John 1:12

“But to all who received him, he gave power to become children of God” (Jn 1:12).

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2012/12/01/dicembre-2012-2/)

One finds this verse in the Christmas liturgy in which we meditate on the coming of God on earth.

In the Christmas liturgy the readings emphasize that God Himself reveals Himself, He Himself gives Himself to us, entering into our lives, He brings forth the source of our future from the base of our lives.

Since He united Himself to us, He became radically God-with-us and God-for-us; by now His reign has definitively begun. The sun no longer illuminates beyond the horizon of only a few stars that bear witness to Him, but goes beyond the line of the horizon; it rises, it wants that it might be full day.

So what happens to me, for you, for every man?

We can walk and live in the light of God, in the present and eternal light of God. “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (Jn 1:9)! With these words, Jesus means to tell us that God has radically changed His position with regard to our lives, Who breaks in this life of ours, and with Him the future passes into a durable present, which no fear and no insecurity will be able to put in doubt.

The Source of the future makes itself present; God arises and from the periphery He comes to the center of our life.

But to be able to “become children of God” we must do our part. One reads in the two verses before this verse:

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world knew Him not. He came to His Own home, and His own people received Him not” (Jn 1:10-11).

Relativism, according to Pope Benedict XVI, is "the most profound difficulty of our time." (http://popebenedictxviblog.blogspot.it/2005_05_01_archive.html).

In his homily at the Mass preceding the conclave that quickly elected him Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger said: “How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true. Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. WE ARE BUILDING A DICTATORSHIP OF RELATIVISM that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.” (http://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/homily-pro-eligendo-pontifice_20050418_en.html; http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/colson_relativism_may05.asp).

I believe that there are a great number of people who are in the illusion of being OK with their own conscience, or according to the standards of the world, or according to the common thought (“everybody does it”), or according to the criteria of the devil, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO THE CRITERIA OF GOD, that is, according to THE TRUTH! This is the fundamental deception of Satan from the beginning of mankind and always (Gen 3:4-5)! We human beings are very capable and astute in deceiving ourselves, WILLFULLY, and then we forget about it so easily! This is the great trap of today for countless souls. Few people go to confession today. When we die, Jesus will ask us if we sought the truth in His revelation in Sacred Scripture interpreted by His Church, or if we decided and determined ourselves, alone (like little gods!), the truth. The other day a man who never goes to Mass said to me in his store: “I am totally ok” (“Io sono apposto”). And I asked him: “According to who?” For him, totally immersed in relativism, there is only one “who”; himself. God, the Bible, the Church have nothing to do with his conviction: “I am totally ok”! BUT WHEN HE DIES, WHO WILL DECIDE IF HE IS TOTALLY OK OR NOT?

In this period of Christmas let us spend more time with Him, Who loves us more that everyone else, with Baby Jesus, before the Tabernacle, in order to let this Baby speak to our hearts, to let His graces slowly penetrate and make soft our hearts in order to be able to trust in Him and His holy Will even if we must change our lives and suffer with Jesus on the cross. This Baby loves us much more than we love ourselves if only we let Him by trusting Him instead of our own intelligence and our own human wisdom. Let us ask help from this Baby’s Mother who leads us sweetly with much love to her Child and helps us to become like her Son. In this way we can truly “become children of God”!

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An Experience of Life:

On 28 November I was in Abidjan with my husband, who was in need of medical check-ups, while our children were still in Man (Ivory Coast). That night the city was taken by the rebels. As soon as we found out, we called the boys trapped there (the phone was still working), urging them to be very careful and to follow the recommendations that we were giving them. That same night, however, four rebels broke into our home. After robbing our children of the little money they had and of their cell phones, they wanted to recruit by force our Jean-Louis who has a physique of an athlete. In vain did the brothers begged them to leave him alone.

Suddenly, inexplicably, the leader of the rebels gave up his idea, and while he was leaving the house he whispered in the ear of our eldest daughter, “Get out of here as quickly as possible: this time they are letting your brother go, but they will return tomorrow.” Then he indicated the path to take.

It might be a trap? God only knew. In any case, the boys left at the break of dawn. With very little money, they walked 45 kilometers before coming to a town from which to continue the trip on a truck. But the price of transport, given the situation, had tripled. An unknown man invited them to get in the truck while paying their fare; despite the insistence of the boys he did not want to give them his address so that they could later reimburse him.

