"This is my commandment: Love one another"

I recall some years back attending a discussion group of Latin Rite Catholics, Byzantine Rite Catholics, and Orthodox Christians reflecting on scripture and Church teaching. Fr. Tom Baima, now provost at Mundelein Seminary, was in attendance. I forget exactly what the topic that evening was, but I recall something that Fr. Baima pointed out in the discussion. He pointed to a difference in how we view the law in the west as opposed to the east. He said that westerners tend to view the law as the floor, easterners view it as the ceiling.
By that he meant in the west we look to the law to define the minimum we must do to remain in compliance. To an eastern mind, laws would be used to set goals to which to aspire.
Jesus had a very eastern mind. When he gave the command to love one another, he did not give an example of what the minimum is to fulfill that command. Rather he gave us the example of love to strive for. He told us that we should love as he has loved us. Look at the cross ─ that’s how much he loved us.

"Love" is a curious word. Our pastor often reminds us that English is an unusual language, and though it is typically vocabulary rich, it is curious that we use the one word “love” to mean many different things.

We love our children. We love our spouse. We love ice cream. We love when the Cubs win ─ or when they lose if you are a Sox fan. We love a cup of coffee in the morning. We love our dog, our car, a nap, a good laugh and our mothers. The one word has such a wide variety of meanings.

But the gospel wasn’t written in English, it was written in Greek. In Greek, there are several different words for love. The best known are: Eros indicating a love that is passionate and sensual, erotic love; Philio for friendship or brotherly love; and the word that John used in this gospel, Agape, meaning a love without thought of return, a sacrificial love. This is the love God holds for us, this is love with which we are commanded to love one another. At its fullest, it is a love to the death, but short of that extreme, it is a love that is self-giving.

In the center of Boston there is a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Six towers are erected, one for each of six major death camps. On a background of millions of numbers assigned to prisoners by the Nazis in the death camps there are stories that speak of the cruelty and suffering these poor people endured. One of the stories is very different from the others. It is the story of a little girl named Ilse and her childhood friend Gerda. Ilse was about six years old when she was imprisoned at Auschwitz. One morning little Ilse found a single raspberry growing in the camp. All day long she carried and protected the raspberry very carefully in her pocket. That evening the little girl’s eyes were shining with joy as she presented her little friend Gerda with her treasure, a single raspberry given to her friend. Many years later the girl who received the raspberry wrote:

“Imagine a world in which the only possession that you have is a single raspberry, and you choose to give it to your friend.”

This is sacrificial love. This love is not unattainable, not abstract, and doesn’t represent the extreme of dying for another. It does represent a self giving, a placing the happiness of another ahead of our own wants or desires.
John tells us in the 2nd reading "In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins."
We are never asked for anything that God has not given us first, this includes love. If we are asked to give up a little to follow God that small sacrifice pales in comparison to what he gave first ─ his only son. God’s commands do not restrict us. To the contrary, they set us free. What is asked of us, that we operate from the starting point of love for each other, is asked so that we might find fullness of freedom and fullness of joy in life.
We are not compelled to obey his commandment unless we are compelled by love of God, and love of Christ. Jesus tells us that he gives this command not as to a slave, but as to a friend. We have the right to refuse, and often we do.
Whenever we fall short of sacrificial love; when we place our own desires and wants at the center of our lives ─ we lose our freedom and hold ourselves captive. The command to love was given, "…so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.”
We gather at the table of the Lord to partake of the sacrament of His love. As we gather, let us ask for forgiveness for the times we have failed, and for nourishment so that we may continue to strive for the perfection of love that Christ has shown us.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.