Sep 1, 2024 | Word of
The author of this month’s verse insists upon the fundamental importance of both listening and practice. The letter, in fact, continues: ‘But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.’ (James 1:25) It is precisely this commitment to know God’s Word and to live it that sets us free and gives us joy.
One could say that this month’s Bible verse is the very reason why the practice of the Word of Life has spread throughout the world. Once a week, and then once a month, Chiara Lubich used to choose a sentence from Scripture and comment on it and then groups of people met and shared the fruits that living the Word had brought about in their everyday lives. This created a united community and, in a small way, revealed the social impact that living the Word can have upon society.
‘Despite its simplicity, the initiative made a notable contribution to the rediscovery of the Word of God in the Christian world of the 20th century’ [1] by transmitting a ‘method’ for living the Gospel and sharing its effects.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
The letter of James takes up Jesus’ message that refers to experiencing the presence of the Kingdom of Heaven among us: Jesus declares blessed are those who listen to his Word and keep it; he recognises as his mother and brothers those who listen to it and put it into practice; iii he compares it to the seed that, if it falls on good soil – that is, on those who listen to it with a good and noble heart and keep it – they produce fruit through their perseverance.
‘In each of his words Jesus expresses all his love for us,’ writes Chiara Lubich. ‘Let us make the Word incarnate and make it our own. If we do so, we will experience the powerful life it unleashes in us and around us. Let us fall in love with the Gospel to the point of allowing ourselves to be transformed by it and enable it to overflow onto others… We will be free from ourselves and our limitations.
Furthermore, we will see a revolution of love explode everywhere because Jesus, freed to live in us, will bring about a change in society wherever we live.’[2]
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
How can we put the Word into practice? Let us look around us and do everything we can, to serve others in need, through both small and not so small actions. Such gestures transform injustice in society, combat violence, foster peace and reconciliation and increase sensitivity towards respect for our planet.
This can initiate a real revolution in our lives, in our work environments and in the communities in which we live.
Love manifests itself in social and political actions that seek to build a better world. The commitment of a small Focolare community towards the most vulnerable people in society led to the opening of the Chiara Lubich Centre for the Elderly in Lamud, Peru in the Amazon area, 2,330 metres above sea level.
‘The Centre was opened in the midst of the pandemic crisis and houses 50 elderly and lonely people. The building, furniture, crockery and even food came as a gift from the neighbouring community. It was a risk, not without difficulties and obstacles, but in March 2022 the Centre celebrated its first anniversary. It hosted a party and opened its doors to the city; even political representatives took part. The two days of celebrations enlisted new volunteers, adults and children, who want to enlarge their own families by taking care of lonely grandparents.’ [3]
Edited by Patrizia Mazzola and the Word of Life Team.
[1] C. Lubich, Parole di Vita, Introduzione, a cura di Fabio Ciardi, (Opere di Chiara Lubich 5), Città Nuova, Roma 2017, p. 9
[2] Lubich, Parole di Vita, Introduzione, a cura di Fabio Ciardi, (Opere di Chiara Lubich 5), Città Nuova, Roma 2017, p. 790
[3] Mission Report of Communion 2022. Focolare Movement , in https://dev.focolare.org/wpcontent/uploads/2024/01/BdC-2022-2.pdf, p.67
IDEA OF THE MONTH, based on the Word of Life of the Focolare Movement, was born in Uruguay as part of the dialogue between people of different convictions, whose motto is “building dialogue”. The purpose of this publication is to help promote the ideal of universal fraternity. The IDEA OF THE MONTH is currently translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 25 countries
Aug 1, 2024 | Word of
Lord, it is good for us to be here. (Mt 17:4)
Jesus and his disciples are making their way to Jerusalem. When he announces that it is the place where he will suffer, die and rise again, Peter rebels and expresses a general sense of dismay and incomprehension. The Master then takes him and James and John and he climbs ‘a high mountain’ from where he appears to the three bathed in a new and extraordinary light. Jesus’ face ‘shines like the sun’ and Moses and the prophet Elijah converse with him. The voice of the Father is heard coming from a bright cloud and invites them to listen to Jesus, his beloved Son. When Peter witnesses this extraordinary event, he does not want to leave, and exclaims:
«Lord, it is good for us to be here.».
Jesus invited his closest friends to have an unforgettable experience that they would always be able to remember.
Jesus invited his closest friends to have an unforgettable experience that they would always be able to remember.
