Set off a blaze in the world

Chiara Lubich’s message to an international gathering of young people on 1^st May, 2005

Dear Young People, many of you have gathered together for your annual 1^st May appointment at Loppiano, Italy. Know that I am there with you!

Your gathering, marked by jubilation and, at the same time, filled with different activities, once again affirms that you know that the future is in your hands: the responsibility of contributing, with your characteristic generosity and energy, to making of humanity one family.

What awaits us then? The title for your gathering describes the road you have chosen to follow: “A Time for Brotherhood.” Universal brotherhood is the only feasible horizon towards which men and women and all peoples are moving towards with slow but steady steps. Brotherly love is the driving force behind a peaceful world, a united world.

To bring it about, as you know, we need to make the Gospel-based “art of loving” the inspiring norm of our life. A revolution is needed: to extend our outreach beyond our family ties and friendships, and love everyone, without exception, always taking the initiative, without expecting anything in return. We need to love others as ourselves and to love making ourselves empty so as to better understand and welcome the others, sharing their sufferings and joys. This art is the key that transforms every relationship and opens up every dialogue.

And there is more. In a world that is restlessly searching for God, but that believes only in what it can see, it is possible to make room for Jesus himself, to attract him to the point that he makes himself present in our midst. We have experienced this now for over sixty years. Love tends toward reciprocity and does not stop giving until the person beside us begins to love as well. Then, as a result of mutual love, which always brings amazement and wonder, Jesus’ promise is fulfilled: “Where two or three are united in my name I am in their midst” (Mt 18:20). Jesus is present in the community!

When two elements are combined together they create a third which is not the sum of the two elements but something new. The same thing happens if we love one another as he has loved us. Jesus will then be in our midst and he is truly the one who builds a new world.

It’s fantastic to be able to set off a blaze in the world—the same Jesus who lived two thousand years ago in Palestine, the same Risen Jesus! Here lies the basis of our hope for a better world.

Dear young people, I wish with all my heart that you may respond to this challenge of brotherhood by living the art of loving fully, 100%. In this way Jesus will be among you wherever you are. The Risen Lord will fill you with his gifts: a joy you have never experienced, peace you have never known, and overflowing light to bring the world together in unity.