How to obey Jesus command: Love one another.

"This I command you: love one another." (John 15: 17).

Sunday 9th May 2021, in the 6th Week of Easter.

The Church repeats this Sunday part of the Gospel that we heard this Friday because the message of love is very important. "This I command you: love one another." This is a command from Jesus. Not a suggestion. We can't love anyone if we don't understand what love is. This is how God loves us and what He commands us to apply to everyone.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated,  it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,  it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13: 4 - 7).

St Paul believes that love is key and absolutely foundational in Christian life:
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]." (1 Corinthians 13: 1 AMP).

Given our fallen human nature, we are not capable of genuine love without the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit we receive in Baptism activates the presence of Jesus in us. Now Jesus in us says: Let Me love this person through you.   Cooperate with My actions in faith.
"God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; (1 John 4: 9 JB).

Here is what the Church teaches on the important subject of Love:

"Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called: it "governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification."
...... LOVE, IN FACT, IS THE VOCATION WHICH INCLUDES ALL OTHERS; IT'S A UNIVERSE OF ITS OWN, COMPRISING ALL TIME AND SPACE - IT'S ETERNAL!" (CCC 826).

Let us ask the Holy Spirit living inside us to love others with the love of Christ. Jesus in us is the Spirit and He is the hope of glory.

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com