When loving, be coherent

“To live” the truth? We “learn” the truth; we “speak” the truth…. But for Jesus, truth is “lived out.” Jesus always takes us by surprise.
Even Nicodemus, a Rabbi and a member of the Sanhedrin, was surprised. He had gone to ask Jesus how one could enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus replied that he would have to be reborn, that is, he would have to accept the new life that Jesus had come to bring on earth and to allow himself to be inwardly transformed by it to the point of becoming a son of God and thus enter into his very world. Salvation, rather than being a human accomplishment, is a gift from on High.
Nicodemus, who came to see Jesus at night, in the darkness, went away full of light.

«Whoever lives the truth comes to the light.»

This Word of Life is an invitation to act in conformity with the truth, in harmony with the Gospel. It asks us to be people who are “doers of the word and not hearers only” (Jas 1:22; see 1 Jn 3:18). One of the Fathers of the Church, Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, said that “there is nothing about the Word of God that cannot be lived out: everything that is said in it needs to be put into practice. The Words of God are decrees” (PL 9,295).
Our faith and our moral behavior are closely linked together.
In Jesus, as clearly appears in his intense discourse with Nicodemus, the light, the life and the love he lived out all coincide. So too they should coincide in those who accept him and become, in him, sons of God. Another Father of the Church, Clement of Alexandria, wrote: “Those who obey the Lord and because of him live their lives according to Scripture will then be fully transformed in the image of the Teacher: he or she will make it to live like God on earth” (PG 9,539C).
The same coherence is asked of those who do not profess a specific religious creed. The deep convictions that conscience dictates require that they be translated into deeds.

«Whoever lives the truth comes to the light.»

The result of living out the truth is to come to the light, “to accept Christ.” Jesus promised us: “Whoever loves me… I will reveal myself to him” (Jn 14:21). He is the “true light” (Jn 1:9).
But the result of living out the truth is also the witness that radiates beyond ourselves and into that area of society we live and work in. Jesus had already said this when he invited us to make our light “shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:16).
A consistent life is more eloquent than any speech. Children ask that their parents practice what they preach: they want them to be united, to be intent on maintaining and consolidating the harmony in their family. Citizens expect consistency in the political leaders they have elected: that they be faithful to their campaign promises, that they be effectively concerned about the common good, and that they be honest in their administration of financial resources. Students ask their teachers to be consistent in their obligations to teach and to educate. Honesty, transparency, competence are all elements that are asked of people in business, in professions, and in every kind of work.
Society is built up and improved also through the witness of consistency between the ideals we profess and the practical choices we make each day.

«Whoever lives the truth comes to the light.»

This is the experience of people like Nelson Mandela, who remained steadfast in his quest for equality, enduring many difficult years in prison, only to emerge victorious as his nation’s leader, and of people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who paid with his very life for living out what he believed.
This is also the experience of many men and women who remain unknown but are no less authentic and heroic in the choices they make. For instance, this was the case of a small business owner who was asked to accept an illegal bid in exchange for new supplies. He opted to remain faithful to his principles. It was a difficult decision, for he made it with the full awareness that by being honest, he risked losing a large part of his sales. In fact, the merchandise chain that sold his products held back its orders, bringing his business to the brink of bankruptcy. After a few months, however, the merchandise chain was forced to backtrack on its decision because so many shoppers had complained when they no longer found the small business products on the shelves. A consistent way of life was rewarded.

Chiara Lubich

Do not be jealous

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Hold others in esteem

The Sermon on the Mount comes at the beginning of the mission of Jesus. It opens with the beatitudes. The third of the eight beatitudes is being proposed to us this month:

What does it mean to be meek? It means that we do not become irritated in the face of evil, that we do not allow ourselves to be carried away by violent emotions. Meek persons know how to control and curb their reactions, especially bursts of temper and anger. Meekness, however, has nothing to do with weakness or fear. It is not passive consent to evil or conspiracy. On the contrary, it requires great will power to replace feelings of resentment and revenge with a firm and calm attitude of respect for others.
With the beatitude of meekness, Jesus is proposing a new kind of challenge: turn the other cheek, do good to those who mistreat you, and give your tunic to the one who wants your cloak. Meekness is able to win over evil by doing good, and to those who live it, Jesus makes a great promise
The promise of land brings to mind another homeland, that which Jesus, in the first and last beatitudes, calls “the kingdom of heaven”: the life of communion with God, the fullness of life that will never end.
Those who live meekness are blessed even now, because even now they experience the possibility of changing the world around them, especially by changing how they relate to other people. In a society often ruled by violence, arrogance and injustice, they become a “sign of contradiction” and radiate justice, understanding, tolerance, gentleness and esteem for others.
While the meek are working to build up a society that is more just and more in tune with the Gospel, they are also preparing themselves to inherit the kingdom of heaven and to live “in a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1).
To know how to live this passa Parola it would be enough to look at the way Jesus lived, he who said: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29). In him meekness appears as a quality of love. And true love, which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts, is in fact “joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22).
Yes, whoever loves is not agitated, is not unduly hasty, does not offend, does not hurt others.

