THE LORD IN OUR LIVES

THE LORD IN OUR LIVES
The accent of this text is found in love, but not any form of love. The referential love is that of Christ, who loves each of his disciples in the way he is loved by the Father, who communicates to him the Spirit (cf. Jn 1: 32-33), which in turn is communicated by the Son to the Church (see John 7:39). Historically, Jesus manifests what he is with the Father: love relationship: the Father, eternal Lover; the eternal Beloved Son; and the Spirit, eternal Love. The Father, all to the Son, who is all turned to the Father. The Spirit is that in which the Father is all to the Son, and the Son to the Father. In the same Spirit, Jesus loves His Church, surrendering Himself totally for her. All His life was the gift of Himself from the Incarnation to the Eucharist. In everything lived the will of the Father, taught all that the Father wanted, in everything was renunciation of Himself for the manifestation of the glory of God the Father in the sanctification of all the chosen.

2. "Abide in my love." Here we have a connection with the text of the true vine (cf. Jn 15: 1-8). In both texts, there is a requirement of "permanence", but not any form of permanence, but insertion in Jesus (first text) and love (second text). In fact, the "branch" will only produce fruit if it is attached to the tree, if it receives the sap, if it is inserted in the body. Such permanence and results will only be possible in love, and this as a gift of self. There is no other perfect manifestation of love. It is known that there is no definition of love in any science, but when the disciple contemplates the life of the Word made flesh, there he finds not only an intellectual definition of love but also, and more perfectly, love itself in history, love as a person absolutely free and therefore capable of being all obedience to the same Love and to the human being, who needs to be loved and to discover love in the form of God in order to find his fulfillment in the same God. This love is oblation, that is, surrender of oneself, in view of the good of the other; is to take pain, that the other may live love; it is not to fear to diminish, so that the other grows; is to rejoice when the other reaches the top, its fulfillment. The disciple is invited to practice this love in the history of the Church in the world.

3. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." Love is not to be lived in the universe of abstraction. It is not the notion of love that saves. It means nothing to have understanding of love and not to practice it. Jesus Christ was all obedience to the Father, placed first the instruction of the Father, His Commandments. What He asks of His disciples is purely the living of the same Commandments. The important new point here is the fact of putting into practice such Commandments from Jesus Christ. The interpretation of the Father's thought was given by the Son who perfectly revealed the will of the Father. Only by remaining in Christ is it possible to arrive fully at the truth of the Father and the fullness of His love.

4. "This I have spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." Being all to the Father and all to the salvation of His chosen ones, Jesus manifests the joy of divine holiness and the victory of love. To this same joy, the disciple is invited, so that all to God and all for the good of his fellow men, he may live the holiness of God in Christ, fight the good fight in love and make daily pain the springboard to eternity, where your joy will be full in the embrace of the Trinity.

5. "This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you." Today, the notion of love is trivialized. Many, even, understand everything by pleasure, by affection, by affection. It is true that all this can be found in those who truly love, but love is not that. Love is not a feeling, it is not the same as passion, it does not mean interest in the other person. This way of being creates serious dependency, besides fomenting illusions, fantasies, meaningless dreams. In this way of understanding love there are many without horizon, without meaning. To love as Jesus requires much more than that.

6. Being God, the Word became flesh. The incarnation is already a profound lesson of love, for it is the emptying of Self to assume our limited, and therefore imperfect, condition. Certainly, less the sin, but in everything became equal to us, 100% man. He came to meet us, talk to us as equals, as one of us, from ourselves. He entered our history, to dialogue with us within ourselves, to teach us from our own language. Moreover, he took upon us our sins, our sufferings, our pains, felt with us the pain of separation. He went further, out of love, surrendered to all who wanted his destruction, for all who wounded Him with our sins.