Today’s readings are ALL about love! In the gospel passage Jesus says that love involves a total commitment - a giving of our ALL. Half-measures - poorly planned and executed efforts at loving will get us no where in the end - following Jesus’ way means total focus on Jesus and the “way he did it.”
It will be a very sad day, one day, for any who did it “their way!” We must do it Jesus’ way!
He did it by carrying his cross to Calvary - and then being nailed to it, so that he could die on it! He invites us to do the same! so that he can give us as a reward, what he himself received - newness of life that lasts forever!
It does not sound so pleasant when it is put in those terms; but it sounds right! And it must involve some kind of an interior strength and help to make it happen! It does! It did for Jesus! It can for us too!
In the second reading, St. Paul tells the Romans that the entire law is fulfilled in the kind of LOVE that Jesus had for us, and demonstrated for us! A love that was completely other-directed; a love that believed that we are all meant to be one family - brothers and sisters who truly care for one another! A love which empowers and makes easy the process of loving - through the working of the Holy Spirit!
When ones life is all about loving, there is no remnant of broken “commandments” to be found there. It is healthier all the way around to be concentrating on loving service, than on scrupulously following legalistic prescriptions! Logically, which do you think God prefers: one who simply loves, or one who ignores his neighbor while fulfilling hundreds of meaningless religious niceties in a single day?
Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need! Let us be among those today who give our ALL to Jesus, because we give our LOVE to all whom he places in our path! Let us simply love them as we believe God loves us!
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