Σφαίρα Gaea

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23).

Don’t think that just because you are in the world, you can take to it like a fish to water.

Don’t think that simply because the world comes into your home through certain radio and TV shows, you are entitled to listen to every broadcast and watch every program.

Don’t think that just because you walk through the streets of the world you can look at all the ads and billboards without coming to any harm, and buy just any publications from the newsstand or the bookstore.

Don’t think that just because you are in the world you can live as you please, the way the world does, and follow the world’s example of immorality: abortion, divorce, hatred, violence, theft…

No! No! You are in the world; no one can deny that. But you are not of the world.

This fact makes a great difference. It places you among those who don’t do what the world tells you to, but rather follow what the voice of God suggests to you from within. God lives in the heart of every human being. If you listen to him, he will introduce you to a kingdom which is not of this world, a society where true love, justice, purity, meekness and evangelical poverty are lived, where self-control is the norm.

In recent years many young people have journeyed to India and the Far East, hoping to find some peace of mind and discover the secrets of the Eastern spiritual masters, who, after a long process of selfmortification, frequently radiate a more genuine kind of love that touches everyone who meets them.

These young people’s quest is a very natural reaction to the uproar in the world, to the noise around us and within us which leaves no room for silence in which to hear God’s voice.

But is it really necessary to go to India, when for two thousand years Christ has been saying to us: “Renounce yourself… renounce yourself.”

A Christian cannot expect to lead a comfortable and easy life. Christ did not, and he will not ask any less of you if you want to follow him.

The world is coming at you head-on, like a river in flood, and you must go against the current. The world is like a dense underbrush in which the Christian must look very carefully where he steps. And where should you step? In the footsteps which Christ himself laid down for you while he was passing through this world; these footsteps are his words. Today he repeats to you:

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself…”

If you follow Christ, you may be laughed at, misunderstood, and scorned, or slandered and isolated. You must be ready to lose face, and to give up the easy-going, socially accepted way of being a Christian.

But there is more:

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Whether you like it or not, suffering is a part of everyone’s life, yours as well. Sufferings, great and small, come our way every day.

Do you try to avoid them? Do you rebel against them? Do you feel like cursing them? Then you are not a Christian.

A Christian loves the cross; he or she loves every suffering, even amidst tears, knowing that suffering has value. God has innumerable ways by which he could have saved humankind. When he chose to use suffering, he had a reason.

But remember — after he carried the cross and was crucified, Jesus rose from the dead.

Resurrection is also your destiny if, instead of despising the sufferings that come with living a consistent Christian life, and the other sufferings that each day brings with it, you accept them with love. Doing so, you will realize that even here on earth the cross is a way that leads to a joy you have never before experienced. You will begin to grow spiritually, and the kingdom of God will become firmly established in you. Little by little, the world around you will fade away before your eyes, and it will seem to be made of cardboard. And you will no longer envy anyone.

Then you will be able to call yourself a follower of Christ.

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

And like Christ whom you have followed, you will be light and love for the countless numbers of people suffering in today’s world.

Chiara Lubich

The Word of Life is translated into 90 languages and dialects, and reaches more than 13 million people all over the workd through the press, radio and television.

Image by  P Epic on DeviantArt

“Give
and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed
together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured
into your lap” (Lk 6:38).

Have
you ever received a gift from a friend and then felt
you had to reciprocate — not so much because
you felt obliged to pay the person back, but simply
out of love and gratitude? I’m sure you have.

If
you feel this way, imagine how God must feel, God
who is love himself. He reciprocates every gift that
we give to any neighbor in his name. True Christians
frequently experience this. And each time it is a
surprise. We can never get used to God’s ways.

I
could give you a thousand examples; I could even write
a book on this subject alone. You would see how true
are the words: “…good measure, packed
together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured
into your lap.” God always reciprocates generously.
Here is an example.

Night
had fallen in Rome. In their basement apartment, a
small group of young women who wanted to live the
Gospel were just saying goodnight to one another when
the doorbell rang. Who could it be at that hour? At
the door they found a panicstricken young father.
He was desperate: the following day he and his family
were to be evicted because they were unable to pay
their rent.

The
women looked at one another and then, in silent accord,
went to the cabinet drawer. There they kept what was
left over from their salaries, and in the envelopes
marked “gas,” “electricity,”
and “telephone,” the small deposits they
had set aside to pay these bills. Without a moment’s
hesitation about how they themselves would manage,
they gave all the money to their visitor.

That
night they went to bed very happy, certain that Someone
else would take care of them.

