"Give Them Something to Eat"

The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time to reflect on our lives. It's also a great time to establish some kind of agenda for the coming year. For us at The Word Among Us, this is a special year. The year 2006 marks the beginning of our twenty-fifth year of publication. To celebrate our anniversary-and to give glory to God for his work in this magazine-we'd like to share with you some reflections on our history and calling.

In this special anniversary issue, I want to emphasize something that we say to ourselves over and over again: This magazine belongs to the Lord and not to us. The fact is that none of us-from the beginning to the present-would be working here if it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Some of us were salespeople. Others were teachers. Others were housewives or computer programmers. Even the priests who helped us were pastors or professors, not publishers. I myself was on the path to becoming a professional golfer. But we were all touched and changed by the grace of God, and we changed our plans so that we could serve the Lord with our lives.

Twenty-five years ago, we felt that God was calling us to tell others what the Holy Spirit had shown us. We felt called to tell people that all of us can have a personal relationship with Jesus. We felt called to talk about how the Holy Spirit wants to transform and renew our minds as we pray, ponder his word, and receive him in the sacraments. And we still feel the same calling today.

The amazing thing is that when we started to put this message down on paper, we didn't really know what we were doing. None of us had any publishing experience. We didn't even know if the magazine would survive through the year. But we were convinced that God was asking us to step out and try to "give them something to eat" (Matthew 14:16).

Now, twenty-five years later, I am in awe of God's work through this magazine. 1 am especially touched by the thousands of letters and e-mails that have told me about the marvelous things the Lord has done. These letters are so touching that we decided to print two of them in this issue. It's messages like these that have helped all of us feel deeply connected with you.

As we look to the future and contemplate our agenda for the upcoming years, I pray that God will give us the grace to remain faithful to his calling. To that end, 1 want to ask for your prayers and your blessings as well. May we all become a little more like Jesus every day!

Brother Roger. Also in this issue is the story of Brother Roger Schutz, who founded an ecumenical prayer community in Taizé, France, sixty-five years ago. On August 16 of last year, a deranged woman attacked Brother Roger and stabbed him to death during the community's evening prayer service. In honor of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25), we wanted to tell the story of this gentle soul who was able to bring Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox together in prayer and unity. I hope you enjoy the article.

Finally, I want to wish God's peace and his blessing on you and your family as we begin this new year.

Joe Difato

Publisher

(joe@wau.org)

Copyright Word Among Us Jan 2006
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