March 17, 2022
Persuasive Love
There can be no true union with God unless we love also our neighbor. First of all, our neighbor is a member of the body of Christ, and we do not truly love Christ if we do not also love the members of Christ. Secondly, Christ delivered Himself for each of His members, and we, ourselves, cannot be united to Christ unless we share in His love for them. That is why He lays upon us the tremendous obligation to love one another as He has loved us. We call it tremendous, for he loves us to the extent of laying down His life for us.
At first sight this seems to be an intolerable burden and an impossible obligation. But the service of God is a reasonable service, and He Himself has assured us that His yoke is easy and His burden light. We should note that though we are bound to love all, we are not bound to like anyone. It is true that our likes and dislikes can be offenses against charity, insofar as they are willful and inordinate; but there are many natural causes which produce a sympathy or an antipathy for which we are not responsible. What we are responsible for is to see that these natural lokes and dislikes do not interfere with the discharge of the obligations that justice and charity impose upon us in regard to our neighbor.
Solicitude for the corporal necessities of our neighbor has always been characteristic of the fervent Christian. Whenever Christianity has taken root, it soon bears fruit in the form of countless organizations for the relief of the poor and the sick. The true Christian seeks Christ; He tries to let Himself be used as an instrument by Christ, to contine the charitable wrk of His days in Palestine when He went about doing good; and He tries also to serve the same Christ in the person of His members. Christianity is really a sort of continuation of the Incarnation. Each of us is asked to give our Lord a further chance of satisfying His love for God and His love for men by living in us, and by performing in partnership withnus acts of charity – both to God directly in heaven and for His creatures here on earth. And our Lord wishes also to use us as a means of letting others show their love for Him through the things they do for us. We should note this double aspect of Christian charity. It should be done by Christ and by us in partnership with Him, to Christ and to His members united in Him. It will not be till we see Him face to face in heaven that we will perceive the full depth of meaning in His prayer to the father at the Last supper: that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.
DOM M. EUGENE BOYLAN, O.C.R
Dom Boylan (+1964) was a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Joseph, Roscrea, Ireland, and a renowned spiritual writer and retreat master.
