Buon Cammino quaresimale verso la Pasqua di Resurrezione!
Ho trovato interessante l’articolo di Patrick Marrin (The Secret Place) pubblicato sulla rivista “Celebration” del mese di marzo 2006 che lo propongo come messaggio di speranza e di impegno per il prezioso dono che il periodo quaresimale e’ per ciascuno di noi.
E’ un invito alla verita’ del nostro rapporto con il Signore ed un invito al bisogno di conversione e rinnovamento sia per la nostra persona, sia per il nostro lavoro.
“Jesus tells us to perform the three rituals of conversion — almsgiving, prayer and fasting — in secret. Doing them for public approval not only robs us of God’s approval, but such self-conscious religion also interferes with the real work of conversion that takes place in secret.
The secret place Jesus describes in Matthew 6 is the place where God “sees” us in our truest, simplest and most unadorned state. Because God is the source of our existence, God knows us not as the personas we don like so many costumes and masks to gain the approval of others, but in our purest form. We don’t fool God, and here, in this secret place, we can’t really fool ourselves either.
Human consciousness is anything but simple. It involves a lot of work to impress everyone, keep up our reputation, maintain our dignity, act our age, be respectable, stay ahead of the game. But instead of this ideal person, God knows us in our more primordial states: who we are in the bathroom mirror in the morning or standing on the scale, or when we are pulling up our socks and notice how all the hair on our legs is disappearing; the person we are when alone in the car, the things we say to other drivers to help them drive better; the person who daydreams at work, maneuvers and strategizes through the day, escaping into the path of least resistance when it suits us. Believe it or not, this is the secret place where God lurks, always on to us and alert to our tricks.
Lent is mostly a secret affair. If we give alms, fast and pray, these will only be the outward expression of some deeper honesty we maintain with God in our secret selves. Conversion is first an adjustment of the heart, a turning toward God and away from self-deception. The first sign of a real spiritual life is an honest narrator within, a voice that serves as our wake-up call, our time manager, our best friend. Get up, show up, take this seriously; that, not so seriously. Be good, do the right thing, do your best, it’s OK, try again.
God can deal with us when we are real, and really there, not spread thin all over the place playing games with everyone, working our deals, scoring points. Giving God this secret space where we are simply ourselves, alert, attuned, keeps us centered, grounded and clear-eyed.
Jesus went out into the desert to salvage who he really was from the rush of offers he was getting from every imaginable source after his baptism revealed just how special he was. Even the devil was interested in helping him be a terrific and very successful messiah. Jesus needed time alone, apart from everyone except God. He went to his secret place.
We need to go there, too, to know just who we are.”
Facciamo si’ che il periodo quaresimale non sia il tesoro sprecato, bensi’ il tempo dove lasciamo lavorare il Signore nella nostra vita e per la nostra vita. Impegnamoci a ‘non apparire, ma ad essere’. Forse questo e’ il momento ideale per lasciarsi rinnovare come individui e come comunita’.
Con amicizia,
gbs