07_Today, I discovered heaven: Module n.7

“The atmosphere of Heaven”

A) For the assistants. Ideas from Chiara’s themes:

In the first module, we talked of the “nostalgia for Paradise,” where we will be always with Him. But from now on, we can live this reality of Heaven.  We mention two aspects underlined by Chiara:

• Union with God and the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

Here is how she spoke about it to the Bishops friends of the movement in a talk in 2004: “[…] Yet another way of generating union with God is the presence of the Eucharistic Jesus. Here is an experience:  For some days, I had begun a life of a more intense union with God.  The fact is that He lives in my house, He is behind my door, and I realize that He works.  He makes himself felt in a very subtle way, but if one welcomes Him, He takes more space, leaving the soul more inclined to almost get used to this divine coexistence.” One works, but one is together with Him. […]”     [1]

• Union with God and the presence of Jesus among us for mutual love.

In a conference call in 1990, Chiara spoke about “spiritual gifts, inevitable where there is Jesus among us.” Chiara was at the Mariapolis Luminosa, the little city of the Movement near New York, where, in those days, together with many, she had made an intense experience of the presence of Jesus, “of the Kingdom of God.”  Chiara said that this reality of the “already” was so strong, that “[…] expressions like these were not lacking:  “If Paradise is like this, it is enough!”; “This is eternity” […]” Much later, she continued saying how: “[…] the “already,” the “already” of the Kingdom radiated so much from everyone, from focolarini and focolarine, that such dignity, beauty, freedom, harmony could be admired in them, and one could recall the words “The glory of God is the living man.” In this atmosphere, then, it was noted again how Heaven is made of Heavens (Kingdom of Heavens); as in God, who is Love, everything is life, nothing is static, and one passes from reality to reality. […]”

And Chiara concluded the thought of the conference call with these words: “[…] And then all that remains is the desire to encourage us all to continue with twice the energy, repeating to us spread all over the world: let us not waste time, let us live our Ideal with intensity.  If we open to the world the experience of Paradise that can already be built down here, many will believe in Paradise up there.  And the reflection on humanity will be incalculable.  As a resolution for the next fifteen days: to live always in the supernatural […].”   [2]

In 2004, she then spoke to the focolarini about Union with God and of the Culture of the Resurrection. It is that union with God which she says is “typically ours,” which can be felt with “[…] the senses of the soul, because the soul has senses like the body has its senses […]”. Chiara speaks of Jesus in the midst and says: “All of you know when He is there and especially when He is not there! And in focolare, and in the nuclei, and in the meetings, all of you know.  What is this “knowing”?  You feel it, you feel it with the senses of the soul that He is there or He is not there.  And why do you feel it?  Because our way is a way that is ascetic and mystical at the same time.  What does this mean?  Ascetic means that it requires man’s effort, because to have Jesus in our midst, we must love each other, ready to die for that other; but if the Eucharist does not come to seal this thing and create unity and ensure that Christ is among us, there is no unity. So, it is ascetic because our effort is there; it is mystical because there is the help of God, and with the Eucharist, He sends a grace, for which there is unity and there is Jesus in the midst. So, if you feel this thing when it is there and when it is not there, you are ascetics and you are little mystics. It is like this, it is like this. […]  Meanwhile, I realized instead that with the focolare, or with the nuclei or with the gen units, etc., having Jesus in the midst, you never fall; it is enough that you keep this fire always lit with your love for the other, with your love… up to the point of dying, so you never fall. This new force that strengthens the will—which was not there before—comes precisely from the gifts of the Spirit, in the presence of God.  These are the gifts of the Spirit, which is the… What are the gifts of the Spirit? The atmosphere of Heaven. […].  [3]

B) Objectives of the Gen 4 Meeting

- To discover the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

-  To know and experience Jesus in our midst for mutual love

C) Gen 4 Meeting Content: drops of light with the Sacred Scriptures and with the Spirituality (Answers of Chiara)

Sacred Scriptures:

Episode of the Last Supper: The gifts of Holy Thursday.  Speak in particular about the Eucharist and of reciprocal love (this episode regards both presences (Attachment C1)

Episode of the Resurrection: Jesus remains among us if we love one another (Attachment C2)

Spirituality:

Answers of Chiara (Attachment C3)

The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

A gen4 girl: Ciao, Chiara, I am taking Valentina’s place. “Dear Chiara, I’m not very happy to go to Mass because I don’t understand it. Chiara, could you explain how you are able to love the Mass?” [4]

