Be kind
to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has
forgiven you.
This agenda for life is
concrete and the core of what matters. It would be enough on its own to create
a different kind of society, one where people are more like brothers and
sisters, more supportive. It was part of a broader project put before
Christians in Asia Minor.
In these communities
‘peace’ had been reached between Jews and Gentiles, the two peoples
representative of a humanity till then divided.
The unity given by Christ
has to be constantly renewed and translated into practical social action wholly
inspired by mutual love. This is the basis for suggesting how our relationships
should be:
Be kind
to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has
forgiven you.
Kindness: wanting the good
of others. It means ‘making ourselves one’ with them, approaching them being
completely empty of ourselves, of our own interests, our own ideas, of the many
preconceptions that cloud our vision, to take on ourselves their burdens, their
needs, their sufferings, and to share in their joys.
It means entering into the
hearts of the people we meet in order to understand their mindset, their
culture, their traditions, so as to make them, in a certain sense, our own, and
really understand what they need and be able to discern those values God has
planted in the heart of every person. In a word: kindness means to live for
whoever is near us.
Tender-heartedness:
welcoming others as they are, not as we would like them to be, with a different
character, with our political views or our religious convictions, and without
those faults and habits that annoy us so much. No, we need to expand our hearts
and make them able to welcome everyone, with their differences, their
shortcomings and troubles.
Forgiveness: always seeing
the other person as new. Even where we find our most beautiful and most
peaceful relationships, in the family, at school, at work, there are inevitably
moments of friction, differences of opinion, clashes. People reach the point of
not speaking to each other, of avoiding one another, to say nothing of when
real and true hatred towards someone who thinks differently roots itself in the
heart. We have to make a strong, rigorous and thorough commitment to try and
see each brother or sister as though they were new, completely new, not
remembering at all how they have hurt us, but covering everything with love,
with a complete amnesty in our hearts, imitating God who forgives and forgets.
True peace and unity are
attained when kindness, tender-heartedness and forgiveness are lived not only
by people individually, but together, with one another mutually.
And just as the embers of a
fire have to be stirred every now and then, so that they are not smothered by
the ashes, so too from time to time it is necessary deliberately to revive the
decision to love one another, to revive our relationships with everyone, so
that they are not covered up by the ashes of indifference, apathy, selfishness.
Be kind
to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has
forgiven you.
These attitudes demand to
be translated into deeds, into practical action.
Jesus himself showed us
what love is when he healed the sick, when he fed the crowds, when he brought
the dead back to life, when he washed the feet of his disciples. Actions,
deeds: this is what it means to love.
I remember the mother an
African family whose daughter, Rosangela, lost an eye after an aggressive young
boy poked her with a stick. He even continued making fun of her afterwards.
Neither of the boy’s parents said that they were sorry. The silence, the lack
of relationship with that family, made Rosangela’s mother feel bitter. ‘Don’t
be upset,’ said Rosangela who had forgiven the boy, ‘I am lucky because I can
see with my other eye!’
‘One morning,’ Rosangela’s
mother said, ‘the boy’s mother sent someone to get me to go round to her house
because she felt ill. My first reaction was: “Look, now she comes to me for
help. With so many other neighbours she could have asked, she asks me, after
all her boy has done to us!”
‘But suddenly I remembered
that love has no limits. I hurried over to her house. She opened the door and
fainted into my arms. I took her to the hospital and stayed with her until the
doctors saw her. A week later she was discharged from the hospital and came to
my house to thank me. I welcomed her with all my heart. I had managed to
forgive her. Now we are in touch again. In fact, our relationship is totally
new.’
Every one of our days, too,
can be filled with real acts of service, humble and intelligent expressions of
our love. We will then see fraternity and peace grow around us.
Chiara Lubich
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