Luke 6:38

“Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be put into your lap.” (Lk 6:38).

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2013/05/01/mgio-2013/)

"Seeing the multitudes, Jesus was moved with pity" (Mt 9:36); this expresses all the love of Jesus for men groping in the dark. Love that He received from the Father: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rm 5:8).

And in calling and sending his apostles, Jesus makes them share the same passionate and free love for men: "Freely you have received, freely give” (Mt 10:8).

Evangelical love has as its primary characteristic gratuity, to take the initiative, to not wait for the other to take the first step, to not let ourselves to be polluted by calculations and interest.

Gratuity is also the condition for proclaiming the Gospel effectively.

If the gratuity is the first quality of love, poverty is its robe and the riverbed where it can flow. Gratuity and poverty were married on the Cross, the greatest manifestation of Jesus and of his Gospel. The Church is called to tread the same path.

Teresa of Calcutta declared that in her extreme poverty there was never lacking a bed and a crib to accommodate the poorest people. While, when gratuity and poverty diminish, one experiences sterility. Chiara Lubich wrote: "If a group of men were true servants of Christ in ones neighbor, soon the world would be of Christ." Gratuitous love is efficacious and has a force of irresistible attraction, because it reveals the omnipotence of God.

God never lets himself be outdone in generosity!

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An Experience of Life:

One evening my husband came home with the news that we would receive a sum of money as an inheritance from our relative. While celebrating the unexpected small fortune, one of us said, "We can not keep it just for ourselves, it would be nice to share it with someone in need."

The next night we learned that a family which came to Italy from Rwanda needed help. So we immediately found to whom to donate half of the sum received. Our gesture then provoked in other families the desire to do something. Soon we organized together a raffle with the proceeds of which were donated for the same purpose.

F.G., Italy

Matthew 13:12

“To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mt 13:12)

(http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2012/07/01/luglio-2012-3/)

This passage from the Gospel of Matthew is part of the parable of the sower. The seed is the Word. The Word is not just something added to man, something which man can do without. The earth (the human creature) and the seed (the Word) in fact were created one for the another. It makes no sense to think of the seed without a relationship with the soil. And the soil without the seed is an uninhabitable desert. Man as we know him, if he cuts off all relations with the Word becomes an arid steppe. The Word is just right for the land. It meets and crosses the aspirations of man, his problems, his sins, his longing for salvation, his accomplishments in the personal and social fields.

And Who is this Word? It is Jesus, the Word that has made His dwelling among us. In the word of Jesus is present Jesus Himself Who speaks, Who speaks to us. And so we meet Him in the Word. And receiving the Word in our hearts, as He wants it to be received (that is, being ready to translate it into life), we are one with Him and He is born and grows in us, and so "we are". But for this we must live the Word, make it our own, we set aside ourselves for the Word; to put it above our thoughts, our affections. And with the Word, blooms the Christian community.

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An Experience of Life:

The words of the Gospel continue to make us wonder, especially regarding the "giving".

And so to make available the most immediate and effective practical help we created a site on the Internet. We called it "electronic sharing." There appears a list of offerings: clothing, tools, rental houses, available lessons, possibilities for holidays ... and a list of needs. This simple tool has proven very useful, we have been able to help many people.

For example, a woman abandoned by her husband, with two sons, underpaid work, poor health, needed a car to go to work.

A family discovered this need by way of the "electronic sharing" and offered their car at a very affordable price. Other families offered a contribution to buy the car which was then fixed up. Within a few days the car was delivered and a party was held. Emotion and gratitude. Actually, even that lady offered a contribution to those who find themselves in difficulty.

J. T., Hungary

Acts 4:32

The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, as everything they owned was held in common. (Acts 4:32)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1994/199401.htm)


BUILDING NEW RELATIONSHIPS

In inter-human relations giving requires receiving, because it is giving and receiving that create communion, fraternity and consequently equality.

Giving means then to share, the communion of spiritual and material goods. With these attitudes of giving we overcome other attitudes of giving which exist in the civilization of having: that which offends because they are flawed by the desire for power over others; that which in the act of giving one seeks ones own satisfaction, ones own vainglory; that “utilitarian” that even though giving, it is finalized and directed to ones own usefulness, ones own gain.

True giving that creates new relationships is that which Jesus taught us in the Gospel. That giving which, lived by the first Christians, did such that one could say of them: “they were of one heart and soul and among them there was no one in need” (cf. At 4,32).

Nothing less than this is required of Christians today in order to construct a united world.

Chiara Lubich said at a large gathering of youth at Palaeur in Rome in 1990:

“Jesus defined the commandment of love “mine” and “new”, because it is typically His, having filled it with a very new and singular content. “Love one another – He said – as I have love you”. And He gave His life for us. Thus in this love there is in play here ones life. And a love that is ready to give ones life is what He asks of us also toward our brothers. It is not sufficient for a Christian only friendship or benevolence toward others; philanthropy is not enough, nor even solidarity alone. The love that Jesus asks is not exhausted in non-violence. It is something active, very active. It requires that one no longer live for oneself, but for others. And this requires sacrifice, fatigue. It asks of everyone to transform themselves from cowardly and egotistical people, concentrated on their own interests, their own things, into little daily heroes, day after day, they are at the service of the brothers, ready to give even their lives in their favor”.

In these relationships that come untied in everyday life and in the strong moments of life, the person arrives to the maturity of emancipation, and, thus, of authentic sociality.