Having arrived at Duokoué, our children found shelter from a family also unknown. They were refreshed, they washed themselves and were accompanied to the station to take a bus to Abidjan.

Upon their arrival in Abidjan, my husband and I cried seeing the terrible condition of our boys, but the thing that struck them more was the experience of the love of God. The next day we took them to Dabou, to their uncle’s place. The first thing that Jean-Louis asked was where he could find a church. “Do you know, Dad – he confided - your God is really powerful!” It was he who, although baptized, but not yet having strong roots in the faith, had come to doubt in God’s existence.

Christine, Ivory Coast

Luke 5:5

‘If you say so, I will let down the nets’ (Lk. 5:5).

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2012/10/01/ottobre-2012/)

The crowd had gathered around Jesus to hear His word. The disciples were in the boat from where the Master spoke; after a night of wasted effort, they experienced, in obeying His Word, the abundance of fruit. The fatigue and the amazement of Peter and his companions for that invitation so unexpected, gave way to trust and surrender to Jesus, and from that moment on they became fishers of men, that is, called to continue His mission.

In this passage Jesus calls every believer, precisely when the faith is put to the test in many ways. To follow Jesus means decision, commitment, perseverance, while in this world, everything seems to invite us to relax, to mediocrity, to 'let go'. The task seems too big, impossible to achieve or seen as a failure beforehand. But, like Peter, it is precisely the fruitlessness, sin itself acknowledged and confessed to Jesus, which becomes the place not of failure but of the call.

On your word, O Lord ... I get back to continuing that task half done, I try to restore that broken relationship, I get out of myself to help ... It is necessary to have trust in His Word, never doubting about what He asks of us. On the contrary, basing every moment of our life on His Word.

We will base, in this way, our existence on what is more solid and safe, and we will contemplate in amazement that precisely there, where every human resource fails, He intervenes and that there, where it is humanly impossible, we will gather the fruits of life.

Alberto P.

 

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An Experience of Life:

It had been a few months since the day I had embraced, full of hope, the new job in Belgium among the Flemish. But now a sense of fear and loneliness gripped my soul. It seemed that between me and the girls with whom I was working and living, there was erected an insurmountable mountain. I felt isolated, foreign among the people that I only wanted to serve with love. Everything depended on having to speak a language that was neither mine, nor of those who listened. I was told that in Belgium people speak French and I had learned it, but in direct contact with the people I realized that the Flemish study French only in school, and generally speak it reluctantly. So many times I tried to move that wall of exclusion that kept me away from the others, but in vain. What could I do for them?

I still saw before me the face of my companion Godelieve, full of sadness. That evening she had gone to her room without food. I had tried to follow her, but I had stopped at the door of her room, shy and hesitant. I wanted to knock ... but what words to use to make oneself understood? I remained there for a few seconds, then I gave up once again.

The next morning I went to church and sat down in the back, with my face in my hands so as not to show my tears. That was the only place where there was no need to speak another language and where it was not even necessary to explain oneself. I looked down on the Gospel of that day and found: "Have faith, I have overcome the world." These words descended like oil into the soul and I felt a great peace. Returning for breakfast, I noticed that the first to come down from the rooms upstairs was Godeliève, who was looking for a coffee in a hurry, in order not to see anyone. But there she stopped; perhaps my peace had touched her heart in a stronger way than any words.

That evening, on the way back home, Godeliève joined me with the bike and trying to speak in a way understandable to me, whispered to me: "Your words are not necessary; today your life told me: love, also you!" . The mountain had moved aside.

Lella

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In this Word of Life we read:

“After a fruitless night, Peter, who was an expert at fishing, could have just smiled and refused Jesus’ invitation to let down the nets during the day, which was a less favorable moment. Instead, going beyond his own reasoning, he trusted in Jesus.”

How many “Catholics” “just smiled and refused” Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and did not “go beyond their own reasoning in order to trust in Jesus” and now we see the prophecies of this encyclical being fulfilled in the destruction of the fundamental cells of our society, the family?

POPE PAUL VI PROPHESIED TO US ABOUT THE “GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF ARTIFICIAL METHODS OF REGULATING BIRTHS” IN HIS ENCYCLICAL: HUMANAE VITAE:

Consequences of Artificial Methods

“Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings - and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation - need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” (Humanae Vitae, no. 17; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html).

