Riccardi

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

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