“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

This phrase from Matthew’s Gospel is part of the conclusion to the well-known Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus, having proclaimed the Beatitudes, invites his listeners to recognize the loving closeness of God and indicates how to act accordingly: to discover in the will of the Father the way to reach full communion with him, in his kingdom.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

But what is the will of God? How can we know what it is?

In a worldwide conference call with Focolare members in 1992, Chiara Lubich shared her discovery in this way: 

“God’s will is God’s voice that continually speaks to us, inviting us. It is a thread, or rather, a divine golden filament that weaves through all our earthly life and beyond. 

“It is God’s way of expressing his love, a love that asks for a response so that he can accomplish his wonders in our lives. 

“God’s will is what we should be, our true being, our fulfilment.

“Let us always repeat, ‘Let it be done’ before every painful, joyful or indifferent will of God ... We will discover that these four simple words will be a powerful impetus, like a launch pad, to do whatever we must do with love, with perfection and with total dedication. 

“Moment by moment, we will compose the marvelous, unique and unrepeatable mosaic of our life that the Lord has always thought of for each of us. 

“Just as tiny and multicolored flowers have their meaning within the boundless beauty of nature, so even the smallest thing, like an act of love, has a meaning and shines forth in the beauty and immensity of God.”

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” 

According to Matthew’s Gospel, the Christian’s law par excellence is mercy, which is the fulfilment of every act of worship and love for the Lord. While this Word of Life helps our relationship with God, which is certainly personal and intimate, it also opens us up to a fraternal dimension, as we take concrete actions. It urges us to “go out” of ourselves to bring reconciliation and hope to others.

A group of young people from Heidelberg, Germany gave this testimony: “How could we make our friends experience that the key to happiness lies in giving oneself to others? This is where we started to launch our new action, entitled ‘One hour of happiness.’ The idea is very simple: to make another person happy, at least for one hour a month.

“We started with the people who we felt most needed love, and wherever we offered our availability, doors were thrown wide open! And so, there we were: in a park, pushing some older people in wheelchairs; or in a hospital, playing with children; or doing sports with people with disabilities.

“They were overjoyed but, as the action promises, our joy was even greater! And our friends who were invited to participate? At first, they were intrigued, but now that they have tried to make other people happy, they agree with us: happiness can be given and the return can be felt.”