Jun 27, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
In his second letter to the community in Corinth, St. Paul writes to people who were questioning the legitimacy of his apostolic activity. However, he does not defend himself by listing his own merits and achievements. On the contrary, he highlights the work that God has accomplished in him and through him. St. Paul mentioned a mystical experience of a deep relationship with God (2 Cor 11:1-7), but immediately shared his suffering due to a “thorn” that tormented him. He did not explain exactly what it was, but we realize it caused great difficulty and could have limited his activity as an evangelizer. For this reason, he shared the fact that he had asked God to free him from that impediment. But the answer he received from God himself was mind-blowing: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” All of us continually experience our own physical, psychological and spiritual weaknesses, as well as those of others. We often see around us people who are suffering and can’t find the way ahead. We feel weak and unable to solve all these problems, or even face them. At most we limit ourselves to not hurting anyone. St. Paul’s experience, on the other hand, opens up a new horizon. By recognizing and accepting our weakness, we can abandon ourselves fully into the hands of the Father, who loves us as we are and wants to help us on our journey. In fact, the letter goes on, saying: “For whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). In this regard, Chiara Lubich wrote: “We naturally react against such a statement, seeing in it a glaring contradiction or simply a paradox. Instead, it expresses one of the highest truths of the Christian faith. “Jesus explained it to us with his life and above all with his death. When did he accomplish the task that the Father had entrusted to him? When did he redeem humanity? When did he conquer sin? It was when he died on the cross, after having cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mt 27:46). “Jesus was strongest just at his weakest moment. He could have given life to the new people of God just by preaching, doing a few more miracles or some extraordinary deed. Instead it was not so because the Church is the work of God, and it is in suffering, and only in suffering, that the works of God flourish. “So our weakness and the experience of our fragility present unique opportunities to experience the strength of Christ who died and is risen.” “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” It is the paradox of the Gospel: the meek are promised they will inherit the earth (Mt 5:5). In the Magnificat, Mary exalts the power of the Lord, who expresses himself totally and definitively in our personal history and in human history, precisely in the setting of littleness and total trust in God’s action (see Lk 1:46-55). Commenting on St. Paul’s experience, Chiara suggests that “the choice we Christians can make is the exact opposite of what people usually do. Here we are truly going against the flow. In the world, people’s ideals lie in success, power and prestige … On the contrary, St. Paul tells us we must boast of our weaknesses … “Let’s trust in God. He will make good use of our weaknesses and nothingness. And when he is at work, we can be sure that he does things that are valuable, that bring about lasting good and meet the real needs of individuals and the community.” Letizia Magri
May 27, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio
St Matthew’s Gospel begins its account of Jesus’ preaching with the surprising proclamation of the Beatitudes. Jesus proclaims “blessed,” meaning completely happy and fulfilled, all those who in the eyes of the world are considered on the losing side or unfortunate: the humble, the afflicted, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the pure of heart, those who work for peace. God makes them great promises. They will be filled and consoled by him; they will inherit the earth and his kingdom. This is a real cultural revolution, which overturns our narrow and shortsighted way of seeing things. So often, we see these categories of people as marginal and insignificant in the struggle for power and success. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” From a biblical perspective, peace is a fruit of God’s salvation. It is primarily his gift. Peace is a characteristic of God himself, who loves humanity and all creation with a father’s heart and who desires harmony and goodwill for all people. For this reason, those who endeavor to bring peace bear some “resemblance” to him, as his children. “Whoever possesses inner peace can be a bearer of peace,” Chiara Lubich wrote in 1981, in Città Nuova magazine. “We need to be peacemakers first in our own behavior in every moment, living in harmony with God and his will … ‘They will be called children of God.’ Being given a name means becoming what the name conveys. St. Paul called God “the God of peace,” and when writing to Christians, he said: “The God of peace be with you all.” Peacemakers show their kinship with God and act as children of God; they bear witness to God, who has inscribed an order in human society, whose fruit is peace.” Living in peace is not simply the absence of conflict; nor is it a quiet life in which our values are adaptable so that we will always be accepted somehow. Instead, it is a distinctly Gospel-based lifestyle, which calls for courage in making choices that go against the mainstream. To be “peacemakers” means above all creating opportunities for reconciliation in our own life and that of others, at all levels. First, reconciliation with God and then with those close to us at home, at work, at school, in parishes and associations, in social and international relations. It is therefore a decisive way of loving our neighbor, a great work of mercy that heals all relationships. Jorge, a teenager from Venezuela, decided to be a peacemaker in his school. “One day, when lessons were over, I realized that my classmates were organizing a demonstration, and they were going to use violence, burning cars and throwing stones. I thought this went against my lifestyle, so I suggested that we write a letter to the school principal asking in a different way for what they wanted to obtain through violence. A few of us wrote the letter and gave it to the principal.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Today, it is urgent to encourage dialogue and gatherings between individuals and groups whose history, cultural traditions and points of view are different. It is a way of showing appreciation for and acceptance of diversity as a source of enrichment. Pope Francis said in Myanmar last year that “peace is built up by the chorus of differences, and starting from these differences we learn from one another, as members of one family … We have one Father, and we are brothers and sisters. Let’s love each other as such. And if we argue among ourselves, let it be as brothers and sisters, who are immediately reconciled and always go back to being a family.” We can also find out more about the seeds of peace and brotherhood that are already helping to make our towns and cities more open and humane. We can contribute to healing rifts and conflicts by caring for these seeds and making them grow. — Letizia Magri Read more: Lubich, Chiara. “If we were to live the Beatitudes,” Essential Writings, New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 2002, pp. 125–126. Lubich, Chiara. “Only One Will is Good,” Christian Living Today, New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 1997, pp. 53–56. Lubich, Chiara. “To be Charged with Love,” On the Holy Journey, New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 1988, pp. 79–81.
