The demands of true love

The pandemic has not only had serious immediate consequences, but has often brought to light many pre-existing personal, social and political problems. In the following text Chiara Lubich emphasises the first essential step for those who really want to change the world.

A great psychologist of our time said: “Our culture rarely seeks to learn the art of loving and, despite our desperate search for love, we end up considering everything else more important: success, prestige, money, power. We devote almost all of our energy to achieving these goals and make no effort to learn the art of loving.”[1]

We find the real art of loving in Christ’s gospel. Putting it into practice is an indispensable first step to setting off a revolution. It is a peaceful revolution, but one so forceful and radical that it will change everything. It affects not only the sphere of the spirit but the entire human sphere as well and renews every field it touches, whether cultural, philosophical, political, economic, academic or scientific. This revolution is the secret that enabled the first Christians to spread all over the entire known world. …

It is a love not made up only of words or feelings; it is practical. It requires that we “make ourselves one” with others, that “we live the others” in a certain way, that we share their sufferings, their joys, in order to understand them, to serve and help them in an effective, practical way.

Chiara Lubich

From: Chiara Lubich, The Art of Loving, New city Press, Hyde Park, New York, 2010, p. 25-26.
[1] E. Fromm, L’arte di amare, [The Art of Loving] Milano 1971, p.18.