P. (from Great Britain) has two classmates who always pick on him. “I’ve tried not to fight back,” confided P. to his grown-up friend, C., “but they still keep picking on me!” “Let’s ask Jesus to give you the strength to love them even more,” suggested C. One day, P. brought a huge tray of sweets to school to celebrate his birthday. The teacher told him that he may go to the other classrooms, too, to offer the sweets. “Choose two of your classmates to come with you,” she added. P. would have wanted to call his two best friends. The words, “… love your enemies,” came to his mind. “May T. and L. come with me?” he asked the teacher. They were just the ones who were bullying him. P. told C. all about what happened. “See?” said P., “Jesus gave me the strength to do it, and you know what? They’ve stopped bullying me.”

F. d. M. (from Guatemala): “The other day, Mom and Dad had a fight. That made me very sad. I wanted them to be happy and I wondered what I could do. Then I went to my younger brothers. We cut out paper flowers and hearts and stuck them on the wall. Mom and Dad were sitting in silence watching TV. We turned off the TV and sung them a song about how we should love one another. Mom and Dad were so touched they apologized to each other. Mom was so happy she cried. I was happy, too. We all went to bed very happy. ‘Thank you,’ I said to Jesus.” E. (from Trent) received some money from her grandparents when her baby teeth fell out. She was very happy because she had something to give to the poor who are getting help from the Focolare Movement. “Why don’t you keep some of the money to buy yourself that pair of shoes you need?” her Dad asked. “But Dad,” replied E., “the poor children don’t have shoes!” Her Dad understood. A short time afterwards, E. received a gift from her uncle and aunt: it was the pair of shoes she needed. E., 5 years old (from San Paulo, the biggest city of Brazil). Mr. C. takes E. to school everyday. He does not believe in God, and he is known to be a person who is hard to deal with. One morning, as Mr. C. was driving E. to school, she asked him, “Do you know what an act of love is?” “No,” he answered, “what is it?” “An act of love is when you see Jesus in everybody and treat every person the way you would treat Jesus,” she explained. Mr. C. became very pensive. A few days afterwards, at dinner time, E.’s father said that he noted that Mr. C. seemed different. He did not get upset so easily anymore. “When people ask him what happened, he answers, ‘Ask little E.’. I think we’ve got a lot to learn from children.”