You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

How to love your neighbor

Therefore, whatever you would have men do to you, do also to them (Mt 7:12). It does not say, if you please: What the other does to you, do also to him. This would still be the law of retaliation: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (Dt 19:21). It says, rather: what you would like the other person to do to you, do to him/her.and that is quite different.

How many things would change in society if we would put into practice these words of Jesus! It is not so difficult to do so. It is enough to ask ourselves in every situation: if I were in his place and he were in mine, how would I want him to behave towards me?

The words and, above all, the example of Jesus in the Gospel invite us to think, to talk with him in our prayer and to draw consequences. Perhaps when we think of love of neighbor, the first thing we think of is to dedicate some of our spare time to an action of solidarity: accompanying an elderly person for a walk, comforting a sick personGiving alms, distributing food to those who have none, participating in a solidarity party... All this is good, but it is only a small beginning. It can even be an excuse to feel good with a good conscience.

The words of Jesus do not speak of external works of charity but of interior dispositions, essential in our relationships with others. To love, the first thing is to truly love people, to be interested in them, to build bridges of friendship, to share the best we have to offer: our joyful and operative faith, which manifests itself in deeds.

In short, do everything out of love: if you keep silent, keep silent out of love; if you speak, speak out of love; if you correct, correct out of love. Think first of others with true love and then concretize those good feelings in the way that can be most useful to each person.

God's glance

It is about looking differently at the situations and people we encounter in order to live. How? With the gaze with which we would like God to look at usof excuse, of benevolence, of understanding, of forgiveness...!

• When St. John the Apostle was very old, he was taken to Christian meetings and when he was asked to tell something about Jesus, he invariably repeated: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God" (1 Jn 4:7). As he always said the same thing, they insisted: "But you have been with Jesus and you know many things about him; why do you always repeat the same thing to us?". And he answered, "Because it is the precept of the Lord and if we put it into practice, we have put his whole Gospel into practice."
• In this world in which we live and which we would like to see at peace, a world in which the dignity of all people would be recognized and a more just society could be created among all, these ideals will not become a reality if we do not begin with ourselves: by cleansing our hearts of selfishness and filling them with the love of God, and because it is noticeable in our FAMILY LIFE and in dealing with our colleagues and friends that we really love them and care about them.
• We ask our Mother, the Virgin of the Beautiful Love, to help us to love as her Son has taught us.

Mr. Francisco Varo PinedaDirector of Research at the University of Navarra.
Faculty of Theology, professor of Sacred Scripture.