03/06/2019
There is one thing we shall never fully understand. Why has God chosen us, fragile vessels of clay, to communicate a part of the mystery of Christ? And why do some people respond to this call and others not at all? It is in vessels of clay that we carry this treasure, the Risen Lord, writes a witness to Christ nearly two thousand years ago, to make it quite clear that the radiance comes from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; we are brought down, but not destroyed. Always and everywhere we carry about in our bodies the agony of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed.
Revealed and communicating Christ. Being reflections of the Risen Lord through the lives we lead! And yet we know him so little. If we had only our own weak faith or our personal qualities to count on, where would the radiance of God be? It is not for nothing that God has chosen to reveal himself through our human fragility. How easy then it is for us to make our own, one of the prayers of the Christians of the early church: you do not look on our sins, but only on the faith of your Church.
People who consent to communicate a part of the mystery of Christ through the lives they lead, people who place their trust in him even in the arid stretches in their existence, know that their choice can lead them closer and closer to unseen martyrdom. But for them, no matter what happens, no failure is ever final: hard pressed on every side, they are not crushed; brought down, they are not destroyed.
All those who live out the consequences of Christ’s call to the utmost see their hearts becoming more and more universal. Refusing to spare themselves, they become capable of listening to everything in others, of sharing their pain and their distress. Far from becoming hardened, far from becoming used to suffering, as the years go by, the openness of their heart becomes boundless.
When everything seems to conspire to make them give up, when they carry within themselves the agony of Jesus that is the suffering of people all over the world, how is it that they are not overwhelmed and exhausted? Here is their secret: at every moment, they hand over everything to Christ: other peoples troubles, their own trials, everything that assails them. If they didn’t pray for their enemies as well, part of themselves would remain in darkness.
In this continual handing over to God, everything is thrown into Him, even our tired bodies. And everything comes to life again: to the point that the Risen Christ reveals himself, even in our broken bodies. With our body we start to sing to him... Everything in us starts to sing again until we are filled to overflowing... Jubilate Deo, Jubilate Deo...
TaizÈ Reading
Brother Roger
