Beloved in Christ,
At the beginning of Jesus' farewell discourse, he gives his followers a new commandment: "Love one another" (Jn 13 34-35). This is the new commandment Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper. What is new about this commandment, and what does it entail? The commandment to love is not new in that the commandments Moses gave implied a divine demand for love of God and our neighbor. This law is later spelled out in Matthew 22. But this love is new in the sense of self-sacrificial and self-giving love. How Jesus loves us, as demonstrated in his outpouring of his life to save us, is new. As a Divine Person, it is a new form of love. God's love for us is demonstrated in his glorification, that is, the laying down of his life. Love receives its finest expression in Christ's death, his glorification.
Jesus goes further to describe this new love demanded of his disciples. He says love one another, even as I loved you. We put love to the test and action by thinking less of ourselves and more of others. The most significant and consequential act of a Christian is to love others. In demonstrating love for one another, Christians tell the world they are Christ's disciples. It matters to Jesus that we bear witness to the world that we are his disciples. The witness to discipleship is borne in the love that followers of Jesus show and bear for one another, love that imitates Jesus' selflessness and unrestricted pouring out of his life for us.
To love one another and be seen by the world to be so is the disciple's task. We must continue to measure the quality of our Christian faith by the extent to which our love is likened to the way Jesus loved us. Do we love in a Christ-like way? Is our love for our friends and family a selfless giving of ourselves? Is it done to help in the salvation of others? Do we sacrifice and suffer to bring about the salvation of others? This is true love. Self-sacrificial acts in bringing about the salvation of the souls of others are the ultimate goal of love. Let's go forth from mass today to show the love of Christ to others. Jesus commands us to have selfless and sacrificial love for others.
Jesus reveals his continuing witness to self-sacrificial love for us in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we see the sacramental form of Jesus' sacrificial love for us, the source and inspiration for our love for one another. As we begin our forty hours this Sunday, let us find time to adore Jesus and receive strength to love as he loved us. We welcome Fr. Steve Logue as he guides us to seek and find love in his reflections on the Eucharist.
In Christ's love,
Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP
At the beginning of Jesus' farewell discourse, he gives his followers a new commandment: "Love one another" (Jn 13 34-35). This is the new commandment Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper. What is new about this commandment, and what does it entail? The commandment to love is not new in that the commandments Moses gave implied a divine demand for love of God and our neighbor. This law is later spelled out in Matthew 22. But this love is new in the sense of self-sacrificial and self-giving love. How Jesus loves us, as demonstrated in his outpouring of his life to save us, is new. As a Divine Person, it is a new form of love. God's love for us is demonstrated in his glorification, that is, the laying down of his life. Love receives its finest expression in Christ's death, his glorification.
Jesus goes further to describe this new love demanded of his disciples. He says love one another, even as I loved you. We put love to the test and action by thinking less of ourselves and more of others. The most significant and consequential act of a Christian is to love others. In demonstrating love for one another, Christians tell the world they are Christ's disciples. It matters to Jesus that we bear witness to the world that we are his disciples. The witness to discipleship is borne in the love that followers of Jesus show and bear for one another, love that imitates Jesus' selflessness and unrestricted pouring out of his life for us.
To love one another and be seen by the world to be so is the disciple's task. We must continue to measure the quality of our Christian faith by the extent to which our love is likened to the way Jesus loved us. Do we love in a Christ-like way? Is our love for our friends and family a selfless giving of ourselves? Is it done to help in the salvation of others? Do we sacrifice and suffer to bring about the salvation of others? This is true love. Self-sacrificial acts in bringing about the salvation of the souls of others are the ultimate goal of love. Let's go forth from mass today to show the love of Christ to others. Jesus commands us to have selfless and sacrificial love for others.
Jesus reveals his continuing witness to self-sacrificial love for us in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we see the sacramental form of Jesus' sacrificial love for us, the source and inspiration for our love for one another. As we begin our forty hours this Sunday, let us find time to adore Jesus and receive strength to love as he loved us. We welcome Fr. Steve Logue as he guides us to seek and find love in his reflections on the Eucharist.
In Christ's love,
Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP
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