A Presence which brings light, joy, love …

Since we put reciprocal love into practice, we noticed that our quality of life changed significantly: we felt a new certainty, a joy we had never known before, a new peace, fullness of life, an unmistakable light. Why? The Gospel itself gave us the answer: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). Jesus, very quietly, had entered our group, an invisible Brother. We did not want to lose his presence ever.

Later on, much later, in fact, we understood this was, in bud form, somewhat of a replica of the little house of Nazareth: a dwelling of both persons living in virginity and married people with Jesus in their midst: the focolare. But to have him with us our attitude had to be one of loving to the point of being ready to die for one another. Jesus is spiritually and fully present among us if we are united in this way. From then on we strove to renew our pact of reciprocal love always so that – as Pope Paul VI said – we could “generate” Jesus among us. This is the continual effort of all those who live in the Movement.