The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
Do you know Jesus? Have you met our Lord? We’d all like to say ‘Yes, of course, I’m Christian aren’t I? I’ve received the Sacraments, haven’t I?’ But today’s first reading gives me pause. I am fairly certain that no one who knows me would consider me a hateful person. Considering Jesus’s number 1 and number 2 commandments are ‘love God,’ and ‘love your neighbor,’ the most I can say is that I am doing number 1 as best I know how, and I am doing number two, except for a few people that really bother me. In all humility, I’m concerned this is falling short of what Jesus commanded! Do you love your neighbors…(ALL of them)…as you love yourself?
Consider with me all those people whom I have made decisions about how to treat, or how to think about. First, there are my literal “brothers,” or siblings, along with the rest of my family. Do I love and forgive them all despite our disagreements? Second, there are our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. Do I love them all, even the ones I judge as a little weird? Third, there are all the other people I interact with in my life; coworkers, customers, people at stores and restaurants, those in the neighborhood, beggars… Do I treat them all with dignity and respect, even if our relationships are mostly just functional? Finally, there are the people whom I haven’t met, but who I read about: politicians, other nationalities / ethnicities / races, the poor, the rich, celebrities, leaders of various organizations. Do I love them as humans who are certainly much more complex than media and random postings can ever portray?
Which group is your greatest struggle? Where do you need the light of the Spirit? Today, let’s invite the light of love into these dark areas of our life. In these shadowy places, may we courageously invite the author of Love and the master of forgiveness to transform our unknowing hearts. We were made to love Jesus, to know Jesus, by loving God and our neighbors. Lord, make us into who we were meant to be. Amen.
- Chris Nieport