Chiara Lubic, who passed away recently (March 14), was the founder of the Focolare movement and has been called "the prophet of unity." The key to unity among all mankind, she believed, could be found in Jesus forsaken.
"At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’" (Mt.27,46)
It is the climax of His sufferings,
it is His interior passion.
It is the tragedy of a God Who cries out:
"My God, my God why have you forsaken me?".
The infinite mystery of the abyssal suffering
which Jesus experienced as a man.
It is the measure of His love for man.
He wanted to take upon Himself
the separation between God and man
and men from each other.
And He bridged the infinite gap of that separation.
All human sufferings are summarised in that particular suffering of Jesus.
Those who are in anguish, who are lonely
or in a state of aridity,
the disappointed, the failed, the weak:
are they not all, in a way, similar to Him?
Is He not the image of any painful division
among the members of a family?
By loving Him, Christians
find the reason and the strength
not to escape from suffering, from evil, from division,
but to accept them, thus making a personal contribution of their own.
Jesus the Forsaken is the key to unity. -- The crucified and forsaken Jesus
For resources on Chiara Lubich and the Focolare movement see:
Chiara Lubich: Resources for Catholic Educators
Chiara Lubich: Quotes
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