What does the Gospel say we should do when we are annoyed, when we are dealing with a difficult person, when we are tired, or meeting someone for the first time? Focolare emphasizes living the Scripture in all of life’s situations.
The words of Scripture can become an “instruction manual” for living or simply put: “words of life.”
The Word of Life is a sentence chosen each month and shared around the world which we’re all invited to live by. The accompanying commentary is translated into some 90 different languages and dialects. There are special versions for children and teens as well.
Lord, it is good for us to be here. (Mt 17:4)
How did this practice start?
Chiara Lubich explained how the Word of Life began: “World War II was still raging. Every time the air-raid siren sounded, the only thing that my friends and I would take into the shelter with us was one small book: the Gospel.
“We opened it and, as we read, the words were lit up as if they had a candle beneath them, even though we already knew them quite well. But now they inflamed our hearts and urged us to put them into practice immediately. We were attracted to them all and tried to live them one after another.
“We read, for example, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 19:19). Our neighbor. Where was our neighbor? There, next to us in all the people who had been hurt by the war, wounded, without clothes, without houses, hungry and thirsty. We immediately dedicated ourselves to them in many ways.”
Chiara and her close friends began to live one sentence from the Gospel at a time. Then they shared their experiences of how it went, helping one another and growing closer along the way.
This experience led them to realize that not only can we study the word of God, discuss it, memorize it and pray over it, but most important of all, we can live it and share our experiences of doing so. This sharing can be a barometer of how well we are really living. We also learn from one another about the many different ways that the Word of Life can inspire our actions.
Words of Life - 2024
- August 2024 – Lord, it is good for us to be here. (Mt 17:4)
- July 2024 – The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Ps 23[22]:1)
- June 2024 – This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. (Mk 4:26-27)
- May 2024 – Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 Jn 4:8)
- April 2024 – “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” (Acts 4:33)
- March 2024 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51[50]:10
- February 2024 – “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:14).
- January 2024 – “Love the Lord your God … and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
Words of Life - 2023
- December 2023 – “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1Thess. 5:16-18)
- Novembre 2023 – “You are all children of light and children of the day; we do not belong to the night, nor to darkness” (1 Thess 5:5)
- October 2023 – “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mt. 22:21)
- September 2023 – “Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever.” (Ps 145 [144]:2)
- August 2023 – “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish”. (Mt 15:28)
- July 2023 – “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple – truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” (Mt 10:42).
- June 2023 – “Rejoice, put things in order, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you”. (2 Cor. 13:11)
- May 2023 – “Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour”. (Rom 12:10)
- April 2023 – “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” ( Col. 3:2)
- March 2023 – “Live as children of light: for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true”. (Eph. 5:8-9)
- February 2023 – “You are the God who sees me”. (cf. Gen 16:13)
- January 2023 – “Learn to do good; seek justice”. (Is 1:17)
Words of Life - 2022
- December 2022 – “Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.” (Is 26:4)
- November 2022 – “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Mt 5:7)
- October 2022 – “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” (2Tim 1:7)
- September 2022 – “For though I am free with respect to all, I made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.” (1 Cor 9:19)
- August 2022 – “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Mt 18:21)
- July 2022 – “There is need of only one thing.” (Lk 10:42)
- June 2022 – “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Ps 16[15]:2)
- May 2022 – “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” (Jn 13:34)
- April 2022 – “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (Mk.16:15)
- March 2022 – “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Mt 6:12)
- February 2022 – “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.” (Jn 6:37)
- January 2022 – “We saw his star in the East, and have come to worship him.” (Mt: 2:1–2)