It is easy to remember, but not always to fulfil, the evangelical mandate to love one’s neighbour as oneself. Shortly before his Passion, Our Lord outlined the vast limits of the charity we should have for one another.
Gospel of Sixth Sunday of Easter
9 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. 17 This I command you, to love one another” (Jn 15:9-17).
I – God Always Takes the Initiative
If we had an adequate notion of the Creator’s love for each one of us, perhaps we could precisely evaluate the measure to which we should love Him. However, since God is Humility in substance, He frequently remains hidden when He intervenes in events, to convert us or to sustain us in faith. We therefore run the risk of forming a very unreal idea of divine solicitude in our regard.
For example, we are Roman and apostolic Catholics, and think that our adhesion to the true religion stems from a decision based on its superiority over other beliefs. In other words, we believe that we ourselves chose God, when in fact through our own efforts we could not so much as remain steadfast in the practice of the Ten Commandments.
Regarding our conversion, it is always the Creator who takes the initiative. It was He who created us, who chose us to be part of the Church and who gives us the indispensable graces to follow Him.
From all eternity, He expressed a gratuitous predilection for each of us in choosing us from among the infinitude of human creatures possible in the divine Intellect. He could have destined us for purely natural happiness, but He wanted intelligent creatures to participate in his own life, as Fr. Arintero highlights: “Through an excess of love that we will never be able to worthily admire, much less be grateful for, He deigned to supernaturalize us from the beginning, elevating us to nothing less than his own level, making us partakers in his life, his infinite virtue, his specific actions and his eternal happiness: He desired that we be gods.” 1 In creating us, God gifted each of us with a unique, specific and unrepeatable vocation, as either a religious or lay person. And, along the course of our entire life He gives us graces, greater or lesser, but always adequate for our eternal salvation.
Moreover, after man had fallen into sin in Paradise, God could have returned him to nothingness, regretting having created him, or he could have employed myriad means of making amends for the fault committed. For, being both the Judge and the Transgressed, nothing would have stopped Him from pardoning the debt incurred without demanding satisfaction.
But his infinite honour demanding a proportionate reparation, God—in an inexpressible manifestation of love, impossible to imagine without the sin of our first parents—resolved to hand his only-begotten Son over to death to give us life, as St. John proclaims in the second reading: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:9-10).
Assuming flesh and undergoing the torments of the Passion, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity brought a veritable sea of graces for us, “an ineffable, loving and free communication—that is intimate and inconceivable—of the divine life to rational creatures, by which the supernatural and natural, the divine and human are joined, harmonized and completed, without, however, there being any confusion between the two!” 2
In general terms, this is God’s love for each one of us, which we find extraordinarily expressed in today’s Gospel.
II – The Substance of Our Lord’s Love for Us
Our Lord is in the Upper Room, giving his final instructions to his disciples, before departing for the Garden of Olives, where He will be arrested.
It is the leave-taking. “More deeply than ever before the love of those poor disciples, destined to be the agents of his thought, the continuers of his saving work consumed his heart. But, as yet, despite their manifest goodwill, they were disoriented, dejected and fearful, understanding nothing of his thought. All of these sentiments pulsate in Jesus’ statements in the Sermon at the Last Supper.” 3
The relationship between the two Divine Persons
9 As the Father has loved Me…
Our Lord had just exhorted the disciples: “Abide in Me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4). And now He makes an affirmation, seemingly so simple—as “As the Father has loved Me”—but, when considered deeply it is invaluable in gaining a precise notion of what follows.
The Father’s love of the Son exists from all eternity and is inexpressible in human terms, since it transpires between two Divine and identical Persons. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9), says Jesus. Seeing Himself entirely projected in the Son and confirming that he is identical to Himself, the Father can only love Him as He loves Himself: “Thou art My beloved Son; with Thee I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11).
A human image helps us understand this love of identity: the mother loves her child because she sees an image, a projection of herself in it, and the child loves its mother because it sees in her the source from which it comes. Now, the deep natural link between mother and child is but a pale image of that between the Father and Son, begotten by Him from all eternity. For, from the most pure relationship between the two Divine Persons who reciprocally love one another for being identical, proceeds a third, the Holy Spirit.
The Blessed Trinity, the central mystery of our Faith and of Christian life, completely surpasses our capacity of comprehension. “The Father loves his Son. He is so beautiful! He is his own light, his own splendour, his glory, his image and his Word… The Son loves the Father. He is so good and gives Himself to Him integrally and totally, in the generating act, with such loving and entire plenitude! And these two immense loves of the Father and the Son are not expressed in heaven through words, songs, cries… because love, arriving at the maximum degree, does not speak, sing, nor cry out; it expands in a breath, between the Father and Son and becomes, like Them, real, substantial, personal and divine: the Holy Spirit.” 4
Fecundity of God’s love for creatures
9 so have I loved you…
This love is of a grandeur that is absolutely inaccessible to our human intelligence. Nevertheless, this is the love that Christ has for each of us, as the expressions “As the Father” and “so have I” clearly indicate, and which mean, respecting due proportions, with the same intensity and in the same way.
