Devotion for today: Love one another

As I am on vacation this week, I present to you a repost of an earlier blog.

Scripture tells us: Romans 13: 9-10

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment there may be are all summed up in this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love never wrongs the neighbor, hence is the fulfillment of the law.

Christ tells us: John 13: 34-35

“I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Such as My love has been for you, so must your love be for each other. This is how all will know you are My disciples: your love for one another."

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta so beautifully sets us straight: “We have all been created for greater things- to love and be loved. Love is love – to love a person without any conditions, without any expectations. Works of love are works of peace and purity. Works of love are always a means of becoming closer to God, so the more we help each other, the more we really love God better by loving each other. Jesus very clearly said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love in action is what gives us grace. We pray and, if we are able to love with a whole heart, then we will see the need. Those who are unwanted, unloved, and uncared for become just a throwaway of society – that’s why we must really make everyone feel wanted. There is something else to remember – that this kind of love begins at home. We cannot give to the outside what we don’t have on the inside. This is very important. If I can’t see God’s love in my brother or sister then how can I see that love in somebody else? How can I give it to somebody else? Everybody has got some good. Some hide it, some neglect it, but it is there.”Mother Teresa, A Simple Path, compiled by Lucinda Vardey, Ballentine Books, 1995.

Prayer: Psalm 119: 137-144
You are just, O Lord, and your ordinance is right.
You have pronounced your decrees in justice and in perfect faithfulness.
My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.
Your promise is very sure, and your servant loves it.
I am mean and contemptible, but your precepts I have not forgotten.
Your justice is everlasting justice, and you law is permanent.
Though distress and anguish have come upon me, your commands are my delight.
Your decrees are forever just; give me discernment that I may live.

My thoughts: The last seven commandments center on love of neighbor, but not just an ordinary love. The love that Christ showed for us is an extraordinary love. It honors those in authority, guards against stealing another person’s good name, rejects gossip and shuns lust of any kind. It never seeks its own good, but puts the needs of others above itself. It does not allow jealousy, or revenge, or anger to rule the heart, but peace and kindness, mercy and justice. It is easy to say we are good if we look at murder, adultery and theft as the “big sins,” but that is not what Christ is saying. Mother Teresa explains it perfectly. We must look at the way we treat our families first, our friends, our coworkers, and yes, even our enemies. If we can love them the way Christ loves us, forgiving our transgressions and wanting only our good, then we can say we have kept the last seven commandments. If not, then maybe, like the psalmist, we must admit that we are mean and contemptible, but savable. We have not forgotten the law, just neglected it. This advent is the time to remember, reflect, and redirect our lives toward God.

Our prayer to God: Adorable Jesus, my Savior and Master, model of all perfection, I resolve, and will try this day, to imitate Your example, to be like You, mild, humble, chaste, zealous, charitable, and resigned. I will redouble my efforts to see Your image in all those I meet and deal with his day, and to be as helpful to them as I would be to You. I resolve to avoid this day all those sins which I have committed heretofore and which I now sincerely desire to give up forever. Amen. The Prayer Book. The Catholic Press, 1954.