As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” As we follow Our Lord, our actions, behaviors, and practices will naturally flow out of us when we allow Christ to love us and form us. On the other hand, focusing on the externals without striving to love God and neighbor is hollow.
As St. Augustine said: “Anyone can bless himself with the sign of the cross of Christ; anyone can answer ‘Amen’; anyone can sing Alleluia; anyone can be baptized, enter churches, build the walls of basilicas. But the only thing that distinguishes the children of God is charity. Those who practice charity are born of God; those who do not practice charity are not born of God. It is indeed an important sign, an essential difference. No matter what you have, if you do not have this one thing, everything else is of no avail; and if you lack everything, and have nothing else but charity, then you have kept the law.”
What kind of disciples are we? Do we consider ourselves faithful followers because of what we do—whether in apostolate, prayer, or the moral life—or are we faithful because of how much we love God and neighbor?
Love is manifest in behavior. Jesus tells us, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13), and he modeled this self-giving love on the cross. As we consider his example of love, we can feel overwhelmed and defeated, as if our ability to love like Jesus depends upon our strength and our will.
However, in a very real way, it depends upon us letting ourselves be loved by God, allowing him to dwell within us and act through us. It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and mercy and love of our God. This participation comes from the life of the Trinity within us, and the indwelling of the Holy Trinity capacitates us to pour ourselves out in love as Jesus did.
The sacrificial love is to give yourself away to tell others about the Perfect Love of God that cleanses us from Sin and Creates a new Heart of Holiness and Love for God and others. Jesus loved us so much He died so we could be made one with God again.
We are not to love the wrong kinds of love that lead to death and destruction. Not the kind of love for wrongdoing, possessiveness, using and abusing, for ego, or for pleasure seeking.
The Perfect Love we are to lay down our lives for is the Love that saves and wants others to be saved and made new. Love is the Truth that our lives have been distorted but there is a Remedy Who Is Love!
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