Those who love control themselves and are gentle, meek and patient.

The “art of loving” is found everywhere in the Gospel. Many children have learned this art. I know that they play with a special cube that they call the “cube of love.” Each side of this cube has a phrase written on it suggesting a way to love following Jesus’ example: to love everyone, to love one another, to be the first in loving, to share the other’s joy or hurt, to love Jesus in the other, and to love our enemies. At the beginning of the day they roll the cube [like rolling dice] and they try to put into practice the phrase that turns up. Then they share their experiences on how they tried to do so.
Francis is a three-year-old boy who lives in Caracas, Venezuela. One day his father came home quite upset because he had had an argument with a colleague at work. He told his wife about it and she too became angry with that colleague. Francis went into his room and came back with the cube. “Roll the cube of love!” he told his parents. They rolled it together. “Love your enemy” turned up. His parents knew what they had to do.
If we stop to think about it, we will realize that there are people who live exemplary meekness in their daily life. Through their meekness, great figures who have departed from this earthly life—John Paul II, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Frere Roger Schutz, for example—made a tremendous difference in society and in history, and they continue to urge us along in our journey.

"The most beautiful thing”

For a better understanding of the passaparola today I found this text a true meditation especially in the light of the various trials the world is going through! I can bring a new culture, the culture of love, if I can consider everyone as brother or sister!
 In the face of the multiple difficulties in the relationships among persons of such different mentalities, among peoples that are so different, cultures that are so distant from one another, religions distorted by the presence of extremists, there is only one remedy: universal brotherhood, to make humanity one family in which God is the Father and all people are brothers and sisters.
How can this be done? Who is qualified for such a task?
            There is no doubt about it: someone who also died for his ideal, but who then rose and gave this possibility to everyone. It’s Jesus. We must aim at bringing him back to earth, through ourselves, by being another Christ, another incarnate Love, Holiness, Perfection, as he is.
            This is the hour to resolutely strive for perfection.
            But what doe perfection consist in?
            I recently re-read, in a paper on the spiritual life, wonderful words of great Church Fathers and saints. Perhaps we already know these things, but it will be helpful to remember them in this moment.
            All these eminent people of the Church agree that perfection consists in never ceasing to grow, because whoever does not go forward, goes backward. And, considering that ours is a journey of love, perfection consists in always growing in charity.
            Let us love, therefore, and let us always improve in our love, always improve. How?
By keeping before us our perfect model: the Blessed Trinity, God who is Love.
            In the life of the Blessed Trinity, each divine Person is by not being so that the Other (the other Person) may be. If the Father – likewise the Son and the Holy Spirit – is not (is not closed in himself, but open to the Other; is not self-possession, but gift without reserve to the Other), then he is: he is love.
            This is the way it must be for us too: each one is himself if he lives the other (our neighbour) or the Other (with a capital “O”), God: the will of God.
            St. Francis de Sales says: “The person who makes no gain loses…. The person who does not climb upwards goes down on this ladder. The person who does not vanquish is vanquished in this battle.”
            We are struck by the radicalness demanded by love. But everything in God is radical.
            We can contemplate such radicalness in the second divine Person who became man: Jesus.
In the abandonment he completely empties himself of the human and of the divine. And we can see this in Mary desolate who, in a certain way, senses that her divine maternity is being nullified when Jesus shows her another son. Thus she loses the most human and divine of what she had.
            God asks for everything. We can’t keep anything for ourselves. If we do, we are not, we are no longer ourselves. We are, I repeat, if we are the other, if we are the Other.
            It means that we must sell all that we have and all that we are, and not only material goods, but really everything. In a sense, it means giving ourselves to the will of another, transferring ourselves into another. And we must do so in every present moment without reserving anything.
            Is it difficult? Is it easy?
            Try it and see. Give yourself to the will of God in each moment, to the other, to the brother or sister you must love, while working, while studying, while praying, while relaxing, while carrying out an activity. And we must continually improve in this: otherwise we will go backwards.
            To help us do this, we can repeat with every action, even the most simple and commonplace: “This is the most beautiful thing I can do in this moment.” Then we are, we are ourselves because we are him, Jesus who is love.
            John XXIII tried to live each moment perfectly, as if he had been born for the sole purpose of each individual act.
            In this way we too will train ourselves for the task that awaits us and which is so very much ours: universal brotherhood. (applause and music)
(Collegamento CH, Castelgandolfo, 27 settembre 2001)

Beloved, do not grumble against one another.’