Perhaps we too have felt wonder and emotion when we were aware of the presence and work of God in our lives. We may have had a sense of joy, peace and light and have wished that such moments would never end. We often have such experiences when we are with other people or thanks to what they do. Indeed, mutual love attracts God’s presence because, as Jesus promised: ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt 18:20). Sometimes, during these moments of intimacy with him, God makes us see ourselves and understand events as he does. It is as if we see through his eyes.
Such experiences are given to us so we will have the strength to make the effort and face the difficulties and challenges we encounter on our journey through life. They help us be sure that God has looked upon us and called us to be part of salvation history.
In fact, once the disciples have come down from the mountain, they will go together to Jerusalem where crowds of people full of hope await them but they will also meet with pitfalls, opposition, aversion and suffering. There ‘they will be scattered and sent to the ends of the earth to be witnesses that our final dwelling is the Kingdom of God.’(i)
They will be able to start building God’s house among men and women on earth because they have been ‘at home’ with Jesus on the mountain.
«Lord, it is good for us to be here.».
At the end of this mysterious experience, Jesus speaks to the apostles with the words, ‘Arise and do not be afraid’ (Mt. 17:7). He addresses the same words to us. May we face whatever awaits us with the same courage as the disciples had.
This was what Chiara Lubich did. After a holiday period so full light that it was described as ‘the paradise of 1949’ because of extraordinary contemplation of the mysteries of faith and deep awareness of God’s presence in the small community with whom she was resting, she too did not want to return to everyday life. However, she did so with a new impetus because she realised that it was precisely because of that experience of enlightenment that she had to ‘come down from the mountain’ and set to work as an instrument of Jesus in the building of his Kingdom. This meant injecting his love and light into the very situations where it was lacking and even facing hardship and suffering.
«Lord, it is good for us to be here.».
When it seems that darkness is falling around us, let us remember the times when the Lord has enlightened us. If we have already not experienced his nearness to us, let us seek it now. Let us make the effort to ‘go up the mountain’ to meet him in our neighbourhoods, to worship him in our churches, and also to contemplate him in the beauty of nature.
Perché per noi, Lui c’è sempre: basta che camminiamo con Lui e, facendo silenzio, ci mettiamo umilmente in ascolto, come Pietro, Giovanni e Giacomo (2).
Edited by Silvano Malini and the Word of Life team
1 T. Radcliffe, OP, seconda meditazione ai partecipanti all’assemblea generale del Sinodo dei Vescovi, Sacrofano, 1° ottobre 2023: https://www.vaticannews.va/it/vaticano/news/2023-10/testi-meditazioni-padre-radclifferitiro-sacrofano-sinodo.html.
2 Cf. Mt 17, 6.
Foto: © Steven Weirather – Pixabay
—Download the Word of life Children—
THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is currently produced by the Focolare Movement’s “Centre for Dialogue with People of Non-religious Beliefs”. It is an initiative that began in 2014 in Uruguay to share the values found in the Word of Lifeis a phrase from Scripture that members of the Movement strive to put into practice in their daily lives. Currently, THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 25 countries, with adaptations of the text according to different cultural sensitivities.
![The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Ps 23[22] [22]:1).](https://epy2gcdm4uf.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/flock-5077402_1920-1080x675.jpg?lossy=1&fit=1080%2C675&ssl=1)
Jul 1, 2024 | Word of
Psalm 23 is one of the best known and most loved psalms. It is both a canticle of trust and a joyful profession of faith expressed by someone who belongs to the people of Israel. Through the prophets, the Lord has promised to be their shepherd. The psalmist expresses his personal happiness because he knows that he is protected in the Temple,[1] a place of refuge and grace, but also, drawing on his experience, he wants to encourage others to have confidence in the presence of the Lord.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
The image of the shepherd and the flock is very dear to all biblical literature. To understand it fully, we must think of the arid and rocky deserts in the Middle East. The shepherd gently guides his flock, for without him they could go astray and die. The sheep must learn to rely on him, listening to his voice. He is their constant companion.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
This psalm invites us to strengthen our intimate relationship with God by experiencing his love. Some may wonder why the author goes so far as to say that ‘I lack nothing’? Nowadays the problems and challenges of health, family, work, etc are part of everyday life. In addition, there is the immense suffering experienced by so many of our brothers and sisters due to war, the consequences of climate change, migration, violence, etc.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Perhaps the key to interpretation lies in the verse where we read “for you are with me” (Ps 23:4). It refers to certainty in the love of a God who always accompanies us and makes us live in a different way. Chiara Lubich wrote: “It is one thing to know that we can have recourse to a Being who exists, who has mercy on us, who has paid for our sins, and quite another to live and feel ourselves at the centre of God’s predilection, with the consequent banishment of all the fears that hold us back, of all loneliness, of all sense of orphanhood and all uncertainty… Men and women can know they are loved and believe in this love with all their being. They can surrender to it trustingly and follow it. Everything that happens in life, whether sad or joyful, is enlightened by knowing love has willed or permitted it all.” [2].
