From the desk of

Fr. Agustin

May 5, 2024

In today’s reading we hear something very profound in both the second reading and in the Gospel; “God is love.” This seems to be a very simple statement but it is packed with meaning. We are not just being told that love is an attribute of God but that the very definition of God is love.

Love is the essence of God. Therefore, if we want to know what love is we must look to Him and come to know Him. At the same time, if we want to know who God is then we have to understand this love.

Our society today throws around the word love all the time. We use it for everything. We say I love pizza or I love my dog. Too often we mistake love for merely a feeling. We “love” something because it makes us feel good but love is so much more than just a feeling. True love must always be relational. And so we see that love is better understood when we talk about loving a person (a spouse, family, friends). But to truly understand love we must understand not so much our relationship with God, but God’s relationship with us and his love for us. The love which the readings are speaking about is a self-giving love. The best example of this true love is Jesus. God’s love led to self-giving action. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. He didn’t have to do that; but He chose to out of love! Therefore, if we want to know what love is, we should look to the cross. Through knowing Jesus, let us emulate that self-giving love to the world.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses the apostles before the crucifixion as he gives them his last commandment and in fact the mission they are to undertake: “love one another.” Jesus calls us his disciples to spread his love to the world by loving as he did. To love like God. To love to the extreme of giving oneself with no conditions or distinction. This is not an easy mission. How can we do this? Well, we can’t on our own. It is only the love of God working in us that makes it possible for us to truly love.

Jesus said, “Remain in my love.” This is the key. We must be full of Jesus’ love to have any love to give to others. How do we remain in His love? We are to enter into our relationship with God and be united to him. If then, we let God’s love fill us then it is amazing what God can do through us. It is only because Jesus died out of love for us and because His death gives us life in Him that then we can share this love and this life that he pours into our hearts.

Father Agustin

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