Todays' second reading
and the Gospel speak about love, Christian love. You know, Christian love is
not forced on a person. It isn’t due to an elixir, nor does it come merely from
physical attraction, or any other attraction for that matter. Love, true love,
lasting love, only results from the Love of Christ. And that love becomes a
magnet as we said the last Sunday. If a person loves the Lord, that love itself
will attract other people who are seeking the Lord. We've all experienced this.
We have all felt at someone else the presence of Christ[1].
I
could say many examples, many saints in Church history, but now I say a woman
who is close in time. I invite you to consider Blessed Mother Theresa of
Calcutta. Yeah, amazing woman, great example! Her work among the poorest of the
poor spread throughout the world. Her religious order, the Missionaries of
Charity, became the fastest growing religious order in the Church. Why were so
many people attracted to Mother Theresa? Well, certainly they felt called to
join her in making the gospel a reality: when
I was hungry you gave me food to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me drink[2].
But there was even more than this that attracted people to Mother Theresa. They
were drawn by Jesus’ love within her. And like a magnet, that love flowed
through her into them. And then they
attracted others to Christ. The love of Christ flowed through her into
them. It still does.
We
have been attracted by the dynamism, the magnetism of Jesus Christ. That is why
we are here today, why we come every Sunday to church. If we come because the
priest is more or less entertaining, we're not really seeking the Lord. We know
that saying that we love Jesus is not enough. We have to live His Love. In the Gospel Jesus uses this phrase: Remain in my love. He tells us that we
remain in His Love if we keep His commandments. But Jesus doesn’t give a whole
list of commandments like Moses did when he came down from Mt. Sinai. Jesus
just gives only one commandment: Love one
another.
So,
that is all that really matters, if we love each other, truly, in the
sacrificial love of the Lord, everything else falls into place, automatically.
St. Augustine says this put much much better: «Once and for all, a short rule
is laid down for you: Love and do what
you will. If you keep silence, do it out of love. If you cry out, do it out
of love. If you refrain from punishing, do it out of love. Let the root of love
be within you. From such a root, nothing but good can come»[3].
So,
we are concerned about this or that member of the family. Maybe he or she is in a bad relationship, or
behaving badly. If we strike out at them, let them feel our wrath for the
people they are hurting, we will accomplish nothing, as simple as that. But if
instead we allow the magnetism within us to be evident in our concern for them,
and we seek the ways that we can we best expose them to the love of Christ,
eventually, over time, Christ will prevail. We cannot forget: the Easter
message is that Jesus is the Victor. Christ wins. He always wins. Always.
My
brother, my sister, Our Lord is the elixir of Love. He is the potion that
brings happiness. Let us pray today for the courage to love His Presence so
much that His Love will flow through us and attract others to love as He
Loves.
Why
not speak to others of God? Why not spread to others the love of God? Why are
we such cowards and do not talk about the experience of love of God in
confession? Why not invite a friend to come to church next Sunday? The
apostles, men full of sins and mistakes like you and I invite people to share
they faith two thousand years ago, so thanks to the courage they showed today
we have the Catholic Church.
One
question we get home today: why we are afraid to talk about God to others? May
Mary help us in our prayer time to respond with courage ■
