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January 20051 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 theme for the Week of Prayer in 2014, based on 1 Cor. 1:13, is: ‘Is Christ divided?’In the past, Chiara Lubich used to offer a commentary on the biblical verse behind the Week’s theme for that year. To keep up the tradition and explore this year’s theme, we offer the commentary from January 2005 on ‘For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 3:11)Commentary of the Word of Life: Christ, the Church’s one foundation (see 1 Cor 3:11). In AD 50 Paul arrived in Corinth. It was a large Greek city, well known for its important commercial port and lively because of its many currents of thought. He spent eighteen months there proclaiming the Gospel and laid the basis for a flourishing Christian community. Others came

5 December 1985 What must we hold onto so as not to drown? Mutual love is the “sanatotum” (cure-all), which restores health to everything. Dearest all,The Word of Life for this month is truly fabulous, and it will be helpful for many of us.In fact, we must admit that even with all our good will, the journey to sanctity is not an easy one (...) Text Audio in italian

Christmas 1965 In 1965, while the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council was concluding, Chiara draws us in the hope of a Christmas that marks a rebirth. The event of the incarnation is an anticipation of Easter. Christmas: this year also rekindles its vivid memory, a celebration of Baby Jesus’ birth. Christmas brings back a flavour of eternal rebirth and fills the air – even in the harshest winter – with the atmosphere and the perfume of spring, the birth of the seasons. But this year, Christmas is perceived in a special way. The Second Vatican Council renewed the Church, injecting her with a new vigour and placing her on top of the lampstand of the world, so that her newness may be seen and admired. The Church becomes relevant for today’s challenges, not able to remain crystallized in the past formulas. She is splendid and revitalized by an always new blood, the eternal and genuine one of the Scriptures and the holy Tradition. And we, insignificant members of this glorious mystical Body,

Sierre, 18 August 1983 Chiara visits the saints… This time it is Saint John of the Cross. Dearest all,Remember the Twelve Stars of Perfection of St. John of the Cross? He says there are twelve stars that shine in the souls of those who have reached perfection and holiness.... These stars are: love of God, love of neighbour, chastity, poverty, obedience, private prayer, prayer in choir, humil¬ity, mortification, penance, silence, and peace. These past few days, I have noticed how loving our neighbour makes these twelve stars shine brighter in our souls. And to show you what I mean, let's review them quickly one by one. Love of God. Does this love become more alive in our hearts when we love our neighbour? Certainly it does! It's like a plant: the deeper it sends its roots into the ground, the higher it grows towards the sun. The more we love our neighbour, the more God's love grows in us. That's the first star.The second star is love of neighbour, which is

Marino (Rome), 25 May 2002 Addressing an audience of thousands of teenagers from the world over, and not only Christians, Chiara narrates how God called her while she was carrying out a “simple” act of love. Could you tell us about your vocation? And if some of us should feel this call, how should we answer? This story is very well-known. In any case, there might be one person here who does not know it, so I will tell it.I was at home. I had two younger sisters and an older brother. We were rather poor (...). TextVideo en italian

Rome, 25 october 1994 Commentary of the Word of Life: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all (1 Thes. 3:12). These words are one of those expressions often used by Paul where he both wishes for and asks the Lord for special graces for his communities (cf. Eph. 3:18; Phil. 1:9). Here he asks for the Thessalonians to have the grace of an ever-greater, overflowing mutual love. It is not meant as a veiled criticism, as if mutual love didn’t already exist in the community. Rather, it’s a reminder of a law present in the nature of love itself: the law of its constant growth. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all. Since love is the core of Christian life, if it doesn’t grow, the whole life of a Christian is affected, grows feeble and may even die.It’s not enough to have had the light to understand the commandment to love our neighbour