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Jesus brought this prophecy to fulfilment: in John’s Gospel he does not hesitate to call himself the ‘good shepherd’. Relationships with this shepherd are personal and intimate in nature. “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (Jn. 10:14-15). He leads them to the pastures of his Word that is life, particularly the Word that contains the message enclosed in the “new commandment”, which, if lived, makes “visible” the presence of the Risen One in the community gathered in his name, in his love.[3]
Edited by Augusto Parody Reyes and the Word of Life Team
Photo: © Sergio Cerrato – Italia en Pixabay
[1]Cf. Psalm 23,6.
[2] C. Lubich, L’essenziale di oggi, ScrSp/2, Città Nuova, Roma 19972, p. 148.
[3] CF. Matt. 18:20
—Download the Word of Life for children—
THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is currently produced by the Focolare Movement’s “Centre for Dialogue with People of Non-religious Beliefs”. It is an initiative that began in 2014 in Uruguay to share the values found in the Word of Lifeis a phrase from Scripture that members of the Movement strive to put into practice in their daily lives. Currently, THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 25 countries, with adaptations of the text according to different cultural sensitivities.
Apr 15, 2023 | Non categorizzato, Spiritualità, Vite vissute, Word of
For a Christian, the Resurrection really happened. It was an encounter that changed every human perspective; it is the event that reminds us that our home is in heaven and it is there that our life must aim, giving witness to the values that Jesus brought to earth. The other is someone to love I am a fourth year medical student. When we go to the hospital, the patient can be treated just as an object to be studied. Each one is a “case”, they represent an illness. Usually during practical classes each patient is examined by thirty students. I quickly realized that this can be uncomfortable and often painful for the patient so when it was my turn to do the examination, I said: “No, I think this patient has suffered enough. I wouldn’t want to be treated like that. I’ll go first the next time.” My fellow students said that in this way I would never learn and would never become a good doctor but then, without my knowing it, they suggested to the professor that each patient be examined by only five students at most. The whole class was behind the idea and the professor agreed. The result is that in this way you learn better and the patients feel respected. (Regina – Brazil) Open a window I had a fall and ended up with a broken shoulder. Suddenly my life changed. All my plans for the holidays, taking care of our grandchildren, doing the shopping etc. fell through. Now everything landed on my wife who, since she retired, has stopped using the car. One day my granddaughter, with whom we often play a game that consists of looking for the positive in the negative, asked me where the positive in this forced immobility was. I replied that my new condition was making me discover that I used to do many things automatically, without thinking about them very much. Now I was beginning to see that there are can be other ways of doing things, like a new window that opens in your room and shows you a landscape that you did not see before. My granddaughter was quiet for a while. Then, as if awakened by a discovery, she said, “Grandpa, I have a classmate who’s not very nice. She swears and is always cross with everyone. We all avoid talking to her and now there is a kind of wall around her which isolates her. Maybe I should open a window to her, too.” I was very happy to hear my granddaughter say such beautiful words. (H.N. – Slovakia)
Compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta
(taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year IX – no.1- March-April 2023)
Aug 27, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio
The Word of Life this month comes from a text attributed to the disciple James, who was a prominent figure in the Church in Jerusalem. He exhorted Christians saying there should be coherence between what they believed and what they did. The first paragraph of the letter highlights an essential condition that makes this possible. Christians needed to be free from all wickedness in order to welcome God’s word and be guided by it on the journey toward fulfilling their Christian vocation. The word of God has a creative power that produces fruits of goodness in both the individual and in the community. It builds relationships founded on love between each of us and God and among us all. James says this word has already been “planted” in us. “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” One place where God clearly speaks to us is the Bible, and for Christians the Gospels are especially important. We can welcome God’s word by reading Scripture with love, and we see its fruits when we put it into practice. We can also listen to God in the depths of our hearts, where we often experience an influx of many voices and words. These might be slogans, or refer to choices we might make, or people to admire or maybe worries or fears. How can we recognize God’s word and leave room for it to live in us? We need to make ourselves still and surrender to God’s call, so as to listen freely and courageously to his voice which is usually gentle and quiet. God’s voice asks us to avoid being closed in on ourselves and to venture onto the path of encounter and dialogue with him and with others. It also calls on us to work so that human coexistence can become more harmonious and we can be