Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

God is good!

While being a Catholic and a disciple of Jesus entail believing and practicing many things, today’s liturgical texts make it clear that the “holy grail” is the sweet spot between sincere love for God and neighbor; love is the Christian’s sphere of influence.

Whoever follows Jesus also ought to make it an honest concern to apply his statement: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

In the early church, when the apostles were called upon to determine what was the essential Christian way about following Jesus, and what was not, they concluded that the most legitimate and essential Christian’s duty is “belief in Jesus Christ who died and rose for our sins and loving him as he loved us.” But then that love continues towards others.

If we are to follow Jesus, then we must accept and live his gospel— in our heart and life. It is also leveraging this relationship with Christ as a stimulus for action and decision “for love of my brethren and friends.”

Prayer blessings: Father, come to our aid, and where misunderstanding, selfishness, and destructions exist, let hope also abound that we can write and achieve a different future reality. Amen.