Reflection
With the gift of life God commissioned us to journey in love. Love of God, neighbor and self are absolutely required of us. God loves through us, empowering us to be loving persons. Sometimes there are factors which affect how we will respond to others. This is part of the human condition. The question we need to consider is whether Iwe allow the Spirit within us to challenge whether mour responses are consistent with mour commitment to live God’s love.
Prayer
O God, Your law of love is written within me.
Bring alive in me today a loving heart.
Make it active in my life.
Action
Today I will try to respond with forgiveness, generosity, justice, and love toward those I with whom I live and work.
Suggested Readings
Moses said to the people:
“If only you would heed the voice of the Lord, your God,
and keep God’s commandments and statutes!
For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky… Nor is it across the sea,
that you should say,” Who will cross the sea to get it for us?
No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”
Dt 30:10-14
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”
Luke 10:25 -37
Authentic religious experiences requires that we hear the cry of those who suffering, the cry of the world and the need to show care and concern for our neighbor.
Pope Francis
When we meet someone in need, we are faced with a choice: to care for them or to look the other way. Because compassion is not a characteristic of religion but one of being human.
Pope Leo XIV
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
St. Augustine of Hippo
We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God´s compassionate love for others.
St. Clare of Assisi
Intense love does not measure . . . it just gives.
Mother Teresa
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
St Augustine
He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.
St. Bede the Venerable
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Lao Tzu
One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.
Paulo Coelho