that’s what happened to: This advice is addressed to Timothy, Paul’s faithful companion and friend. In fact, he trusted him so much that he treated him like a son. Paul wrote to him and told him that as a man of God, he should avoid pride, envy, fighting and attachment to wealth. He invited him to aim at living the virtues. In his words we can hear an echo of the words of our baptism when we were called to avoid all that is evil and strive for what is good. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to make a radical transformation and makes us able to live out what Paul teaches. How can we live all these virtues in our daily life? It might seem hard to live them one by one. Why not live instead the radicality of love, in each present moment? IF WE LIVE THE PRESENT MOVMENT IN THE WILL OF GOD, THEN GOD LIVES IN US. AND IF GOD IS IN US, LOVE I IN US TOO. Those who live the present in every circumstance, are patient, persevering, gentle, detached from things, pure and merciful because they have love in the highest and purest form. They truly love God with their whole heart, soul and strength. They are enlightened from within and are guided by the Holy Spirit, and therefore they do not judge others or think badly of them. They love their neighbors as themselves and have the courage to live the Gospel challenges, like “turning the other cheek,” or “going the extra mile.” Cut following the dotted lines THE JOY OF THE PRESENT MOMENT The experience lived by the first group in Trent, back in 1944, helps us live this Word of Life, especially the part about “love, patience and gentleness.” It was not always easy at first to live the radicality of love. “Even among ourselves,” as Chiara said, “sometimes a little ‘dust’ would settle in among us and our unity would diminish. Perhaps we looked at the defects and faults of the others and we judged them, and then the current of love among us turned cold. “To remedy this situation, we got the idea of making a pact together and we called it the ‘Pact of mercy.’ Every morning we made the decision to look at each neighbor we would meet during the day – at home, at school or at work – as if they were new, totally new, no longer remembering their defects and covering everything with love. This meant approaching each person with total amnesty in our hearts, forgiving and forgetting everything. “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 God who is merciful and always forgives and forgets.” that’s what happened to: WoL Word of Life Fold vertically in 4 parts “Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness.” (Read the first letter to Timothy, chapter 6, verse 11) “THE PACT OF MERCY” Fold horizontally in 2 From the commentary of Chiara Lubich