Readings: Acts 14: 21-27; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-33,34-35
Theme: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (Jn 13:34)
By Michael McCabe
Just a week ago we celebrated Vocations’ Sunday and reflected on the call to imitate Jesus, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. Today we are invited to reflect on the fundamental vocation that underpins and unites all vocations in the service of the Lord: the vocation to love. In the gospel reading from John, Jesus commands his disciples to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (Jn 13:34). A tall order you might say! However, it is clear that the early Christian community took Jesus’ words to heart. Tertullian, one of the second century Fathers tells us that the pagans were struck by the quality of love visible in their lives, and were wont to remark: ‘See how these Christians love one another, and how they are ready to die for one another.’
The great Church historian, Adolph von Harnack also underlined this extraordinary witness of the Early Christians when he wrote: ‘The new language on the lips of Christians was the language of love. But it was more than a language, it was a thing of power and action.’ Their love was not mere words or pious gestures, but a practical love, expressed in deeds of caring service – service especially of the poor and those most in need. It was the kind of love Saint Augustine referred to when he wrote: ‘It has hands to help others. It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of people. That is what love looks like’. Through their experience of the Risen Christ and the outpouring of his Spirit, the first followers of Jesus had left behind the darkness of night and emerged into the dawning light of God’s love. Thus, their lives were changed utterly, and something beautiful was born.
Unfortunately, in contemporary discourse, as Pope Benedict XVI pointed out in his first encyclical letter, God is Love, love has become a much debased and overused word. It has been used to cover up what is the very opposite of love – domination and exploitation, and the abuse of others for one’s own pleasure. Even the words of Jesus have sometimes been misinterpreted. In a recent interview, the American Vice President, JD Vance, argued that love should be measured out according to an order of priority. He stated: ‘first you love your family; after that you love your community, then your fellow citizens; and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world’. Cardinal Robert Prevost, shortly before his election as Pope Leo XVI undertook to correct this mistaken view, stating that ‘Jesus does not ask us to rank our love for others’. The love Jesus is asking of us is a love that mirrors his love for us: a love without limits or conditions; a love ever faithful and constant. The true measure of this love is the enduring love of God the Father for all his children: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love and am therefore constant in my affection for you’ (Jer 31:3).
The qualities of all genuine love are enumerated by St Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians: ‘Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous, boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes’ (1 Cor 13:4-7). These qualities make love seem attractive. Genuine love, however, is very demanding. It challenges us to constantly go beyond ourselves, to respond to the needs of others, particularly the most vulnerable. It is when we forget about ourselves and reach out to others that, paradoxically, we discover our true selves. Brian Keenan, reflecting on his experience as a hostage in Beirut, states that ‘It is only when we reach out beyond ourselves, to embrace, understand, and to finally overcome the suffering of another that we become whole in ourselves. We are enlarged and enriched as another’s suffering reveals us to ourselves, and we reach out to touch and embrace.’
True love summons us to leave our comfort zones, to give our time, our energy, our talents, and, indeed our very selves, to others. And to do this not just when we feel in good form, or for a short time, but to do it in season and out of season, in good times and bad, until, in the words of St Paul, our life has been ‘poured out like a libation’ (2 Tim 4:6). This kind of selfless, enduring love demands the best of us and brings out the best in us. It is our fundamental vocation. It is inscribed in our DNA as creatures made in the image of the God who is Love. In the words of the poet, William Blake, ‘…we are put on earth a little space, that we may learn to bear the beams of love’.
Dear Lord, give us the grace and courage to love others as you love us, and especially to love those who cannot return our love, and those we find most difficult to love. Amen.
Listen to an alternative audio Homily by Tom Casey: