Yellow

Focolare spirituality defines seven areas of life, each a way of expressing love. Nothing is more or less important, more or less sacred.  “Love is light,” Chiara Lubich explains. When clear light passes through a prism, or even a drop of water, it refracts into the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. And just as that light breaks into different colors, love too has a way of expressing itself in just as many ways.

The experience of love elevates the soul. Love is always about relationship, and here it is about the one we have with the divine. To grow that, we need to make time, and of course not do all the talking.

“Prayer does not consist of only dedicating a certain period of time during the day to mediation or to the reading of sacred scriptures, to thoughts about God or ourselves for the purpose of improving our inner life,” said Pasquale Foresi, one of the co-founders of Focolare. “A person can do these things all day and yet never have actually prayed.”

Chiara taught how we can pray always when we love in each present moment. We might even be called to give up our prayer or meditation in order to love our neighbor. But that too can be prayer.

So “yellow” is about spirituality. When love refracts like light into “yellow,” it shines on these parts of life:

• The present moment
• Meditation
• Prayer
• Our oneness with God
• Rites, rituals, religious practices
• Ethics and the law

Last year, I ended up in a hospital needing surgery. I believe God knew my confidential words, the problems I was dealing with and the sighs within me. After being admitted into the hospital, I had to wait a few days before the operation, which was a bit stressful. 

There was a crucifix on the wall in my room. While there and waiting, I would focus on it, and I found courage and peace as it reminded me that, even in my suffering, I was in God’s hands.

The surgery was successful, for which I was grateful, but there were moments of fear and discomfort to say the least. Afterwards, I felt as if I was hit by a Mack truck, and I was never so tired in all my life. Basically, I just wanted to be left alone and to sleep, but as anyone who has been in a hospital knows, the doctors and nurses have other plans for you.

I remembered how Chiara Lubich would encourage us to embrace the cross in our sufferings and offer them as Jesus did. Even in the hospital, I wanted to bring his love to others, so when they woke me up every few hours to keep checking things, I tried to smile and be cheerful.

I was in the hospital for quite some time, so I had the opportunity to interact with many hospital staff. I wanted to not just be friendly but bring them a taste of God’s love. Receiving the Eucharist and feeling the power of all the prayers that many were saying for me gave me the grace to respond so often with his love.

A fruit of that, I think, was that when it was time for a member of the staff to accompany the patients who had to walk the halls several times a day for exercise, many times they would ask to walk with me. I believe they were drawn by the peace and joy that comes from my trusting in God and by the presence of Jesus that my wife, friends and I tried to keep among us by loving. 

— Bob

(Read more stories like this one in Living City Magazine)