So we should not be surprised that his Kingdom is an absolute monarchy. In our Faith we should not pick what is convenient to our temporal opinions, but accept the fullness of eternal Truth. We have to be in full communion with the Church if we want to be in full communion with Christ; If we listen to the successors of apostles we also listen to Him, if we reject them we also reject Him. Love seems to be something so simple. We don't realize that so easily but Jesus had to invite us into an attitude of a soldier in order to make us understand how serious the matter is. Not that love is complicated by nature, but because of our powerful enemy, life became so complicated. St. Paul reminds us of this military attitude through his writings. But an Army of love is a different kind of army and the battle a different kind of battle.
St. Josemaria Escriva says that Jesus summarized his teachings in a last sermon which he gave on the podium of the Cross. He illustrated the way a Christian is supposed to love. I liked the picture. It illustrates how God's love conquers the World. From a heart burning with love on the Cross Mary was consecrated Our Mother and the Church was born. It was also by sharing in this Eucharistic heart through centuries that men and women have become generals in the great armies of God. Some of us are part of their holy orders and movements and try to follow their steps toward the house of perfect love: the House of the Father.
But we are not always the Christians we are called to be. In the Word of Life for this month, Chira Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement gives us an advice:
“Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and
gentleness.”
The experience lived out by the initial group of young women who
gave life to the Focolare Movement in Trent, back in 1944, provides us with an
insight into how we can live this Word of Life, especially the part about “love,
patience, and gentleness.”It was not always easy to live the radicality of love,
especially at the beginning. Even among ourselves, in our relationships with
each other, sometimes some dust would settle in and our unity would become less
strong. This happened, for example, when we looked at the defects and faults of
the others and we judged them, for then the current of love among us turned
cold. In order to remedy this situation, one day we thought of making a
pact together and we called it “the pact of mercy.” Every morning we made a
decision to look at all the neighbors that we would meet that day—in the
focolare, at school, at work, and other places—as if they were new, totally new,
no longer remembering their defects at all and covering everything with love.
This meant approaching each person with this total amnesty in our hearts, with
this universal forgiveness. It was a demanding commitment and all of us
took it on together. It helped us to be—as far as possible—the first to love
always, to live in imitation of our merciful God, who forgives and forgets.by Chiara Lubich
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