Word of Life for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio
Apr 26, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio
St. Paul was writing to Christians in the region of Galatia, who had heard the Gospel proclamation from him. He was scolding them for not understanding the true meaning of Christian freedom. For the people of Israel, freedom was a gift from God who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and led them to a new land, establishing a pact of mutual faithfulness with them. At the same time, Paul strongly affirmed that Christian freedom is a gift from Jesus. In fact, Jesus makes it possible for us, in him and like him, to become children of God who is love. By imitating the Father as Jesus taught us and showed us through his life, we too can learn to have the same attitude of mercy towards everyone, and be at their service. (Mt 5:43-48; Lk 6:36; Mk 10:45). For Paul, the apparent contradiction in “freedom to serve” is possible through the gift of the Spirit that Jesus gave to humanity by his death on the cross. It is the Spirit who gives us the strength to come out of our prison of selfishness, which is burdened with divisions, injustices, betrayals, and violence. He leads us to true freedom. “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.“ Besides being a gift, Christian freedom is also a commitment. Above all, it is a commitment to welcome the Spirit into our hearts, making room for him and recognizing his voice in us. “Above all, we must become more and more aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us,” Chiara Lubich wrote in the October issue of Città Nuova in 2000. “We have a great treasure in our innermost being, but are not sufficiently aware of it … To hear the voice of the Spirit and follow it, we must say no … to temptation, reject its suggestions and say yes to the tasks God has entrusted to us; yes to love for our neighbors; yes to the trials and difficulties we encounter… By doing so, the Holy Spirit will guide us and give our Christian life gusto, vigor, drive and brightness, without which it cannot be authentic. Then, whoever is with us will notice that we are not only children of our natural family, but also children of God.” In fact, the Spirit calls us to step aside from being the center of our concerns in order to be more receptive to others, to listen to them and share material and spiritual goods. He calls us to forgive or take care of the most varied people in different situations of daily life. This attitude allows us to experience the typical fruit of the spirit: our personal growth toward true freedom. This brings out and develops talents and resources in us that would have stayed buried and unknown had we continued living wrapped up in ourselves. Every action of ours is an opportunity not to be missed, to say no to the slavery of selfishness and yes to the freedom of loving. “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.“ Those who accept the work of the Spirit in their hearts also contribute toward building positive human relations through their daily activities, at home and in society. Carlo Colombino, an entrepreneur, husband and father, owns a company in northern Italy. Out of his 60 employees, around a quarter are not Italian and some of them have had traumatic past experiences. “Even the workplace can and should facilitate their integration,” he told a journalist. “Our work includes quarrying and recycling construction materials, and I have responsibilities toward the environment and the area where I live. Some years ago, the economic crisis hit us hard: should I save the business or the employees? We made some people redundant, talking it over with them and finding the least painful solutions. It was a dramatic experience with sleepless nights. “I can do my job either well or poorly. I try to do it as best I can. I believe in the positive influence of ideas. A business focused only on turnover and figures will not last long. People must be at the center of all we do. I believe in God and am convinced that harmonizing business and solidarity is not a dream.” Let’s courageously set in motion our personal call to freedom, in the environment where we live and work. This will allow the Spirit to touch and renew the lives of many people around us, and move history toward a future of “joy, peace, patience, kindness.” Letizia Magri 3 Cfr. C. Lubich, We have a Treasure, New City, 44 (2000), 10, p. 7.
