EASTER LIVING: Part 5 of 7

Can you believe it’s still Easter? While most of the world stopped thinking about Easter weeks ago, we are still in a time of rejoicing. But this isn’t just a time of celebration, it’s a time to really allow the power of the risen Lord to bear fruit in our lives. This series on Easter Living is meant to help us do just that. Last week we looked at the call to holiness; this week we’re going to break open the topic of love as the essential feature of the Christian life.

This is very much related to last week’s topic, since the mark and measure of holiness is active love – love of God and love of others. As we saw last week, love isn’t ultimately about sentiments or how we feel towards others (although there certainly is an element of this in love), but true love, the virtue of caritas, is about action, about what we do in relation to others. Remember what Pope Benedict XVI said, “To love someone is to desire that person’s good and to take effective steps to secure it” (Caritas in Veritate, 7). Love is ultimately manifested in how we live in relation to others, it’s demonstrated by what we actually do and don’t do in our daily living.

Now, of course, our actions usually flow out of our attitudes and judgments, so it can be difficult to love if our hearts are full of anger, resentment, or irritation. So, ideally, the more our minds and hearts are positively disposed toward others, the more ready we become to act in love toward them. This, I think, is why Jesus asks us to pray for our enemies and for those who hurt us, because when we pray for them, it can turn them from an enemy to a friend in our hearts – it can actually change our disposition toward them and therefore change the way we act toward them. But at the end of the day, as C.S. Lewis said, let’s not waste our time trying to figure out whether or not we love our neighbor, instead, he says, just love them, do what love requires, and in time you will come to find that you actually do love them.

You see, what we do actually makes us who we are. Meaning, when we act with love, it actually strengthens our will and equips us to love again in the future. This is precisely how virtue works. The only way to grow in generosity… is by being generous. The same is true with love. If we want to be people of love, we have to first seek to act in love. And this starts in the ordinary events of daily life. As Mother Teresa said, “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.” This takes time, and it takes effort, but God has sent his Spirit among us to guide and strengthen us. Each of us, at our baptisms, was infused with the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, and these gifts provide a truly supernatural power to live as children of God.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, growing in love should be at the top of our priority list. Why? Because this love is a key part of the Church’s mission of evangelization. As Jesus said, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). And as John Paul II once said, “The evangelical witness which the world finds most appealing is that of concern for people, and of charity toward the poor, the weak and those who suffer” (Redemptoris Missio, 42). By our love, we become a reflection of God’s very self in the world. As Jesus said, “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:16).

In addition to its evangelistic power, our love also has the power to actually contribute to the healing and restoration of the world. The remedy for all the sin and brokenness in the world isn’t judgment and condemnation… it’s love. The way to overcome the darkness of hatred and selfishness, is by overwhelming it with an abundance of humble, generous, and self-giving love. As St Peter said, “let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8). As we continue through this season of Easter, let us fix our eyes on the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, and pray for the daily transformation of our minds and hearts so that we might live and love more fruitfully in the world.