The Art of Loving: A Handbook to Answer the Call of Love

by Chiara Lubich

Publisher:

New City Press

, 2010

Overview

Here is a small volume with a collection of texts drawn from the writings of Chiara Lubich. Her simple down-to-earth language draws us into the very meaning of evangelical love and challenges us to start living it. The same ideas shine through each of these lines, a paradigm which she was fond of using during her last days on this earth, in her urgency to spread the Gospel message of unity and peace to everyone.

In disarmingly simple down-to-earth language Chiara Lubich draws her readers into the very heart of evangelical love and gently challenges them to start living it. She never tired of repeating the ideas that shine through each of the texts collected in this volume.

A few simple phrases compose her Art of Loving, which are drawn from the Gospels and disclose the secret of human fulfillment which is found in divine love: ‘Love everyone,’ ‘Be the first to love,’ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘Love each other as I have loved you,’ ‘Make yourself one.’

The universal message of Love is the message of Christianity and it is the Golden Rule of all the Great Religions. It is a message that is written into the DNA of every person, even those who seem far from God. This small book is like a daily handbook for anyone who wishes to answer the call of Love each day in today’s ever-changing society, a call that Chiara Lubich believed to be the primary vocation of every human person and our personal and collective fulfillment.

Key Features

• Draws readers into the very heart of evangelical love and gently challenges them to start living it
• Discloses the secret of human fulfillment found in divine love
• Serves as a daily handbook for anyone who wishes to heed the call of Love

Contents

God is Love

• Charity
• It Comes from Heaven
• The Demands of Genuine Love

Love Everyone

• The First Characteristic of Love
• Divine Love and Human Love
• One Human Family
• Opening the Heart
• Everyone Is a Candidate for Unity
• Banish Judgment
• Who Is My Neighbor?
• The “Discovery”
• One at a Time
• Without Limit
• To Serve
• A Maternal Heart
• Even Our Enemies
• For a New World
• Within Everyone’s Reach
• The Christian Revolution
• Heaven on Earth
• Like the Creator

Be the First to Love

• Take the First Step
• In Imitation of God
• Toward the Least Lovable
• He Taught Us
• Gratuitous Love
• In Love what Counts Is to Love
• The Pact of Mercy
• Daily Resolutions

Love as You Love Yourself

• The “Golden Rule”
• A Law Written on Every Heart
• For All People of Good Will
• Over and Above Nature
• You and Your Neighbor, Both Members of Christ
• Love Creates Equality
• As Yourself

“Make Yourself One”

• True Love
• God’s Own Chosen Way
• Poor in Spirit
• “Making Ourselves One” in Everything
• Dying to the Self
• Letting Go of God — for God
• Have a Heart of Flesh
• “Pruning” Helps Love Grow
• Words of Substance
• Hard Work
• Take upon Yourself the Other’s Burdens
• We Must “Be Love”
• In Everything But Sin
• The Risk of Speaking Out
• The Gift of the Other
• Believing and Enduring All Things
• Even Suffering
• Until Love Is Mutual
• It Is Jesus!

Loving Jesus in Everyone

• “You Did It to Me”
• An “Other Christ”
• Clear Sight
• In Every Relationship: Charity
• Until Morning
• >Our Neighbor: A Goldmine
• The Pearl

Mutual Love

• Unity: Effec of the Eucharist
• The Law of Heaven
• What He Asks of Us
• Jesus Did It First
• A Heroic Love
• White Martyrdom
• There Is Love and Then There Is Love
• Giving One’s Life
• The Perfection of Love
• Reviving Relationships
• Nothing But Mutual Love
• Giving Witness
• The Dress of a Christian
• “By This Everyone Will Know ...”
• Unity in Thought
• Mutual Love among Christians

The Risen Lord in Our Mist

• If We Are United Jesus Is In Our Midst
• The Kingdom of God in Our Midst
• Trinitatian Life

Product Details

• Title: The Art of Loving: A handbook to answer the call of love
• Author: Chiara Lubich
• Publisher: New City Press
• Print Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 144
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781565483354, 1565483359
• Resource ID: LLS:RTLVNGHNDBCLLLV
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-03-15T00:52:22Z

About Chiara Lubich

Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) was born in Italy. An internationally renowned religious leader and writer, she received the Templeton Prize for the Progress of Religion and the UNESCO Peace Prize. She published over thirty books in dozens of languages with more than one million copies sold. She founded and presided the Focolare Movement until her death on March 14, 2008. Chiara and her gospel-based spirituality have inspired millions. The Focolare Movement stands at the forefront of ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.