All one! It’s a goal to reach. It’s a mandate: a mandate from the One to whom each one should joyfully surrender himself, God who is our Father. If the heavens were to open and he were to speak, looking at each of us, he would say: “Be one! You are brothers and sisters. Therefore, be united!” One day, heaven did open up, because the Word became flesh and grew up. He taught, performed miracles, gathered disciples, founded the Church, and, before dying on the Cross, said to the Father: “May they all be one.”1
He did not address human beings: perhaps they would not have understood. He turned to the Father, because God is the bond of this unity, and obtained the grace for us to be one among us. Now we Christians talk a lot about the unity of the mystical Body and the Church, but we often fall into the absurdity of knowing things, of being familiar with them, but not living them. We know that we are brothers and sisters, we know that a link binds us, yet we do not act as brothers and sisters. We pass by each other without looking at one another, without loving each other. But then, of what does our fraternity consist?
Yes, if we are in the state of grace, God already binds us, but this is not all that he wants from us. He wants that we open our eyes and look at each other, that we help and love each other. He wants that we love others as ourselves, precisely as ourselves. But who does this nowadays? So why did Jesus say it? Is it possible that only the saints live the Gospel? And what do Christians do? They try, as much as possible, not to do evil and, when they want, to do just a bit of good. This is not what Jesus wanted.
If you walk through a pagan city, you almost don’t realize that you are not in a Christian city. That’s because, in a Christian city, one can no longer see authentic Christians, people who bear witness to their God. This is our fault; we have forgotten about what is essential. Our eyes are clouded by material goods, different activities, sentiments, personal ideas, and egoism. We don’t set aside anything to give priority to God.
God does exist; yes, God is also there, but he is one of the many things. We remember him in certain moments, especially when we need him. As Christians, we should live differently. We must put God in the rightful place in our lives, and all the rest becomes secondary. And He will teach us how we should live and will repeat his words to us: “Love one another.”2 This is everything.
If each of us translates these words to life and loves everyone around us as Jesus would, then we’ll spark a Christian revolution. This revolution compels with love all people to recognize one another as brothers and sisters. Then many things will change. Humanity will be my family, as Jesus said: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God…”[3] And passing through this world, we will realize that people are not just persons, but they are children of God.
All one! Let’s make the world just one family, where the rule of every rule is Love. Let’s make of every city a new city. This is our goal.
If we don’t work for this, we could call ourselves failed Christians.
Chiara Lubich
1 John 17:21
2 John 15:12
3 Luke 8:21