Just
before dawn the phone rang. It was the same man. “I’ve
called a taxi and I’m coming right over!”
Amazed that he should choose to come by taxi, they
awaited him. Then as soon as they saw his face, they
knew something had happened. “Last night, as
soon as I got home, I found out I had received an
inheritance I never dreamed I would get. My heart
told me to give half of it to you.” The amount
he gave them was exactly twice the sum they had generously
given him.

“Give and gifts will be given to you; a good
measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.”

Haven’t you experienced this too? If not, remember
that your gift must be given without any self-interest,
without hoping to get it back, and to whomever asks
for it.

Try
it. Not in order to see if it works, but because you
love God.

You
might be tempted to say: “I have nothing to
give.” Yet that’s not true. If we want
to, each of us will find that we possess endless treasures:
our free time, our love, our smile, our advice, our
peace, our words that might persuade a person who
has, to give to someone who has not…. You might
also say: “I don’t know whom to give to.”
Well, just look around you: don’t you remember
a sick person in the hospital; that widow who is always
lonely; the boy in your class who failed and is so
discouraged; that young man who is sad because he
can’t find a job; your little sister or brother
who needs a helping hand; a friend in prison; that
new person on the job so unsure of herself. In each
of these, Christ is waiting for you.

Put
on that new behavior that comes from the Gospel which
is the mark of a Christian. It is just the opposite
of closemindedness and concern for oneself. Stop putting
your trust in this world’s goods and start relying
on God. This will show your faith in him, which you
will find confirmed by the gifts you will receive.

It
is evident, however, that God does not give as he
does so as to make us rich. He acts in this way so
that many, many other people, seeing the little miracles
that happen to us as a result of our giving, may decide
to do the same.

God
also gives to us because the more we have, the more
we can give to others. He wants us to be administrators
of his goods and see to it that they are distributed
throughout the community around us, so that others
might be able to say about us as they said of the
first Christian community: “There was no needy
person among them…” (Acts 4:34).

Don’t
you think that in this way you too can help to provide
a solid spiritual base for the social change that
the world is waiting for?

“Give and gifts will be given to you.”

When Jesus said these words, undoubtedly he was thinking
first and foremost of the reward we will receive in
heaven. But the reward we receive on this earth is
already a foretaste and a guarantee of our heavenly
reward.

Chiara Lubich

The Word of Life is translated into 90 languages and dialects, and reaches more than 13 million people all over the workd through the press, radio and television.

Image by Michael Russel.

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Lk 6:27-28)

‘Love your enemies.’

These are very strong words. They completely upset our way of thinking and compel us to make a sharp u-turn in our lives!

Let’s face it. We all have some enemies of one kind or another.

My enemy might be a next door neighbor or that unpleasant, meddlesome lady whom I meet in the elevator and always try to avoid.

Your enemy could be that relative who mistreated your father thirty years ago and with whom you haven’t spoken since.

He could be that classmate whom you have refused to look at ever since he got you into trouble with the teacher.

She could be the girlfriend who dropped you to go out with someone else.

Or he could be the salesman who cheated you.

Quite often we look at politicians as enemies if their opinions are different from ours…

And, as always, there are people who hate the Church and, therefore, regard the clergy as their enemies.

All these, and many, many others whom we consider enemies, must be loved.

Loved?

Yes. They must be loved! However, this is not merely a matter of changing hatred into some benign kind of feeling.

We have to do much more than that.

This is what Jesus says:

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

As we can see, Jesus wants us to overcome evil with good. He wants us to show our love concretely.

We might wonder why Jesus is asking this of us.

The fact is He wants us to pattern our lives after the life of God, His Father, who “makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and cause rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45).

This is the point: We are not alone in the world. We have a Father, and we must become similar to Him. Furthermore, He has the right to demand this of us because when we were still His enemies, when we were still living in darkness, He loved us first by sending us His Son who died in such a terrible way for each one of us.

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you…”

Jerry, a black boy from Washington, had already learned to live these words. Because of his high I.Q., he was admitted to a special class together with many white children. But intelligence alone was not enough to win him acceptance. Everyone disliked him because he was black. Then Christmas came. The other children exchanged gifts, leaving Jerry out. Naturally, the young boy cried, but when he arrived home, he remembered the words of Jesus, “Love your enemies.” So, with his mother’s permission, he bought gifts which he distributed with love to all of his “white brothers and sisters.”

“Love your enemies… pray for those who mistreat you.”

Elizabeth, a girl from Florence, was climbing the steps of a church to go to Mass when, all of a sudden, outside the church, a group of youngsters her own age started to make fun of her. She would have wanted to scream at them, but she smiled instead. In church Elizabeth prayed for them. As she was leaving, they approached her and asked why she had behaved that way. She explained that she was a Christian and, therefore, she had to love in every situation. She said these words with great conviction. The following Sunday she discovered that her witness had borne fruit. When she entered the church, she saw the same girls sitting attentively in the first pew.

