Meditation~Come to Serve

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