Word Word ofof

LifeLife

October 2010

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"

(Mt 22,39)

This Wordcan be found already

in the Hebrew Scriptures.

In replying to a question, Jesus gave

his answerin line with

the great traditionof the prophets

and rabbiswho had sought

the unifying principleof the Torah, that is,

God’s teachingin the Bible.

Rabbi Hillel once said: ‘What is hateful to

you, do not doto your neighbour:that is the whole

Torah, while the restis the commentary.’

The Jewish teachers considered love of neighbourto be a consequence of loving God who created human

beingsin his image and likeness. So it is not possible to love God

without loving the people he has made.This is the real motive for love of neighbour,

and it is ‘a great and general principle of the Torah.’

Jesus repeated this principle and added that the commandto love one’s neighbour is like the first and greatest

commandment, namely, to love God with all one’s heart, mind and soul.

In affirming how similar the two commandments are,Jesus conclusively bound them together, as does

the whole of Christian tradition. As the Apostle Johnstates so clearly: ‘Those who do not love the brother or

sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen’

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself"

(Mt 22,39)

As the entire Gospel shows, ‘our neighbour’ meansevery human being, man or woman, friend or enemy,to whom we owe respect, consideration and esteem.

Love of neighbour is both universal and personal.It embraces all humanity

and takes concrete shape in the person next to you.

But who can give us such a big heart?Who can stir up in us such kindness that we feel

even those who are most unlike us, those most distant from us,

as neighbours, as close,that we overcome our self-love and see our self in others?

It is a gift from God.It is, in fact, God’s own love

that ‘has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit

that has been given to us’.

Therefore, it is not ordinary love, not simple friendship,not just philanthropy, but that love which was poured out

into our hearts at our baptism, the love which isthe life of God himself, of the blessed Trinity,

in which we can share.

So love is everything, but to live it well,we need to know its qualities which emerge from the Gospel and from Scripture in general. We feelthat they can be summed up in a few fundamental

aspects.

First of all, Jesus died for everyone, loving everyone,and this teaches us that true love should be given to

everyone.It is unlike the simply human love we often have, which is

limitedin its range: our family, friends and people who live

nearby...

The true love that Jesus wants does not permit discrimination.

It does not distinguish between pleasant and unpleasant people, between the good-looking and the ugly, between

old and young.It makes no difference for this love if someone is from my

countryor a foreigner, from my church or a different one,

my religion or another. Everyone is loved by this love.And we must do the same: love everyone.

Next, true love is the first to love and does not wait to be loved, as is usually the case with human love: we love

those who love us. Instead, true love takes the initiative, as the Father did

by sending the Son to save us when we were still sinners and therefore not loving.

So: love everyone and be the first to love.Another quality: true love recognizes Jesus in every

neighbour: ‘You did it to me’, Jesus will say to us at the final

judgement. And this will apply to the good we do and also,

unfortunately, to the bad we do.

True love loves friends and also enemies: it does good and prays for them.

Jesus also wants the love that he brought on earth to become mutual: one person loving the other and

vice-versa, in order to reach unity.

All these qualities of love help us to understand the Word of Life for this month and to live it better.

 

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself"

(Mt 22,39)

Yes, true love loves others as itself.And this is to be taken literally. We must really see

the other person as another selfand do for the other what we would do for ourselves.

True love suffers with those who suffer,rejoices with those who rejoice, and carries the burdens of

others. As Paul says, it knows how to make itself onewith the person it loves. So it is not just a question of

feelingsor beautiful words, but of concrete facts.

People with otherreligious beliefs

can also seek to do thisby living the so-called

‘Golden Rule’which can be found

in all religions.It wants us to do to

others what we would like othersto do to us.

Gandhi explains itin a very simple

and effective way:‘I cannot hurt you

without hurting myself.’

This month should be an opportunity, then, to refocus on

lovefor our neighbour,who has so many faces: the person

next door,a classmate,

a friendor a close relative.

But there are alsothe faces

of the suffering humanity that television

brings into our homeswith pictures of waror natural disasters.

Once they wereunknown to us

and thousands of miles away.

Now they toohave become our

neighbours.

Love will suggest what we should do in each situation, and little by little it will expand our hearts to the measure of the heart of Jesus.

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself"

(Mt 22,39)

“Word of Life”, monthly publication of the Focolare Movement.

Original text by: Chiara Lubich, October 1999.

Graphic design by Anna Lollo in collaboration with Fr. Placido D’Omina (Sicily - Italy)

This commentary on the Word of Life is translated in 96 languages,

and it reaches millions of people throughout the world

through press, radio, TV and internet – for more information visit www.focolare.org

This Powerpoint presentation is translated in various languages

and is published on www.santuariosancalogero.org

“Word of Life”, monthly publication of the Focolare Movement.

Original text by: Chiara Lubich, October 1999.

Graphic design by Anna Lollo in collaboration with Fr. Placido D’Omina (Sicily - Italy)

This commentary on the Word of Life is translated in 96 languages,

and it reaches millions of people throughout the world

through press, radio, TV and internet – for more information visit www.focolare.org

This Powerpoint presentation is translated in various languages

and is published on www.santuariosancalogero.org