As I Have Loved You

Gospel: John 13:31-33A, 34-35

When Judas had left them, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him,
God will also glorify him in himself,
and God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”

Today’s gospel has always been one of my favorites. It’s a beautiful reminder that we are in this life together as a community. Jesus calls us to love one another he gives us specific direction and this was always to me the most important point in this passage.

As I sat in mass today, it was early, people were getting on my nerves with their loud talking, the man in the row behind me decided to bring his dog to mass, I was so distracted. Since getting sick I’ve had a really hard time focusing.. on anything, but especially my prayer life. I’ve been trying to push through and get over this spell of distance between me and Jesus, my lack of motivation to give Him my time and attention so lately mass has not been fun for me.

As the Deacon began to read the gospel my heart began to soften. Yes I should be loving the crazy man who bought his dog to mass, and yes I should even love the talkers.. but AS HE LOVED ME. 

Jesus is totally calling us out in today’s gospel, but I think we are forgetting to listen to the entire passage. Jesus lived to die, He came to save us. This was His entire purpose of being on Earth. Whether He saved 1 person or 3283249 gazillion, He loved each soul so much that He died for each one individually.

That is a whole lot of love. Before we are able to love others that much, we have to learn and accept that Jesus loved us that much.. which means we have to see our self worth. And sometimes that is really really hard, but at the end of the day we are all beloved sons and daughters of the greatest king of all.

The priest who celebrated today’s mass had a great homily and he challenged us to pray to learn that Jesus loves us unconditionally and to accept that you are loved, accept that Jesus gave His life for you because it is the only way you are going to be able to serve others and love them as He love us.

So this week lets spend some quiet time in prayer and ask the Lord to show us his love in our hearts. And maybe spread that love by doing something kind for someone in your life this week.

See you in the Eucharist,

Brittany