LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

John 13:31-33, 34-35

            I made a research on how people call their loved ones and found few interesting names. The loved one is called my love, my baby, my sweet heart, my honey, my angle. Then I was reflecting on how important is the loved one if we use such words to call him. The word love is a very well known word. I am sure that everybody here at least once has said “I love you” or somebody has told him “I love you”. But the question is “Do we really understand the deep meaning of this word when we use it?” Do we really understand what love is?

            For Jesus as we heard it in the gospel, the essential mark to distinguish Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we love. I give you a new commandment; love one another as I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples. Love is the Christian identity. Love is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian habit. And what does it mean “to love?”  “Aimer c’est avoir quelqu’un pour qui mourir.” “To love is to have somebody for whom you are willing to die”. With this we understand that love is action, love is sacrifice of the self for the other. Christian life is an evangelization and a witness to people around us through love.         Words in Christian life are only a small part of our witnessing. As St Francis of Assisi said to his brothers, “Preach the gospel at all times, but use words only if necessary."

When Jesus says: Love one another as I have loved you. He is giving a Command. It is not an invitation. It is not a request; it is not an option. It is a command or an order. Being a command, it calls for total obedience on our part. In other words, it is an obligation to love one another. How to love? As I have loved you. Not in the measure of our human ability to love or on account of how others can return our love but as God has loved us.

            A Christian asked Mahatma Gandhi about his view of Christianity. He said: I have a great respect for Christianity. I often read the Sermon on the Mount and have gained much from it. I know of no one who has done more for humanity than Jesus. In fact, there is nothing wrong with Christianity, but the trouble is with you Christians. You do not begin to live your gospel teachings. The greatest homage we can pay to the Christian faith is to live in such a way that through us people begin to have a glimpse of the unbounded and unconditional love that God has shown us in Christ.

            But trying to go around the world, where is the love of God when a nation is divided? The innocent are murdered. The children are orphaned. The women are raped. The refugees go hungry. The homes are destroyed. The drinking water is poisoned. Is this a service of love in the Lord Jesus? Where is the love of God when the unborn are aborted? The life of the elderly and the sick is ended. The seniors are abandoned by their relatives. The state enforces the death penalty. The rich rob the poor. Those claiming to be Christians are killing each other in the name of God. Is this a service of love in the Lord Jesus?

            In our hearts we all like to be loved. In fact we all have a need to be loved. Mother Teresa said that the hunger for love is the greatest hunger in the world. God is Love. In other words, the more my heart is open to God, the greater capacity I have for loving others. Human love is very limited, and can be very limiting. We need God’s love.

            There was a little girl who was born without an ear. She became shy and introverted person. There were times when she would go home crying because her classmates made fun of her. When she became a teenager, her mother brought her to a surgeon who performed an ear transplant on her. The operation was successful and she became a normal and happy person.

Not long after she had a boyfriend. After several years, she decided to get married. On the eve of her wedding day, she went inside her mother’s room to thank her. But as she embraced her, she noticed something strange…something absent. She realized that beneath the long hair of her mother was a missing ear.

            She cried and said: “It was you! All these years you didn’t tell me it was you.” The mother replied: “My child, I didn’t tell you because I don’t want you to be sad for me. I did it because I want you to be happy, to see you happy with your life. You don’t lose something when you give it to someone you love.”

            Christian faith is about living in the true love even when it hurts. Christian faith is about standing up for what is right and good. Christian life is about following Jesus and relying on His love and grace so that we will remain strong even in the midst of darkness and sin. Let us love one another as Christ loved us. Love is the key to live fully in the light of Christ. This is our key to the path to goodness and justice.

To end my sharing with you, I would like you to reflect on these questions: Do you make love as the soul of your life? Do you love enough to give life to your Christian commitment?  “Loving another is Loving Yourself.”