh biex niksbu l-milja tagħna bħala bnedmin.

“Agħtu, u jingħatalkom. Kejl tajjeb, marsus, mheżheż sewwa u mburġat iqegħdulkom f’ħoġorkom”.

Hawn Ġesù qed iħabbar il-messaġġ ġdid tal-Vanġelu tiegħu: il-Missier iħobb lil kull wieħed minn uliedu b’imħabba personali u “mill-aktar kbira” u jagħtih il-ħila li jkollu qalb kbira biex ikun ġeneruż ma’ ħutu. Dan il-kliem jitlob ħafna minna: jitlobna nagħtu minn dak li hu tagħna: mill-ġid tagħna, imma anki li nilqgħu lill-oħrajn, inħennu għalihom, naħfrulhom, biex inkunu nixbhu ’l Alla. Ix-xbieha tal-kejl imburġat  li jqegħdulna f’ħoġorna twassalna biex nifhmu li l-kejl tal-imħabba t’Alla għalina hu wieħed li ma jitkejjilx u l-wegħdiet tiegħu jitwettqu aktar milli aħna qatt nistgħu nimmaġinaw. Fl-istess ħin hu jgħinna biex ma nibqgħux ninkwetaw dwar ir-riżorsi limitati tagħna, u jeħlisna mid-delużjoni meta ma nirċevux dak li nkunu qed nistennew mingħand l-oħrajn.

“Agħtu, u jingħatalkom. Kejl tajjeb, marsus, mheżheż sewwa u mburġat iqegħdulkom f’ħoġorkom”.

Dwar din l-istedina ta’ Ġesù, Chiara Lubich kitbet hekk: “Qatt ġralek li wara li tkun qlajt xi rigal mingħand xi ħabib, tħossok obbligat lejh? […] Jekk jiġri hekk lilek, aħseb u ara lil Alla, li hu Mħabba. Għal kull rigal li aħna nagħtu lill-proxxmu tagħna f’ismu, Hu jħossu mitt darba aktar obbligat lejna […]. Alla ma jimxix hekk magħna biex aħna nsiru għonja. Jagħmel hekk (…) biex aktar ma jkollna, aktar inkunu nistgħu nagħtu; biex bħala nies li jħaddmu l-ġid t’Alla sew, naqsmu mal-komunità tagħna kull ma jkollna (…). M’hemmx dubbju, Ġesù kellu f’moħħu l-premju li għad nirċievu mingħandu: il-Ġenna, imma dak li jiġri fid-dinja hu eżempju u garanzija ta’ dak li għad nirċievu (…)[2].

“Agħtu, u jingħatalkom. Kejl tajjeb, marsus, mheżheż sewwa u mburġat iqegħdulkom f’ħoġorkom”.

Imma x’jista’ jiġri jekk ilkoll flimkien nimpenjaw ruħna biex ngħixu din l-imħabba? Żgur li jkun il-bidu ta’ bidla mill-qiegħ tas-soċjetà tagħna.

Raġel Spanjol għandu dan x’jirrakkonta: “Jiena u marti naħdmu f’ditta ta’ konsultazzjoni u formazzjoni. Bdejna nħaddmu l-prinċipji tal-Ekonomija tal-Qsim tal-Ġid[3] (E.Q.Ġ.) u ridna nitgħallmu nħarsu l-interessi tal-oħrajn. Qabel xejn dawk tal-ħaddiema tagħna, il-pagi u xogħol ieħor kemm-il darba jkollna nagħtu s-sensji. Imbagħad l-aġenti li nixtru minn għandom billi nirrispettaw il-prezzijiet, il-ħlasijiet u r-relazzjoni ta’ bejnietna. Inħarsu l-interessi tal-imprendituri fl-istess qasam tagħna billi nagħmlu korsijiet u noffru wkoll l-esperjenza tagħna. Fl-aħħarnett nieħdu ħsieb il-klijenti tagħna billi nagħtuhom pariri mogħtija b’kuxjenza, anki jekk kultant ma jkunx jaqblilna. Il-fiduċja fina li nibtet fl-oħrajn salvatna fil-kriżi ekonomika tal-2008.

