I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.
Jesus speaks these words at the Last Supper. He is about to go to the Cross, and He has given His disciples His own Body and Blood in the first Eucharist. Now He gives them a new commandment, something that is radical, something that may even seem impossible. We are to love each other as Jesus has loved us.
Think about how Jesus loves us. He sacrifices Himself for us. First, He takes on our human nature, joining it to His divine nature. Then He dies on the Cross for us to save us from our sins and open the way to Heaven. He lays down His life completely, with no hesitation and even with great anticipation. That is how much He loves us.
We might wonder how we, small, selfish, weak people that we are, could ever love like that. Yet that is exactly what Jesus tells us to do, to love as He has loved. Jesus does not command anything impossible, so there must be a way to fulfill this commandment.
St. Therese of Lisieux figured out the way when she asked Jesus to love her sisters, her fellow nuns, in and through her. Only Jesus' own love can fulfill His commandment, so she decided to embrace that love, open herself to it, and let it flow through her freely to everyone around her.
We must do the same if we want to obey Jesus. We must let Him love others in and through us, embracing His love and allowing it to flow, so that we can truly love each other as He has loved us, even to the point of sacrificing ourselves in that love.
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