May 5, 2021 at 7:32 p.m.
We are called to love one another
We are called to love one another
As we may know, the Evangelist John was the youngest of the Lord’s Apostles. The author of the fourth Gospel, we also know that John was the only Apostle not martyred for the faith. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t try though. As the tradition goes, one time, John was almost boiled alive in oil in an attempt to martyr him (we can see this site in Rome at the Church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina), and there’s another story that someone attempted to poison the water and wine that John was about to use when he was offering the Eucharist, but that he sensed this and asked for new wine to be used.
No, none of the Apostle John’s enemies were ever able to martyr him. They did, however, succeed in exiling him to the far off island of Patmos, where he had his revelation which he would recount as the last book of the Bible. John was sent away, with the thought that he would not preach the Gospel any longer, but nothing would stop him from preaching the Saving Word who is Christ Jesus.
After a while, a small community of Christians either joined John in exile on Patmos or the native people converted and followed his way. And it is said that toward the end of his life, John would preach the same sermon over and over (it may seem that all of us priests and deacons do that!). It is said that John would stand in the midst of his flock and say Sunday after Sunday the same thing: “My dear little children, let us love one another.”
Why? Why would John the Apostle say those words over and over, again and again for years? Because it’s a reminder that it is easy to say but hard to do! We as Christians need to examine what it really means to love.
On the theological level, we can firmly declare that God is love. It is the very essence of who God is himself. God is an eternal community of love consisting of three co-equal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, if love is God’s essence, then mercy is the practical application of his love and justice is the correct application of his mercy.
On the human level, to love another person is to will the affective good of another. Loving someone and liking someone are two different things! As anyone who has ever had a close friend, a family member, a spouse, or a child with whom one has had a disagreement, you can still love someone without really liking them at that moment!
We are called to love one another. We are called to see the image and likeness of Jesus Christ in each and every person whom we encounter. We may not understand their thinking; they may hurt our feelings, or drive us up the wall, but nonetheless, we are called to love them. This often means making a Herculean effort, but it is certainly worth it. The Apostle John states, recalling the words that the Lord Jesus said to him that Thursday night many years before in the upper room:
“Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”
We are born of love from God and that is how we will best express our Christian faith — by our love.
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