For a better understanding of the Word of Life offered us this month, we ought to bear in mind the circumstances that gave rise to it. They were the difficulties appearing in the Christian communities James was writing to. There were scandals, discrimination, a selfish use of wealth, the exploitation of workers, a faith made of words more than deeds, and so on. All of this led to resentment and ill feeling between one person and another, creating an unhappy atmosphere throughout the community.

‘Beloved, do not grumble against one another.’
Even at the time of the Apostles, therefore, we can see what we also find in our communities today. Often the greatest difficulties in living our faith are not those from outside, that is, from the world, so much as those from within. They come from certain situations that arise within the community and from attitudes and actions of our neighbours out of step with the Christian ideal. All this generates a feeling of uneasiness, mistrust and upset.
‘Beloved, do not grumble against one another.’
But even though all these more or less serious contradictions and inconsistencies stem from a faith that is not always enlightened and a love of God and neighbour that is still very imperfect, as Christians our first reaction should not be impatience and inflexibility but what Jesus taught. He tells us to wait patiently, be understanding and merciful, which helps develop that seed of goodness sown in us, as explained in the parable of weeds among the wheat (Mt. 13:24-30; 36-43).
How then can we live the Word of Life this month? It presents us with a difficult aspect of Christian life. We, too, belong to various communities – the family, the parish, the workplace, the civic community and associations of various kinds. Unfortunately, in these communities there may be many things that we feel are not right: attitudes, points of view, ways of doing things, lapses that pain us and make us feel like rejecting others.
These then are many opportunities to live the Word of Life for this month well. Instead of moaning or passing judgement, as we would be tempted to do, let’s be tolerant and understanding. Then, as far as it is possible, let’s also correct one another as brothers and sisters. Above all, let’s give a Christian witness by responding to any possible lack of love or commitment with a greater love and commitment on our part.

(Chiara Lubich, Word of Life, December 1989)

Communion of experiences

Today I was struck by our need to communicate, to put in common our thoughts and what is going on in our souls, heads and hearts. Experiences are not just limited to the soul, but include our thoughts and feelings, but it is an art to put them in common: out of love for the others.Below is a reflection by Chiara Lubich on scripture, but it struck me that it can be more universal

            This time we will speak about the "communion of experiences of the Word of Life" (or experiences on the motto of the Conference Call which is often like a summary of the Word of Life). This communion should not be confused with the "communion of souls" …. Rather, it is a practice in itself which dates back, as you know, to the first days of the life of the Movement.

            The Word of Life is of fundamental importance to us. Our Movement was born as a concrete expression of the Word. Because of the Word put into practice in a radical way, Christ is formed within us. Moreover, the Word is very important because through it, we make ours that great rule (this is how we viewed the Gospel from the early days) from which our spirituality surged forth. From the Gospel we undoubtedly learn the words concerning charity, but also those dealing with the other virtues, which we are called to live because it is asked of us in our Statutes: faith, hope, temperance, justice, fortitude, prudence, patience, purity, humility, meekness, piety, obedience, poverty, mercy, etc.

            Therefore, it is very important that we live the Word. But this is not enough. We are called to put our experiences of the Word in common with others. Why? Because the Lord asks this of a collective spirituality; therefore, not to practice this communion is a grave omission.

            The saints do not hesitate to attribute this transgression to the enemy of humankind: the devil. Saint Ignatius of Loyola speaks about it in one of his letters on "false humility."

            I would add that at times we do not practice the communion of experiences on the Word of Life because of laziness or because we are caught up in a false activism which makes us inclined to look outside rather than inside.

            No! We must be faithful to our duties, we must insist on using this additional instrument of our collective spirituality every time it is the will of God to do so (and we are establishing this for all the various vocations of the Movement).

  And so to conclude: let us live the present Word of Life well and … the next Word of Life; and let us continue or begin our communion of experiences of the Word of Life.
(Chiara Lubich, CH, Rocca di Papa, October 27, 1994)

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

I found this text on the Will of God by Chiara Lubich

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

These words mark the beginning of Mary's divine adventure. The Angel has just revealed to her the plan God has for her: to be the mother of the Messiah. Before giving her assent Mary wanted to be sure that this was truly the will of God. Once she understood that this was indeed what God wanted, she did not hesitate for a moment to adhere fully to it. After that Mary continued to abandon herself completely to the will of God, even in the most painful and tragic moments.

