Mutual love, experienced between peoples and communities, is a sign of hope for all humanity and a balm for the divisions that always threaten it.
Carlos Díaz, contemporary Spanish philosopher says: “Loving involves a true creation of the loved self by the lover; the loved one appears before him as precious, worthy and deserving of something absolutely free and not strictly demanding: love. The power and active capacity to love already arise in him or her“. It is this renewed awareness that allows us to open ourselves without fear to others, to understand their needs and place ourselves alongside them, sharing material and spiritual resources.
We look at the actions of figures like Jesus, Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer or Mother Teresa. They were always the first to give of themselves. He opposes generosity to the selfish instinct of hoarding; to focus on one's own needs, attention to others; to the culture of possession that of giving. It doesn't matter whether we can give a lot or a little. The important thing is how we give, how much love we put even in a small gesture of attention towards others.
Chiara Lubich writes: “Love is essential, because it knows how to approach il next too only with an attitude of listening, service and availability. How important [...] it is to try to be love next to everyone! We will find the straight way to enter his heart and lift him up“.
This Idea encourages us to approach others with respect and transparency, with creativity, giving space to their best aspirations, so that everyone makes their own contribution to the common good. We will make the most of every concrete occasion in our daily life: from housework or work in the fields and the workshop, to carrying out office paperwork, to schoolwork, as well as responsibilities in the civil, political and religious fields. Everything will be transformed into attentive and generous service.
We report a significant experience lived in Cameroon by a group of young people from Buea (southwestern Cameroon) who organized a collection of goods and funds to help those internally displaced due to the ongoing war. Among the many people they met, one day they found themselves in front of a man deeply dejected after having lost an arm during the escape. Living with this disability was not easy for him, forced to drastically change his habits; a great challenge to experience every day. The visit of those young people made him experience great joy and allowed him to overcome those moments of discouragement that always oppressed him, so much so that he expressed, as Regina says, his most intimate feelings with these words: "Through your concrete help I felt a great love which today gives me the hope of moving forward with more courage". The words of this man gave even more impetus and vigor to the action that the young people had undertaken, in the awareness, as Marita adds, that “no gift is too small if given with love”.
Let us continue our commitment today knowing that it is love that moves the world, and it is the vital need of every human being. Let's experience it!