These are examples of how children take God’s Word seriously. For this reason they are “grown-ups” in His eyes.

Perhaps we too ought to take steps to remedy certain situations in our own lives; all the more so since we will be judged by the way we judge others. We ourselves are the ones who give God the measure by which He will measure us. In fact, we often pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Therefore, let us love our enemies! Only by doing this can we heal disunity, break down barriers and build the Christian community.

It is difficult? Painful? Does the mere thought of it keep us awake at night? Take courage. It is not the end of the world. It takes just a little effort on our part, and then God will do the remaining ninety-nine percent, and we will experience boundless joy in our hearts!

Chiara Lubich

The Word of Life is translated into 90 languages and dialects, and reaches more than 13 million people all over the workd through the press, radio and television.

Image by warby07-644-2010 on DeviantArt.

“Those who keep [God's] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.” (1 Jn 3:24)

When you love someone, you want to stay with them always. This is also God’s desire, God who is Love. He created us so that we would be able to meet Him, and we will only possess the fullness of joy when we reach intimate union with Him, for He is the only one who can satisfy our hearts. He came down from heaven to be with us and lead us into communion with Him.

John, in his letter, speaks about remaining or dwelling within each other, God in us and we in Him, reminding us of that compelling appeal of Jesus at the last supper, “Remain in Me, as I remain in you.” And with the parable of the vine and the branches, Christ explained how strong and vital is the link that unites us to Him (Jn 15:1-5).

But how can we reach union with God?

John does not hesitate. We just have to observe His commandments:

“Those who keep [God's] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.”

Are there many commandments that must be followed in order to reach this unity?

No, because Jesus has condensed them all into one. Just before stating the Word of Life that has been chosen for this month, John reminds us, “And His commandment is this: We should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us” (1 Jn 3:23)

Believing in Jesus and loving one another as He loved us These are the only percepts.

If human existence finds its fulfillment in God’s living among us, there is only one way to be fully ourselves: by loving! John is so convinced of this that he keeps repeating it throughout the letter: “Whoever remains in love remains in God, and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16); “If we love one another; God remains in us” (1 Jn 4:12).

Tradition holds that when John was very old, he was asked about the Lord’s teachings and he would always repeat the words of the new commandment. If they asked him why he didn’t speak about anything else, he would answer, “Because it is the commandment of the Lord! If we put it into practice, that is enough.”

That’s how it is with every Word of Life. Without fail they all lead us to love. It can’t be otherwise because God is Love, and each of His words contains love, expresses love and, if put into practice, it transforms us into love.

“Those who keep [God's] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.”

This month’s Word of Life invites us to believe in Jesus and adhere with all our being to His person and teachings. It asks us to believe that He is the love of God—as John teaches us again in this letter—and that out of love He gave His life for us (1 Jn 3:16). It invites us to believe even when He seems far away, when we don’t feel His presence, when difficulties arise or suffering comes.

Strengthened by this faith, we’ll know how to live by His example and obey His commandments to love each other as He has loved us.

We’ll know how to love even when someone no longer seems lovable, even when we have the impression that our love is inadequate, useless, and not returned. By loving this way, we’ll revive all our relationships, making them ever more sincere, ever deeper, and our unity will attract God’s presence among us.

“Those who keep [God's] commandments remain in Him, and He in them.”

Here’s the experience of a married couple: “We were really in love, my husband and I. Everything was fine during the first years of our marriage. This last year, however, he has been very tired and stressed out. Here in Japan, work responsibilities weigh down on a man’s shoulders like a ton of bricks.

“After coming home from work one evening, he sat down at the table for supper. I was about to sit down next to him when he shouted at me to go away, ‘You don’t have the right to eat because you don’t work!’

“The whole night I cried and thought about leaving him and separating. The next day thousands of thoughts continued to nag at me: ‘I made a mistake in marrying him. I can’t live with him anymore.’

“In the afternoon I spoke with my friends, those with whom I share the desire to live an authentic Christian life. They listened to me with much love. From this communion with them I found the strength and the courage I needed to start over again.

“Then I went home to prepare my husband’s supper once more. As the hour of his return from work drew closer, however, my fear returned and grew stronger. ‘How is he going to react tonight?’ But a voice inside me was saying, ‘Don’t give up. Welcome this suffering. Continue to love.’

“Just then he appeared at the door, holding a cake he had bought for me. ‘I’m sorry for what happened yesterday,’ he said.”

Chiara Lubich

The Word of Life is translated into 90 languages and dialects, and reaches more than 13 million people all over the workd through the press, radio and television.

Image by PARANOIA–77 on DeviantArt.