“Love is no longer love if it is not shared.” This is what Mother Teresa said to indicate what authentic love is, true love, love as Jesus taught us and commanded us to live: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another..” (Jn 13:34)

“Love is no longer love if it is not shared.” The very nature of love is found, therefore,  in a communion that is shared with others. The important thing is to give and give to the maximum what is in us. Who has five talents, who two, who only one. It does not matter how much because, as St. Teresa of the Child Jesus said, “to love is to give and to give oneself.” If we wanted to paraphrase the Lord, He would tell us “Give everything you have and I will do the rest.” And the miracle is fulfilled.  Let us not care where, when and how the Lord will act in the heart of our neighbour.  Let our only concern be to give ourselves.  Indeed, Is there not more joy in giving than in receiving?  

It is this one concern for sharing that motivated the Lord to offer us the work of True Life in God.  He says to Vassula, “I have chosen you to share all that I have.” (TLIG, October 25, 1988) ; and to all of us too He says :  “I have given you everything to raise your soul to Me and share My Kingdom.” (TLIG, October 2, 1989) ; “As a man who invites his friends to share his property, I too invite you to share My Property.” (TLIG, December 19, 1990) ; “come! come into My Kingdom and share everything I have with Me; » (TLIG, April 14, 1991).

If therefore the purity of love, the necessity of love is sharing through the gift, and the gift of self in particular, of all that we possess, sin is, for its part, the absence of this sharing.  It is to selfishly keep everything for oneself, like that character in the gospel who has no greater concern than to tear down his barns to build bigger ones, to amass all his crops and all his goods and then to say to himself: “Ah, how happy I am, I have surplus supplies in store which will last several years; so, I can rest, eat, drink and enjoy life… »  But my poor friend, the Lord will answer, what happiness can you derive from all these goods if “this very night your life will be demanded of you ?”  (Luke 12:16-21)

This then is the origin of our division. Without sharing, unity is not possible. The Lord tells us in a very clear way: “Unity is to share Holy Communion and believe in My real Presence in the Holy Eucharist;   Unity, My child, is to give each other your riches ; (TLIG, April 13, 1991)

Why do we have such a hard time sharing who we are and what we have? The reason, you will tell me. lies in the fear of the unknown of the other because of far too many nagging assumptions or selfishness, jealousy, pride, etc. Most certainly a bit of all. I think that a fairly classic way of manifesting this difficulty of sharing lies is the presumption of believing that we are the sole holders of the truth. It is to see and perceive the other in our image and likeness. “Mirror, my beautiful mirror, tell me who is the most beautiful?” It’s all about our thoughts. We are somehow fond of our view of things in a morbid and unilateral way.

To illustrate this reality, the fathers of the desert tell us a little story of two monks who loved each other very much, they served each other, they offered each other daily what they possessed with much fraternal love and joy. And then, one fine day, as they were sitting next to each other, a small bird landed right in front of them. They began to discuss him. One of them thought it was a sparrow and the other probably a goldfinch.  Gradually, slowly but surely, this discussion – is it a sparrow, is it a goldfinch? – lead them to argue and to fight until they came to blows.

Man is able to render many services to his neighbour, to help him often, but this only as long as he is not asked to give up his own ideas, his way of seeing an aspect of reality. One feels almost offended by the contradiction of a personal idea. Trapped then in the indifference and rejection of the other, it often ends with the breakdown of our interpersonal relationships and the lack of interest in the diversity of the other. I am not interested in what is different from me.

However, it is not through intellectual and rational reasoning that we will be able to convince others of the Truth that inhabits us, but rather it will depend on our ability to bear witness to the gift of self. The Lord said, “Tell all those whom My Heart selected that I will never fail them; the Spouse will provide their needs; let everyone see in them true witnesses; let everyone know there is truth in them by their way of sharing; » (TLIG, September 17, 1992)

I add a final aspect that also describes the very substance of Divine Love. It is Mercy. The Lord says : “love one another, be peaceful with each other, forgive, like I forgive your sins, repay evil with love, be good! be perfect!” (TLIG, July 14, 1988)   And again: “O beloved souls, hear My Cry from above ; “fill up your hearts from My Divine Love,” fill up your hearts and learn to forgive each other ; do not judge each other! by forgiving each other, you will begin to enter in the Path of Unity, by not judging your neighbour, you will be called Truly Mine;” (TLIG, February 20, 1989)

You have heard the Cry from above to “fill our hearts”!   Indeed, all our words will only have an effect if Divine Love, as the Apostle Paul says, “will spread in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.” (Rm 5:5) And the Lord, who keeps reminding us of His Word, confirms this to us: “I have been teaching you these days with delight, how all My sons and daughters can become gods by participation, if they allowed Me to flow in them  My Divine Love; I want to extend My Reign in them and take possession of them, as I want them to take possession of Me ;” (TLIG, June 30, 1999)

Fr Vincent Cosatti