“One city is not enough”

Dear young people gathered today in Loppiano,

My heartfelt greetings to all of you on this May 1st 2006, feast of young people and a new leg along our journey towards a united world!
The program you plan to follow is timely and demanding, almost a challenge: “One city is not enough.”
You have asked me to say a few words.
Dear young people, you know that when I was your age I received from God the gift of giving my life to him and of contributing to the development on earth of a new people born from the Gospel. We began in our city of Trent.

What about you, today?
If you wish to change a city, unite with some friends who have the same ideal that you have. Put God before everything else. Promise each other mutual love to the point of being ready to give your life for one another and hold on to this Pact at all costs: he present in your midst will suggest the steps to take, he will support you in the inevitable difficulties.
Then, size up the city. Go together to look for the poor, the abandoned, orphans, prisoners, those who are on the margins of society, and give, give always: a word, a smile, your time, your goods…. Your giving will draw the hundredfold that Jesus promised. Do not leave anyone alone.
Share everything with your friends: moments of joy and victory, suffering and failure, so that the light is not extinguished.
Pray and forgive, because going against the current costs, but it is the deep root of success.

But “one city is not enough.” No, with God, one city is too little. He made the stars, he guides the centuries to their destiny. With him we can aim farther, at everybody’s country, the entire world. Let our every breath be for this goal, for this our every gesture, our relaxation as well as our activity.
Let us live now in such a way that at the end of our life we will not have to be sorry for having loved too little.

Take courage! You know how much confidence I have in you! The world is in your hands and it will be as you build it today.

Chiara Lubich