Mar 27, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio
These words are part of a long dialogue Jesus had with the crowd around him. They had seen the sign that he had performed in the multiplication of the loaves and followed him, perhaps just wanting more material help. Starting from their immediate needs, Jesus gradually brings the conversation around to his mission: he was sent by the Father to give humanity true life, eternal life, which is the life of God himself, who is Love. As Jesus walked along the roads of Palestine, he took an interest in all the people he met, not shying away from their requests for food, water, healing and forgiveness. On the contrary, he met all their needs and gave hope to everyone. That is why he could then ask all who heard him to take a further step, to accept the life he offered, to be in relationship with him, trust him and believe in him. Commenting on this sentence of the Gospel, Chiara Lubich wrote in the magazine Città Nuova in 1991: “Here, Jesus responds to people’s deepest aspirations. They have been created for life and seek life with all their strength. But their great mistake is to look for it in other people and in things that, being limited and passing, cannot give a genuine answer to their aspirations … Only Jesus can satisfy their hunger. Only he can give life without end, for he is the Life.” “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.” Christian faith is primarily the fruit of a personal encounter with God, with Jesus, who wants nothing more than to have us share in his very own life. Faith in Jesus means following his example of not being wrapped up in ourselves, in our fears and limited plans, but rather to focus our attention on the needs of others. They may have real needs arising from poverty, illness and marginalization, and above all they need to be listened to, accepted and welcomed. In this way, through the life we are living, we will be able to share the love we have received as a gift from God with others. To strengthen us on our journey, he has also left us the great gift of the Eucharist, a sign of a self-giving love that enables others to live. “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.” Often, during the day, we place our trust in people around us. It may be the teacher who teaches our children, the taxi driver who takes us to our destination, the doctor who treats us … We cannot live without trust, and trust is increased by knowing one another, through friendship, by a relationship deepened over time. How then can we live the Word of Life this month? Continuing her commentary, Chiara invited us to renew our complete choice of Jesus: “We already know how to do this by putting his words into practice with fresh commitment. His words remind us of many specific aspects of life. For example, are we meeting a neighbor? ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 22:39). Are we suffering? ‘If any want to become my follower … then they should take up their cross’ (Mt 16:24), and so on. “If we do so, the words of Jesus will be a source of light, and he will come to us with his truth, his strength and his love. Our life will become more and more life with him, doing everything with him. We will no longer be afraid even of the physical death that awaits us all, because with Jesus true life has already begun in us, the life that never ends.” Letizia Magri
Feb 26, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio https://dev.focolare.org/gb/files/2018/03/201803WOL.mp3 King David, who was also a prophet, wrote this psalm at a time when he felt weighed down by anguish and poverty and in danger from his enemies. He wanted to find a way out of his painful situation, but realized he was completely unable to do so. Therefore he looked up, with hope, toward the God of Israel, who had always protected his people, and implored him to come to his aid. This month’s Word of Life draws our attention to the fact that he was asking to know the ways and paths of the Lord, to shed light on the choices he had to make, especially at difficult times. “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” Sometimes in life we too have to make decisive choices. It can be totally absorbing to have to do so, and it can help us to think deeply about what our conscience suggests is the right way forward. It could be that we have many paths to choose from and are uncertain about which is the best. At other times, we may feel there is no path at all. Wanting to find a way ahead is a strong human need, and so sometimes we ask help from those we consider our friends. Christian faith makes us become friends with God. He is a Father who loves us; he knows us through and through and wants to accompany us on our journey. Every day, God invites us to set out freely on an adventure. Our compass is unselfish love for him and all his children. The ways and paths are opportunities to meet other travelers and find new goals that can be shared. Christians are never isolated individuals, but part of a people travelling towards the fulfilment of the plan of God the Father for humankind. Through all he said and did, Jesus revealed God’s plan to bring about universal fraternity, the civilization of love. “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” The Lord’s ways can be daring and, at times, may seem too challenging for us, like rope bridges stretching between high cliffs. They challenge our selfish habits, our prejudices and false humility, and instead create opportunities for dialogue, encounter and commitment to the common good. Above all, they call for a love that is ever new and capable of forgiving, because it is founded on the rock of God’s love and faithfulness to us. This ever-new love is essential if we are to build just and peaceful relationships among peoples and nations. Even the witness given by a simple kind deed, done with love, can give others the light to see their way forward. At a gathering in Nigeria, when both children and adults were