No One Has Thought So Much of Man

By Chiara Lubich

Jesus has died for us.

That means Jesus has died for me:

God has died for me.

Matthias Grünewald: Isenheim Altar (1515)

This is the greatness of Man; that a God should have died for him.

Detail from the Isenheim Altar

We can talk about humanism and let us give it the whole Christian dimension: no one will ever attain this peak.

Matthias Grünewald: The Crucifixion (also known as The Small Crucifiction, 1511/1520)

No one has ever considered Man so great as to think that God has loved him and has loved him right to the point of dying for him.

The Isenheim Altar with opened panels

But rather than thinking of Christian humanism, I like to think that Jesus, God, has died for me.

John the Apostle, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. (Detail from the Isenheim Altarpiece, by Matthias Grünewald.)

It is impossible not to be happy,

Not to enjoy life in Him,

Not to offer Him our pains.

If Jesus has died for me,

He is always thinking of me,

He loves me always.

Matthias Grünewald: Resurrection of Christ (from the right wing of the Isenheim Altarpiece)

And I?

I should always think of Him,

I should love Him always.

Detail from the Isenheim Altar, by Matthias Grünewald