The Creative Power of Love
Dear Sisters
and Brothers in Christ,
In the
Gospel story we have just listened to there were two men running to the tomb in
order to see what happened when they were told that the stone was removed away. One of them was Peter and the other was only
referred to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
Finally,
“the disciple whom Jesus loved” went to the tomb ahead of Peter. Do you know why?
Because he
was empowered with his burning love for the Master Who died for him as He once
taught: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s
friend.”[1]
Because he
loves Jesus, he overcomes the fear which often makes people paralyzed.
Because he
loves Jesus, he overcomes the selfishness which often makes people blinded to
the needs of others.
Because he
loves Jesus, he overcomes the ambitions which often make people deaf to the
suffering of others.
Because he
loves Jesus so much that he just wants to put what Jesus taught him into
practice: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s
friend.”
So, the love
that we are speaking of here is in no way any kind of love in general, but it
must be the love that comes from God Who is love and Who has loved us first in
Christ Jesus, His Son.
This must be
the love that is modeled after the love with which Jesus loved us and died for
us on the Cross, so that we were saved from sin and death.
This is
exactly the love that Jesus taught us to learn when he said: “Love one another
as I have loved you.”[2]
This is
true, authentic and Christian love which we call “caritas—charity” when we love
one another because of God Who so loved us that He gave us Christ Jesus, His
Only Son, so that we may have life ever-happy and everlasting.[3]
Let us try
to run as faster as possible to meet the Risen Lord waiting for us in every
moment of our life, in every stage of our trip on this planet earth following
the example of “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
By Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
