{"id":8214,"date":"2021-05-08T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/?p=8214"},"modified":"2021-05-07T17:38:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T21:38:05","slug":"from-fr-tom-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/2021\/05\/08\/from-fr-tom-36\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fr. Tom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLove one another\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, on this 6th Sunday of Easter, as we hear Jesus\u2019 words about love, I would like to propose three things for us to reflect on that Jesus\u2019 statement, as suggested also by Bishop Socrates Villegas in his homily book, Jesus in my Heart.<\/em><\/p>\n

First<\/u> it is a command. It is not an invitation, a request or an option but a command, an order. Being an order, therefore this calls us for total obedience. We are not left with any choice except to follow His command to love one another. It is very easy for us to say, \u2018I love you\u2019 to our wife, husband, children, friends and even crushes, but it is very difficult for us to say, \u2018I love you\u2019 to our enemies. I also noticed that men find it difficult to say, \u2018I love you\u2019 to other men. This does not mean also that we are to be blind to errors or sins or live in a state of denial about wrongs committed around us or to us. It simply means we chose to love so much that our love overshadows the hurt those wrongs may have caused. Second, our Lord does say, \u2018Love one another.\u2019 He does not say, \u2018Love one another when you are both young or when you are both healthy.\u2019 He does not say, \u2018Love one another when you are cute or beautiful or handsome or not angry.\u2019 The Lord only said, \u2018Love one another.\u2019 Therefore, this love is without condition and without limitation.<\/p>\n

There was this story about these two little boys who were brothers and went to school for an enrollment. The teacher asked these little brothers about their age and birthdays so she could place them on the registration form. The bolder of the two replied: \u201cWe\u2019re both seven. My birthday is April 8thand my brother\u2019s birthday is April 20th.\u201d The teacher replied: \u201cBut that\u2019s not possible, boys.\u201d The quieter brother spoke up: \u201cNo, it\u2019s true. One of us is adopted.\u201d \u201cOh!\u201d said the teacher, \u201cWhich one is adopted?\u201d<\/p>\n

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled. The bolder brother said: \u201cWe asked Dad that same question a while ago but he just looked at us and said he loved us both equally and he couldn\u2019t remember anymore which one of us is adopted.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a wonderful analogy of God\u2019s love for us. It is a love without condition; it does not discriminate. Third, our Lord says, \u2018Love one another as I have loved you.\u2019 The Lord did not say, \u2018Love one another as they love you or as you love yourself.\u2019 Our basis for loving others is not the love we have received from others because this love is imperfect and impure. Our standard for loving others is the love we experience from the Lord Himself. We love others because God loves us.<\/p>\n

Let us pray today as we reflect on this Jesus\u2019 commandment that we love one another without conditions and that our model for loving won\u2019t be the love we see in others, but the love that God has for us.<\/p>\n