Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Sr Angelita Roferos SSpS – College of the Holy Spirit Manila
Friday 5th Week of Easter
Today’s gospel reminds us of LOVE at the core of Christianity. Jesus’ words “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15,12) and “the command that I give is this, that you love another” (17) reverberate, but oftentimes dissipate into thin air.
This command sounds very demanding. Not everybody around me is easy to get along with. Neither am I always easy for others to deal with. I fully agree with Fr. Camilo Marivoet: “It is relatively easy to love God whom we do not see… than to love the neighbor who gets on our nerves, the unsympathetic grouch next door, the boring pest who keeps us from our work, the unkempt and unwashed beggar…” and those who hurt us to the bone.
Logical and common sensical but for us Christians – followers of Jesus Christ – Christ’s love transcends human logic and common sense and knows no marginalization and exclusion. He chose uncouth men for his apostles, dined with sinners and accepted a Pharisee’s dinner invitation, healed outcasts/lepers and non-Jews, heeded requests of the Roman officials – oppressors and enemies of the Jews, included women (second class citizens then) among his disciples. No human logic can streamline Jesus’ all-embracing love and acceptance of people.
While we openly profess to be Christians, our predicament is far from really loving people the way Jesus wants us to be. We need to know and understand what love really means in the context of Jesus.
Nowadays, the word love, mostly with physical and emotional references, is misused, abused, defiled, and desecrated. The LOVE that Jesus commands us to have is unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another (as a fatherly concern of God for humankind) – not a sentimental feeling towards others.
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