How bitter is His cup!*
Gentle, humble lover, silent lover, rejected,
in anguish, the broken heart of a lover. He experienced pain more deeply than any
of us.
Freed from inner
barriers,
unprotected from
pain,
Jesus was more
totally vulnerable to people,
a gentle lover
in love with each person.
From his eyes,
his hands, his flesh,
his whole being
flowed this
total presence to people
in their uniqueness.
Totally present
to each person,
he received more
fully the pain of each one.
He took that
pain in him;
he suffered with
each one;
he touched the
deepest need in each one:
the cry for
love, for value, for uniqueness,
for intimacy and
for communion,
the cry to be.
But he also
touched the fears,
the terrible
fears of love in each person,
the pride, the
need for independence,
the barriers
that protect vulnerability,
the screams of
"no",
"I do not want you!"
One senses the
broken heart of Jesus
when he says:
"You refuse
to come to me
to receive life."
The heart of
Jesus was so vulnerable;
it suffered more totally as he was pushed away by people.
The love surging
up within him,
thirsty to give
communion,
to give life,
and to rest in
the hearts of people,
is shoved aside.
Gentle, humble
lover,
silent lover,
rejected,
in anguish,
the broken heart of a lover.
He experienced pain more deeply than any of us.
JEAN VANIER
Jean Vanier is the founder of l'Arche,
an international network of communities for the mentally disabled.
an international network of communities for the mentally disabled.
* titled by Lm. HK