As the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Our Lord does not have a human personality. Thus, while He has a most perfect human love, there is no separation between it, and the love proper to His divine nature.
“The created love of the soul of Christ is the highest manifestation of the uncreated love of God. From the height of God’s vision, Jesus’ love descends upon our souls, and in this love we reencounter these diverse characteristics: the profoundest tenderness and the most heroic fortitude. […] Fortitude, the generosity of his love for us, is incrementally revealed from the manger to the Cross. […] No one has ever or will ever love us as Christ has.” 5 How, then, can we repay Him?
Returning to the image of maternal love, we know perfectly well how it prompts a mother to do all for her child. But this human sentiment is only a pale reflection of God’s love, since the latter is so precious and fruitful that, according to St. Thomas, it “infuses and creates goodness.” 6 All the good in the Universe has its origin in this divine goodness that, in being applied to rational creatures, instils charity in them and sanctifies them.
Frequently, our faults and miseries rise up against this. But God loves us in spite of them, and, even at times, because of them. He looks at the fallen, “He pities the misery that brought them to sin, and He leads them to repentance without harshly judging them. As the father of the prodigal son, He embraces the unfortunate son for his fault; he pardons the adulterous woman about to be stoned; he welcomes the repentant Magdalene and afterwards introduces her into the mystery of His intimate life; he speaks of eternal life to the Samaritan woman, despite her conduct; and promises heaven to the good thief. […] Many withdraw from Him, but He does not expel anyone. And when we withdraw, he intercedes for the ungrateful, as He prayed for His executioners.” 7
How distant this pure divine love is from the romantic and egoistic sentiment that today’s world dares to call love, dishonouring the deepest meaning of this word!
Our Lord awaits reciprocity
9 … abide in My love.
Our Lord concludes the impressive affirmation considered above—“so I have loved you”—with a no less moving exhortation: “Abide in My love.” It is as if He said to us: “Benefit from my goodness and be not unworthy of it. Remain within reach of my affection and let it envelop each one of you.”
One who loves, desires to be loved in return, and finds joy in this reciprocity. A teacher expects his students to respond to the dedication shown them, and a commandant who values his army feels gratified when the soldiers also respect him. Given due proportions, the same can be said of God, which is why St. Bernard exclaimed: “A great thing is love, if yet it returns to its Principle, if it is restored to its Origin, if it finds its way back again to its fountain-head, so that it may thus be enabled to flow on unfailingly. […] When God loves, He only desires to be loved, knowing that love will render all those who love Him happy.” 8
Therefore, we must show reciprocity for the generous love that Jesus gives us, making ourselves worthy of being loved by Him. For this to occur, we need only to refrain from placing obstacles in the way of his affection for us. If we did this, it is not being a saint that would require effort, but rather not being one. This is what St. Maria Maravillas of Jesus meant when she often said to her spiritual daughters “¡Si tú Le dejas! ”—“If you would only let Him act!”
Love is proven by works
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Jesus tells us here that the way to abide in the reciprocity of the love initiated by God is to observe his Commandments, because love is proven by works. Just as we show respect for an earthly superior by following his orders, abiding in God’s love means keeping his Law. This said, we will only manage to fulfill the divine precepts if we love the Legislator.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange explains: “We should love Him as a great friend who loved us first and is infinitely better, in and of Himself, than all of His benefits put together. To say that we love Him is to affirm an efficacious desire to fulfill his holy will as expressed in his precepts. In other words, we should desire that He truly and profoundly reign in our souls and be glorified.” 9
Jesus Himself is the archetypical and supreme example of this reversibility between love and obedience. The proof of the integrity of his love for the Father was in the virtues and acts He practiced. For as Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira affirms, enthusiasm for a superior is shown not only in veneration and tenderness, but should also bear fruit in service, obedience and sacrifice. Our Lord abided in the Father and the Father abided in Him because Christ did not neglect to fulfill the least aspect of the Law. Rather, He submitted Himself most perfectly to the designs of the Father, until death, and death on the Cross.
God is Joy in substance
11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
God is Joy in essence; it would be blasphemous to suggest that He could be depressed, sad or discouraged. For being in substance that which He possesses, 10 God cannot have the least stain or vestige of imperfection. Everything in Him is perfect and is entirely ordered toward its own end, which is He Himself.
We were created by God and for God; He is our efficient cause and ultimate end. Thus, acting entirely in Him and for love of Him is the only means for attaining the happiness to which we are called. Authentic joy is not found in the possession of riches, power or any other temporal good of this earth, but only in practicing virtue and keeping his Commandments.