WHEN SO MANY COUNTRIES FOUND THEMSELVES WITH MORE WELLBEING AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR, as well as with the discovery of the “pill” (1960), many Catholics (and non-Catholics) were expecting the Church, guided by the “ROCK” (Mt 16:18), to update itself according to the mentality of the world. And so when Pope Paul VI issued his prophetic encyclical, “HUMANAE VITAE” (1968), there was an incredible negative reaction not only on the part of lay men and women but also on the part of numerous so-called “theologians”, priests and bishops, even entire Episcopal conferences (e.g., the ‘Winnipeg Statement’ of the Canadian Bishops)! We cannot imagine what darkness this brings down on earth this radical egoism in the heart of the fundamental cell of society, THE FAMILY! And then we ask why the world is in such bad shape and the economy is coming down!?! For the first time in the history of the world, there are more grandparents than children who work to pay for the pensions of the grandparents!

IT WAS EVEN AGAINST THE CIVIL LAW IN MOST COUNTRIES 60 YEARS AGO TO SELL OR BUY BIRTH CONTROL DEVICES precisely because they understood 60 years ago in a culture of life how much damage is done by these things to the marital relationship and thus to the family. Sixty years ago in a more wholesome environment, it was instinctively understood that each person had to make little sacrifices for the common good. Today there is virtually no concern for the common good unless if effects directly the egotistical desires of the individuals. This has everything to do with all that we are seeing today. The basic decomposition of our beloved country and the whole western world, the meltdown of western civilization, is tied into this.

WHEN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH FIRST APPROVED THE USE OF CONTRACEPTION IN 1930 IT WAS ONLY FOR SERIOUS REASONS and only for married people who have been generous for life. However, by providing an opening for contraception, the qualifying phrase “for serious reason” was quickly ignored. Subsequently the use of contraception was viewed as virtuous behavior, and even the silent holocaust of abortion has become a private ethical choice of birth control. The unborn, unwanted babies no longer have any legal protection; they are now ripped to pieces after they are brutally murdered. What nice words! “Freedom of choice” of the woman! This is “freedom” to kill for our conveniences and our comfort?!? This is a fundamental example of how modern and egotistical men have detached freedom from the truth as Pope John Paul II indicated in “Evangelium Vitae”. BABIES DO NOT CHOOSE TO DIE!

AS SOON AS ONE DOES NOT SEE LIFE AS A PRECIOUS GIFT BUT ONLY AS A COMMODITY OF CONVENIENCE, OUR SOCIETY DESCENDS INTO THE CHAOS OF HELL IN THE CULTURE OF DEATH!

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How many Bishops and priests “just smiled and refused” to obey the “Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion”, “MEMORIALE DOMINI” and did not “go beyond their own reasoning in order to trust in Jesus”?

WHEN THERE IS LACKING FAITH AND HUMILITY BEFORE THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT THE GRACES RECEIVED PERSONALLY AND FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH AND FOR THE WHOLE WORLD ARE GREATLY DIMINISHED! Our nuclear spiritual bomb to be able to support the world in this “cosmic struggle” (John Paul II) is reduced to a fire cracker, or worse, a punishment! When Catholics slid into this subtle defect which seems to many insignificant, the whole world suffers more than we can imagine. Even the Satanists believe in the Eucharist; they seek to acquire the consecrated Hosts in order to profane them at their black masses; at the major basilicas of Rome and in many other churches, there is a guard next to the priest who distributes Holy Communion to make sure that the people put the Body of Christ in their mouth and do not take It out of their mouth.

Bishops and priests who have not obeyed the living Pope will have to answer for all of the souls under their care at the moment of death. A subtle mistake of a jet pilot can kill all the passengers; a passenger changing his seat to the other side of the plane affects the flight very little. On May 29, 1969 the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued “MEMORIALE DOMINI”, containing the Instruction on the Manner of Distributing Holy Communion, which is still in vigor and could be summarized as follows: the prohibition of receiving Holy Communion in the hand remains in vigor in the universal mode and the bishops, priests and faithful are heartily exhorted to diligently follow this law newly reasserted. Nonetheless, WHERE THIS USE MAY HAVE BEEN ENTRENCHED AND INTRODUCED IN AN ILLICIT MANNER, there is provided the possibility to concede to those sectors which are NOT DISPOSED TO OBEY THIS EXHORTATION. (http://www.rinascimentosacro.com/2008/11/itinerario-verso-il-fatto-compiuto.html; http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwmemor.htm).

