St. John was writing to warn his communities against certain people who exalted faith in Jesus with their words and speech but did not follow through with works and actions.
Moreover, these people considered works to be useless or superfluous, as if Jesus had already done everything. Their faith was empty and sterile, therefore, because it left out, from the work of Jesus, that indispensable contribution he asks of each of us.

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

Love in action. Real faith, the Apostle says, proves itself by loving as Jesus did and taught. The first characteristic of this love is concreteness.
Jesus did not love us just by giving beautiful speeches.
He passed among us doing good, healing all (Acts 10:38), making himself totally available to those who came his way, beginning with the weakest, the poorest, those at the margins of society, giving his life for us.

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

We must love, the Apostle says, not only in action but in truth, too. While Christian love attempts to express itself in concrete actions, its source of inspiration must be the truth of the love that we find in Jesus. It must aim at doing works that conform to his sentiments and teachings.
We must love, therefore, in accordance with, and to the measure of, the love given to us by Jesus.

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

How should we live the word of life of this month?

Its message is all too clear. It calls us to be the authentic Christians that Jesus wanted us to be. Isn’t this what the world is waiting for? Isn’t it perhaps true that today’s world wants to see people who bear witness to the love of Jesus?
Let us love then in deed rather than in word, beginning from the humble acts of service asked of us each day by just being with the people we meet.
Let us love in the truth. Jesus always acted in harmony with the will of the Father — in the same way we too should always act in harmony with the words of Jesus.
He wants us to recognize him in every neighbor. In fact, he holds as done to himself what we do for each person we meet. He wants us to love others exactly as we love ourselves, and to love each other by being ready to give our lives for each other.
Let us love like this, then, so that we too might be instruments of Jesus for the salvation of the world.

Chiara Lubich