“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrong doing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:4-8).

“Beloved, if God loved us, we also must love one another” (1 Jn 4:11).

Mutual love to the point of being always ready to die for one another

The discovery of what it means to put into practice this point of the spirituality of communion in the words of Chiara Lubich

We ask ourselves, “Is there anything Jesus desires us to do that is especially pleasing to him, so that if we had to appear before him immediately, he would be pleased with us?” Again the Gospel gave us the answer: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12) … We knew that Jesus had loved us  to the point of dying for us; therefore, we had to be ready to die for one another … We determined to base our lives on constant mutual love, whatever direction our lives might take … Before going to the Mass or receive communion, we would ask ourselves, “Are we ready to die for one another?” … Love had to come before anything else: before going to school, before going to work, before going to sleep at night. 

Going to God together

Jesus demands that our love be communal, not only a personal love for God, not only a personal love for neighbour. For our love cannot reach its fullness, cannot attain its completion, until it becomes reciprocal.

Jesus does not say that it is sufficient simply to love one’s neighbour. Rather he says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” He wants reciprocal love to be a fundamental aspect of our Christian life. And this is also part of the mystery of going to God together. We cannot go to God alone. Unless our love is reciprocal, it is not that perfect Christian love that God is asking of us.

But our mentality is so rooted in the thought of going personally and alone to God, and of seeing others simply as a means of our sanctification, that we find it difficult to rid ourselves completely of our old way of thinking.

Fr. Pasquale Foresi

“I give you a new commandment: love one another” (Jn 13:34). We live these words as well as we could. They seem to summarize the Gospel completely. And they bring us the best we could ever hope for: the fullness of the Church’s life, the life of the mystical body, where the members share in Jesus’ life to the point of being another Jesus.

God focused our attention on the new commandment, and now we realize that it is the very heart of Christianity.

Chiara Lubich

For many centuries the new commandment was not entirely understood. Of course, we spoke about loving God and our neighbour, but love towards our neighbours became like a “proof” that we truly loved God. However, that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind. For him, in fact, it’s not enough that we love others, but we must love one another. That one little word “as” is very important. Jesus doesn’t leave us to decide the measure of love; he himself gave the measure to us. Before being nailed to the cross, he said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” So then our mutual love is a love with no limits. You cannot say, “That’s it, I’ve reached the limit of loving, I can’t love anymore,” because Jesus loved up to the point of death. This is what Jesus asks of us, because living in this way, we can understand more about God. 

Giuseppe M. Zanghi

If Jesus asks above all for mutual love it is because it is the first and fundamental value for human coexistence, which cannot but be a reflection of the life of the Trinity, its ultimate model.

Fr. Silvano Cola

“Nothing in the world renders more praise to God … than the humble and fraternal exchange of spiritual gifts … All of us who have received graces from heaven should make every effort to share with others the divine gifts we have received, especially the gifts that can help others along the way of perfection.”

St. Laurence Giustiniani

The obstacle course

My son was ill for an entire week of school. As he gradually felt better, he was getting bored.

I went into the game room and found it a mess! My first instinct was to loudly insist that everything be put back in order. However, the Gospel message, “increase in love for one another” (cf. 1 Thess. 3:12) echoed in my heart. I heard myself asking what all of this “arrangement” was about. My son was so happy to explain the (very creative!) obstacle course. He had utilized blankets, furniture, belts, stability balls, raisins, tinker-toys, etc. We took turns timing each other to see how fast we each could complete the course. We cheered for every result, as if it were the world record. If it weren’t for the Gospel message, I would have missed this opportunity with my son.

R.S., Texas

A song in my heart

Each morning I have the opportunity to say my morning prayers on my school bus, since I am one of the first people to get on. This helps me to start the day right. A few minutes later, my friend boards the bus and sits with me. She always seems to be depressed in the morning and never wears a smile.

So each morning, out of love for her I am extra cheerful and try to make her smile. Sometimes I get discouraged because of constantly having to listen to her complaints but I remind myself that I must give her my selfless love, forget about myself, and be willing to listen to her out of love. Someday I hope I can tell her about the joy that I have found when I am loving.

Once, my friend said she appreciated my listening to her, and we exchanged gifts for Christmas. When I opened mine, I found it was ornamental statue with the engraved words, “There is a song in my heart.” My friend said to me, “Margaret, when I saw this in the store I knew it was meant for you because every morning when I get on the bus it seems that there is a song in your heart.” I was very happy because then I knew my love was real.  

M.K.