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The children of parents who did not obey Holy Mother Church have taken this logic of veiled egoism and lack of respect and humility before the infinite God in the Eucharist among so many church-going Catholics even further.

Visit: “An Open Letter To A Fellow Priest” (http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-letter-to-fellow-priest.html).

Luke 15:32

“But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Lk 15:32).
(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2011/09/01/settembre-2011/)

The parable of the prodigal son is rather that of the prodigal father of immense pardon, not always easy for us who sometimes say: “I forgive you, but I do not forget”, and thus we register everything so as to bring it back up later. God’s style is exactly the opposite. He respects the choice of the younger son who opted for the adventure in the city where he squandered everything even to the point of finding himself without food. In this situation he realized that he distanced himself not only from home, but also from himself, because in the text we read: “But when he came to himself…”

The tenderness of the father clashes with the assertion of the rights claimed by the oldest son and not respected, according to him, by the parent. The son does not discover that the love of the father goes beyond human justice and he loses himself in mercy. The Gospel leaves us in this doubt. Perhaps it is better like this, because, in order to love as God, it is necessary to go beyond human logic. In order to do this, divine charity is necessary, that can fill our heart only if we empty ourselves.

So many people today do not want to take this risk, this leap of faith, trust and love into the arms of God the Father! They trust in their own intelligence and wisdom in order to justify their way of living. They do not want to take the risk of having to change their life and to suffer and thus they remain immature in their shabbiness without wanting to know more!

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An Experience of Life:

I have two children: one is seventeen years old, the other sixteen. With the older one I have just about no relationship. Sunday we were in the country with some friends; a car passed by and smashed a bottle. I thought that someone might hurt himself with the pieces of glass and I was about to bend down to gather up the pieces: I am a doctor, I am a Christian! My older son takes me to the side: “do not do that, it is the job of the street cleaner”. His sarcasm made me feel a pang in my heart: I had promised to myself to always be the first to begin to open myself, but when it happens like this my courage fails me.

We went to the Saturday evening Mass and at the door of the church were two beggars who I knew well because they come to my outpatients’ clinic and, when they saw me, they were very happy. I noticed that my son is on the other side of the street and was watching me, but I thought clearly how I must behave; I greet them and I shake their hands. I look up again: my son smiles at me and salutes me affectionately. He had listened to my livinb words of my coherence and of my reception with which I try to have only one model: Jesus.

Mario V. (Italy)

Mark 14:36

"Not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mk 14:36)

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2011/04/01/it-aprile-2011/)

In these words that Jesus speaks to the Father in the garden of Olives is the arrival to the summit of man’s journey who returns to God.

After the experience of sin Adam, the “old man”, feels for the first time in his heart the fear to meet the Lord and thus tries to hide himself. The voice of the evil one put him into a state of confusion creating for him a mistaken idea about God. Thus he flees from Him and from His will and goes forth wandering about, prisoner of his own fears.

Jesus puts an end to this flight, to this living as a vagrant who hide himself from God. He reveals the true face of God, that of a merciful Father Who wants the good of His own children and He calls them to participate in His own Life.

The man Jesus does not flee but seeks God; He wants that His own heart beats in unison with that of the Father. This relationship is fulfilled in prayer, kneeling in prayer Jesus compels His (and our) humanity to receive the design of love which surpasses us. From the “yes” to the Father is born the “new man”, capable of giving ones life for love overcoming every fear.

Also we, in these holy days, recollect ourselves in prayer in order to take part in the trial of death and of the resurrection of Jesus and in this way to regenerate in us and around us the “new man”, that one made according to the will of the Father.

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An Experience of Life:

A friend, Angelo, who I discover is unemployed, communicates to me a great sorrow: the death of his new born baby girl. When we take leave of each other, I have in my heart only one desire: to do something for him. The day after, my first thought was: I want to find work for Angelo.

Among the very few possibilities in an area with much unemployment, Carlo comes to mind, another friend, manager of a large company.

But my day was so filled with things to do that I realized that I would not succeed in contacting him. During the Holy Mass I complain a little with Jesus: “You ask to much of me!”

While I was on my way to meet with a person that was going through a very difficult situation – one of the scheduled tasks for that day – I confide to the Father the work for Angelo.

I listen for hours, with great peace, that person who in the end was truly relieved and happy.

Returning home, there was a message. It is Angelo who found work. He is happy. And I am happy too. But his second statement really touched me: the work is with Carlo’s company, the manager, with whom he came into contact walking along another street.

