God’s love for us is a gift

If all the laws that were ever written in every country of the world were suddenly erased and everyone decided to live only by the law of love just as Jesus preached it, the world would be turned upside down—or rather, from God’s perspective, right side up. There would be no more wars, murders, stealing, jealousy or anger. Spouses wouldn’t betray one another, children would obey their parents, and there would be no more lies between families and friends.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, “I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.” The authentic Christian is not the one who is smarter, more pious, more sacrificial, more influential, but rather the one who loves the most. Our love has to be like the love of Jesus, freely given, generous, universal, unconditional.

God’s love for us is a gift; not an emotional feeling but a desire to love. Love is more a need than it is a command. Can someone be forced to love? Forced love is not true love. Can someone live without love? Anyone who doesn’t love or isn’t loved wastes away.

Not that we ought to love but that we should

The novelty of the Gospel is not that we ought to love, but that we should love just as God has loved us. In other words, we are to love without limits and without conditions! How? Well, just take a look at how Jesus loved us. He loved everyone, always, to the point of giving his life to save us. He loves with his mind, because he knows each of us. He loves with his heart, which means fully and deeply from the depth of his soul. Jesus loves everyone without limits, especially those who most need to be loved. And we need to do the same, loving without limits until we have detached ourselves from everything, and worn ourselves out completely and given ourselves fully. You know that everyone is your brother or sister, but maybe they don’t know it! You need to let them know this love by your words and your deeds.

Love is possible

Benedict XVI told us, “Love is possible. Each person feels the desire to love and be loved. However, how hard it is to love, how many mistakes and failures do we end up making in love! Some people even end up doubting that love is possible.”  But we don’t need to resign ourselves to what can sometimes “make us think that love is a utopia, a dream we can never fulfill.”

Imagine that Jesus is next to you every moment of the day, and ask him: “Lord, how would you do what I am about to do?” This is how you will learn to love as Jesus loves. In this way you will be making the dream of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he expressed to his disciples at the Last Supper, a concrete reality.