All generations call Mary blessed (cf. Luke 1:48) because Mary did not do her own will but the will of God, and because she trusted fully in everything God asked of her. By doing so, Mary fulfilled herself completely to the point of becoming the Woman par excellence.
In fact, this is what happens when we do the will of God: we fulfil our personality, acquire our full freedom and reach our true being. God has always thought of us, he has loved us from all eternity, we have always had a place in his heart. God wants to reveal to us too what he has thought of for each one of us. He wants to let us know our true identity. He seems to say to us: "Do you want me to make you and your life into a masterpiece? Then follow the path I will show you and you will become what you have always been in my heart. In fact, from all eternity, I have thought of you and loved you and I have uttered your name. I reveal your true self by telling you my will."
So his will is not an imposition forced on us, but it is the revelation of his love for us and of his plan for us. God's will is sublime like God himself, fascinating and heavenly as his face: it is God who gives himself. The will of God is a golden thread, a divine pattern woven through the whole of our earthy life and beyond. It is a plan which starts from eternity and goes to eternity. At first it is in the mind of God, then on this earth and afterwards in Paradise.
But in order for God's design to be completely fulfilled, as he did with Mary, God asks for our assent. This is the only way to fulfil the word which God has uttered about me, about you. So we too, like Mary, are asked to say:
Certainly, his will is not always clear to us. Like Mary we too will need to ask for light to understand what God wants. With great sincerity we must listen carefully to his voice within us and, if need be, ask advice from those who can help. But once we have understood his will, we want to say yes to him straightaway. In fact, if we have understood that his will is the greatest and most beautiful thing that could happen in our life, we will not resign ourselves to 'having to do' the will of God. Instead we will be glad to 'be able' to do the will of God, to be able to follow his plan, so that what he has thought of for us might come about. It is the best and most intelligent thing we can do.
Mary's words therefore become our loving response to God's love. They keep us always turned towards him, in an attitude of listening and of obedience, wanting only to do his will, to be as he wants us to be.
Nonetheless, sometimes, what he asks of us can seem absurd. It would seem a lot better to us to do something different. We would like to take charge of our life. We might even want to advise God and tell him what to do and not do. But, if I believe that God is love and trust him, I know that what he plans in my life and in the lives of those close to me, is for my good and theirs too. So I entrust myself to him, I abandon myself to his will with full trust, and I want it with the whole of myself, to the point of being one with it, knowing that to welcome his will is to welcome him, embrace him and be nourished with him.
We must believe that nothing happens by chance. No event, whether it be joyful, indifferent or painful, no encounter, no situation in the family, at work or at school, no moral or physical condition, is without meaning. On the contrary, every event, situation or person - bears a message from God. Everything contributes to the fulfilment of the design of God, which we will discover bit by bit, day by day, doing the will of God as Mary did.
So how can we live this Word? Practically speaking our 'yes' to the word of God means doing well and completely all that he asks us to do in every present moment. We should be completely immersed in whatever we are doing, putting aside everything else, letting go of desires, memories or actions that have to do with anything else.
We can say, "Let it be done to me according to your word," or, as Jesus taught us in the 'Our Father', "Your will be done," before every will of God, whether it is painful, joyful, or indifferent. Let's tell him this before each of our actions: 'Let it be done', 'Your will be done'. We will compose, moment by moment, piece by piece, the marvellous, unique and unrepeatable mosaic of our lives that the Lord has always thought of for each one of us.

God loves you imensely

Following on from yesterday's reflection  today is more powerful and I am full of joy in the knowledge that God loves each of us immensely individually, because it is his kind of love, not mere human love, because it is universal and yet individual! 

 

Chiara said that at the very beginning of the Ideal is a name, precisely, the name “God,” who presented himself to Chiara’s soul with this great attraction; God, the ideal that Chiara chose. Initially, Chiara said, he “was just a simple name for us.” They believed in him; in the city of Trent they were all Catholic Christians, so they believed in God. Therefore, Chiara said, we believed in his existence and our faith in him-Eternal was reinforced “by the crystal clear evidence of the vanity and transitory nature of all the rest,”[1] highlighted by the disaster of the war.

               What did the disaster of the war do? It highlighted the fact that God was worth more than everything else, because all the rest ended, toppled and crumbled. So this disaster of the war served to wipe out everything and to show God alone. Then God’s light entered, illuminated and enveloped the soul. Chiara uses this expression, just as you wrap a child in swaddling clothes…. The light of God enveloped the soul, without suppressing the previous thought, but slowly replacing it.[2] Therefore it changed.But how did this happen? You remember what happened, we know this, we all know it, right? In 1943 Chiara was a very young teacher. A priest, maybe seeing that she was so good, so happy to help her pupils – because she was a teacher – he asked her to offer an hour of her day for his intentions. What did Chiara reply? “Why not the whole day?” So you already see her generosity: someone asks you something, you don’t just give them… what they ask for but much more: “Why not the whole day?”