X. Z., Italy

Luke 1:38

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word (Lk 1:38).
(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2011/03/01/eccomi-sono-la-serva-del-signore-avvenga-di-me-quello-che-hai-detto-lc-138/)

Mary is the person who responded with her own unconditional yes to God: she granted space in herself to God. In this yes, Mary is a Mother that generates: in her the love of God truly made Himself love for man. This fact alone is a scandal. Plato had said that no God mixes with men, and had thus indicated the desolation of the ancient world, which warned the abysmal distance between God and man and thought it to be unbridgeable. It was filled by Mary. In her “behold me”, she became the creatural space where the divine entered into humanity.

It is the particular love of Mary, her love as a woman and as a mother: she does not ask, she gives. She does not pretend; she considers herself in debt. And her beauty is to be background, not to put herself before; thus it is delicate love, respectful, hidden, veiled and at the same time extremely strong, because it is capable of generating. The specificity of generating is the fruit and that of love: the experience to be the response.

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An Experience of Life:

When Frances communicated to us her decision to become a religious sister, she said it to us with words that opened our hearts as parents: “You see, - she told us – I did not seek this; it was not in my plans or even in my dreams. When I realized that perhaps the Lord was calling me to the consecrated life, I tried to push away this thought and to not indulge in it too much. But gradually it appeared to me ever more clearly the will of the Lord in my regard. It was not asked of me to think or to understand, but to correspond with a spirit of receiving and abandonment.” She added: “On my own I asked myself: but how is it possible that the Lord might actually call me, who does not have exceptional talents, who is not better than so many other girls of my age? I discovered with joy that the Lord had fixed His gaze on me even seeing very well, much better than me, the limits, the defects, the weaknesses, my fragility. Thus, I can confide in Him and entrust myself to Him. Today and always He accompanies my steps with His presence, with His support, with His light, with His strength. This certainty gives me a great interior peace.”

These words of Frances helped us to understand that the life of the children, whatever way they decide to take, is always an answer to an initiative of God. We parents are called to be near them always, so that where the Lord will wait for them, they can go with trust and with great interior peace.

(The parents of Frances; Italy)

Luke 1:45

“Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:45)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9908.htm)

In the midst of delusions, of sufferings and of persecutions in our present times, the celebration of the Assumption invites us to look at Mary as a sign of sure hope and to live in this world constantly oriented toward the eternal goods. Faith in the presence of our Lord which sustains our walk, and charity which fills our heart with the presence of God and which brings us close to the needs of people, permit us to feed the hope in the realization of the promises of God. By faith the whole man gives himself to God receiving that which He has made known. Through the faith of Mary there is accomplished the work of Salvation: the Son of God comes to us. Because of her faith, Mary is said to be blessed: blessed because she believes in the Word of God. And the first beatitude, the one that is fundamental: faith in the promise, which permits the Lord to live “today” in the believers who listen to this Word. The beatitude of Mary is shared with each believer who listens and lives the Word. The Word is to be welcomed as it truly is, the “Word of God which is at work in you believers” (1Thess 2:13).

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An Experience of Life:

I BELIEVE IN THE LOVE OF THE FATHER
One day, while going to the university, I passed by a church. I was praying when a boy who was limping and dressed in rags with a heavy knapsack came up to me to ask for alms. I got up and we went toward the door so as not to disturb the people seated in the pews.

There he tells me all about his situation: in three days he will be able to enter a community for detoxification and rehabilitation, but he does not have money to eat nor does he know where to go to sleep for three days. He shows me an ugly wound on one of his legs.

I had with me only enough money to buy a book for the exam and to eat in the cafeteria. I turned towards the altar with faith: “Jesus – I said to him in my heart – you know that I need this money, but I believe in the love of the Father…” I took the money and I gave it to the boy, whose face lit up. Even outside of the church he continued to thank me… Then I went to the school faculty, and the morning passed by without thinking anymore about this event.

At noon, at the dining hall, I fill my tray and I give my magnetic card to the cashier, who gives me a receipt stamped on it “euro 0”. How come? The cashier asks me if I had asked for a study grant. I said yes, but my request was not accepted. The cashier said: “You did not get the study grant, but in recompense they offered you free meals for the whole year”.

I feel a “thump” in my heart: the Father up there did not even wait two hours to reciprocate!

Stefano (Padova, Italy)