TO LOVE JUST AS GOD LOVES

Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1John. 4: 7-10; John 15: 9-17

      God doesn’t discriminate the people because he loves and in the love there is no discrimination. God accept all those who worship him and live the fraternity. Adoration and fraternity are correlates and those who worship him in this way, they worship in Spirit and in the truth. The Spirit came down upon those who were listening to the Word of God, through the mouth of Peter, confirming that God treats all on equal level. Before God nobody has more dignity than others. God doesn’t promote privilege and doesn’t accept prominence, but expect commitment with his way of thinking and acting. The justification for that way is his free love for all.  

  

       St. John in his letter makes invitation to reciprocal love because the love come from God and those who love, they know God. So, to love is to know. To know in the bible is not an intellectual experience but experience of intimacy. God knows because he loves. To know God is to love him, performing with him an intimate experience. God is love and so loved the humanity that sent his only Son as supreme expression of this love in order to teach the people how to love truly. From this experience we got life because only the love generates life and only those who accept to be involved in this relationship of love between the Father and the Son, experience new life. 

       “The Son loved us just the Father loves the Son”. This text makes part of the message of departure of Jesus. The content is his inheritance, what he had as essential to leave for those who should continue his mission. The essential of the teachings of Jesus is the love. The love has his source in God because God is love and loves the Son. The presence of the Son among the human beings made this love known. The love is the essence of God; it is the reason of his communion. The human beings are fruit of this communion and are invited to involve themselves in the same communion, remaining in the love of Christ. The condition to remain in his love is to live his teachings, that is, to love one another just as he loved us and gave himself for us. Jesus is not forced to love us. On the contrary, his love is expression of all his joy: joy of his communion with the Father, joy of being among the human beings, joy of choosing men as collaborators in his mission, joy of giving the life for them. Sharing his love with us Jesus fills our life with intense joy because for him love and joy walk together. Like this, only the one who love truly is happy really.

       

       The love is the reason of the salvation of the world, because it was for love that the Son of God lay down his life. According to Jesus the value of a true friendship is measured by the ability to give the life for love. Jesus is our friend because did this well. He chose us and appointed us to go and to bear much fruit and fruit which endures. We’ll be his friends if we have courage of loving like him. He identifies himself with those who are sent in his name. This identification is fruit of his love in us, because is proper of the love to create identity and sense of belonging. If we remain united to him we will be people of communion and able to promotes communion in our communities. It is the first testimony we have to bear: “See how they love one another”! It was the comment about the First Christians. Their love was expressed through the mutual acceptance, sharing, perseverance in prayer together and simplicity of heart. Is it our life expression of what we believe? How can the daily life of our communities express better this reality of the First Christian Communities?

Besides of generating communion in the community, the love open us to other people outside, who need also to be welcomed. Those who love truly don’t discriminate the people, and are attentive to special situations, learning from God who loves all, but loves with priority the poor and powerless ones. Like this also the mother loves all her children, but has special care for the sick one. So, let us think about our love for those who need more in the community.

  

Fr Ndega

THE ESSETIAL OF THE LIFE

A reflection from Exodus 22, 21-27; 1Thes 1, 5-10; Matthew 22, 34-40

        According to the Scriptures, God has a particular relationship with the people of Israel. He establishes a covenant with this people giving some guidelines so that they may walk safely, preserving the life. It is in this context that the Commandments are born. Living the commandments has become essential in the journey of the people of Israel to whom the Law is God's Word and The Word of God is Low. When they state that “The law of the Lord is perfect, comfort for the soul”, they are referring to the Word. There is a deep correlation between Law and Word, because the commandments of the Law express the loving care of God who speaks pointing paths of liberation and then reveal also the true identity of a people who obey, cultivating the sense of belonging to their God. The obedience to the commandments is source of blessings that leads to life, while the disobedience to these leads to death.

       Around the principal Law, the Jews have put so many laws that gradually shifted the focus from what was essential. The initial Ten Commandments became 613. The poor people were considered sinners because they were not able memorize all these commandments and therefore they didn’t practice them. However, this part of the population knew and cultivated the essential of the Law. That is the answer of Jesus when he says: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with your entire mind and with all your strengths” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5) “and your neighbour as to yourself” (Lev. 19, 18). 

        Loving God is the first of all the commandments, but Jesus connected it with the love to the neighbour, showing that it is not possible to love God without loving the neighbour. James in his letter considers liar the one who says that loves God and doesn’t love the neighbour. From commandment of loving God flows the loving to the neighbour, as a result. The source is always God, because was he who first loved us. It is from the love that God has for us – in a free and generous way – that is possible to love others authentically. “This is a challenge for all the cultures including those in Africa, where the loyalty to family and traditions is often grown as the first commandment.” (African Bible, p. 1770)

        Jesus is the incarnation of the merciful love of God and his life surrendered for all shows that only through the love the human being can reach his personal achievement. Of course, that the belonging to a religion and the participation in the mass are expression of our love to God as priority in our life. However, in the end of our life the request to us will not be “which religion did you belong to?” or “how many times did you go to the mass?”, but the correct question will be, “how was your love for others?” The intensity of our love to God is expressed in the way how we love others. Truly love the person who only wishes the best to the beloved one, even if she/he does not deserve. This is how God loves us, in gratuity and generosity. This experience should lead us to do the same thing He does. 

     The essential for Jesus is to love God, loving also the neighbour. His admirable pedagogy made these two commandments even more accessible, advising that is enough we love one another as he loved us. Just as God has loved us in Christ, we must love from Christ. The one who loves in this way has understood the essential of the Low and of the life, because whoever follows Jesus does not follow a law or a doctrine but a Person.  

  

         Therefore, the unique criterion the Christians have to witness the love of God to the world is to love others as brothers. We love God when we give him the first place in our life, seeking firstly his Kingdom and his justice; when we are faithful in our daily prayers; when we participate attentively in the celebration of the sacraments. We show our love to the neighbour when we are able to feel compassion before the reality of sorrow and suffering of others and we are available to help them in their needs. In this sense, it was said about the first Small Christians Communities: “See how they love one another”. However it was possible only because they remained together in the love of the One who called them. This requirement is still valid in our days and it assures the vitality of our mission as Christians.

Fr. Ndega