PRAYING "LA PAROLA DEL PADRE"
Growing and living with Christ
Scripture reading (Jn 10:1–10)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Confortian response
Parola del Padre 58, June–August 1925
“Jesus Christ said that he came into this world so that men might have life to the full. He transmitted this life to us through Baptism, by which we became living members of the mystical body of which he is the head. Consequently, we must live by his life, just as the members live by the life of the Head. We will grow in virtue in proportion to our participation in the love of Christ, in proportion to the intimacy of our thoughts, sentiments and behavior with him.
We must constantly strive to become like Christ and grow in him. We will grow in him through the exercise of the Christian virtues, especially prayer and the Eucharist, in which the most perfect union between us and Christ takes place”.
Personal reflection
The Founder, taking as his starting point these words of Jesus: “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10b) shows us the plan of God in the distribution of grace: the Trinity communicates its life to the humanity of Christ the head; the humanity of Christ communicates this life to us: “From his fullness we have, all of us, received grace in return for grace” (Jn 1:16) and also “in him you too find your own fulfillment” (Col 2:10). Our life must therefore take a Christ-centered orientation and the Founder suggests to us the path we should follow:
- The exercise of the Christian virtues: all our actions must make us grow in Christ.
- Prayer: this must not be confined only to the liturgy; we are also called to pray to our Father in secret.
- The Eucharist: “the source and the summit of the entire Christian life” (1966, pp. 45–49).