My dear friends in Christ,
“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 practice, of course, it is not always easy. When it comes to loving one another, this might need to be done slowly so that we can build up to loving unconditionally. Our instincts and our culture around us think differently. We consider outbursts of anger and even hatred as just being human. Deep down, we all want to be loved. It is more difficult to love but I think we all want to love people rather than hate. Hating does terrible things to our minds and makes our bodies weak. We like and want people to be our friends and not our enemies. So how many of us are willing to lay down one’s life for one’s friends? St. Maximilian Kolbe did it. St. Sebastian did it. Archbishop Romero did it. At times, this commandment can be difficult, especially in our current times and when speaking with someone who does not want the COVID vaccine. More than ever, this is the time to lay down our lives for our friends, literally, so that we can get back to some sense of normal. Wearing masks and getting vaccinated is how we show each other we love as Jesus loves us, and we are willing to lay down our lives for each other to protect one another; what a powerful way to live out the Gospel from this week in our day to day lives!
To all of our Mothers, may God bless you in a very special way on your special day. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
May God bless you all,
Father John