sharing their experiences of loving according to the Gospel, a little girl called Maya said, “Yesterday, when we were playing, a boy pushed me and I fell over. He said ‘sorry’ and I forgave him.” Those words touched the heart of a man whose father was killed by Boko Haram. “I looked at Maya. If a little girl like her can forgive, it means that I can do the same.” “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” If we want a sure guide on our journey, let’s remember that Jesus said, “I am the Way…” (Jn 14:6). When Chiara Lubich spoke to young people gathered in Santiago de Compostela during the 1989 World Youth Day, she encouraged them: “By describing himself as ‘the Way’, Jesus was saying we must take the same way as he did. We could therefore say that the way Jesus followed has a name: it is love. The love that Jesus lived and brought on earth is special and unique. It is the same ardent love that burns in God … “But who should we love? Our first duty of course, is to love God. Then, to love our neighbor, every neighbor … From the moment we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night, every relationship with our neighbor should be lived with this love. Whether we are at home, at college, at work, on a sports field, on vacation, in church or on the street, we should take advantage of every opportunity to love, seeing Jesus in our neighbors, neglecting no one, being the first to love … “This means entering as far as possible into the minds and hearts of others, truly understanding their problems, needs and troubles — as well as their joys, so that we can share everything with them … “In a way, we have to become that other person, just as Jesus, who was God, became a man out of love. Then our neighbors will feel understood and supported because someone is helping them bear their burdens and pain and share in their joys. ‘Living the other person,’ ‘living the others’ – this is a great ideal; this is amazing.” Letizia Magri
Jan 28, 2018 | Non categorizzato, Word of
https://dev.focolare.org/gb/files/2018/01/201802WOL.mp3 Word of life for ages 4-8 | for ages 9-17 | Print | Audio This Word of Life has been selected by Christians from various churches in Germany to put into practice throughout the year. St John wrote the Book of Revelation to console and to encourage the Christians of his time, who were facing widespread persecution. The book is rich in symbolic images and reveals God’s view on history, and its fulfilment at the end of time with God’s definitive victory over every power of evil. Revelation celebrates a full and glorious point of arrival: the goal God has destined for humanity. It is the promise of liberation from all suffering. God himself “will wipe every tear from their eyes … Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more” (Rev 21:4). “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” The first signs of this final goal can already be seen now, by those who have sincerely begun to live their life searching for God and his Word that reveals his plans. They can be found by those thirsting for truth, justice, and fraternity. God sees this thirsting and searching positively, as a good start and he even promises to give us the spring of the water of life. The water God promises is given freely. It is not given only to those who hope to please God through their own efforts, but also to all those who feel the burden of their weakness and entrust themselves to his love, believing that they will be cured and will find the fullness of life and happiness. Let us ask ourselves then, what do we thirst for? Moreover, to which springs do we go to quench our thirst? “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” Perhaps we are thirsting for acceptance, for an important role in society, for our plans to work out … These legitimate aspirations can push us toward the polluted wells of selfishness and being wrapped up in our own interests to the point of oppressing the weak. Populations suffering a shortage of fresh water wells are acutely aware of the disastrous effects of the lack of this resource, which is indispensable for life and health. Yet by going deeper into our hearts, we find another kind of thirst that God himself has put there; the thirst to live our life as a gift we have received and that must be shared. Let us then draw from the pure source of the Gospel, freeing ourselves from all the debris that may cover us, and allow ourselves to be transformed into fountains of generous, welcoming and freely given love for all, without stopping before inevitable difficulties along the way. When Christians put the commandment of reciprocal love into practice, we allow God to intervene in a very special way, as Chiara Lubich wrote in 2002: “Every time we try to put the Gospel into practice, it is like drinking a drop of that living water. Every gesture of love for our neighbour is a sip of that water. “Yes, because that water, which is so alive and precious, is special for it gushes from our hearts every time we open up to love everyone. It is a spring — God’s spring — that pours out water in the measure that its deep streams quench the thirst of others, through small or big acts of love. If we continue to love, this fountain of peace and life will give ever more abundant water, without ever drying up. “Jesus revealed another secret to us, like a bottomless well we can draw from. When two or three are united in his name, loving one another with his same love, he is in their midst (cf. Mt 18:20). “Then we will feel free, full of light, and streams of living water will flow from within us. Jesus’s promise will be fulfilled because the thirst-quenching water that wells up for eternity, flows from Jesus himself present among us.”
Letizia Magri
Read more:
- Lubich, Chiara. God’s Word to Us. New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 2011.
- Lubich, Chiara. “The Word that gives life,” Essential Writings. New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 2007, pp 120-128.