Imbagħad wara, permezz tal-għaqda mhux governattiva “Qum u Imxi”, ġejna f’kuntatt ma’ għalliem tal-Ispanjol fil-Kosta t’Avorju. Dan ried itejjeb il-kundizzjonijiet tar-raħal tiegħu billi jibni sala fejn jitwieldu t-trabi. Studjajna dan il-proġett u offrejna s-somma meħtieġa. Bilkemm ried jemmen! Kelli nispjegalu li l-flus kien ġej mill-qliegħ tad-ditta. Din is-sala li ssemmiet “Fraternità”, mibnija minn Musulmani u Nsara flimkien, illum hi simbolu ta’ ħajja mgħixa flimkien. Dawn l-aħħar snin il-profitti tagħna żdiedu għaxar darbiet aktar. Flimkien ma’ ditti oħrajn tal-E.Q.Ġ. waqqafna l-Kummerċ Internazzjonali ta’ Komunjoni u flimkien ma’ imprendituri mill-Kongo, investejna f’ditta ġdida li ġġorr l-ikel bejn Kinshasa u rħula mbiegħda”.

Letizia Magri

[1] Ara Lq 6, 17-18.

[2]  C. Lubich, Parola di Vita Ġunju 1978, in eadem, Parole di Vita, ta’ Fabio Ciardi (Opere di Chiara Lubich 5; Città Nuova, Ruma 2017) pġ. 108-110.

[3] https://www.edc-online.org

https://soundcloud.com/user-63571203/september[:en]

Word of Life

for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap. (Lk. 6:38)

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from Judea, Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.” [i] These are the words used by the evangelist Luke to introduce Jesus’ long discourse which unfolds into the proclamation of the Beatitudes, the demands of the Kingdom of God and the Father’s promises to his children. Jesus freely announces his message to men and women, of different ethnicities and cultures, who have come to listen to him; his message is universal and addressed to everyone. Everyone can welcome and understand his words and through them reach fulfilment as men and women created by God Love in his own image.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap.

Jesus reveals the newness of the Gospel: the Father loves each of his children personally with “overflowing” love and gives them the capacity to open their hearts to their brothers and sisters with ever greater generosity. Jesus’ words are demanding but also have a note of urgency – to give from what we have, even our material goods; at the same time, they speak of welcome, mercy, forgiveness, generosity and reflecting God’s nature. The image of an abundant reward poured into our lap makes us understand the measure of God’s love for us; it is boundless and God fulfils his promises to us in a way that exceeds all our expectations. The immensity of his love frees us from the anxiety we may feel because of our own limited calculations and plans, from the disappointment of not receiving from others according to our measure.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap.

Regarding this invitation from Jesus, Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, wrote: “Have you ever received a gift from a friend and felt the need to reciprocate? […] If this happens to you then you can imagine that the same applies to God who is Love. He always repays every gift that we give to our neighbours in his name […] God does not behave in this way to enrich you or to enrich us. He does so because […] the more we have, the more we can give; because – as true stewards of God’s goods – we circulate everything in the community around us […]. Certainly Jesus thought in the first place of the reward that we will have in Paradise but what happens on this earth is already its prelude and guarantee.”[ii]

 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap.

What could happen if we were all committed to loving in this way?  It would certainly be the basis of a social revolution. Jesús, from Spain once shared the following experience:

“My wife and I run a business management and training company. Some time ago, we became very enthusiastic about the principles of the Economy of Communion [iii] and learnt how to apply them in our dealings with others in a whole range of ways: with employees, customers, competitors, suppliers, in paying wages, finding alternatives to dismissals, respecting prices, payment policy, long-standing agreements, running joint courses, sharing our experience and ethical advice and even renouncing our profit. The trust that was generated with so many of our contacts saved us during the 2008 financial crisis. Later, through an NGO “Levántate y Anda” (Get up and walk), we met a Spanish teacher living in the Ivory Coast. He wanted to improve the living conditions in his village by opening a delivery room for pregnant mothers. We studied the project and offered the necessary funding. He didn’t believe that we were ready to do this. I had to explain to him that we wanted to share the company’s profits.

Today the delivery room, built by Muslims and Christians and named “Fraternity” symbolises coexistence.  In recent years, our company’s profits have increased tenfold. Now with other Economy of Communion companies, we have created the “International Trade of Communion” and, in collaboration with Congolese entrepreneurs we have invested in a new company that transports food from Kinshasa to remote villages.”

Letizia Magri

[i] Cf. Lk. 6:17-18
[ii] C. Lubich.  Word of Life, June 1978
[iii] https://www.edc-online.org

https://soundcloud.com/user-63571203/september[:]

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