Our Lord gave us exactly one new commandment, but as it turns out, it’s a doozy. Or so it would seem, because we tend to make it that way. Jesus told us to love one another, as He had loved us, in other words, unselfishly. That really doesn’t seem so hard when we hear it, but when we try to put it into practice on a consistent basis, we seem to be in over our heads at times.
It reminds me of so many other seemingly simple life concepts that also seem to elude us. “Take it one day at a time”, “Treat everyone the way you want to be treated”, “Don’t worry, be happy”, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew”, etc. All simple phrases that we have heard our whole lives, and that are actually pretty good advice, and that we also pretty much never do. Simple wisdom always proves to be anything but for many of us. Why? I suspect it has a lot to do with our own hubris. (finally, I found an occasion to use that word – been wanting to for months). Hubris basically means our own lack of humility that can lead us to ignore good council, or even God’s laws and commands. The word has a long history, it comes from the Greeks who apparently also ignored the laws and commands of their various deities because they too, were a bit too full of themselves at times – in other words, this is anything but a new problem.
Loving one another unselfishly is something that requires us to be inconvenienced at times. Simply saying it and having those warm fuzzy hallmark moment thoughts is actually quite useless. This simply gives us momentary joy, which in itself is a selfish act because it again is all about us. Acting on Jesus’ command to love one another requires effort and organization. What time am I willing to carve out for this? What resources am I willing to part with to pursue this? How am I going to get my mindset adjusted to allow me to be successful at this? These are all questions we need to contemplate if we are serious about following Jesus’ command. Loving one another means a mental effort in the way we see things and react to others, but it is also putting into action our convictions. It does no one else any good if we just wish them well. Saint James made it pretty plain to us that faith without works is quite dead, and so it is with claiming to love others without demonstrating that love. It may be something as simple as taking the time to listen to someone who is having a bad day and needs to vent, or it could be putting our skills and resources to use to help someone rebuild their life, and all the other opportunities in between. Meditate on this, think about how you can change your little corner of the world by truly loving those around you. It is through these small changes that great things happen.
The Deacons Bench 