Chiara: Now the second part will be a little longer. I have a story to tell you that is a little longer, because the Gen 4 said: “I am not very happy to go to Mass because I don’t understand it.” And I understand that he doesn’t understand it. So I need to explain to you what the Mass is. The Mass, Gen, is really Jesus who lives again his passion on the cross, he lives again his death and resurrection. Now I’ll tell you a story. There was a very old German priest who came down to Italy from Austria or maybe from Germany. He wanted to come to Rome. He wanted to make a pilgrimage and do a lot of penance, so he came by foot. But he was very old; his hair was white and his shoulders curved over. When he had walked for many days, he reached a place called Bolsena, near Rome, and he asked the parish priest if he could say Mass there before continuing his pilgrimage to Rome. However, while he was saying the Mass, maybe because he was so tired, he began to have a doubt and thought: “But is it really true that Jesus comes down here on the altar? Is it really true that on the altar there is the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus?” When he began to have this doubt, which he had never had before - he had always believed - he began to sweat, to cry and to shake all over, and he wasn’t able to go ahead with the Mass because he had this doubt, this terrible doubt. The people who were there at Mass started saying: “He must be sick, this priest must be sick; he can’t go ahead with the Mass.” But then with all his strength he prayed to Jesus, saying: “Forgive me for this doubt! Forgive me, have pity on me! But, if you want, give me a sign that you are really here, that this is really your blood, that you are really here.” That’s what he prayed. Then, he went ahead with the Mass. He consecrated the bread and the wine, he said the “Our Father” and then the “Lamb of God” - you will learn these prayers later - and then the moment came when he had to break the bread for Holy Communion. You might know that before Mass, the priest prepares several cloths on the altar. One small cloth is called the “corporal” [which means “body”] because it is where the priest places the Body of Christ. When he was broke the bread, the sacred Host, do you know what happened? Drops of blood came out of the Host, many drops of blood fell onto the corporal and also came out of the other piece of the Host and then the drops of blood even ran down onto the floor. And so right away he understood that this was the sign: “So Jesus is really here in the Host,” he said. “He’s really here!” He tried to hide the blood, so that the people wouldn’t see it because they were all watching. But at that point the blood was everywhere so he couldn’t possibly hide it. And so he thought: “I better tell them everything.” And so he said. “My dear parishioners, I have to confess to you that I had a terrible doubt. I sinned because I had a terrible doubt that maybe Jesus wasn’t really here. But I asked for his mercy, I asked for a sign. And Jesus gave me the sign; he showed me, he showed me his blood coming from his body.” And so the people adored Jesus in the Sacred Host which was his body. And then they told everybody about what had happened, and so all the people from all the villages came to see. And when the bishop, who was in Orvieto, a city close by, learned about what had happened, he said: “We have to bring the Sacred Host, the body of Jesus with his blood, to Orvieto, the main city of the diocese.” And so then another priest took the Body of Jesus and the people carried a big canopy over him, and they brought the Body of Jesus in a procession to Orvieto. All the children of the town came out and threw flowers from the balconies or on the ground in front of Jesus. They followed him along the streets and celebrated in brightly colored costumes. The very little children were all closer to Jesus; they were dressed like little angels and they danced and celebrated for Jesus - they really had a big celebration. This happened in Bolsena. So Jesus is really present in the Mass. But, Gen 4, when you are a little older, you will understand many other things about the Mass. (Applause)

 

The presence of Jesus among us if we love each other

“Jesus is risen! He remains among us if we love one another!” (Lubich C., in Gen4, n. 3-4 March-April 1981, p.5).

Answers of Chiara

A gen4 girl: “My name is Gaële and I’m asking you the question of Annabelle from Fontem.  “Chiara, what do we have to do to have Jesus in our midst?” [5]

Chiara: (…) We have to love one another. It’s not enough for me to love the other person; the other person has to love me, too. It has to be mutual love - that means that there has to be two of us loving one another, not just one. And you have to show that you love them, do something, not just talk about it. Don’t just say: I love you, I love you, without doing anything to help them. No, no! If that other person needs help, you have to help them, as we did with that old lady. If that other person is crying, you have to help them, listen to them so that you can share their pain. If a little boy is happy because it’s his birthday and his parents have a party for him, then we should be happy, too, and celebrate with him. We have to love one another. Here are some examples of loving. The first picture on the screen is a little boy, who is very small, and he’s doing an act of love for a little girl, the one with the doll in her hands; he’s giving her a little gift because he loves her. That’s real love, it’s not just loving with words; he’s actually giving her something. The second one is really nice, very nice. It’s a boy who is a little older, the one with the red cap. He sees a little child crying – maybe it’s a Gen 5. So he takes his handkerchief to dry the child’s tears because he really loves him, in a concrete way, by doing something to help, not just with words. Then there’s a grandfather who’s reading, maybe a book, and a little girl comes, probably a Gen 4, and gives him some tea. Can you see the grandfather’s eyes? He’s surprised that the little girl is so good! He doesn’t know it, but she’s a Gen 4. Then there’s a little girl, the one with pigtails, who’s reading something to a Gen 5 because the Gen 5 can’t read yet, but she can. So, you see? She too is doing something concrete to show her love. She doesn’t just say, “I love you.” She does something to make the Gen 5 happy.

 

D) Ideas and other material for the conduct of the meeting (Attachment D)

____________________________________________________________

[1] See C. Lubich, Castel Gandolfo, February 16, 2004, to the Bishops friends of the Focolare Movement, "L'unione con Dio".

[2] See C. Lubich, Collegamento CH, Mariapoli Luminosa, May 24, 1990, “Vivere il ‘Già’” (published in: C. Lubich, Santi insieme, Rome 1995, (1st ed.: 1994), p. 35-38).

[3] See C. Lubich, Castel Gandolfo, January 4, 2004, to the focolarinos and focolarinas, "L'unione con Dio si sente, si percepisce - La cultura della Risurrezione".

[4] C. Lubich, Castel Gandolfo, April 28, 1992, at the Gen4 Congress, answer no.5.

[5] C. Lubich, Castel Gandolfo, June 7, 1998, at the Gen4 Congress, answer no.2.

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