The Word of Life for January 2022 says that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem following the star to pay homage to the Child Jesus. Today we too can pay homage to the Lord by our life choices, as Chiara Lubich suggests in this passage. You are in the world. Everyone can see that. But you are not of the world. This implies a big difference. It classifies you among those who do not nourish themselves on the things of the world, but on what you hear from the voice of God who dwells within you. The voice of God is in the heart of each person, and it leads those who listen to it into a kingdom that is not of this world. It is kingdom where true love is lived, together with justice, purity, meekness, poverty and self-control. (…) Christian life is not calm and comfortable. Christ did not, and does not, ask anything less of you if you want to follow him. The world comes at you like a river in flood and you have to go against the flow. For a Christian, the world is like a thick forest where you need to watch where you put your feet. But do you know where to put them? In the footprints that Christ himself marked out for you when he lived on earth, which are his words.

Chiara Lubich

(Chiara Lubich, in Parole di Vita, [Words of Life] a cura di Fabio Ciardi, Cittá Nuova, 2017, pp 110-112)