The Gospel last Sunday (5th Sunday of Easter), taken from St. John, speaks about the new commandment to love. Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” What is new about this commandment?
Long before we were born, love was there already and up until this time we feel the goodness and the beauty of being loved and being in love. Parents naturally love their children, and the children love their parents and care for them when they start growing gray hair, and when they start to lose their health because of old age. We can feel and see the beauty of love among our fellowmen just like when a boy loves a girl and they are happy just by being together even if they are under the sweltering heat of the sun, penniless, and with an empty stomach.
Human love is an age-old reality, and it was there even before Jesus gave us this new commandment to love. It was there but not as God wanted it to be. Love was there but simply as the world understood the meaning of loving. So, in this Johannine presentation of this new commandment, the measure of loving is not the measure of the popular and worldly understanding of love but the measure of the love that God has in store for all of us.
“Love one another as I have loved you.” This is the greatest of all the commandments that Jesus has given to us to follow. It was not presented in a way that we will love others on our terms, but we are encouraged to love others just like the way we experienced God’s love in our lives. If we try to dig deeper, it would mean that we must love not only those who are good to us, not only those who love us in return, not only those who are related to us in one way or another, and not only those who are helping us fulfill our lifelong dreams and wishes. We must also love even those who are unlovable and those who are not friendly and not so good to us.
This was the kind of love the Jesus had shown his disciples and even those who nailed him to the Cross. He loved those who loved Him and yet He also loved even those who ridiculed and taunted Him and those who punished Him.
Loving as the world loves is not lasting because, once the reason we love others fades away, our love also fades. This is the kind love that we have in this world today and this was also the kind of love that was shared by those who lived before the incarnation of Christ.
Loving one another as Christ has loved us takes on a new understanding and experience of a genuine love because it is the kind of loving that can thrive even if it is tried by deceit, abuse, exploitation, and disrespect. If we are to love like the way Christ has loved us, then, we must be ready to love those who are unwanted, those who are egocentric, those who are naïve and uncaring, and those who continuously reject us. Christ has loved us all, harlots and tax collectors, gamblers and illegal workers, drug addicts and maniacs of all kinds, sinners, and saints. He loved us all that He died for us on the Cross.
This is the kind of love that the world needs to adopt to correct whatever it is that has gone wrong especially in our present society, a society of injustice, corruption, and all other forms of evil. We must love and ought to love just like the way Christ has embraced us close to His Sacred Heart.
Election time has just passed, and we already have the winners as well as the losers. However, the recent election was not an act of love for one another. For me, it just showed us how some people are focused only on loving themselves. Of course, we were deceived and we let ourselves be the victims of their deceiving words and promises. Sad to note that a lot of people were carried away by these empty promises.
But, still, this is a challenge for all of us. How we will help one another and forgive one another under this new administration is still something that we must look beyond and wait to happen. Are we ready to live under this new management? For now, we can only hope for a better life and pray that our new leaders are committed to fulfill their plans and promises. My congratulations to the winners and I pray that you are the answer to our dreams and aspirations to have a better future for the generations yet to come.