{"id":158325,"date":"2023-03-31T13:14:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T11:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focolaremalta.org\/?p=158325"},"modified":"2023-03-31T13:24:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T11:24:09","slug":"kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focolaremalta.org\/en\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\/","title":{"rendered":"April Word of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

for ages 4-8<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0for ages 9-1<\/a>7<\/a>\u00a0| Print<\/a>| Audio<\/a><\/p>\n

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”\u00a0 (Col. 3:2).<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The first Christian communities had only just formed but they were already experiencing internal disagreements due to false interpretations of the Gospel message. Paul, who was in prison, learned of these problems in Colossus and wrote to this community.\u00a0\u00a0This month\u2019s Word of Life can be better understood if we read the whole sentence of which it forms part. \u2018Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,\u00a0for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God!\u2019 [i]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0To overcome such contrasting opinions, Paul invites us to turn our thoughts and our whole being to Christ who is risen.\u00a0 Indeed,\u00a0 in baptism, we have died to ourselves and risen in Christ. We can live \u2018in the already and not yet\u2019 of this new life.<\/p>\n

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Obviously, the possibility of sharing in this new life in Christ is not obtained once and for all, but must be continually sought during the challenging journey that lasts for the whole of existence. It means directing our lives towards what is \u2018above\u2019.\u00a0 Christ brought the life of heaven to earth, and his Easter is the beginning of the new creation, of a new humanity. Choosing this seems to be the logical consequence of deciding to live the Gospel: it is a choice that totally changes our mentality and overturns the order and the agenda that the world proposes. It frees us from external conditioning and makes us experience a radical change. Paul does not devalue the \u2018things of the earth\u2019 because through the incarnation of the Son of God, heaven touched earth and everything has been renewed. [ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the \u2018things that are above\u2019?\u00a0 Chiara Lubich writes: \u2018Those values that Jesus brought to earth and which distinguish his followers. They are love, harmony, peace, forgiveness, fairness, purity, honesty, justice, etc. They are all those virtues and riches that the Gospel offers. With them and by them, Christians maintain the reality of sharing in Christ\u2019s resurrection\u2026\u00a0And how do we keep our hearts anchored in heaven while living in the midst of the world? By letting ourselves be guided by the thoughts and feelings of Jesus whose inner gaze was always turned to the Father and whose life always reflected the law of heaven which is the law of love.\u2019 [iii]<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The presence of Christians in the world boldly opens up to the new life of Easter. Christians are new women and men who are not of the world [iv]<\/a> but who live in the world which is marked by its current difficulties and challenges. Thus it was said of the first Christians, \u2018They dwell on earth, but they have their citizenship in heaven\u2026 Just as the soul is in the body, so Christians are in the world.\u2019 [v]<\/a>The evangelical and courageous choice of a worker who helped his colleague, who had just lost his\u00a0job, led to a chain of fraternal actions by people who were moved by his example.\u00a0\u2018In the factory, they were handing out letters of dismissal and one was addressed to Giorgio. I knew about his difficult economic situation and so I invited him to return with me to the personnel office: \u201cI am better off than him,\u201d I said. \u201cMy wife has a job: you can fire me instead.\u201d The boss promised to review the case.<\/p>\n

When we left, Giorgio hugged me and was deeply moved. People heard about what had happened and two other workers, in roughly the same financial situation as me, offered to take the place of two other men who had been laid off. The management was forced to rethink its methods of choosing who to dismiss. The local pastor heard about this and, without using names, referred to it in his Sunday sermon. The following day, he told me that two women students had given him all their savings for the workers in need and had said: \u201cWe too want to imitate what that worker has done\u201d\u2019(B. S. \u2013 Brazil).[vi]<\/a><\/p>\n

Edited by Patrizia Mazzol<\/em>a
\nand the Word of Life team<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/pre>\n
[i]<\/a> Col. 3:13
\n[ii]<\/a> Cf. 2Cor 5:14
\n[iii]<\/a> C. Lubich Word of Life April 2001
\n[iv]<\/a> Cf. Jn. 15:18-21
\n[v]<\/a> Diognetus 5, 5-6 in Writings of the Apostolic Fathers
\n[vi]<\/a> From www.focolare.org<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”  (Col. 3:2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-full.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-158325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kelma-tal-hajja","tag-word-of-life"],"yoast_head":"\nApril Word of Life - Focolare Movement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/focolaremalta.org\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[:mt]Kelma tal-\u0126ajja ta' April[:en]April Word of Life[:] - Focolare Movement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[:mt]A\u0127sbu fil-\u0127wejje\u0121 tas-sema, mhux f\u2019dawk tal-art\u201d (Kol 3, 2)[:en]"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col. 3:2).[:]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/focolaremalta.org\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Focolare Movement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/focolaremalta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-31T11:14:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-31T11:24:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/focolaremalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/apple-blossoms-1368187_960_720.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"569\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Website Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Website Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Website Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/242808adc6f36906557ad819553e0a3f\"},\"headline\":\"April Word of Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-31T11:14:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-31T11:24:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1618,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/apple-blossoms-1368187_960_720.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Word of life\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Word of Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/focolaremalta.org\\\/kelma-tal-hajja-ta-april-4\\\/\",\"name\":\"[:mt]Kelma tal-\u0126ajja ta' April[:en]April Word of Life[:] - 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