Who will therefore separate us from the love of Christ? (RM 8,35-39)
Meditation by Don Alberto Carbonari on Romans 8,35-39 held in online prayer in the Week of prayer for the victims of homophobia and transphobia on 11 May 2021
Who will therefore separate us from the love of Christ? Perhaps the tribulation, the anguish, the persecution, the hunger, the nudity, the danger, the sword? Just as it is written: "For your cause we have put to death all day, we are treated as a slaughter sheep". But in all these things we are more than winners by virtue of the one who loved us. I am in fact persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principali, neither present nor future, powers, neither height nor height or depth, nor any other creature can ever separate us from the love of God, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Romans 8,35-39)
Nothing and nobody can separate us from the love of Christ!
It is not a recent observation that St. Paul does in this excerpt of his great letter to the Romans. It is a statement that does not only concern the community to which he writes and not even a small number of people, of elected. In fact, in that "who will separate us" and in that series of "nor" "nor" there is a flavor of universality, typical of the love of Jesus.
Jesus wishes to love every man, every woman, every person, without any distinction. His love mysteriously reaches every human being, even those who seem further away from him. Because the love of Jesus is not given up thanks to the ability, by skill, but is pure grace, pure gift ... and has every man as a recipient. And then the love of Jesus is not generic ... it is not a container where he can throw us into indiscriminately.
It has a precise name and mode. It is the love that is given, that does not ask for anything in return, that leaves nothing behind. It is love that gives life and that really puts the other in the center.
This love, of which nothing and nobody can separate us, can also make sense of persecutions, humiliations, violence suffered. Not because all this must be accepted supinely or as (perverse) will of God.
No!
It is precisely the love that Jesus has lived in passion and on the cross, which can give a glimpse of light even to these terrible experiences. In fact, Jesus embraces the cross and, while he lives it, transfigures it, makes it an opportunity to 'love more', for 'love beyond' ...
Jesus on the cross forgives those who are massacring him. Jesus on the cross elevates his gaze to the Father. Jesus on the cross also makes a voice of those who feel abandoned by the Father.
Finally, the love that is given, which Jesus lives and embodies, becomes the key point for a true discernment, to really wonder:
'What is good and should be pursued? What is bad and should be abandoned? '. In the center, therefore, the defense of love is not in a generic and falsely universal way, but the love that smells of Jesus, who knows of a gift, of donation ... not of affirmation and not even a right to ... 'We are then in front of this love that gives itself, let's be silent, we are patient and perseverance.
This is the key to ask yourself every day what are the right steps to take, steps and choices of joy, love, donation ... and slowly, step by step, a road will open, a light will be glimpsed and a life and faith project will make it possible for everyone.
WATCH TEXT> Vigil Victims Omotransphobia dated 11 May 2021 (Pdf)