Happy is he who feels the inner delight of a clean conscience, which nothing can purchase nor surpass. Egoism causes sadness, frustration and discouragement. True happiness is only found in innocence!
A New Commandment
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus summarizes everything said to this point in a single Commandment, making it one of the main pillars of the New Covenant: “Love one another as I have loved you.” This is not a counsel or suggestion, but rather a true mandate which, coming from God, must be strictly obeyed as law and must not be violated in any way.
In Antiquity, love also existed—for example, between family members—but this love was as yet defective. If Christ had not taken flesh and shown us the archetype for the relationship between Father and Son, which is so perfect as to constitute a third Divine Person, humanity would never have known this sublime affection that instils goodness and that transforms.
Jesus brought a new and very rich form of love to earth. He taught it with His life, words and example, and He blessed us with his grace, without which it would be impossible for us to practice it. He also desires that we love in like manner, taking the initiative to respect others, without expecting retribution from them, ready to give all for our neighbour, even our life, to help him attain perfection.
The tragedy of our days is caused precisely by the lack of this love. To show very clearly to what point it must be taken, Our Lord’s words foretell his sacrifice on the Cross, the supreme sacrifice that, from a merely human perspective, could be qualified as folly.
Never before in history had someone loved his friends to the point of giving himself as an expiatory victim for them. If Christ, being God, immolated Himself like this for us, what should our retribution be?
In what true friendship consists
14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
Friend: a sui generis word, whose profound meaning, however, has been defiled over the centuries.
Beyond mere consonance or sympathy, true friendship bears one essential element: desiring good for those one esteems. Thus, it can only be founded in God, since there is nothing better to desire for another than his eternal salvation.
In contrast, the alliance between two people who join paths in the ways of evil and who esteem one another’s sinfulness cannot be considered friendship, because they mutually desire the worst of all things for one another, namely, the soul’s condemnation.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
God created humanity so that the love of Jesus Christ could pour itself out and be spread. As God, He is sufficient in Himself, as Man He feels the need to communicate Himself. For this reason, He raised the Apostles to the level of friends and revealed to them all He had heard from his Father.
In those times, a servant had no rights. He owed unrestricted obedience to his master, and was expected to execute orders without needing to understand the reasons. A friend, on the contrary, enjoyed certain parity with the other and was privy to his will. He gave, but he also received.
In this passage, Christ declares that He has ceased to be only Lord to become also our Friend. “An immensely rich friend, who can fill every emptiness in our lives; a true friend who grant us what we legitimately ask of Him; a most attentive friend, who does not become annoyed when we ask Him […] but solicits us to tell Him about our miseries.” 11
Becoming Incarnate and revealing to us the marvels of the Good News, Jesus did not keep what He heard from the Father to Himself, but transmitted it in a measure proportionate to our nature. By knowing and loving Him and fulfilling his Commandments, we become His true friends, since a friend knows the will of the other and puts it into practice.
The law that should prevail among Christians
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. 17 This I command you, to love one another.
Once more, the Divine Master emphasizes that God has chosen us and loved us first, because as was seen at the beginning of this commentary, man tends to imagine that it is he, through his own effort and personal merit, who took the initiative of following God. To highlight the necessity of loving others as He loves us, Jesus repeats the same Commandment as an order.
Only by having the same desire for the salvation of others that Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates may we attain lasting fruits in our apostolate. This is also the condition for our requests to the Father to be heeded.
Do we desire success in our apostolate and in our prayers? Let us love one another as Jesus loves us. Let us not seek to lead an egoistic life, closed within an imaginary ivory tower, cultivating our qualities and gifts for our own benefit, but let us take an interest in our neighbours, loving them, and seeking their good. This is the law that should prevail among Christians.
III – The True Meaning of the Word “Love”
The liturgy for this Sixth Sunday of Easter, so rich in teachings, places the word “love” in an entirely different perspective from the customary one, inviting us to the most sublime relationship possible to attain on this earth: friendship with Jesus.
If at the beginning of our era, pagans referred to the Christians, saying “see how they love one another!” 12, in our sadly paganized days, this affection should shine forth so as to attract those who have fallen away from the Church. This requires that we rid our souls of all sentimentalism, romanticism or egoism lurking in them.
“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God,” the Apostle St. John encourages us in the second reading (1 Jn 4:7). Those who love with true love do not seek to be adored by another, nor do they demand reciprocity. Rather, they seek to be courteous, attentive and zealous with everyone without exception, aiming at somehow reflecting in their daily interactions the ineffable love that Christ expressed for each one of us in his Passion.
Therefore, this Sunday, let us ask for the grace of establishing our love of God and neighbour according to the infinite measure of divine love. And may we treasure in our hearts the instruction that Pope Benedict XVI gave us in his latest encyclical: “Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word ‘love’ is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite.” 13 ◊
