“Owe no one anything, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)
Take a Moment to Ponder
Our country continues to spiral in its downward trend due to heinous acts of crime and violence. We continue to experience unabated violence because we choose not to obey the New Commandment that Jesus left for us. Our society continues to suffer because as a Church we have not done as good a job as we ought in setting the example in living out this new commandment. Our society continues to feel the effects of what the absence of love does. Our society continues to learn what happens when love is not shared and experienced. We are realizing that “children live what they learn,” and what they learn, is violence and anti-social behaviour.
St. Paul’s message to the Romans is that their responsibility was to love one another. That is also our responsibility today. We are, however, not living up to that responsibility, as we continue to act in ways towards others that betray that injunction of Jesus. It seems as if we either have forgotten, or we had never learned what it is to love. Our interaction with each other has taken on a very crude and crass tone. We cannot seem to speak in a civil way with each other and because of this, we are reaping the whirlwind. We are realizing that the absence of love in our society is resulting in high levels of crime and violence.
Our call is to fulfill the law, and for us to do that we must love one another. This is something that we must begin to take more seriously. Our focus must now be on how we treat and interact with each other. Love must be a part of who we are, and we must reflect that love. We must reflect the love of Christ as we share that love with each other. This is essentially what society is crying out for, for us to share the love of Christ as we love one another. Jesus issued this commandment to his disciples and by extension to Christians and members of the Church. We have failed in doing this and we must make the resolve to do better. If we want to see our society escape from the clutches of crime and violence, we must begin to love one another. Let us make the resolve to live out this new commandment, as we love one another.
Practical Action
It would be a good start if we did in fact love ourselves and then extend that love to our neighbours. Let us also treat others the way we would love to be treated.
A Moment in Prayer
Almighty God, who has called us to love one another, we ask Lord that you equip and empower us to share this love; Help us as we experience this love, to share it with others. Help us to be faithful to the new commandment that your Son Jesus left with us. Keep us faithful to this call to love one another, as we share the love of Christ. Loving God, make us instruments of your peace, where we share love instead of hatred. Allow your love to indwell us as we share it with others; grant this for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Contributed by:
Very Rev. Fr. Richard A. Tucker
