THIS, for sure, is no fantasy, or
some exaggerated desire,
completely gratuitous or with no basis. This, in fact, is what Christ
has commanded us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34)
And I don’t think he would give us that commandment without enabling
us to follow it.
For his part, everything is given for us to be able to
love as we are commanded. In the first place, Christ is the God made
man who shows us the fullness of love which is the very essence of
God, just as St. John said, “God is love.” (1 Jn 4,8)
Christ shows us the kind of love that has to contend with
our human condition that is wounded and weakened by sin. It is the
kind of love that knows how to deal with sin in its many forms and in
its consequences.
It’s a love that knows how to forgive, even to the point
of assuming our sinfulness, willing to die for us even when we are
still in the state of sin and have not yet asked for forgiveness. St.
Paul attests to this when he said: “God demonstrates his own love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us...”
(Rom 5,8)
It’s a love that covers even one’s own enemies. “Love your
enemies,” Christ said, “and pray for those who persecute you, so that
you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven who causes his sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” (Mt 5,44).
In short, it’s a universal love, for he came to save all,
as St. Paul again testified: “He desires all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself
as a ransom for all...” (1 Tim 2,4-5)
This is the kind of love that we ought to have for one
another, as Christ has shown it to us. It’s both easy and hard to do.
Easy, because God’s grace will always be available to us, and as we
have been saying, we are actually equipped with our spiritual
faculties of intelligence and will more than our physical powers to do
this.
It’s, of course, also hard, because we really have to
contend with our human frailties that will always be with us, not to
mention, the effects of sin that make us proud, arrogant and resistant
to the impulses of grace.
We need to broaden our understanding of love, and to
vitally link it with the love of God that is always made available
through the Holy Spirit and the many instrumentalities in the Church.
We have to be wary of limiting our love to sentimentalism,
or to make it address only the material and natural needs of others.
We have to go beyond that level, and enter into the level of the
spiritual and the supernatural, for that is where the true and
ultimate good is for us.
In short, we have to bring Christ to others. But to do
that, we need to have Christ ourselves. In fact, we need to be another
Christ, “alter Christus,” because only then can we bring and give
Christ to others, and fulfil the Christ’s new commandment to love as
he himself has loved us.
This would definitely require all-out and constant effort.
Our weaknesses are many, and sometimes latent, hidden and unknown.
Temptations abound. Spiritual and moral traps and snares practically
make a minefield of our life.
But as long as we pray, are humble enough to acknowledge
our weakness and act on the temptations and the sins that we may
commit, are sincere in our contrition and generous in our atonement
and reparation, we should not fear about being unable to love as
Christ loves us.
We need to continually rectify our intentions, and little
by little overcome the fear of sacrifice and the cross that love
always entails. In fact, when we encounter them, let’s be happy since
we would be given the occasion to develop and grow in the love that
Christ is showing us.
We don’t have to wait for big and extraordinary events to
develop this love. Our small daily duties are good enough to cultivate
this love of Christ. That ultimate expression of love that Christ
showed us through his passion and death, may just be dramatized in our
bedroom, when we choose God instead of ourselves—our lust, our greed,
etc.
completely gratuitous or with no basis. This, in fact, is what Christ
has commanded us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34)
And I don’t think he would give us that commandment without enabling
us to follow it.
For his part, everything is given for us to be able to
love as we are commanded. In the first place, Christ is the God made
man who shows us the fullness of love which is the very essence of
God, just as St. John said, “God is love.” (1 Jn 4,8)
Christ shows us the kind of love that has to contend with
our human condition that is wounded and weakened by sin. It is the
kind of love that knows how to deal with sin in its many forms and in
its consequences.
It’s a love that knows how to forgive, even to the point
of assuming our sinfulness, willing to die for us even when we are
still in the state of sin and have not yet asked for forgiveness. St.
Paul attests to this when he said: “God demonstrates his own love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us...”
(Rom 5,8)
It’s a love that covers even one’s own enemies. “Love your
enemies,” Christ said, “and pray for those who persecute you, so that
you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven who causes his sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” (Mt 5,44).
In short, it’s a universal love, for he came to save all,
as St. Paul again testified: “He desires all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself
as a ransom for all...” (1 Tim 2,4-5)
This is the kind of love that we ought to have for one
another, as Christ has shown it to us. It’s both easy and hard to do.
Easy, because God’s grace will always be available to us, and as we
have been saying, we are actually equipped with our spiritual
faculties of intelligence and will more than our physical powers to do
this.
It’s, of course, also hard, because we really have to
contend with our human frailties that will always be with us, not to
mention, the effects of sin that make us proud, arrogant and resistant
to the impulses of grace.
We need to broaden our understanding of love, and to
vitally link it with the love of God that is always made available
through the Holy Spirit and the many instrumentalities in the Church.
We have to be wary of limiting our love to sentimentalism,
or to make it address only the material and natural needs of others.
We have to go beyond that level, and enter into the level of the
spiritual and the supernatural, for that is where the true and
ultimate good is for us.
In short, we have to bring Christ to others. But to do
that, we need to have Christ ourselves. In fact, we need to be another
Christ, “alter Christus,” because only then can we bring and give
Christ to others, and fulfil the Christ’s new commandment to love as
he himself has loved us.
This would definitely require all-out and constant effort.
Our weaknesses are many, and sometimes latent, hidden and unknown.
Temptations abound. Spiritual and moral traps and snares practically
make a minefield of our life.
But as long as we pray, are humble enough to acknowledge
our weakness and act on the temptations and the sins that we may
commit, are sincere in our contrition and generous in our atonement
and reparation, we should not fear about being unable to love as
Christ loves us.
We need to continually rectify our intentions, and little
by little overcome the fear of sacrifice and the cross that love
always entails. In fact, when we encounter them, let’s be happy since
we would be given the occasion to develop and grow in the love that
Christ is showing us.
We don’t have to wait for big and extraordinary events to
develop this love. Our small daily duties are good enough to cultivate
this love of Christ. That ultimate expression of love that Christ
showed us through his passion and death, may just be dramatized in our
bedroom, when we choose God instead of ourselves—our lust, our greed,
etc.
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