Galatians 5:14

The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Gal. 5:14).

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2013/06/26/amerai-il-prossimo-tuo-come-te-stesso/)

Love according to Jesus and love according to our culture which surrounds us today are totally opposite. If a person does not struggle everyday with much prayer and meditation on the Word seeking to live the Word together with other true Christians, very easily, rather, automatically, one slides into the mentality of this world which takes advantage of others with hidden and disguised egoism.

This altruistic love, instead of (false!) “love” of egoism, is exemplified by the story of the good Samaritan. The path of a new humanity is that which passes by way of the transformation of the heart, from indifference to recognizing the other, to take care of the brother that needs us. Because the God that we love and in which we place all our trust is like this: God is the One Who has compassion for man, He is the One Who in Jesus made Himself neighbor to each of His creatures.

Jesus concludes the story by ordering, “Go and do likewise”. Here Jesus does not reassert a law. It is instead a proclamation of the Gospel: in Him, the Samaritan, God took care of me and loved me; because I too, healed from my illness, might love Him with all my heart and the brothers as myself. If in fact, Jesus is the Word which became close so that one might put the Word into practice, then to be the neighbor is no longer, for anyone, a distant goal, unrealistic or unattainable. If Jesus, the Samaritan, took care of me and loved me, I too can love God and neighbor, I too can show my solidarity with those who are in trouble. And one really loves the neighbor if one looks at him with the eyes of God

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An Experience of Life:

One day the house keys, the salary of the husband and other valuables disappeared. Who was it? The author of the theft must have been someone close to the family ... This caused great suffering for Mirta Zanella (Argentina), so much so that she could not even pray. Then, remembering that Jesus invites us to forgive, she forgave, even the person who robbed her. After a few days it became known that a lady in distress who begged for alms in the area and with whom she had for some time a cordial relationship, stole from a neighbor's house: while she threatened the woman with a gun, her husband carried off the stolen goods. Even Mirta, some time later, received from this woman serious threats and to defend herself called the police. The woman was arrested and convicted for various crimes and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

In the months following Mirta’s husband suggested to her to visit this woman in prison. "In no way!", she responded also because she was afraid ... Shortly after a new request: this time it was a priest of the parish, who proposed to go with a group of other ladies to the women's prison, where, among others, was imprisoned the woman who robbed her. A little confused, Mirta accepted, remembering the words of the Gospel: "Go therefore and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice." She went with the group, to the prison and at the conclusion of the Mass she saw the woman. It was a moment: she decided to greet her with a hug. Mirta recounted: "She began crying and asked forgiveness. I told her that the Lord had already forgiven her and I too had forgiven her. She asked me to pray for her children and I promised her I would."

John 6:68

‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’ (Jn 6:68)

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2012/03/01/marzo-2012/)

How many words we hear in a day! There are simple and difficult words, those for love or for hate, those which soothe or make angry. There are tender words or words of reproach. There are words that are imprinted in the memory, which enter into the heart, others that slip away and that we forget quickly. Jesus, after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, turns to the crowd with a long speech. In the first part He speaks of the mystery of His Person. In the second part Jesus pauses to talk about the bread of the Eucharist. And He identifies Himself with this Food: it is He, Jesus, the living Bread. He who eats It deeply unites himself to God and can live for God Himself.

The listeners were surprised and found it difficult to receive these words. This is why so many leave. Jesus sees the uncertainty of faith even among the twelve. Jesus asks them also to take a position. Peter responds on behalf of the friends with an authentic profession and experience of Christian faith: he recognizes and testifies that only the revelation of Jesus can lead into the divine life: "You have words of eternal life," of the fullness of life. The words of Jesus are words of life. Not only because they can be put into practice, but also because when you live the words your life takes on a particular fullness. We learn to hear the word of God, distinguishing it from a thousand other words that pass by. It is the Word of a Father Who wants the good of the children and this is why He gives us words that give meaning to daily life.

