Word of Life

Only one Word of the Gospel, lived by many, could change the course of history, because the Word works miracles. This challenge offers us the greatest joy our hearts could conceive,

"So now, Israel, give heed to the statues and decrees that I am teaching you to observe." (Deut. 4: 1)

A God who speaks to us as to friends. The People of Israel were proud to have a God who was so close, who gave them such just laws and standards (cf. Deut. 4: 7-8), as we read in this passage from Deuteronomy, which is part of the Old (or First) Testament.

Precisely because the Word of God is extraordinarily fascinating, there is the danger of believing that all we have to do is listen to it. Instead the Word has to be lived. This is the point.

In the New Testament too, the apostle James warns the first Christians:

"Be doers of the ward, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves" (James 1: 22). Moses taught the very same thing when he spoke to the Israelites in these words:

So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and decrees that I am teaching you to observe.

It is clear that we must listen to the Word of God and live it.

Furthermore, Jesus himself is present in his Words. His Words are Himself. They are eternal words and therefore suited for everyone. They are universal, so they apply to everyone, beyond every race or culture. They are not just exhortations, suggestions or commands as human words might be: they contain and transmit Life.

At the end of his great Sermon on the Mouni, Jesus left us a famous parable in this regard (Cf. Matt. 7: 24-27). He compared those who hear his words with enthusiasm, but do not translate them into life, to a house built on sand.

The wind blows and the rain pours - that is, they come up against other, merely human, approaches to life that are easier and more enticing, ideas that enchant and deceive with their passing glitter - and these people pitifully collapse because the Gospel message has not become life in them.

Jesus compares those who put his Word into practice to a house built on rock. Trials, temptations, doubts and confusion may come, but such people stay firmly on the way of the Gospel, and continue to believe in the Words of God because they have experienced their truth.

Living the Word of God brings about a real revolution in our life and in the life of the human community with which we share the Gospel.

The Words of Jesus should be lived with the simplicity of children. He says to us: "Give, and it will be given to you" (Luke 6: 38) How often have we experienced that the more we give the more we receive?

How often has it happened that we have not been left empty-handed, because every time we gave to someone in need, we found ourselves with the hundredfold? And when we had nothing to give, did not Jesus say: "Ask, and it will be given to you"? (Matt. 7: 7) We asked .. and our house was filled with the goods of God's earth so that we could go on giving.

When we feel oppressed by worries about a situation that seems beyond our strength, or by an anguish that paralyses us, let us remember the Words of Jesus: "Come to me, all of you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens..." (Matt. 11: 28), and having cast all our anxieties on him, we will see peace return and with it the solution to our problems.

The Word of God shatters our ego, wipes out our selfishness, and replaces our way of thinking, of wanting and of acting with that of Jesus. By living the Word, a divine logic takes over, a Gospel mentality sets in, and we see everything with new eyes.

Our relationships change: by living the Word of God together with others and sharing the experiences it brings about, we find that we are brothers and sisters, even though we didn't know one another before. We become a real people, the living Church. One single Word of the Gospel, lived by many, could change the course of history.

The Word of God, if it is lived, works miracles. Our hearts are filled with a new, boundless confidence in the love of our Father, who steps in every day to help his children. His Words are true; if we live them, he too puts them into practice, to the letter, and He gives us what He promises: the hundredfold here on earth, the fullness of life and the never-ending joy of heaven.