By Ishongkun Kurbah, CSC –
Readings: Acts 15:22-31; Jn 15:12-17
The hardest thing that Jesus had commanded the disciples, and now he is commanding us, is to love: to love one another as he loved and to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. I say it is the hardest because love demands self-sacrifice. In today’s world love is the most misunderstood and abused word.
People cheat in the name of love, people kill in the name of love and people become jealous and selfish in love. The true meaning of love is distorted and the face of love is disfigured. People seek perfection and self-satisfaction in love. The true meaning of love is forgotten. True love sacrifices oneself for the good and benefit of others.
True love sacrifices for one’s own husband, wife, children, friends, neighbors, and so on. How meaningful and awesome life would be if we sacrifice our own selfish interest for others, a husband for his wife, and a wife for her husband, children for their parents and parents for children, neighbor for neighbors and friends for friends. Jesus is inviting us to love one another genuinely and it is possible if we strive honestly and each day walk with Jesus. He will show us the way to love others authentically and purely.