Chiara Lubich urges us, “We can not only study the word of God, discuss it, memorize it and pray over it, but most important of all we can live it.” Let us share with one another the concrete experiences of putting the Gospel into practice in the simple, everyday experiences of daily life.
We can share humbly with each other our concrete experiences of the simple everyday events in life. We can also share the fruits of our experiences that can inspire others. By doing this we can help inspire one another to live more intensely the word of God and be a gift to one another.
Blessed Pope Paul V1 proposes, “When listening to an explanation of the Gospel, Christians should take special care to choose one key passage as their own. Then when returning home, let them nourish themselves the entire following week with this nutritious spiritual food: the Word of the Lord; the words must be placed into action and guide our lives, must be applied to our style, our way of living, our way of judging, of speaking.”
Pope Francis asks us, “Do I take the message of reconciliation and love into the places where I live and work? Christians are ready to proclaim the Gospel because they can’t hide the joy that comes from knowing Christ.”
Before the unforeseen Taal explosion a painter got a contract to repaint a town house in Tagaytay. He started the project then the explosion happened, putting a halt to the project for two months. When not busy with painting projects the painter would provide tricycle service in his village. He appealed to his client family if he could get an advance to cover the two months amortization of his tricycle that he bought on credit. At first the family was adamant, wanting to stick to the terms of the contract since their properties were negatively impacted by the explosion. However, remembering the Word of Life, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” they decided to help the painter pay for his monthly amortization.
Igino Giordani, Co-founder of the Focolare Movement, shares how Christ can live in us. “In order that Christ may live in me, it is necessary that my thinking should be His thinking, my feeling and my willing, His feeling and willing. And He expresses His will and thought and feeling for me through the Gospel, through His inspirations and through my superiors. I renounce myself and I recover You, God: You take me and I will take You and the exchange is immense.”
