Riccardi

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: Repent, and

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. Text Video in italian

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. He came to bring the family together again: to make all one. Instead, despite his words of fire and truth – that burned away the happiness of vanity, uncovering the eternal that is in man – the people, many people, even though they understood, did not