“Love one another as I love you.” Our Lord’s instruction in today’s gospel sounds so simple and straightforward and it’s a wonderful message for us today as we celebrate Mother’s Day and welcome some of our young parishioners around our Lord’s Table in a special way as they receive Holy Communion for the very first time.  These are certainly both wonderful occasions to experience love from God and our children.  But, as we have probably all experienced, it can be a real challenge to love, especially when we don’t feel the love for the other.  Unfortunately, so many people today reduce love to nothing more than a feeling.  We all know that it is much more than that.  In fact, love defines us and true love brings us the deepest joy in our lives.  As we hear in today’s second reading, God is love – love defines God – and so it defines us since we are made in the image and likeness of God.  So, let’s spend a few minutes to understand exactly what Jesus means when he instructs us to love one another as he loves us.

It is, of course, important to understand what we’re talking about here when we use this word – love.  Today, it is used in a wide variety of ways: I love my hot dog, I love you outfit, I love my spouse.  But, the love that we’re talking about here is very specific.  It is not just an emotion or that self-centered drive that most people think of today when they use that word.  Rather, the love we are talking about here is the selfless desire for the best of the other.  That’s how God loves us and how he calls us to love one another.  Remember where it is that Jesus gives this instruction to love one another as he loves us.  It is during the Last Supper as he is about to give his life for us.  He knows that he is soon to suffer a cruel, painful death and uses this occasion to emphasize the love that he – and his heavenly Father – have for us.  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  It is this great sacrifice that we remember every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist.  It is this tremendous gift that we are given whenever we receive our Lord’s life-giving Body and Blood – the Holy Communion that some among us will receive for the first time today.  It is this foundation of love upon which we can build all of our interactions with and with one another. 

We see this approach demonstrated very clearly in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  There was a very contentious controversy in the early Church about what requirements would be made of someone asking to be baptized in the name of Jesus.  As you may recall, there were those among the Jewish converts who thought that everyone should be circumcised and required to follow the Jewish Laws – all 613 of them! 

But, as we hear in today’s first reading, God reveals to Peter that “whoever fears God and acts uprightly is acceptable to God”Gentile or Jew.  Very simple – all God requires is to live in awe of God and act as he calls us to act; that is, in love of him and of one another. 

In our second reading, taken from John’s first letter, love is again put forth as the mark of one who knows God and follows the teachings of Jesus.  In this letter, the words of Jesus are reiterated – that love originated with God, in fact, that God is love.  And God loved us, his creation, so much, that he sent his only begotten Son to redeem us and make it possible for us to have life everlasting in heaven.  But God has also loved us enough that he has given us free will, to accept or reject the love he has offered.  If we accept it, we will, in turn, love others as God has loves us.  And how does God love us?  Generously, lavishly, sacrificially.

To love others in this manner – generously, lavishly and sacrificially – is how we are to love one another.  However, to love in this manner does not always come easily.  Love like this takes patience, humility, courage and a willingness to forgive.  At times we need to be the first one to extend an act of goodwill in a painful situation.  To love like this means that we don’t depend on what is fair or right, nor is it dependent on someone else’s actions.  Our love is given because it is ours to give, just as God gives his love; it is our choice just as it is God’s choice.  

We do not merit God’s love.  It is freely given to us. The more we receive this gift of love, the more we are able to choose to offer it to others.  To love like God loves us requires that we pray to God to discern his will in our lives, just as Jesus did when he was among us.  And, we need to receive the sacraments.  The Eucharist nourishes us and strengthens us; that’s why we rejoice so heartily with those among us who will receive our Lord in Holy Communion for the first time today!  And, the sacrament of reconciliation softens our hearts, and helps us experience our own sinfulness so we are open to receive God’s pardon, mercy and love.  In doing so, we can foster a disposition of the heart that will enable us to recognize when we need to offer compassion and mercy to those we encounter.

As we gather today to worship God who, in his essence is love, let us consider how we love one another.  How we love those who are difficult to love.  How we love those who wish us harm.  How we love those who are different from us.  How we love those we do not really know.  It is easy to love those who love us.  The true sign of one who loves as Jesus taught us to love is that he or she loves those who are a challenge to love.  And, the payoff is worth the effort, because, as we hear so clearly in today’s Gospel, whoever loves as Jesus taught will find their joy complete.