✨ Word of Life — 22 June 2026 Share What We Have Some possessions become valuable because of the memories attached to them. Yet sometimes the greatest value of an object is the good it can do for someone else. Chiara Lubich puts this conviction in striking terms: "The rich do not sin because they are rich, but rather they sin because they do not use their wealth according to God's will. What they have inherited or possess is theirs only in as much as they are obliged to distribute it to their brothers and sisters in need." This is a demanding teaching. Not — give away everything you have. But — recognize that what you possess was never meant to terminate in you. "If we are Christians and members of one body, then everything we have must circulate. If not, it would be like blocking the flow of blood into one member of the body in order to enrich another part. It would mean death for both of them." This image is medically precise. A body that hoards blood in one organ starves every other organ — and eventually, even the organ doing the hoarding begins to fail. Generosity is not a moral extra. It is the circulatory system of the Body of Christ. "Generosity becomes more meaningful when we share not only what we can spare, but also what we value. What we hold too tightly can no longer help anyone. Even the finest violin fulfills its purpose only when it is placed in someone's hands." This connects deeply to today's Gospel. Jesus warns us about the beam in our own eye — the thing we cannot see because we are too close to it, too attached to it, too unwilling to examine it honestly. Possessions can become exactly this kind of beam. We hold something so tightly that we lose the ability to see clearly what it could do in someone else's hands. Saint Thomas More, whose feast we honour today, understood this in the most extreme way. He held the highest office in England — and let it go rather than betray his conscience. He understood that some things we possess are not truly ours to keep at any cost. What we hold too tightly — whether power, wealth, or a single cherished object — can no longer serve anyone, including ourselves. 📖 "Give, and it will be given to you... the measure you use will be measured back to you." — Luke 6:38 🙏 Prayer to Share Generously Heavenly Father, teach us to hold our possessions with open hands. Help us recognize the needs of others and share generously, trusting that love grows whenever it is given away. Amen. A prayer a day, keeps the soul from drifting away. 💬 Live the Word Today — find one object you have been holding too tightly, and give it to someone who needs it more than you do. #WordOfLife #ShareWhatWeHave #ChiaraLubich #RiseWithTheWord

✨ Word of Life · 21 June 2026 Make Time to Pray Meaningful conversations require attention. The same is true of prayer. It becomes difficult to connect with someone when distractions constantly pull us away. Setting aside even a few quiet moments can create space for a deeper relationship with God. Like tuning an instrument before a performance — a quiet heart helps us hear more clearly. ✝️ A prayer a day keeps the soul from drifting away. 🙏 Father, draw me closer to You. Teach me to set aside distractions in Your presence. Amen. 💬 What helps you find quiet moments to pray? 👇 #WordOfLife #RiseWithTheWord #MakeTimeToPray #ChiaraLubich #FaithInAction

✨ Word of Life — 20 June 2026 Be Kind Kindness begins when another person's needs matter to us. Chiara Lubich described kindness as something far deeper than being pleasant. "Kindness is more than being pleasant. It means making room for another person's joys, struggles, needs, and concerns." Making room. That phrase carries more weight than it first appears to. Because making room requires that we first empty something — our own preoccupation, our own schedule, our own internal monologue — just long enough to actually notice someone else. "When we stop focusing on ourselves for a moment, we become better able to understand what others are carrying." This is the quiet, unglamorous discipline at the centre of real kindness. Not grand gestures. Not performances of generosity meant to be seen. Simply — stopping. Long enough to notice what someone else is carrying. "Real kindness listens before it speaks and cares before it judges." How often do we do the opposite? We speak before we have truly listened. We judge before we have truly cared. Kindness, as Chiara describes it, reverses both instincts. Listen first. Care first. Let understanding come before opinion. "A calm and gentle person can bring peace to a room the way soft music changes its atmosphere." This image is worth sitting with. Music doesn't argue a room into peace. It doesn't announce itself. It simply changes the atmosphere by its presence. That is what a genuinely kind person does. Their calm becomes contagious. Their gentleness changes the temperature of every room they enter. Today's Gospel told us not to worry — to trust that God already knows what we need. Kindness is what happens when that trust overflows outward. When I am no longer anxiously securing my own needs, I finally have room to notice yours. 📖 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." — Ephesians 4:32 🙏 Prayer to Live with Kindness Lord, teach us to listen with attention, understand with compassion, and respond with kindness. Help us notice the needs of those around us and bring comfort, peace, and encouragement through our actions. Amen. 💬 Live the Word Today — before you speak in your next conversation, pause. Listen first. Notice what the other person might be carrying. Let that be your kindness. #WordOfLife #BeKind #ChiaraLubich #RiseWithTheWord

✨ Word of Life — 19 June 2026 Build Unity "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him." — Romans 15:11 People come from different backgrounds, different cultures, different traditions, different beliefs. And yet — there is always something that can bring them together. This was the insight Chiara Lubich returned to again and again throughout her life. Unity is not the erasure of difference. It is the discovery of a common ground deep enough to hold our differences without being destroyed by them. And Chiara was clear about what that common ground is: God. "Praise God by making the effort to build unity, harmony, and peace within our communities. This can be done by always underlining all that unites us and setting aside all that can divide us." This sounds simple. But watch how we actually live. We almost always do the opposite. We notice the difference first. We protect our boundary first. We establish our distinction first. And by the time we finally get around to looking for common ground — the other person has already felt the distance. Chiara's invitation is to reverse the order. Look for what unites before you name what divides. Offer understanding before you demand it. Extend hospitality before you have been welcomed. "This Word of Life invites us to extend the spirit of understanding and hospitality to all the people of other religions, races and cultural traditions. As Christians, we should be the first to give witness to this spirit. Isn't this our distinctive characteristic and the task Jesus gave us? Didn't He tell us that because of this witness, others would recognize us as His disciples?" Today's Gospel gives us the interior condition for this to become possible. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." As long as the treasure of my heart is my own comfort, my own security, my own group, my own way — I will never have the interior freedom to truly build unity. But the moment my treasure becomes what God's treasure is — the human person in front of me, every person, regardless of background — then unity stops being an effort and a strategy and becomes simply what love does when it meets another person. Just as different notes can belong to the same song — people can remain different while moving toward the same good. Unity does not mean everyone becomes the same. It means everyone is oriented toward the same light. 📖 "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him." — Romans 15:11 📖 "By this all people will know that you are My disciples — if you have love for one another." — John 13:35 🙏 Prayer to Build Unity Heavenly Father, teach us to value what unites us and respect what makes each person unique. Help us become instruments of understanding, hospitality, and peace wherever we go. Give us eyes to see the common ground before we see the division — and hearts that treasure what You treasure. Amen. 💬 Live the Word Today — before any conversation that feels tense — look for one thing you share with the other person. Lead with that. And watch what unity becomes possible. #WordOfLife #BuildUnity #ChiaraLubich #RiseWithTheWord