JusticeSample

THE NEIGHBOR AND THE ACTUALITY OF LOVE

Paul in his letter to the Romans carries his observation about love a step further. We need to understand love as the basic requirement for the Christians who live under the grace of Christ is to understand such Christian life as the fulfillment of the law God gave to Israel. Christ commanded love to be the primary obligation of one another. Love is thus a rule of a Christian life. Can we compel or command a person to love? If we do so we know that it will lead to hypocrisy when one pretends to love someone. How then can we understand the command”love?” The problem is that the word”love” is not understood in the right sense in our society. Love has always come to be identified with an emotional state. Paul and the rest of New Testament meant love not to be centered on emotions but on actions. It means to stop actions that harm another person and to do good.

Dear God,
We praise you for the love and mercy you have shown towards us. Help us to serve our brothers and sisters by putting their need and interests ahead of our own and to fulfill your law of love.
- Amen

'Above all, remember that God looks for solid virtues in us, such as patience, humility, obedience, abnegation of your own will - that is, the good will to serve Him and our neighbor in Him. His providence allows us other devotions only insofar as He sees that they are useful to us.'
- Saint Ignatius