Talking About Loving the Neighbor

Key ideas that we can teach children about loving our neighbor

To act with charity is to think kindly of others, wish them well, and do good for their benefit. Talk with children about ways we can do good things for those in our family, our community, our church, our country and heaven.

Little ones can be taught:

• We can help our neighbor by being helpful and kind to the people around us. 
• The Lord gives us special talents that we can use to help our neighbors.
• The Golden Rule is doing to others as one would want for oneself.
• We can practice being a good neighbor by doing our chores at home.

When children are older, they can learn that: 

• The second great commandment is to love the neighbor as oneself.
• We should try to do our work well, at home and at school.
• We show our love to the Lord by loving the neighbor.
• We can’t help others if we don’t take good care of ourselves.
• Heavenly joy comes from serving those in need without counting on a reward.

Ideas for teenagers include:

• Charity is love towards the neighbor—as individuals and collectively.
• “The neighbor” is the Lord, heaven, the church, the human race, one’s country, community, family and oneself.
• To love our neighbor involves looking for the good in other people and supporting it.
• The happiness of heaven comes from being useful (Arcana Coelestia 7038).

 Resources for all ages

• “Being a True Friend and Neighbor” by Peter M. Buss, Sr. (ages 7-14)
  If we want to be good friends, we must listen and look for the times when our friends really need us.
• “A Rule That Shines as Gold” by Donald L. Rose (ages 15 and up)
  When we make the Golden Rule part of our life, it is good reflect on what is best for the neighbor.
• The Ascending Degrees of the Neighbor (ages 18 and up)
  The Lord teaches us that there ascending degrees of the neighbor who we are to love, starting with an individual person and continuing through our communities and countries to heaven and the Lord Himself. Learn about each degree.
• A Golden Heart Project (ages 4-10)
  When we are kind to others, it is like having a beautiful golden heart.
• Prayers on Using Our Gifts from the Lord (ages 15 and up)
  Three prayers asking the Lord to help us use our gifts well and to remember that everything good comes from Him.
• Appreciating What Others Do (ages 12 and up)
  The Lord wants us to love our neighbors, by being a friend to what is good in them. This involves looking for and supporting the good qualities we see in them. For what is good with a person is what is from the Lord within them. We can’t know the quality of good with other people, but we can appreciate the uses they serve and wish them well. Choose someone you know and think about the useful things he or she does to serve the Lord and the neighbor.