This priest, touched by her generosity, made Chiara kneel down and he said to her, “Remember that God loves you immensely.”

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear from this priest how he recalls this episode. He said that there were two or three teachers there, but he remembers Chiara, he hardly saw the others. He remembers Chiara because when he said those words… and he said: “I have no idea why I said those words!” – one thing…, it seems that God made him say them – “I remember that when I said those words Chiara became enflamed.” This is the expression he used: “Chiara became enflamed.” The others were there but Chiara became enflamed.

Truly this announcement… maybe because Chiara already saw the priest as a representative of God. She was a Christian and Catholic, she took this announcement as coming from God… and there she was enflamed. This being enflamed means being totally on fire because of this reality: “God loves you immensely.”

These were the words of the priest. The words of Chiara were: “It was like a flash of lightening!”

Do you know what a flash of lightening is? Lightening, a flash of lightning that comes in… and it’s fire, even that is a flame, right? In order to explain that moment Chiara said: “It was like a flash of lightening. God loves me, immensely. … I said it, I repeated it to my companions: God loves you immensely. God loves us immensely.”[3]

               God manifested himself to Chiara. He made her discover his love, his paternity, his providence which envelops everyone and everything. It was a manifestation of who God is, that God is Love.

               Chiara discovered a knowledge of God that she never had before. Now she “knows” who he is. God is not only the Eternal, the Almighty, the Creator, the Lord… God is Love, God is Love. It’s something new. Discovering God’s action in her own life and in the history of humanity, in her companions’ lives, showed her that everything that God does is Love.

Chiara stated: “the novelty flashed through my mind, for us it was an absolute novelty,” which determined a radical change, a true conversion in Chiara and in the first focolarine, as she said, in their way of seeing things, of viewing history, in their behaviour and in their response to this love.

               Because of a particular grace, Chiara immediately felt that God’s love was not only for her, but that it reaches out to everyone, it’s personal for each one. Most probably this was the first spark of that collective spirituality to which God was calling Chiara, this “something more.” Chiara immediately understood that she had to communicate it, that she had to talk about it, that it was not something that regarded only her, it regarded everyone. It was a sign that God chose her precisely for this function: to illuminate her with this light so that she could transmit this light to others. And so she said it: “God loves you; God loves you.”

               In the numerous letters that she wrote in those early times, to her companions and pupils, to her mother and relatives, to everyone, this phrase was always repeated: “God loves you; remember, God loves you, God loves you.” She felt the need to communicate this to everyone and to engage everyone in this different vision of the human being.

               “… since that moment,” Chiara recounted, “we… perceived God present everywhere with his love: throughout the day, in our enthusiasm, in our resolutions, in joyful and comforting events, in situations that were sad, awkward, or difficult. He was always there, he was present everywhere. And he explained to us that everything is love: all that we were and all that concerned us; … that nothing escaped his love…; that his love enveloped Christians such as us, the Church, the world, and the entire universe.”[4] Everything.

               So we ask ourselves: was this discovery that Chiara made new for her? And yet Chiara was a Catholic Christian, she had to know that in Scripture it is written that God is Love. Certainly, she knew it, she knew it because we learn it in Catechism, all the children at that time learned in their Catechism lessons that God is Love, certainly! Also Chiara had learned it, but it was a new reality. And Chiara herself said: “Christians…,” including herself and her companions, “were no longer so aware, in their thinking and acting, of the reality of God-Love announced by St. John the Apostle.”[5]

And when Chiara went to Paderborn, in Germany, where she met with young people, many young people in the cathedral[6], Chiara reminded them, speaking precisely about God who is Love, how she felt in her heart the incoherence between knowing that God is Love and living as if he were not. What made her feel this way? She said: “Why is the whole reality of God reduced – for example, for a Christian – to going to Mass on Sundays, and that’s all? Is this enough? Why do we say our prayers with so many distractions, hurriedly, without putting our heart into them? Or only prayers in which we ask for something?” Only selfish prayers, not out of love but in order to ask for things… Chiara said: “Isn’t God the God of every day, of every moment of our day?”

Many times there are acts of charity, we make lunch for the poor or prepare parcels for them, but without spirit, without love. In addition, the church environments are not beautiful, the churches are not beautiful. The people who are supposed to show God, to make God known, are not dressed well and have no sense of harmony. How come? How come?

Some generous people might say: “Yes, I’m available for God, I teach catechism, I teach catechism in the parish,” maybe even some of you do this. But can we possibly reduce loving God to an hour of catechism every week? You go for an hour to teach catechism, to do something for God well, then the rest of the time, for the rest of the day God has nothing to do with your life. How can this be? How is it possible?