Vera Araujo
(Vera Araujo is a Brazilian sociologist; she teaches social doctrine of the Church in the international citadel of Loppiano and collaborates with various magazines. Beyond being a consultant to the Movement "New Humanity" – a social expression of the Focolare Movement – she took part as an "expert" at the Fourth Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) held in 1992 in Santo Domingo.)

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An Experience of Life:

I have always been attached to my cloths and each year I tended to accumulate them. A month ago, during the change of season, I realized how much I was conditioned by this attachment; I felt a strong push to eliminate from the closet all that was superfluous. In the end I ended up with a few things and a great freedom of heart; I discovered the beauty and the importance of the communion of material goods!

This little cutting permitted me to re-give the proper value to things putting again God in the first place.

(A seventeen year old girl)

Luke 1:45

“Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:45)
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1999/wol9908.htm)

In the midst of delusions, of sufferings and of persecutions in our present times, the celebration of the Assumption invites us to look at Mary as a sign of sure hope and to live in this world constantly oriented toward the eternal goods. Faith in the presence of our Lord which sustains our walk, and charity which fills our heart with the presence of God and which brings us close to the needs of people, permit us to feed the hope in the realization of the promises of God. By faith the whole man gives himself to God receiving that which He has made known. Through the faith of Mary there is accomplished the work of Salvation: the Son of God comes to us. Because of her faith, Mary is said to be blessed: blessed because she believes in the Word of God. And the first beatitude, the one that is fundamental: faith in the promise, which permits the Lord to live “today” in the believers who listen to this Word. The beatitude of Mary is shared with each believer who listens and lives the Word. The Word is to be welcomed as it truly is, the “Word of God which is at work in you believers” (1Thess 2:13).

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An Experience of Life:

I BELIEVE IN THE LOVE OF THE FATHER
One day, while going to the university, I passed by a church. I was praying when a boy who was limping and dressed in rags with a heavy knapsack came up to me to ask for alms. I got up and we went toward the door so as not to disturb the people seated in the pews.

There he tells me all about his situation: in three days he will be able to enter a community for detoxification and rehabilitation, but he does not have money to eat nor does he know where to go to sleep for three days. He shows me an ugly wound on one of his legs.

I had with me only enough money to buy a book for the exam and to eat in the cafeteria. I turned towards the altar with faith: “Jesus – I said to him in my heart – you know that I need this money, but I believe in the love of the Father…” I took the money and I gave it to the boy, whose face lit up. Even outside of the church he continued to thank me… Then I went to the school faculty, and the morning passed by without thinking anymore about this event.

At noon, at the dining hall, I fill my tray and I give my magnetic card to the cashier, who gives me a receipt stamped on it “euro 0”. How come? The cashier asks me if I had asked for a study grant. I said yes, but my request was not accepted. The cashier said: “You did not get the study grant, but in recompense they offered you free meals for the whole year”.

I feel a “thump” in my heart: the Father up there did not even wait two hours to reciprocate!

Stefano (Padova, Italy)

Matthew 13:45-46

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Mt 13:45-46).
(http://www.domusviridis.org.uk/wol/1981/198107.htm)

Having found the pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Jesus wants to make us understand the value of the Kingdom of God which is actually the value of Jesus Himself. Before the Kingdom, we are called to decide for ourselves for that which counts.

Above all there is highlighted here that the Kingdom is a reality of great value and of rare beauty. Jesus tells us that it is not enough to seek and find; IT IS NECESSARY TO DECIDE. And the motive for the decision is the “joy”, the passion for the treasure. Love for Jesus makes all the rest relative, and free to walk toward happiness. The God in which we believe gives us joy.

JESUS IS THE HIDDEN TREASURE and the precious pearl: whoever, sooner or later, finds it, be it that he is not seeking it like the peasant, or be it that he is seeking it like the merchant. But when he finds it, it is important to sell, to detach oneself from the rest, so that Jesus becomes the center, the “all” of ones life. The joy to have met Him is the force in order to decide to arrive to Him.

Love leads us to decide: it takes away that which does not count for love of that which counts. We know well that the pearls of great value are found in the depths. Let us live, guided by this word, our life deeply. Not to just “survive”, but to “LIVE INTERIORLY”, as Pope John Paul II used to say to the youth.

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An Experience of Life:

“GRANDMA… I HAVE TWO OF THEM!”
During a week of community and missionary animation, in a small region of Lazio, Italy, one of our missionary priests was received with joy in a parish auditorium. And there he shared his experiences and the reality of so many poor brothers, while everyone listened with great interest.

Among the people present was a little three-year-old girl who was listening in silence and seemed to be attentive to every word. At a certain point Father Robert saw that the girl drew near to her grandmother and whispered something in her ear. The grandmother smiled and was moved.

At the end of the meeting both the grandmother and the granddaughter went up to the missionary and the grandmother told what happened a few moments ago: “Do you know father, my granddaughter listened to what you said to us about the poor, about their suffering and about how they need also the simple and normal things. And so she too wants to do something for them. When she drew near to me, she said to me: “Grandma, let us give to Father Robert my jacket for the poor children. I have two of them”!”

In the simple hearts of the little ones, love “runs” swiftly to the essential; calculations are done quickly and sharing what one has with others becomes quickly a reality!

(From “Missionary Community of Villaregia”)