increasingly ready to recognize one another as brothers and sisters. “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” How can this be? It is surely because, from the very beginning, God stated clearly that humankind was created in his “image.” In fact, every human being is a “you” in relation to God. Every person is called into existence to share in God’s life of love and fellowship. In addition, for Christians the sacrament of baptism incorporates us into Christ, the word of God who entered into human history. God has, therefore, sown the seed of his word in every person. This word calls them to do what is good; it calls them to justice, self-giving and fellowship. When the word is welcomed and cultivated in our own “soil,” it produces life and fruit. “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” In fact, the word of God can transform our daily life into the story of our liberation from the darkness of personal and social evil. However, we need to accept the word personally and consciously, even if it is an ongoing process and we are imperfect and fragile. Our thoughts and feelings will become more like those of Jesus himself. Our faith and hope in God’s love will grow stronger, and we will notice other people’s needs and help them. Chiara Lubich explained this in 1992: “We saw a profound unity between Jesus’ love for the Father and his love for his brothers and sisters. There was total coherence between his words and his life, and this fascinated and attracted everyone. “We too should be like him, accepting his words with childlike simplicity and putting them into practice. His words shine out in their purity, strength and completeness. By living them, we become the kind of disciples he wants us to be, disciples who are equal to their teacher, like Jesus spread throughout the world. What greater and more beautiful adventure could there be?” Letizia Magri soundcloud.com/…/word-of-life-september-2018
Jul 28, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
The prophet Jeremiah was sent by God to the people of Israel, who were experiencing the pain of exile in Babylon. They had lost everything that represented their identity and chosenness: their land, the temple and the law… However, the prophet’s words pierce through this sense of pain and loss. It is true that Israel had been unfaithful to the covenant of love with God and this had led to destruction. But then came the proclamation of a new promise of freedom, salvation, and a renewed covenant. God was preparing this out of his eternal and unfailing love for his people. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” “The eternal and unfailing nature of God’s faithfulness is a quality of His love. He is the Father of every human being, a Father who is the first to love; and his commitment is forever. His faithfulness touches each one of us and allows us to entrust to Him every worry that might block us. This eternal and patient love also helps us grow and improve our relationship with Him and with others. We are well aware that our commitment to love God and our neighbours is not yet constant, although it is sincere. But His faithfulness to us is freely given, anticipating our needs, regardless of the ‘service’ we give. With this joyful assurance, we can go beyond our limited view of things and start out on the journey again each day, becoming witnesses to this “motherly” love. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” God’s loving way of looking at humanity also reveals a wonderful plan to make all people become one family, which reaches its fulfilment in Jesus. In fact, he bore witness to his trust in God’s love through his word, and above all, with the example of his life. He made it possible for us to imitate the Father’s love for all (Mt 5:43 ff.). He showed us that the vocation of every man and woman is to contribute personally to building relationships of acceptance and dialogue. How can we live the Word of life for this month? Chiara Lubich invites us to have a mother’s heart: « […] A mother always welcomes, always helps, always hopes, and covers everything. […] In fact, the love of a mother is very similar to the love of Christ which St Paul spoke of. If we have a mother’s heart, or, more precisely, if we decide to have Mary’s heart, the heart of the Mother par excellence, we will always be ready to love others in all circumstances and to keep the Risen Lord alive in us. […] If we have the heart of this Mother, we will love everyone and not only the members of our own church, but also other people’s churches. Not only Christians, but also Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and so on. We will love all people of good will and every person who lives on this earth […] » . “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” A young wife, who started living the Gospel in her family said: “I experienced a joy I never had before and wanted to share this love outside the four walls of our house. For example, I remember running to the hospital to visit the wife of a colleague who had attempted suicide. For quite a time, I had known of their difficulties, but being absorbed in my own problems, I had not bothered to help her. But then I felt her suffering was my own and I could not rest until the situation that had driven her to that point was resolved. This experience marked the beginning of a change in my mentality. I understood that, if I love, I can be a reflection of God’s love for everyone I meet, even if only a very small one “. What if we too, sustained by God’s faithful love, freely have this inner attitude in the presence of everyone we meet during the day? Letizia Magri
