Acts 10:25-26,
34-35, 44-48; 1 Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15:9-17
The story is told about a young man who walked over to the table of an
elderly couple and said: “Grandpa, I can’t help but be inspired and edified. I
saw you buy a burger, give half of it to your wife, and you just kept looking
at her while she ate.”
The old man looked at him and replied: “Oh, that. You see we have only
one set of dentures. I had to wait for her to finish her half.”
(The story is told by Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD)
The commandment to love one another was part of Jesus’ final discourse
to His disciples on the night before He died. It was His last wish that we love
one another as He loves each one of us.
The second reading gives the fundamental reason why we have to love one
another: “Love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and
knows God” (1 Jn 4:7). Loving is an act of God. We, who are God’s children and
who are created in His image and likeness, must do what He normally does. By
loving one another, we are showing the world that we not only have God in our
lives, but that we really know Him. “Anyone who fails to love can never have
known God, because God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).
“Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). Jesus made sure that
our way of loving would be correct. God’s love is unconditional, while ours
usually is not. “God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world
His only Son so that we could have life through him” (1 Jn 4:9). The love of
God is life-giving, not self-serving. It is not driven by sentimental feelings
but by a deep, genuine affection for another. Jesus said that “a man can have
no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). And this
is exactly what He did for us whom He calls His friends.
“I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy may
be complete” (Jn 15:11). Jesus is telling us the best secret of all times: true
happiness is found in giving and loving unreservedly.
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