               Chiara said that while she was feeling oppressed by this sense of incoherence, “How can it be that God is Love and we live like this?” While she was oppressed by this impression, something happened: the Holy Spirit kindled this awareness of God’s love and ignited what John Paul II later defined as “the first inspiring spark”[7] of the Movement. He made Chiara understand that love was at the heart of the Christian message and consequently that it was an absolute must to put it into practice, that we cannot live Christianity without living love, without responding to God who is Love.

Therefore God manifested himself as a discovery: God is Love. This epiphany of God required an immediate response. What was the response? “And we have believed in love.” The answer from Chiara and her first companions was to believe in love; therefore a response that was concretized in a basic choice: living each of his words, choosing the Gospel above everything else, because God is Love and therefore each of his words are Love.

               This discovery took place precisely during the war, as we said before. Therefore, Chiara said: “Beneath the bleakness of death and destruction, we opened our eyes and saw the Sun. It offered us its Light and Warmth. And so we turned towards God, as to Someone who was entering more fully into our lives, after having swept our house, because of his permissions,” that is with the war, with all the disasters that existed, “of all that could have been secondary. … He shone out in our hearts as Father, King and Brother, as Everything, and he dictated a law which in the last analysis was called ‘Love’.”[8]

               Love, then, the new Law given by God for a new world, a world that we also want to build today, that we too want to make new. The Church is also awaiting this new world, as we can see from its documents … the civilization of love, about which Paul VI already spoke, this need for love in order to build a new world.

               Chiara said: “To discover, or better, to re-discover that God is Love…,” because, in fact, it’s already something well-known from Scriptures, but “to re-discover that God is Love is the greatest adventure of a person today.”[9]

               And Pope Benedict XVI, not by chance opened his pontificate with a letter entitled precisely Deus Caritas est, God is Love, urging all Christians, from its very first words “to call forth in the world renewed energy and commitment in the human response to God's love” (n.1). This is what the Church awaits.

In his last encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which came out recently, he reminds us that charity in truth “is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity” (n.1). And he says that “charity is love received and given…,” therefore reciprocal; love received and given: received by God and given by us to others. “As the objects of God's love, men and women become subjects of charity, they are called to make themselves instruments of grace, so as to pour forth God's charity and to weave networks of charity” (n.5).

It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Don’t you think that Chiara did precisely this? It’s true, isn’t it? If we look at Chiara’s life and at the Movement she founded, we can say that she was truly this brilliant “instrument” in the hands of God to make herself an instrument of grace, to pour out the charity of God and weave networks of charity. How did she weave networks of charity? Through the Movement, by building the Movement.

Therefore, is this story of the past or is it a story for today? Is it a story that regards Chiara and her first companions or is it a story that regards us? It’s a story that regards us, it’s a story that regards me personally, it’s a story that regards each one of us. After all, this is what entered our lives when we came to know the Ideal. In a more or less explicit way, each one of us understood something: someone understood that they had to love their neighbour; another understood that they had to live the present moment; another understood that they had to do the will of God; another understood that they had to love Jesus in suffering; another understood.… Many things.

But what is it that entered deep down in our lives? This is what entered: God who loves us entered, God who made himself known as Love entered. This generated and must continuously generate a conversion: our response, this new choice of God’s love. At the same time, it built up the Movement; this awareness started the Movement. Chiara, with this awareness started… she constructed the whole Movement.

And then “This believing in love,” said Chiara, “this finding ourselves in the arms of the Father – a God who is Love - in the arms of love, transformed us into a different type of Christian.”[10]

“This new type of Christian,” said Chiara, “can be seen in the child” - we all become children! - “the child, the one who recognizes who the Father is, the one who no longer feels alone, because he knows that he is loved.”

How many people suffer loneliness. To no longer feel that we are alone – because we know that we are loved by God – and to make others feel the same.

“This child, this little one who thrives in the powerful faith of belief in God's love is called….” What name do we use? “Popo” [“child of the Gospel”].

               “A popo is someone who believes in love,” said Chiara, “… A popo imitates the Father. … He wants to live on a supernatural level, always with Jesus in the midst… he sees the plans of God. … He is someone who is always surprised to see all the Providence that arrives. … The uniform of the popo is joy. … He is innocent… he learns the word of the Father, … and he is all word of God.”[11]

               In these words of Chiara we, pope and popi, find our deepest identity, which doesn’t mean us: focolarine and focolarini; it means all those Christians who recognise themselves in these words of Chiara, in this figure, in this type, whether we are a gen 4, a cardinal, a religious, a focolarina or a focolarino, why not? We are all pope and popi, all children, children who have discovered God’s love, who have believed in God’s love and who have chosen to live for this love.

