December 1984

Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col. 3:14).

These are decisive words for our Christian life and witness.

They are part of a lengthy passage in which the Apostle Paul urges the Christians of Colossae (Col. 1:2) to strip themselves of their sinful habits, from their previous way of life and to clothe themselves with interior dispositions which are precisely those of a person completely renewed in Christ: mercy, goodness, humility, meekness, patience, mutual tolerance and forgiveness. In the end he concludes:

Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

There is an image which the Apostle is very fond of and which he uses in this case as well - it is that of clothing. Having this image in mind, he exhorts them to put on all the above mentioned virtues which are part of the wardrobe of the "new man" and to cover all of these with another outfit - charity - which is the perfect link, or knot.

He compares charity to a band or to a belt which gathers and ties all the other garments together. It is the virtue which completes the Christian's wardrobe. With the expression 'binds everything together in perfect harmony', he means, therefore, that charity binds the virtues with one another and guarantees all the above mentioned virtues; or else as some people think - but the idea remains the same - which unites the members of the Christian community with one another in a perfect way.

Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Undoubtedly, a Christian is clothed with Jesus in baptism (Gal. 3:27); and with Jesus, he is clothed with charity together with all the other virtues which are necessarily included.

But, while it is true that through baptism we already possess charity, it is also true that we possess it as in a seed, which is waiting to be brought to its full development. For this reason, the Apostle urges Christians not to take this virtue for granted, but to develop it and to clothe themselves with it so that it may become visible thereby avoiding the danger of remaining on an abstract plane-in the realm of good intentions or illusions.

Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

We know that goodness, meekness, mercy and the other virtues previously listed by the Apostle can be substantially identified with charity. And yet the Apostle says: above all these virtues, put on charity. The fact is that, although knowing that these other virtues are like many facets and shades of charity, he wants to call our attention to charity as seen in its essence, at its root, from which these various other expressions arise.

Now, Jesus gave us an explanation of charity when he said: "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). Thus charity means to love our neighbour with the very heart of Jesus and that is to say, to the point of giving our life for our neighbour and to make ourselves one with him, the way Jesus made himself one with us. It means to love our neighbour dying to our ego and forgetting ourselves. In this way all the other virtues will blossom as well - they will be fortified and protected.

Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

These words of the Apostle invite us, therefore, to examine to what point our lives as Christians are animated by charity; to what point our lives are rooted in the death of our ego that we might love our neighbours in an ever more perfect way.

But we know that quite an effort is needed to reach this point, perseverance is necessary and above all - a great patience with ourselves.

However, opportunities never fail to arise and we can use them as a continual training. We have opportunities in our family, in community life, at school, at work, in society. And love for Jesus' cross will refine our hearts and make us more and more capable of listening, of relating to the problems and worries of our neighbours; of sharing their joys and sufferings; of knocking down barriers which may still separate us from one another; of putting aside certain ways of behaving Eke pride, rivalry, envy and resentment because of wrongs we may have received; of overcoming that terrible tendency to judge and criticise others; of coming out of our egotistic isolation to be available for whoever is lonely or in need; of building unity everywhere, the unity Jesus desires.

And isn't this what every truly Christian heart longs for?

Chiara Lubich