From the movie, "The Passion of the Christ"
"Whoever fails to love does not know God, for God is love" - I John 4:8
"... if I am without love, I am nothing" writes St Paul to the Corinthians [I Corinthians 1:2]. Love is the basis of every relationship. There are many relationships in the world today ranging from personal to communal, trivial to official, religious, economic or political, and more. But the strength or holiness of every relationship depends on how much love is infused into such relationship. Unless love empowers it the relationship will never stand the test of time. Without love there shall never be unity, harmony and peace.
What is love? Love is so encompassing it cannot be fully defined but this is what we believe: Love comes from God that is why it is only through love that we could assure healthy and holy relationships. St Paul lists the qualities of love as "patient, kind, never jealous, not boastful or conceited, never rude and does not seek its own advantage, does not take offence or keeps grudges, does not rejoice in wrongdoing but finds joy in the truth, always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes" [I Corinthians 13: 4-7]. More importantly he says that love never ends [13:8]. Just imagine if the above list would be found in every relationship. The world would surely be a better place to live in and that most sought after peace on earth would be achieved.
Why do we have to love? Because God loved us first [I John 4:11] and "whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" [I John 4:8]. Through love we become children of God [I John 4:7] and friends of our Lord Jesus Christ [John 15:14]. Furthermore, since God wants us to be like Him [Matthew 5:48], we should truly love the way He loved us and our love should have no limit for God Himself has loved us with an everlasting love [Jeremiah 31:3].
Is it hard to love? For those who do not believe in God who is love Himself, it is hard. But for those who have faith, love is the easiest thing on earth. It should be the nature of every Christian to love for a Christian is a child and friend of God, who is love. Moreover, we already have an example of how to love because God loved us first [I John 4:10] and fact is, God loved us so much that He did not only create us but He also saved us when we fell into bondage to sin [see John 3:16 and Romans 5:8]. Jesus Himself said that He has loved us the way the Father loves Him and He encourages us to remain in His love [John 15:9].
John states in his first epistle that to love God is to obey His commands [I John 5:3] and the great commandments are nothing but the love of God and of our neighbor [Matthew 22: 38-39]. Jesus our Lord stated it simply by saying, "love one another as I have loved you" [John 15:12] because that is how the Father has loved Him too [John 15:9]. He even gave us a very special and blessed opportunity of being His friends if we just love one another [John 15:14].
By accepting the call to a holy friendship with God we allow ourselves to be transformed by the Lord into a people who are consecrated to Him in love, to love and to become love. We are being invited to be like the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who are so united in love that they remain One God though existing in Three Uniquely Separate Persons. That same love initiated the Creation of all things, which is the same love that caused the Word to become man, and the same love by which the Holy Spirit continually sanctifies all who believe in the Father through the Son who by and according to the same love shall return to judge the living and the dead at the end of time.
God loves us so much and that love is like a holy fire which consumes whoever He touches with it and purified to become His instruments of holy friendship to all the world.
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