“This initiative truly touches my heart.” Margaret Karram returns to the Holy City, where she lived for 24 years, to take part in the inauguration of the ‘Within Your Gates’ Forum, organised by Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the University of Notre Dame. The forum aims to be an open space for religious leaders, academics, and civic actors across different communities, to meet and work together. The objective is ambitious and necessary: to restore Jerusalem’s universal mission as a city of reconciliation and peace for all humanity.
Turn on subtitles and choose your desired language
They call it the “platinum Rule”. Everyone seems to know about the Golden Rule – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – and it is precisely from this maxim that what is, arguably, a more universal idea has developed. This is “try to understand what the other person would like done to them and act accordingly”.
Maybe it is through such actions that we can recognise one of the most genuine forms of love. This is expressed when we meet one another as equals, each with our own strengths and vulnerabilities, in a relationship of reciprocity and respect and recognising the value and dignity of every life, even in the most difficult circumstances. It is a matter of never ignoring the people around us but being very attentive to them.
Chiara Lubich said, “True love for one’s neighbour does no harm.” [1] Indeed, if we love, we avoid every form of hurt and harm, both to ourselves and to our brothers and sisters. The first step in loving one’s neighbour is exactly this. However, to love fully, we need also to be creative in doing so. Pope Francis reminded us that it is not enough simply to refrain from harming our neighbour; we must choose to do good and take advantage of every opportunity that arises.
We know that none of us can give what we do not have, and it is only by recognising the love we have already received that we can fully share our gifts with others.
How, then, can we put this ‘Idea of the Month’ into practice? Let us put love at the centre of our lives. Let us love others in practical ways, with creativity and imagination, and above all with deep listening that comes ‘from within’, from the heart.
Doris, a young woman from Scotland, tells us: ‘During our regular visits to a homeless shelter, I step into a world very different from my own. I know that what I feel doesn’t matter so much; what matters is loving. One day, a man whose face was marked with deep sadness confided in me that he felt ready to end it all, that he even wanted to die. I simply sat and listened to him and then we shared a sandwich and a coffee. I realised that listening and being there for him was already a way of showing love. When it was time to leave, he gave me a big hug and smiled, saying that what we were doing was very important, not just for him, but for everyone there. I felt the incredible power of love. Perhaps I didn’t ‘save’ him, but his gratitude filled me with joy, and that, in itself, is very powerful.”
THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is currently produced by the Focolare Movement’s “Centre for Dialogue with People of Non religious Beliefs”. It is an initiative that began in 2014 in Uruguay to share with non-believing friends the values of the Word of Life, i.e. the phrase from Scripture that members of the Movement strive to put into practice in their daily lives. Currently, THE IDEA OF THE MONTH is translated into 12 languages and distributed in more than 25 countries, with adaptations of the text according to different cultural sensitivities. www. dialogue4unity.focolare.org
Can we command someone to love others? If we understand love as a feeling, it is clearly impossible! However, if we understand it as a gift from God, things change.
In his letter to the Romans, from which this word of life is taken, Paul describes the relationship between the Law and love very precisely by stating that love is the fulfilment of the Law. He had already revealed the source of this love: ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom 5:8). The First Letter of John also refers to love: ‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins’ (1Jn 4:10).
Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law.
None of us can give what we do not have. Augustine understood this very clearly and when addressing God directly, he said: ‘Give what you command, and command what you will. [1] We have received the priceless gift of God’s love and are called not to keep it only for ourselves but to pass it on to others. From being recipients of God’s love, we can become its agents: from being loved, we are called to become lovers, thus sharing in the very life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: the Lover, the Beloved and Love.
Paul assures us that we owe nothing to other people except this mutual love, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the Law.[2]
Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law.
‘True love of neighbour,’ says Chiara Lubich, ‘does no harm. It therefore enables us to live out all of God’s commandments, without exception, since their primary aim is to help us avoid all forms of evil – towards ourselves and towards our brothers and sisters – into which we might fall.[3]
Understood in this way, the commandments of the Law become, a gift of God’s love rather than an obligation: they do not constrain our love but set it free.
Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law.
To reach this degree of love for our neighbour, the first step is to avoid harming them. However, we can take this a stage further and become creative in love: Pope Francis reminded us, “It is not enough not to harm one’s neighbour; we must choose to do good, seizing opportunities to bear witness that we are disciples of Jesus.”[4]
How, then, are we to live out this word of life? Let us put love back at the centre of our lives. Let us love others in a concrete way, just as Jesus would love them: He is the fullness of love, wholly given to God and to humanity. From Him we can learn the highest measure of love.
Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law.
Doris, a young woman from Scotland, tells us: ‘During our regular visits to a homeless shelter, I enter a world very different from my own. I know that what I feel doesn’t matter so much; what matters is loving. One day, a man whose face was marked with deep sadness confided in me that he felt ready to end it all, that he even wanted to die. I simply sat and listened to him and then we shared a sandwich and a coffee. I realised that listening and being present was already a way of showing love. When it was time to leave, he gave me a big hug and smiled, saying that what we were doing was very important, not just for him, but for everyone there. I felt the incredible power of love. Perhaps I didn’t ‘save’ him, but his gratitude filled me with joy, and that, in itself, is very powerful.’
