Until when should I love my neighbor?
Our love for God is expressed in the way we practice charity.
We have to love all mankind. If we really want to love and serve God, then we must serve every human being. It can happen to us at times, Saint Josemaría wrote, that “it seems as if I hear someone saying to me: loving God above all things is easy, but to love one's neighbor, friends and enemies, now that's really difficult! However, if you really love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, then that love for your neighbor which you find so difficult will be a consequence of the Great Love; and you won't feel at odds with anybody.”
We ought to examine whether our love for God is shown in specific acts of love for neighbor. That is essential if we are to be disciples of Jesus. He loved us so much that he gave his life for each of us. “Because of Christ's love for all mankind, both for those who wish to serve him faithfully despite their shortcomings, and for those who don't wish to be his friends at all, he allows himself to be mistreated, insulted, and crucified.”
When someone possesses Christ, he doesn't worry whether he has already served others enough; he doesn't think about his own rights, tastes, or preferences. “This self-giving, this understanding, this charity, this forgetting about one's own rights, causes us to yield in everything that is ours, just as Christ Jesus did. Our Lord has told us to learn from him: ‘learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.’ To acquire this meekness, this humility, this holy readiness to yield in everything personal, it is enough for us to contemplate Jesus, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
“You talk to me about the ‘happy medium.’ Be careful! For a person who wants to live a life of Love with a capital L, half-measures are weak, they are miserly, they are mean and calculating. I will give you some advice. When Love knocks at your door, don't throw up barriers or hold back your heart. Never be afraid of going too far.
If we are generous to God, it will lead us to be generous to those around us, putting our heart into all that we do. The virtue of justice demands it of us: other people have the right to our understanding and our charity.”
People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
We need to give Christ a chance to make use of us, to be His word and His work, to share His food and His clothing in the world today. If we do not radiate the light of Christ around us, the sense of the darkness that prevails in the world will increase.
Oct 25 Sat