Focolare Movement

Only the breath of the Spirit can give life to our neighbour

Jun 7, 2019

To live being transferred into the Other: into our neighbour, for example, who, moment by moment, is close to us: living the other’s life in all its fullness. Just as in the Trinity – and this alone is Love – the Father lives in the Son and vice versa. And their mutual Love is the […]

To live being transferred into the Other: into our neighbour, for example, who, moment by moment, is close to us: living the other’s life in all its fullness. Just as in the Trinity – and this alone is Love – the Father lives in the Son and vice versa. And their mutual Love is the Holy Spirit. When we live transferred into our brother or sister (you must lose your life to find it again), as soon as we need to return into ourselves to respond to them, we find within ourselves a Third: the Holy Spirit, who has taken the place of our emptiness. Now, we can enter into the other in various ways: pushing ourselves in like someone big who wants to get in through a small door… and this is how someone acts who does not listen to the very end (someone who does not die totally in their brother or sister who is Paradise for the self, the Kingdom for the self) and wants to give answers gathered bit by bit in his or her own head that may be inspired but are not that breath of the Holy Spirit that will give life to the other. There are those who (passionately in love with Jesus Forsaken) more willingly die than live and who listen to their brother or sister to the very end, not worried about the reply, which will be given in the end by the Holy Spirit who summarizes in few words, or in one, all the medicine for that soul.

Chiara Lubich

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

Prha Pittaya: dialogue as a way of welcome

Prha Pittaya: dialogue as a way of welcome

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, we would like to share a short excerpt from the interview with a Theravada Buddhist monk from Thailand, Prha Pittaya.

New Course: embodying synodality in the realities in which we live

New Course: embodying synodality in the realities in which we live

Beginning on 3rd November, 2025, for the fourth year in a row, the Evangelii Gaudium Centre (CEG) of the Sophia University Institute will offer a synodality training course on synodality entitled “Practices for a Synodal Church”. Maria do Sameiro Freitas, General Secretary of the CEG and Moderator of the Synodal Training Course shared her insights.

Integral and Ongoing Formation

Integral and Ongoing Formation

What kind of pedagogy does the charism of unity inspire? Today, the first version of an open document on the Focolare Movement’s integral and ongoing formation is available online. It is a text designed to grow richer through the experience and contributions of all those involved in the fields of education and formation.