Prepared by Claudio Cianfaglioni & the Word of Life team.
Ahead of the 11th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation celebrated on 1st September, Pope Leo XIV has written a message entitled “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2,4).
It is a text to be read again and again and meditated on, starting from the title that takes up one of the most famous images of the Bible. Isaiah imagines that an object made for war is transformed into an agricultural tool. What was once used to destroy becomes a tool for producing and sustaining life. It is a beautiful image of peace and one that is closely connected to the present day. Today, fragile relationships and armed conflicts continue to destroy the environment and threaten the lives of millions of people.
Pope Leo highlights the deep link between peace, care for Creation and human dignity, inviting us to direct resources towards life and sustainability. The Pope writes. “But today, we too often witness the very opposite, as violence and war. War also leaves behind social and ecological destruction that endures for generations. Moreover, the interaction between armed conflicts and environmental degradation often creates a vicious cycle, which destroys ecosystems, contaminates essential resources, such as air and water, and undermines food security. This fuels poverty, inequality, and new social tensions that can contribute to the emergence of further conflicts.”
Creation is “nature”, everything that surrounds us! And human beings are not merely observers, but part of it. Isaiah’s hope therefore becomes for us today a call to “transform what is evil into life“. This conversion that cannot be separated from returning not only to our hearts, but to the One who heals them: the Lord. For where the individual is renewed, new possibilities open up.
The Pope says, “What has been used for destruction can be redirected towards life, towards the care of the poor, the nourishment of the hungry and the safeguarding of creation.. This is the path of an authentic ecological conversion, where the effects of our encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in our relationships with the world around us. Peace, then, begins in the heart and flows outwards to our relationships, communities and the broader world.”
Every year, 1st September also marks the beginning of the Season of Creation, the ecumenical journey of prayer and commitment to the care of our Common House which concludes on 4th October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. During this time, the Church, together with other Christian communities, is invited to renew its commitment to Creation, letting itself be guided by prayer, conversion and concrete gestures of care. This year’s theme, “Living Water,” explores Ezekiel 47:9 and 12 as a powerful biblical vision of hope and ecological healing. The image of living water flowing from God’s sanctuary symbolizes divine healing that regenerates.
The commitment of the Focolare communities around the world
The Season of Creation is also expressed through concrete actions. Among the many initiatives in different parts of the world, we highlight two from Latin America: Brazil and Uruguay.
In Brazil, the Decarbonize project is transforming schools into places where young people can learn about, understand and respond concretely to the environmental challenges of our time.
Students and teachers are involved in a programme of education on climate change, sustainability and environmental justice, developing not only knowledge, but also the ability to participate and take responsibility in their own communities.
The initiative grew out of the international “Decarbonize” program of the Global Education Centre, carried out in collaboration with the University of Alberta, Canada. The programme focuses on youth leadership, climate justice, the fight against environmental racism and political participation, in line with the 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Earth Charterand human rights.
The young people do not simply listen or study: they carry out research, share what they have discovered and participate in public life.
The experience became even more meaningful when students had the opportunity to participate in institutional events such as COP conferences, the Brazilian National Congress and state legislative assemblies.
Decarbonize therefore shows that educating for sustainability also means giving young people a voice, the tools and confidence, to become active citizens and protagonists in caring for our common home.
In Uruguay, a few kilometers from Montevideo, the experience of the El Pelícano Mariapolis Centre offers a practical and engaging way to educate people about integral ecology. The centre, born out of the experience of the Focolare Movement, is surrounded by nature and offers children a space where the natural world becomes a place of learning and discovery. Through outdoor educational activities, children can come into contact with the environment, observing it, getting to know it and learning to respect it.
In 2022, thisexperience took a further step forward thanks to the project “El Pelícano: Centro de Recursos Ecologico para la Educación en la Infancia” (The Pelican: Ecological Resource Center for Early Childhood Education), supported through the New HumanitySeed FundingProgram.
The aim is to transform El Pelícano into a resource centre for the environmental education of children. Workshops, nature excursions, an organic vegetable garden and recycling activities become opportunities to learn through doing. A child who cultivates a vegetable garden, observes a plant, walks in the woods or learns to give new life to a waste material is not only acquiring a notion: they are building a relationship with nature.
And the experience doesn’t stop with the children. Through them, the project also aims to involve families, so that what is experienced and learned can continue in daily life.
The “El Pelicano” therefore offers us a valuable experience: ecology can be taught from early childhood through beauty, practical experience and participation, helping new generations to feel part of our Common Home and responsible for its care.
This is undoubtedly a very difficult time for humanity: wars that continue for years, polarization of every kind, vast numbers of people leaving their homelands in search of a better future that is denied them, climate change, natural disasters…
At the end of 2001, Chiara Lubich wrote this prayer to Our Lady Untier of Knots at the request of someone who had sent her a postcard of an image from an 18th-century painting housed in the church of St Peter in Augsburg. It seems to have been written for the very times the world is experiencing today.