               First of all, where does this returning to God-Love lead us? It leads us to re-discover this calling. We ourselves are the first to re-discover this calling and all that it has brought about in the Movement and in the Church. It leads us to recognize all the achievements of the Movement as achievements of God’s love.

               When the New Families Movement started, when the Youth for a United World Movement started, when the New Humanity Movement started, when the dialogues started, whatever achievement of the Movement, it didn’t start because we thought there was a need. For example, the family had that need, so let’s start the New Families Movement so that we can respond to the need of the family. No. It started because some families started to believe in God’s love and to respond to this love of God.

               What is the result? The result is the New Families Movement, which now also tries to solve family problems, but it’s a consequence. The basis, the starting point, the spark was that some families started to believe in God’s love. Some young people, urged on by the gen, started to discover, to believe in God’s love: therefore the daily Jesus forsaken, dying for one’s own people…; all the responses that this choice of God’s love brings about, because if we must be instruments of this love of God, we cannot be indifferent to the reality around us.

               Therefore, God-Love opened our eyes, He opened our eyes to see everyone as brothers and sisters, because if it’s love for me then it’s love also for the others. If God loves me immensely and loves you immensely, how can I not love you if God loves you immensely? Or you? Or you? How can I not love you, if God loves you immensely? So it is discovering the others as brothers and sisters, because we are all children of the same Father; feeling the sufferings of humanity, feeling the suffering of many people and making it our own, taking this suffering on ourselves. But also sharing the joys, rejoicing, taking full advantage and participating in everyone’s life. And it is also Jesus forsaken, because Chiara.… How did Chiara discover Jesus forsaken? She discovered him as the apex of love, because Jesus forsaken is a God who out of love became man. Not only did he take all the sufferings of humanity upon himself; not only this, but he even felt abandoned by God. Is it possible to have more love than this?

               When Chiara discovered Jesus forsaken, she discovered in him the apex of love, so much so that she said that Jesus forsaken, totally embraced, is the one who makes us become Love. Here it is: “Jesus Forsaken embraced, held tightly to oneself, desired as our one exclusive all, he consumed in one with us, we consumed in one with him, made suffering with him suffering: here is everything.” And Chiara said, “This is how you become God, Love.”[12]

               So do you want to become God, Love? Take this way. But you must know that it’s a way…, that in taking this way you become God, Love. What more do we want?

               In God-Love we really discover the source of the unity that the Work of Mary is called to live and irradiate among people in order to contribute to the fulfilment of Jesus’ Testament.

               Therefore, if it’s the source, let’s go back to the source; if everything emerges from there, if everything starts from there also for us, we must return there.

               I have tried to return to this. Naturally, I have been trying ever since I came to know the Ideal, and also now, also now. Also during this year in which the Eternal Father played this joke on me by making me the President of the Work of Mary. I said: where do I start from in order to do what God is asking of me now, and to do it in the least terrible way, not to say in the best way possible. Where do I start from? I start by believing in God’s love, I start by believing that he is the one who is asking this of me, that he is Love and he will show me the way to bring this task ahead, just as he showed me the way to bring other tasks ahead. In the future, he may give me another task and he will show me the way precisely because he is Love.

               I tried believing in this. And I tell you the truth, now… I have been President since July 7, 2008, so that means a year and a few months. In this year and a few months, I tell you the truth that I have experienced God’s love, a lot, very much! So much that I said – even now to the delegates of the zones who came – that if I needed proof that God is Love, a witness, it would be enough for me to look back at this year, to all that has happened this year. So you see, it’s true! It’s true! It’s not fantasy, it’s true.

               Now you could ask me: “Why? What happened? What happened that made you believe this?” To tell you the truth, many things have happened. For example, I need only think of all the declarations I received from those who want to share the responsibility of the Movement with me: from the gen girls, gen boys, the focolarini, the focolarine, the religious. Everyone wrote wonderful letters to me in which they said: “Don’t worry, we are with you, we are praying.” Isn’t this a sign of God’s love? A gen 4 girl wrote to me: “Don’t be afraid, we’ll take care of it, we’ll support you!” Isn’t this a sign of God’s love? Isn’t it God’s love that makes me feel this? So this unity that I found everywhere.

               Then the growth of the Movement, the growth. When the delegates of the zones came and I heard all that had happened in the zones throughout this year, with all the branches of the Movement, with all the events that took place, I was breathless. Just think, Chiara went to Heaven. We could have all been blocked by sadness, crying because Chiara went to Heaven; we could have lost the courage to move because Chiara is no longer here; we could have stopped doing anything because we don’t know how to do it.

