Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14, 21-26
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him,
“Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.
“I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name–
he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.”
The process of Christian love
1. Whoever loves. Those who love don’t do so for sentimental reasons, but rather out of a mature conviction. It’s very common to mistake love for merely emotional actions and to reduce it to a matter of image or pleasant moments. To love is to give oneself to the one whose weaknesses and strengths I’m aware of. Love is a process. In the process of getting to know, I accept and when I accept, I embrace and thus, I love.
2. Compliance. In Catholicism we have reduced religion to moral acts and even believe that by complying with norms I come to love the Lord. And it’s the other way round. It’s not that if I keep the commandments I love my brother, but rather that when I love, I keep them.
3. Faithful. Faithfulness is a result of maturity, but also of understanding that there’s someone or something that fulfills you. When there’s infidelity there’s need. A person’s infidelity is the feeling at the tip of the iceberg. Fidelity requires creativity, presence and the capacity to build quality moments. When you love someone you can say to them, “I don’t need you, but I want you to be in my life because I love you”. To love is not necessity but plenitude.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and guard you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
