But what immediately made us feel especially close to our Muslim brothers and sisters was the fact that we share with you a profound faith in the love of God. As the Qur’an puts it so well, He is closer to us than our jugular vein. And we are also closely united to Muslims by the practice of a sincere, unselfish love for every neighbour. (Harlem, New York, 18 May 1997)

This mutual love, this unity gives great joy to those who practice it.

Dialogue is certainly impossible for those who don’t know what it means to love, because loving means being ready to die, to die for the other person. We aren’t always asked to die physically, but at least (to die) spiritually, and that is, to put aside all our thoughts, affections, desires, all that we are planning to do, in order to listen to the other person.

Putting everything to one side in order to listen to the other person is dying to ourselves in order to enter into the reality of the other person, to understand him, to love him, to serve him. The other person does the same with us and this is the beginning of dialogue – it starts this way.

So for those who know how to love, dialogue is possible; for those who don’t know how to love, dialogue is impossible. (Meeting of Muslim friends of the Movement, Castel Gandolfo, November 3, 2002)

Whoever wants to move the mountains of hate and violence in today’s world faces a heavy task. Nevertheless, this is important: what is beyond the strength of millions of separated, isolated individuals, appears possible when people have made reciprocal love, mutual understanding and unity the motivating force of their lives.

There is a reason, a secret key, and a name for all this. When we enter into dialogue among ourselves of the most various religions, that is, when we are open to one another in a dialogue made of human kindness of reciprocal esteem, and respect, we are also opening ourselves up to God and, in the words of John Paul II, “We allow God to be present in our midst.” This is why we are strong. This is the great effect of our mutual love and the secret force which gives vigour and success to our efforts towards peace and brotherhood.

It is what the gospel announces to Christians when it says that if two or three are united in genuine love, Christ Himself, who is Peace, is present among them, and therefore, present in each one of them.

And what greater guarantee than the presence of God, what greater opportunity can there be for those who want to be instruments of brotherhood and peace?

This mutual love, this unity gives great joy to those who practice it. However, it calls for commitment, daily application and sacrifice. And this is where one particular word, in the language of Christians, appears in all its brilliance and power. It’s one that the world does not want to hear, a word it considers foolish, absurd, and futile. This word is the cross.

Nothing good, nothing useful, nothing fruitful for the world can be achieved without meeting and accepting weariness and suffering; in a word, without the cross. Dedicating one’s life to the cause of peace is a commitment not to be taken lightly! It calls for courage, knowing how to suffer. But what I have explained is not utopia but a reality lived for more than half a century by millions of people, a pilot experience of “living together” in the name of religion. (“Brotherhood and Peace in the Various Religions” Madrid, 7 December 2002)