For us to understand better and feel the powerful impact of the gospel this Sunday, it is important for us to know that this particular gospel was part of the account that leads to the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Before this particular story, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, then he predicted that someone would betray him/give him up. Knowing all of this and what would happen to him, one might
expect that the least thing that Jesus could think of or say was to exhort his disciples to love God and one another. Just a few hours before his death, on the very moment when he knew that he would be denied by one of his disciples, he could only think of one thing: to remind and teach his disciples the hallmark of Christian life, which is to love. This gospel today is basically the last will and testament of Jesus. During a time when he could have felt despaired, angry, disappointed because of what he was about to suffer and endure, Jesus taught his disciples the essence of Christian faith and what it means to be fully human. Christianity can be summed up in the command of Jesus in the gospel today: "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Very, very clear: the sign of our authentic discipleship is to love another. For centuries, we have been preaching about love and now the same message is given to us. At times, it can sound repetitive or cliché. In fact, it is so hard to speak about love in the context of faith anymore. Secular society has already reduced and transformed its meaning, confusing the meaning and difference between loving and liking. Thus, we hear expressions "I love this book" .. "I love this food" .. "I love this picture" .. etc. One may argue that it can be a difference in semantics; but in my short experience as a priest, I have seen marriages and relationships fail because the husband or the wife thought that loving someone was the same as loving a place or a hobby. Love involves the total submission of oneself, seeing oneself as the extension of the other and vice-versa. One does not really love a book or an idea; you do not give yourself totally to a book or one does not marry golf or football no matter how hooked you are into those sports. Christ gave us the most exact definition of what love is: "There is no greater than love than to lay down one's life for a friend." It is just like the love of a father or mother to his/her children, doing everything possible to give them a good life, to provide a loving and caring home for them. Jesus did not just give us a verbal definition of love, he showed and lived what love is: he cared for the oppressed, those who were marginalized - the poor, the prostitute, the sick, the tax collectors - ultimately offering his very life for you and me so that we may have new life.
Looking at the ministry of Jesus, especially his healing ministry and the relationships that he
developed, one can discern that the most significant ones and the most moving were his relationships with those who were considered to be outcasts and nobody in his community. This is also a good measure of love: our ability or capacity to go beyond our comfort zones, meeting others where they are even though it may be uncomfortable for us. Love is best communicated when we lay down the barriers that divide us from others. We can only convince others of God's love, we can only penetrate the hearts of those we want to proclaim the message of the Gospel, if we treat them first with respect. The command of Jesus to love is not just to love those we like, those who agree to our
ideology, those who have the same color as ours, but that command of Jesus is meant for everyone no
matter how difficult and at times almost impossible it may be. I can only imagine how difficult it is for someone to love a person who has hurt us deeply; how difficult it would be for a daughter to love her father who has abused her since she was just a child; or to love somebody who killed someone we dearly love. It is difficult; there is no doubt that it is hard, yet freedom from the painful past and authentic healing for those who have been deeply hurt can only take place if one has crossed the path of forgiveness, then eventually the path of love. Love, in its strictest sense, is not a feeling but an attitude of being able to wish and pray for the good of every person without necessarily having a close relationship with every person. Even if one cannot have a close relationship with someone because to do so is to put oneself in grave danger or harm especially in situations of abuse, one can still love that person by genuinely wishing and praying for the good of that person. This is why to love is a universal call because it is who we are.
– Fr. Cary