Commetary on the Word of Life:

‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!’ (Lk 12:49))

In the Old Testament fire symbolizes the word of God as spoken by a prophet. But it also signifies divine justice that purifies God’s people by passing among them.

The Word of Jesus is the same. It builds up, but while it does so it destroys whatever has no real substance, whatever must fall, whatever is vanity, and leaves standing only the truth.

To be available to God’s plans

Advent of the Kingdom of Love!

Dearest Duccia*,

Before I left you, and as I left you, I abandoned you to Love, so that you may become Saint Catherine of modern times.
I went into St. Mark’s Church and I prayed to Him, the Almighty for you.
I was close to Him in body and heart and He spoke to me of you. He told me that your wish is welcomed in Heaven and He, the Almighty One, is ready to carry it out.
But He told me to tell you this:
Wanting to be St. Catherine is a good thing.
Being able to be St. Catherine depends totally on God and it depends totally on you.

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* Duccia, a few years older than Chiara, was a social worker, a Red Cross nurse who lived in Piazza Cappuccini, in Trent, near the focolare where Chiara had moved to in September 1944.
Chiara gave her as a model Saint Catherine of Siena, who was very popular in Italy and whose spirituality was centred on the two terms «Blood and Fire.»
We can perceive that the Author starts being aware of being bearer of a gift, of having been chosen by Jesus to be his confidante regarding his wound. The word “key” appears, which indicates that the cross, and especially Jesus Forsaken, opens every heart and leads to holiness.

Rome, 30 March 1959

We certainly have a great responsibility. We Christians must give witness to Christ and from the way we act people should be able to grasp the message that Christ brought on earth.

But at times the witness we give of Christ is weak—if not non-existent— or deformed in one way or another.

Various personalities and minds averse to the action of grace project an image of Jesus that is often in their own image and likeness. Therefore, those looking on deduce what they can from the data they have: for example, that deep down, religion simply bends people’s necks but not their will. And this is because those Christians, who call themselves Christ’s disciples, since it is they who live and not Christ in them, cast a shadow that veils in their own person the religion they profess. As a result, the separation tragically continues and is perpetuated between those who are far from Christ and those who, if they were to relive the love that is God, should attract the world and bring it to the Lord.

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Rome, 8 April 2004

We are nearing Easter. While the world is breathing an atmosphere of fear because of the threat of terrorism, what answer may come from the mystery of Good Friday and the Easter Resurrection?

Chiara Lubich: Every day is Good Friday. Looking at the news, in front of the killings and assassination attempts, one after the other, in those pictures of inhuman violence, in the cry of those sufferings, resounds the cry of abandonment which Jesus cried out to the Father on the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?, his greatest trial and the darkest shadow. But it’s a cry which didn’t remain without an answer.

Jesus did not remain in the abyss of that infinite pain, but, with a huge and unimaginable effort he re-abandoned himself to the Father, overcoming that immense suffering and in this way he brought people back in the bosom of the Father and in the reciprocal embrace.

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Rocca di Papa, 6 December 1973*

Last summer was a rather special one because of the suffering that God had planned for me personally and as a consequence- because of unity- for some who were with me.
We have always said that suffering and love must be kept secret, whereas the light that comes from our experience must be given.

I believe that what has happened in these past months is of fundamental importance for us. In fact, I feel that God wanted to highlight a part of His Gospel which we had not yet considered in depth.

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* This text is the fruit of a spritual experience lived out by Chiara Lubichin 1973, when, physically struck by a very painful herniated disc and spiritually struck by other sufferings, she began to deepen on a new dimension of the Gospel. The text is in conversation form as it was originally addressed to some delegates of the Movement and it was kept that way.

Commetary on the Word of Life:

You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.
(Jn 15:3)

I think when the disciples heard this clear word of encouragement spoken by Jesus, their hearts must have leapt for joy.

How wonderful if Jesus were to say it to us as well!

Rome, 25 May 1970

Today we often hear about Christianity as a social message. And it is only right that this aspect should be emphasized. Since God be¬came man, it is plain that he is concerned with every aspect of our affairs. Christ's whole life is, in fact, an example of social involvement.
It must be remembered, however, that what he announced is also and is above all, a spiritual message.

We Christians do great injustices to our faith.

Now and then we pluck up the courage to love God and our fellow men, to be tolerably good and honest. Not infrequently, we pray. In short, we lead a life that has an undeniably Christian flavour.
But there are truths which we neglect, let's admit it, and almost never think about or con¬sider only when we are forced to do so.

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Published in Città Nuova, n10/1970 - taken from: Chiara Lubich Yes Yes, No No, New City London 1977 pp. 147-152.

Rome, 12 November, 1949

If we are united, Jesus is among us. And this has value. It is worth more than any other treasure that our heart may possess; more than mother, father, brothers, sisters and children.

It is worth more than our house, our work, or our property; more than the works of art in a great city like Rome; more than our business deals; more than nature which surrounds us with flowers and fields, the sea and the stars; more than our own soul.

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Mumbai, 14 January 2003

In 2001, during a trip to India, Chiara Lubich came in contact with the leadership of a large, private university, the Somaiya College, founded in 1959 with the goal of reawakening in young people the values of the culture of India and of the Hindu tradition. The leaders of the institution recognized that Chiara is a figure of high moral and spiritual stature, and they wished to make her and her thought known to the whole university population. They again invited her in 2003. The text that follows is the talk that Chiara delivered on that occasion to the department heads of 31 university institutes of the Somaiya College and to an audience of 400 people.

Dr. Somaiya,
Dr. Kala Acharya,
Madame Lilabengi Kotak,
Mister Kavadia,
Mister Ranganathan.

I must first of all express my joy to be in this place on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of our beloved Mr. Somaiya, who, with his vibrant personality and vision for the future brought the large “Somaiya family” the nation’s pride.

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Commetary on the Word of Life:

Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life

(Jn 6:68)

To the crowds that followed him, Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God (see Lk 9:11). He used simple words, parables taken from everyday life, and yet his words had a special fascination. People were struck by his teaching because he taught with authority, unlike the scribes. Even the temple guards who went to arrest him, when asked by the chief priests and Pharisees why they had not carried out their orders, replied: ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ (Jn 7:46).