A mosaic of fraternal love

By living City

May 10–16 is World Unity Week, an initiative of Youth for a United World

The activities carried on around the world by the Youth for a United World are like a mosaic of fraternal love, where they try to live out the full meaning of ‘love.’ They explain how the word ‘fraternal’ tries to convey a sense of human equality and brotherhood.

It was December 2003, more than two years after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the resulting war in Afghanistan and just a few months after the start of the war in Iraq. The Youth for a United World had already responded to the new challenges posed by international tension with projects aimed at building peace and promoting a culture of communion among people — creating a worldwide network of mutual love, as taught in the Gospel.

From the beginning, the Youth for a United World has embraced the appeal of its founder, Chiara Lubich, who urged youth everywhere to bring love, as Jesus commanded, to the world. “Your first goal is to bring the Gospel to life in earthly matters,” she said back in 1983.

The young people have welcomed Chiara’s message with enthusiasm. It required creating a spirit of fraternity among all, which is actually a concept promoted by many other major religions and their spiritual leaders. For example, Mahatma Gandhi said, “You and I are one. I cannot harm you without harming myself.” And Blessed Joseph Gerard, an Oblate missionary priest, said, “The world belongs to those who love it the most and can give a better proof of their love.”

The Qur’an says, “Give to your relative all that is his due, as well as to the poor person and to the traveler,” and the Golden Rule, common to all major religions, affirms, “Do onto others what you would have them do to you” (Lk 6:31).

Chiara, who took universal brotherhood according to the Gospel as her ideal in life, taught everyone, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Telling the story of Focolare’s origins, she explained how to identify our neighbor. She spoke of the situation in Trent, when World War II was raging: “Our neighbor was right there beside us. Our neighbor was that old lady, who could barely drag herself to the air-raid shelter as the alarm sounded. We had to love her as ourselves; we had to hold her up and bring her to the shelter with us, even putting our own lives in danger.

“Our neighbors were those children frightened by the war, huddled around their mother. We had to take them in our arms and carry them back home.

“Our neighbor was that sick man, who couldn’t get out of his house and needed medical treatment. To love him we had to go to his house with the medicine he needed and take care of him. We read: ‘Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to Me.’ Because of the circumstances of the war, people around us were hungry, thirsty, wounded, homeless and in need of clothing. So we cooked huge pots of soup to bring to them. When a poor person knocked at our door, we invited them in for a meal. Around the table there would be a poor person and then one of us, another poor person and then one of us.”

Therefore, our neighbor is the person who is right next to us — at home, school, at our workplace, in our cities. We can give our full attention to each one, offering concrete help or a word of advice.

This way of life gave rise to various projects aimed at building a united world. Their goal was of changing society from within, improving the lives of individuals and of our cities.

“What I hope for from the Youth for a United World,” Chiara said, “is that they convince the world that it is called to unity. Without this conviction, problems will never be solved.” In fact, it was in December 2003, when the world was in such serious conflicts, that she launched a challenge for the youth. She asked them to become protagonists in building worldwide brotherhood by giving concrete examples, like tiles of a mosaic, of how we can live together as one human family. They are called “tiles,” because they are often small projects, involving just one neighborhood or a nursing home, a school, or a family at a time. They aim at bringing comfort, love and warmth wherever there is coldness, indifference, discord or hatred. They might begin as small projects, but the vision is nothing less than universal brotherhood.

These initiatives bear witness to the Gospel’s timeliness and to the fact that it contains answers not only to the problems of today but to those of all times.

- with Rosa Kim

Projects of concrete love promoted by youth around the world

Tagaytay, Philippines We went to visit a very poor neighborhood. Together we walked more than a mile to reach the spring that supplies water to the area. We cleaned it, because it was so polluted and was the source of sickness for many people. This gave us a chance to teach the residents how to keep it clean and to build relationships with many of the local youth.	Karachi, Pakistan We paid several visits to a residence for the mentally ill and spent a couple of hours with the patients, many of whom had been abandoned by their families. For some of us it was the first time that we came face to face with this “wound” in our society. It opened our eyes and our hearts towards others. We asked ourselves, “What if I were here in their place?”
Luanda, Angola We wanted to bring love to some children who used to be homeless and are now living at a center. Most of them have serious family problems, and some had even been accused of witchcraft and were kicked out of their homes; others suffered from different types of abuse. We immediately started to love them concretely: cleaning, washing ... all in an atmosphere of great mutual love. We spoke about the Golden Rule and invited them to live it with us.	Yaoundé, Cameroon On the first day of World Unity Week we went to visit the juvenile section of the city prison, where there are 250 boys between the ages of 10 and 17. We introduced ourselves and what we believe in. Then we shared with them what we had brought: chips, sandwiches, popcorn, fruit, soap, and even necessities like toilet paper.
Northern Brazil Torrential rains made our rivers overflow, flooding the surrounding areas and causing several fatalities and extensive property damage. In various cities around Brazil, we took up collections of basic essentials, clothing, and medications for all those who were now homeless. Hundreds of youth worked with great enthusiasm to set up a chain of solidarity with all those in need.	Manaus in Brazil’s Amazon region We held an event with 700 youth at the “Farms of Hope” for youth struggling to overcome drug addiction. It was a very special moment, a way of showing these youth that a better world exists and that they can be a part of it.