Riccardi

Rome, 1978 When someone passes by us during the day, at work or at school, our only task is to always love. But we must love as Jesus. To do this, we must always listen to his voice speaking within us, so that we do not make mistakes by exaggeration or by default. The Gospel warns us, for example, not to give holy things to dogs, and even though we can and should always consider ourselves inferior to everyone else, since God alone knows the graces he has given us and which we have not made enough use of, we must be very careful not to speak of 'holy things' in surroundings which have not been prepared to receive them. Otherwise they will be despised, 'trampled on', and we will be ridiculed, 'torn to pieces', as the Gospel puts it.At the same time, we must remember that the Gospel itself also teaches us to love our neighbour as ourselves and, therefore, to share the spiritual goods we may have, the light

Commetary on the Word of Life: Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mt 26:41) These are words that Jesus addressed to Peter, James and John when he found them overcome by sleep during his agony in Gethsemane. He took these three apostles with him — the same three that had witnessed his transfiguration on Mount Tabor — to have them close to him during that extremely difficult time. This was their opportunity to prepare themselves through prayer together with Jesus, because the events about to take place would be a terrible trial for them as well. Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak In order to understand these words, we should keep in mind the circumstances in which they were said. What Jesus was giving his disciples was more than words of advice. We should see these words as reflecting his state of mind, that is,

It is wise to spend the time we have by living God's will to the full in the present moment. Sometimes, however, we worry about the past or the future. We are concerned about situations or people for whom we cannot do anything at the moment. This is when it becomes difficult to steer the ship of our lives. It takes great effort to keep to the course that God wishes us to have in that particular moment. At such times we need strong willpower, determination, and especially trust in God, sometimes to a heroic degree.Can I do nothing to resolve a certain complex situation or for a dear person who is sick or in danger? Then I will concentrate on doing well what God wants from me in the present: study, homemaking, prayer, taking care of the children ... God will take care of the rest. He will comfort the suffering and show a way out of that entangled situation. This way the task is being done by two in