10am (8 mins)
12pm (9 mins)
The
other day, I read an old journal entry I wrote 5 years ago. [And it is very relevant b/c we have a young
family baptizing their babies & parents of those who had their First Holy
Communion yesterday.] It goes like this:
THEOLOGY
CONVERSATION BETWEEN ME & MY 7 Y.O. LAST NIGHT
(as I was half-asleep dozing off)
(as I was half-asleep dozing off)
He said: I’m sorry I spilled my fruit punch at Taco
Bell. [My brother] pushed my arm.
I said: And that’s why it’s an accident. But
if you consented, then you would be in trouble.
He said: Yes, I know.
I said: That’s why your will is very important. Love
is in the will. Just like sin is in the will. And we must always love God.
He said: So love is God’s will?
I said: Yes. God is love. And just like in [the
movie] “Finding Nemo” when Marlon the clownfish looked all over the ocean for
his son, Nemo, so [God’s love] will always search for us.
He said: Like the Prodigal Son?
I said: Yes, and we must always choose God
in our will. And we must always avoid sin.
He said: Okay.
I said: God is all that matters. Nothing
else matters; not our money; not our house; not our cars. Only God matters.
Everything else will fade away. Good night. I love you.
And then he said: I love you, too.
I
The one theme in this story for me to emphasize
is that love is in the will. This leads us to today’s Gospel where Jesus gave
us a new commandment. Jesus said, “Love
one another as I love you.” This one sentence
forms the two main points of our reflection: (1) The first main point is “love
one another…” and (2) the second main point is “…as I have loved you.”
Let’s go to the first part of the sentence:
“Love one another…” Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI wrote in his encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love)
that “by acknowledging the centrality of love, the Christian faith has retained
the core of Israel’s faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth”
(cf. DCE 1). When Jesus said in the
first part of that sentence, “Love one another…,” he summarized all the Old
Testament commandments. As the Second
Reading from the First Letter of John says, everyone who loves knows God but
whoever does not love does not know God (for God is love).
St. Thomas Aquinas defined love in this
way: “To will the good of another.” Here,
love is an action that begins in the heart.
It is a human choice. Love is not
just a temporary feeling or a fleeting emotion that comes and goes. Love is a decision for good or evil.
And notice that love is concerned more and
more with the good of the beloved, the other.
Love wants the beloved to be and to be fully in God’s eyes. Love doesn’t focus on me, myself and I. Rather, it takes us outside ourselves and desires
what is true, good, beautiful and right for the beloved. And that’s the first point. We love even when we don’t feel like it.
II
This leads to the second part on “…as I
have loved you.” So how should we love
as Christians? The model for love is not
human love and human wisdom but divine love.
Jesus doesn’t just say, “Love one another…” Period. End of sentence. Instead, Jesus says, “Love one another…”
how? “…AS I love you.” The standard for TRUE love is Jesus. And how did Jesus set the standard for us to
follow? He gave himself [kenosis] all the way to the Cross, until it hurt. We are to love the way Jesus loved. Just look at the crucifix. True love requires sacrifice.
You know, there are some somewhat silly bumper
stickers that say “My religion is toleration” or “My religion is co-existence.” From Christian point of view, these stickers
are worldly wisdom. They are minimum morality. But our standard of love is not some worldly
bumper stickers or even a book or even ideas, but a living Person to be
encountered—Jesus Christ who is God’s Love in the flesh! Do two lovers who want to get married say to
each other, “I tolerate you. I co-exist
with you. Will you marry me?” No, they
say, “I love you.” Love wills the ultimate
good of the other, and the ultimate good of the other is Heaven!
When we are in love with Jesus, we keep his
commandments. When love is in our heart,
the all the rules, and requirements of being Catholic, and going to Mass and
the Sacraments, or the church laws about marriage – all of these – are not a
burden. The Commandments bring joy to
the heart. Jesus said we are his friends
if we do what he commands. Love freely wants
to live in friendship and grace with God.
So in summary, we meditated on the two
parts of “Love one another as I love you.”
O Mary, mother of Jesus and our mother, you who stood at the foot of the
Cross, “teach us to know and love” Jesus “so that we too can become capable of
true love” (DCE 42). Help us to follow Jesus’s
commandment to love one another as he has loved us. Amen.
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