The message of today’s readings is simple – love one another. Everyone. Our spouses, our families, our friends, strangers on the street, and yes, even our enemies. We must show no partiality in our love, because God shows no partiality, and the Holy Spirit made this even more apparent in the first reading today, when the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles also.
God loves everyone – all of us, just the same. No bias and no favoritism. He loves us more than we can imagine, in spite of what we do as humans and how often we do not love Him back. Which is all the reason more why we should heed Jesus’ commandment from the Gospel today – to love one another, as we have been loved.
Christ has such an intimate love for us, more than we can understand. I’ve been in situations where I have been completely overcome by the love of the Holy Spirit – the day I got married, the birth of my son, the baptism of my wife, just to name a few. The love I felt there simply radiated, and it was intoxicating. It’s the warmth I feel when sitting down in Adoration for the first time in a while. It’s the comfort of receiving the Eucharist consumed by God’s mercy. It’s a good confession, at a time when everything in life seems to be in a downward spiral. All of this must pale in comparison, though, to the love Christ has for us, because No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
But this is a love we can realize. This is a love we can show to one another, because as John writes in his First Letter today,
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
We can know this love, because this love is within us. Just as we were born with original sin in our heart, so too were we born with God’s love deep within our heart, a love that can overcome any sin. It’s a love that is written in our soul, and in our very being, in our DNA and every cell in our body. It’s why, when we experience the Holy Spirit through things like a birth of a child or the Sacrament of Marriage, our very body radiates with love.
It’s fitting that today is Mothers Day in the United States – a day where we celebrate our moms and the deep love we have for them, and thank them for everything they’ve done for us. I always think of a favorite saying I see on numerous cards and online images this time of year. It is a mother talking to her child, saying
You are the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside.
I love that line, and it is so true – there is a special bond between a mom and her child. A bond, which I as a father, can never fully understand. This must be how God feels about us as well. He knew us before we were born. He knew who we were going to be, and He knows the love that is within us, and who we are capable of being. A mother’s love, having carried her child in her womb for 9 months is a love deeper than any man can understand. And God’s love, having made a covenant with His people, knowing what we were going to do and what His Son would be subjected to, is so much deeper. Yet it is written in our hearts. It is there – deep within us.
Jesus says, As the Father loves me, so I also love you. And when Jesus ascended into Heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us always, and to permeate our very soul, so that we can feel the true love that is within us. And He left us with one command: love one another.
This is our mission. We can’t simply be loved, we have to love as well. And so many people are afraid to love. We keep it bottled up inside, cautious to let it out. We don’t want to love because we don’t want to be vulnerable and risk getting hurt. And it’s true, sometimes love does hurt. Sometimes, those kids we raise just don’t live the life that we want them to live. They make the mistakes we wish they didn’t, and sometimes they withdraw and don’t love back. And through all of God’s love, we’ve sure laid a whole lot of hurt on Him over the millennia. But He still loves us, because as much as it hurts to love sometimes, to live is to love, and God is life.
To change this world, to change this awful mess that we live in, to make this world a better place and reverse the course from which we are on, we have to love. We have to stop this cycle of hate, and anger, and immorality. We have to show our children how to love so that they can love. We have to let it bubble out, and pour out on those around us. It’s like shaking a soda and then unscrewing the cap – let it pour out. We’ve got to teach our kids how to love their families, friends, their fellow citizens, and yes, their enemies so that they can pay it forward and teach their children. We must be the example. We must live it.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.”
When we follow through, and love those around us as we have been loved, only then will we truly experience the love and joy that is wired deep within us. This is when we will be complete. Only a child knows what their mother’s heart sounds like from the inside. We may not remember the sound, but somewhere, it is embedded deep within us. We feel the bond. It’s a mother’s love.
And as strong as a mother’s love is, Christ’s love is so much more. It’s so strong that it almost feels unattainable for us as mere mortals to grasp, let alone act out. But, it too, is embedded within us. Christ is a part of us. We all know what Christ’s heart feels like. We hear it beating. We feel its love radiating through our very being. His love remains in us, and we in Him. We just need to take off the lid and let it pour out.
