December 2001 VOICE OF SHALOM

WITNESSES TO LOVE "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:35). If we have truly contemplated the face of Christ, dear Brothers and Sisters, our pastoral planning will necessarily be inspired by the "new commandment" which he gave us: "Love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn. 13:34). This is an important area in which there has to be commitment and planning on the part of the universal Church and the particular Churches: the domain of communion (koinonia), which embodies and reveals the very essence of the mystery of the Church. Communion is the fruit and demonstration of that love which springs from the heart of the Eternal Father and is poured out upon us through the Spirit which Jesus gives us (cf. Rom. 5:5), to make us all "one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32). It is the building this communion of love that the Church appears as "sacrament", as the "sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the human race". Pope John Paul II Novo Millennio Ineunte

- END -