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To be available to God’s plans Advent of the Kingdom of Love! Dearest Duccia*, Before I left you, and as I left you, I abandoned you to Love, so that you may become Saint Catherine of modern times.I went into St. Mark’s Church and I prayed to Him, the Almighty for you.I was close to Him in body and heart and He spoke to me of you. He told me that your wish is welcomed in Heaven and He, the Almighty One, is ready to carry it out.But He told me to tell you this:Wanting to be St. Catherine is a good thing.Being able to be St. Catherine depends totally on God and it depends totally on you. read the whole text * Duccia, a few years older than Chiara, was a social worker, a Red Cross nurse who lived in Piazza Cappuccini, in Trent, near the focolare where Chiara had moved to in September 1944.Chiara gave her as a model Saint Catherine of Siena, who was very popular in Italy

Rome, March 30, 1959 We certainly have a great responsibility. We Christians must give witness to Christ and from the way we act people should be able to grasp the message that Christ brought on earth. But at times the witness we give of Christ is weak—if not non-existent— or deformed in one way or another. Various personalities and minds averse to the action of grace project an image of Jesus that is often in their own image and likeness. Therefore, those looking on deduce what they can from the data they have: for example, that deep down, religion simply bends people’s necks but not their will. And this is because those Christians, who call themselves Christ’s disciples, since it is they who live and not Christ in them, cast a shadow that veils in their own person the religion they profess. As a result, the separation tragically continues and is perpetuated between those who are far from Christ and those who, if they were to relive the love that is

Rome, April 8, 2004 We are nearing Easter. While the world is breathing an atmosphere of fear because of the threat of terrorism, what answer may come from the mystery of Good Friday and the Easter Resurrection? Chiara Lubich: Every day is Good Friday. Looking at the news, in front of the killings and assassination attempts, one after the other, in those pictures of inhuman violence, in the cry of those sufferings, resounds the cry of abandonment which Jesus cried out to the Father on the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?, his greatest trial and the darkest shadow. But it’s a cry which didn’t remain without an answer. Jesus did not remain in the abyss of that infinite pain, but, with a huge and unimaginable effort he re-abandoned himself to the Father, overcoming that immense suffering and in this way he brought people back in the bosom of the Father and in the reciprocal embrace. read the whole text

Rocca di Papa, December 6, 1973* Last summer was a rather special one because of the suffering that God had planned for me personally and as a consequence- because of unity- for some who were with me.We have always said that suffering and love must be kept secret, whereas the light that comes from our experience must be given. I believe that what has happened in these past months is of fundamental importance for us. In fact, I feel that God wanted to highlight a part of His Gospel which we had not yet considered in depth. read the whole text   * This text is the fruit of a spritual experience lived out by Chiara Lubichin 1973, when, physically struck by a very painful herniated disc and spiritually struck by other sufferings, she began to deepen on a new dimension of the Gospel. The text is in conversation form as it was originally addressed to some delegates of the Movement and it was kept that way.

Commetary on the Word of Life: You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. (Jn 15:3) I think when the disciples heard this clear word of encouragement spoken by Jesus, their hearts must have leapt for joy. How wonderful if Jesus were to say it to us as well! In order to be slightly more worthy of it, let’s seek to understand it. Jesus had just been using his well-known image of the vine and the branches. He is the true vine, the Father is the vine-grower, who cuts off every branch that bears no fruit and prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it may bear more. Having said this, he declared: You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ‘You have already been cleansed...’ What sort of purity is meant? It is that inner attitude needed to stand before God, the absence of obstacles (like sin, for instance) opposed to contact with the sacred, to

Rome, May 25, 1970 Today we often hear about Christianity as a social message. And it is only right that this aspect should be emphasized. Since God be¬came man, it is plain that he is concerned with every aspect of our affairs. Christ's whole life is, in fact, an example of social involvement.It must be remembered, however, that what he announced is also and is above all, a spiritual message. We Christians do great injustices to our faith. Now and then we pluck up the courage to love God and our fellow men, to be tolerably good and honest. Not infrequently, we pray. In short, we lead a life that has an undeniably Christian flavour.But there are truths which we neglect, let's admit it, and almost never think about or con¬sider only when we are forced to do so. read the whole text Published in Città Nuova, n10/1970 - taken from: Chiara Lubich Yes Yes, No No, New City London 1977 pp. 147-152.