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, May 25, 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, January 14, 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).

The  writing quoted here was published as the Editorial of the Città Nuova Magazine on May 10,1970, a few months after the extraordinary and  amazing landing on the moon of three astronauts in July 1969.
In Chiara Lubich's vision of the world, centred on unity, science and faith recall one another: science is a way to go to God, while faith can and must give a contribution to science.
Writing in the not so easy ecclesial  context which followed the Second Vatican Council, Chiara starts from the astronaut's experience to introduce us to a human-divine understanding of the Church and its structure.

Rome (Città Nuova), May 10, 1970

It isn't true that science and faith are incompatible — faith enlightens science and science can aid faith; both, in fact, seek one objective which is truth. Truth is the more transcendent and invisible when it comes to faith — it governs all creation; whereas for science, truth is tangible and doesn't complete its task unless it discovers the cause of whatever is investigated.

After the last moon expedition¹, somebody said that science has reached such unbelievable developments and is giving humankind such extraordinary possibilities that it may become an idol for some to worship and others to fear. But we must give science its proper place and see it, even though admirable, as the result of the labor of limited people.

Commetary on the Word of Life:

Repent, and believe in the gospel
(Mc 1:15)

In Mark’s gospel, Jesus begins his proclamation to the world, his message of salvation, with these words: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the gospel.’

The coming of Jesus marks the beginning of a new era, the era of grace and salvation. His first words are an invitation to embrace this great novelty, the actual reality of the kingdom of God which he brings within reach of all people, close to every person. He immediately shows the way, which is to repent and believe in the gospel. This means changing one’s life radically and accepting the word that God, in and through Jesus, speaks to humanity of all times. Repentance and faith must go hand in hand. There cannot be one without the other. Rather, both spring from contact with the living word, from the presence of Jesus who, today too, says to the crowds:

Morges, (Switzerland) October 29, 2002

Your Excellencies, Ecclesiastical Dignitaries, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, Brothers and Sisters,

The theme I will develop today, “The Word of God”, is inexhaustibly rich and fundamentally important for all Christians, and I would say that it is especially so for us, members of the Focolare Movement, called by God to radiate – along with other modern ecclesial realities – a radical and authentic life of the Gospel.

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Rome 1978

If you look around you in some cities you pass through, you are left dismayed and it seems to you that the realization of a Christian society is far off. The world with its vanity seems to dominate....

And you would call the testament of Jesus a utopia if you did not think of him. He saw a world like this too, and at the climax of his life he appeared to be overcome by it, defeated by evil.

He, too, looked at all that crowd which he loved as himself. He, God, who had created it. And he would have liked to build the bonds which were going to bring them together as sons of the Father, and unite brother with brother.

Every year the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is held in many parts of the world from 18th to 25th January. Elsewhere it is celebrated at Pentecost. The motto for the Week of Prayer in 2012 refers to Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:51-58) and says ‘We shall be transformed because of the victory of Christ Jesus our Lord.’ The Word of Life for this month explores and comments upon this theme.

Commetary on the Word of Life:

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (Col 3:1)

Paul is speaking to the community of Colossae. A world exists, he says, where there reigns true love, full communion, justice, peace, holiness and joy. It is a world that sin and corruption can enter no more, a world where the Father's will is perfectly done. This is the world Jesus belongs to. He has opened it up for us with his resurrection, passing through the harsh trial of his passion.