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An Experience of Life:

I went many times to visit Franca in prison. Her pain, her anguish, within the walls of the prison grew every day. I just felt helpless, but every now and then I could give her a bit 'of serenity.

One day she said to me: "I like you because you are like me ".

She had expressed the desire to come to our home during the periods of leave. We talked with the children and together we received her with joy. There was with us, at that time, our mother, rather ill, and it was surprising to see how she knew how to console Franca.

Then there was a special Christmas; Franca was already at our house when we received the news of the arrival of my brother with his whole family.

Knowing his way of thinking I was afraid that the presence of Franca would upset him. Instead, seeing our willingness and the joy that Mom felt in helping the unfortunate girl, after a first moment of surprise, he was taken up by the climate of solidarity without judgment. Franca had found the warmth of a family.

N.S., Italia

P.s.

I highly recommend reading the book:

The True Devotion To Mary,

By St. Louis De Montfort.

(http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/secret-mary.htm).

In particular read paragraphs 47-59 for our very particular period of time in the history of the world and of the Church.

Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote about this book:

“The reading of this book was a decisive turning point in my life. I say ‘turning point,’ but in fact it was a long inner journey… This ‘perfect devotion’ is indispensable to anyone who means to give himself without reserve to Christ and to the work of redemption.” “It is from Montfort that I have taken my motto: ‘Totus tuus’ (‘I am all thine’). Someday I’ll have to tell you Montfortians how I discovered De Montfort’s ‘Treatise on True Devotion To Mary’, and how often I had to reread it to understand it.”

Matthew 10:39

“He who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10:39).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9906.htm)

Here Jesus set Himself and the relationship with Him as the reference and the absolute criteria for the important choices of life. In order to truly “be” and to be able to bring forth fruits, it is necessary to be united to Him; in another occasion he said: “Apart from me you can do nothing” ((Jn 15:5). These are words to be taken literally, as when He says: “He who does not gather with me scatters” (Mt 12:30; Lk 11:23). To be with Him and to put Him always in the first place is as necessary as the air we breath; otherwise it would be only a colorless image, a metaphor our being children of God, instead of truly being children of God (Jn 3:1).

Just as for Jesus even His smallest gesture which expressed
As for Jesus even the smallest gesture which expressed His person was “divine”, so too for us to give even a glass of fresh water to the least of our brothers, has an eternal impact. The quality of water depends on the source, and in us the source is divine!

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An Experience of Life:

In Brancaccio, a zone of Palermo, Italy, forgotten by men, but not forgotten by the Mafia which considers it their “natural” territory, Father Joseph Puglisi (1938-1994) was killed on the day of his 56th birthday. Not a “priest-against”, but a “normal” priest, who had taken seriously the Gospel of the least, of the disinherited, and who died for this. As a young priest he had done his apprenticeship in a church on the periphery of Palermo at Godrano, a small zone in the mountains inhabited by peasants, by workers and by students to whom he brought his passion for the truth and freedom, seeds of hope which he spread without sparing himself, animating meetings, debates, moments of study and of prayer. And the Gospel, the joyful message above all for those who do not have reasonable human motives to be happy. And the Gospel in its “normality” that becomes radical and martyrdom, when the context in which it works and speaks is too far away from the designs of God.

At the senior high school Vittorio Emanuele of Palermo, in the Diocesan Vocational center, the youth are his privileged listeners: he educates them, he “leads” them into the message and into the plan of God, animates other vocations and deepens his own, which coincides always more with the awakening of consciences. The “church” of Father Pugliesi was among the people, among the youth, the senior citizens, the disinherited. The “strong arm” of the “troublesome” priest had as an enemy, silent and omnipresent, the Mafia power, which promises protection in exchange for silence. Father Puglisi persisted in rendering witness to the Gospel, not only with denouncements from the pulpit, but with action among “his” people, to which he taught the value of the human person, of their dignity, and of their freedom.