Mutual Love
Jesus is seated at table with friends. It is his last supper before leaving this world, a most solemn moment in which to share his last will, almost a testament: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34). Down through the centuries, this will be the distinguishing mark of the disciples. By this mark everyone would recognize them!
It was like this right from the beginning. The believers in the first community in Jerusalem were so well-liked, “enjoying favor with all the people” because of their unity, that “every day” new people “were added to their number.” (See Acts 2:47; 4:32; 5:13.)
Even a few years later Tertullian, one of the first Christian writers, reported in his Apology what was said about the Christians: “Look at how they love one other, and how they are ready to give their lives for one another” (39:7). This was the fulfillment of what Jesus said:
«This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another»
Mutual love is therefore the “attire that ordinary Christians, old and young, men and women, married or not, adults and children, sick or healthy, can wear in order to shout out always and everywhere with their own lives the One they believe in, the One they want to love”.
In that unity, born from mutual love among the disciples of Jesus, there is a kind of mirror that makes visible the God whom he revealed as Love—the Church is the icon of the Trinity.
Today more than ever, this is the way to proclaim the Gospel message. A society often confused by too many messages seeks witnesses rather than teachers, it wants models rather than preachers. It is more easily engaged if it sees a Gospel that is lived out, that is able to create relationships, that is characterized by brotherhood and by love.
«This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another»
How then should we live this Word of Life? By keeping mutual love alive among us and forming “living cells” everywhere.
Chiara Lubich said, “If a city were set alight at various points… by the fire that Jesus brought on earth, and this fire, through the goodwill of the people who lived there, managed to resist the ice of the world, we would soon have the city aflame with the love of God. The fire that Jesus brought to earth is himself. It is charity: that love which not only binds the soul to God, but also souls to one another.
“Two or more people fused in the name of Christ—people who are not afraid or ashamed to declare explicitly to one another their desire to love God, but who actually make this unity in Christ their Ideal—are a divine power in the world.
“And in every city these souls could spring up in families: father and mother, son and father, mother and mother-in-law. They could meet in parishes, in associations, in social bodies, in schools, in offices, everywhere.
“It is not necessary for them to be saints already, or Jesus would have said so. It is enough for them to be united in the name of Christ and to never go back on this unity. Naturally, they will not remain two or three for very long, for charity spreads of itself and grows by enormous proportions.
“Every small cell, set alight by God in any point of the earth, will necessarily spread, and Providence will distribute these flames, these souls on fire, wherever it thinks fit, so that the world in many places may be restored to the warmth of the love of God, and hope again”.
By Fabio Ciardi and Gabriella Fallacara
The project consists in recuperating computers dismissed by public and private bodies, in order to distribute them to schools, libraries and other institutions that do not have the means of purchasing new ones. In order to carry out this project, the Economic Development Minister and the Bank of Brazil Foundation elected Afago Centre as partner, for its seriousness in the job carried out in favour of the less well-to-do persons. Objective: overcoming of the technological gap – President Luiz Inacio Lula, at the inauguration of the Centre, underlined that the access to knowledge permits the reduction of social differences: “It is cheaper to build schools, than prisons,” he affirmed, while committing himself to equip all public schools with a broad band internet connection by the end of 2010. Present at the inauguration, besides President Lula and his wife, there was also tbe Minister of Economic Development, Paulo Bernardo, the Governor of the Bank of Brazil, Jacques Penna, the Federal District President of Brazilia, members of the federal government, aside from journalists of the most important Brazilian newspapers and TV networks. During the visit at the Afago Centre, President Lula spent some time with various young volunteers of the Centre, some of whom have been helped since infancy by “support at a distance,” carried out by Afago Centre in collaboration with New Families. “While conversing with R. for some minutes – Lula said – I understood that he will always be a man with a great soul, ready to help others because he has learnt to do so since childhood, thanks his insertion into a community.” What is the Afago Centre? – In 1990’s, while facing the serious situation of the street children, and with the concurrence of the launching of the “Adoptions at a distance” by the New Families, also known as the “Support at a distance,” the Afago-Df association was constituted. Presently, this association helps 220 children and adolescents, with ages varying from 4 to 14 years, who attend regularly the Centre and can make use of the canteen, and runs activities in education, computer science and sports.
More than 11,000 people, from all over Europe, will come together at the Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle. The event will be linked by satellite with simultaneous meetings in many European cities. It is an event that testifies to something new in European history; a journey of fellowship which is growing all the time, among movements, communities and associations of various Churches, that stretches like a network across the whole continent from the Atlantic to the Urals. It aims to offer to Europe the experience of a “people”, a foretaste of unity lived in diversity. In the midst of the social, cultural, political and spiritual challenges that Europe faces at this time, “Together for Europe 2007” aims to witness, above all through experience, to the continual light that comes from living the Gospel in various situations: in the family; in cities that are increasingly multicultural and multifaith; in economics; in politics; with the poor and “new poor”; and in ecology. The meeting “Together for Europe” will be preceded and prepared by the Congress “TOGETHER, ON THE WAY”, for leaders and their fellow workers, from the movements and communities. It will also take place in Stuttgart, from May 10-11, 2007
“Artists: which vocation for our times?” Urged by this question mark, painters and sculptors, directors and actors, musicians and connoisseurs of the various artistic disciplines, from 20 different countries, India to the Argentine, Korea to Brazil, from Finland to Portugal, will meet for the 2nd International Convention that will be held from 13th to 15th April at the Mariapolis Centre in Castelgandolfo (Rome). Promoter: Clarté: stands for light, clarity, claritas. Artists, who are part of Clarté, would like to contribute in fulfilling an art permeated with light in this cultural night of our times characterised by profound transformations. Clarté is inspired by the Chiara Lubich’s spirituality of unity and its peculiar characteristic is the dialogue among artists. According to these artists, such inspirations are also born through these relationships. Scope of the convention – If in modern and contemporary art the dominating element is “the loss of the centre”, the exclusion of every point of reference, the Convention would like to promote an art which is renewed by a human-divine and universal experience. Since this art aims at addressing man as a whole, it can therefore become a place where an integral human vision is fulfilled. 
The programme – In accordance with the title, the Convention will follow four tracks: restlessness, hope, light and perspectives. Among other things, it also includes: “Doctorate Lecture” addressed by Chiara Lubich on the occasion of her receiving the h.c. doctorate in Art, conferred by the Catholic University of Maracaibo (Venezuela). This will be the opening lecture of the Convention. The Brazilian sociologist Vera Araujo will give her contribution on what art can give to today’s society. “Art as the protagonist of the city”: artistic initiatives that stimulate the awakening of values and social cohesion in the most varied cultural and social contexts, such as in the city of Naples, Caracas (Venezuela) and Jerusalem, where an orchestra made up of Palestinians and Israelis. Ample space is given to dialogue in the plenary sessions as well as in groups. Conclusive moment: “Gifts of Light”, conversation of Chiara Lubich with a Hindu group (video).
