“The inauguration of a fourth academic year at Sophia University Institute, is certainly an appropriate occasion to pause briefly and consider the progress that has already been made and to derive motivation for what lies ahead. The academic performance of our students is an encouraging sign, particularly the theses that have already been completed by several students. In fact, they appear to be the result not only of an effort that has been carried out with intellectual and academic rigor, but within the context of an experience that is also quite unique. The charism of unity that animates this Institute combines intellectual life with real life, the development of relationships that are nourished and re-built each day within the heart of the academic community. All of this allows us to look ahead with real optimism, that is, with the gaze of one who, aware of the inevitable difficulties that will be met along the way, follows a design of light that is manifested and can already be seen unfolding. And so that this design that is contained in Sophia might be more fully realized, I would like to focus your attention on one of the fundamental points around which the experience of Sophia develops: the life of the Word. I would like to invite you to allow yourselves to be profoundly permeated by the Word, that is, by Jesus’ way of thinking, wanting and loving. Live the Word. Allow yourselves to be lived by the Word. This is what Chiara Lubich exhorted us to do, knowing that this is the indispensable condition for entering into a new way of life and a new way of knowing. Indeed, it is only a person who has been transformed by the Word who can attain a true conversion of the mind. Such a person will be a credible transmitter of the truth not only in words but living. Such a person can have an efficacious influence on diverse social and cultural contexts in which she or he works, by injecting a fruitful seed of the life of the Gospel. And thanks to all of you, may Sophia be an ever more authentic witness of this. This is my heartfelt wish, which I offer to you today.” Maria Voce