Riccardi

Commentary of the Word of Life: Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others I will deny before my heavenly Father (Mt 10,32-33). This word of life is a source of great joy and encouragement to all Christians.With this passage, Jesus calls us to be consistent in living out our faith in him, because our eternal destiny depends on the attitude we have assumed toward him during our lifetime. If we declare ourselves for him before others, he says, he will have reason to declare himself for us before his Father. If instead we have disowned him before others, he will disown us before his Father. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others I will deny before my heavenly Father. Jesus reminds us of the reward or the punishment that awaits us after this life because he loves us. He knows, as one Father of the Church put

Today a lot is said about the role of the laity. And perhaps we would see more clearly who the lay person is and how the lay person is also 'Church', if a better and fuller explanation were given of certain aspects of the life of Mary. It seems to us that she is the model of the lay person, even though she is exceptional and unique.We Catholics do not make a God of Mary, as we are often accused of doing, but, since love and faith have led us to the discovery of all that makes her special, we often place her to one side, far away from us. We place her in a sphere which is hers, but it is not the only sphere in which she belongs. In her we praise the Mother of God, the Immaculate, the Assumed, the Queen, but not the perfect Christian, the fiancée, the bride, the mother, the widow, the virgin, the model of every Christian. She, like us lay people, cannot offer

Castel Gandolfo, February 16, 1987 (...) Mary was a gate that leads to God. A gate is not a gate unless it opens and allows free passage. A door that is always closed is really a wall. Those who stop at the gate do not reach God. The gate is for Jesus. “Hail, O Gate of the Sublime Mystery,” sounds the Akathistos hymn. The Virgin is the one who is empty of self, utterly self-forgetful. She is the created being who knows that she is created, even when filled with God. She was using the same method for our Movement that she had used for the Church: keeping herself in the shadows in order to highlight her Son, who is God. Text Video in italian