               Instead, no! We all rolled up our sleeves and said: “Chiara is in Heaven, Chiara helps us even more now because she is in Heaven, she is more powerful than before, because she is completely in God, now it’s our turn.” And we launched ourselves. This resulted in extraordinary fruits: there are more people in the Movement, but not only the people, the quality of our life has improved, unity among us has increased. I don’t have to tell you this because I’m sure that if I were to ask you, you would tell me that you have experienced all these things in the zones.

               Then Providence has arrived. Just think, at the beginning of the year we calculated how much money we needed in order to live the whole year, for all the events of the Movement, for everything, and we had more or less half of what was needed. So we said: we have to do these things because it’s the will of God to do them, so we can’t say: “We’re not going to do them because we don’t have the money.” We must say: “If they must be done, the money will arrive.”

               After two months all that was missing arrived. Isn’t Providence a sign of God’s love? So, also this abundant Providence that arrived.

               But then – now I’ll tell you something that may seem to be arrogant – I felt inside of me the grace for this task that God entrusted to me. For example, I went to many places, many of you have seen me in various places, I had meetings with our people in a number of zones, I answered their questions. In listening to the answers I gave, I thought: it was the Holy Spirit who said this. And this other… how was I able to say this? It means that it was the grace, it means that it was God-Love, through me, who loved those people he had in front of him and who was telling them something.

               So, in the face of so much love, of so much grace, how can I not believe in God’s love? I would be crazy if I didn’t believe in God’s love. Certainly the awareness of my nothingness remains, the awareness that I’m not able to do anything remains, but the awareness that God loved me.… He always loved me, since he thought of me, not since I was born but from always. Then he loved me by giving me life, in that family, with those principles, with those values. Then he loved me in giving me the Ideal, then calling me to this task in the Movement. If he loved me up until now, he will keep loving me; why would he stop loving me at a certain point? He can’t stop loving me because he is Love. Everyone else can stop loving me, he cannot because he is Love. He cannot do otherwise, he has to love me, he loves me. This reality is so strong that I say: “What does it matter to me if I’m not capable, if I’m little? He loves me.”

               And so I say, as Chiara said, and with this I think I can conclude, Chiara said… I’ll read an excerpt: “I feel powerless, but I abandon myself to God. Everything is based on a faith that does not crumble:” that does not crumble, what is this faith that does not crumble? “I believe that God loves me, and in the name of this Love, I ask of my life and of the lives of those who walk in my Ideal,” said Chiara, we can say: in our Ideal, “great things,” I ask great things, “worthy of those who know that they are loved by God.”^[13]

               … God is Love, and he is God! It’s not a little love, it’s not a love that does only a little, it’s God. So we can ask great things of God.

               It seems to me that Chiara is saying this to you today: “Take courage! God loves you immensely.” … So may Chiara in this moment from Heaven truly be happy to see 1,000… however many you are in the hall, who have discovered that God loves them immensely and because of this discovery they are able not so much to do great things, but to allow God to do great things through them. (Applause)

               May this applause be your “yes” to God who loves you! (Applause)

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[1] See C. LUBICH, Il “trattatello innocuo,” in Erano i tempi di guerra, Roma 2007, p. 3-4.

[2] See C. LUBICH, God-Love and Charity in the Focolare Movement. To a group of bishops, Rocca di Papa 13 February 1979.

[3] Ibid.

[4] C. LUBICH, A New Way, New City London, 2002, p. 40.

[5] C. LUBICH, Second Theme on the Collective Spirituality – Her current experience, cit.

[6] It was June 12, 1999.

[7] JOHN PAUL II, Speech to the Focolare Movement, International Mariapolis Centre, Rocca di Papa, 19 August 1984, in OR 20-21 August 1984, p. 5.

[8] C. LUBICH, God-Love, writing from 15 October 1959, cit.; C. LUBICH, Il “trattatello innocuo”, cit., p. 3-4.

[9] C. LUBICH, Sì sì. No no (1973), in Scritti spirituali/2, Roma 1984, p. 160.

[10].           C. LUBICH, The popo, a new type of Christ’s follower, Montreux, 11 August 1990. Also see: C. LUBICH, In unità verso il Padre, Rome 2004, p. 75.

[11] See ID, The popo, a new type of Christ’s follower, cit.

[12] C. LUBICH, Why Have You Forsaken Me The Key to Unity, New City London, 1984, p. 78.

[13]. C. LUBICH, Lettera ad Elena, 16 April 1944, in “Città Nuova” 3 (2009) p. 10; See Chiara Lubich, Detti Gen, Roma 1977, p. 77.