How do we know if we love?
What is love and how do we know if we love?
Love is a word that is often used and for just about everything. We know that God is love, and that we can love each other. Our Lord also told us to "love our enemies." I have often said that love is a choice, but as a mom I know that the love I have for my kids has been there since before they were born. I remember looking at them and thinking "there you are" as if they had been there all along.
As parents we also love our kids unconditionally, and we all believe that is how God loves us too. Unconditional love is that love we have no matter what the person has done. This is NOT acceptance of sinful behavior, and not a golden ticket to heaven just because, but the love of the good, or potential good of the person and what God has Willed for them.
So, without getting to complex I just want to look at God's Word to get our understanding of love. And then we can decide what love truly is! What I am quoting below is from 1 Corinthians. My emphasis is added.
"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)
I can think of times in my life where I failed to live up to this, and failed to truly love. Can you? St. Paul tells us that the greatest of the virtues of faith hope and charity, is love. We cannot separate living a holy Christian life from love. Just doesn't work! We can go to mass every day, pray the rosary every day, but if we do not act in a loving way to all people, are we truly living out our faith? No!
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Jesus says it like this when asked "Teacher which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22"36-40)
Not surprising His answer has to do with love :)
So if we are to truly love, we are to be kind, and patient with everyone. We are not to insist on having our own way, like in an argument for example, I can think of those times when I did that, can you? Also to truly love is to rejoice in Truth which is God Himself! This means we tell the truth and we live the truth as well, or we lie and do not love. To truly love means to tell the truth even when it may offend others, but we certainly do it with kindness. But we do not insist on winning the argument or to force our way on others. Love also means that we pray for one another and hope in the sanctification of others, even the worst sinners. And if we truly love we believe that God can do all things, and we trust and have faith in Him for that!
And Jesus tells us that we must even love our enemies and pray for those who hurt us. This is where our faith and charity are really put to the test. If someone cuts us off on the road, or when we are persecuted for our faith in Christ, or when unkind words are meant for us. What do we do? We should train ourselves to at those moments to pray for that person. We can say an Our Father and a Hail Mary for them and wish them well, asking God to help them. At this point I need to confess that in the past I had developed a really habit of bad thoughts anytime I was hurt by someone that I was supposed to love. This of course lead to bad feelings, bad actions, and just bad all the way around. I had to learn how to pray in those moments and just talk to Jesus about it instead of being angry.
That is what Jesus wants us to do!
Let us do what Christ wants, not what we want, not what the world wants. Jesus help us to love with the love of God, the love that you have called us to choose in ourselves. Help us to love even the worst of sinners, help us to speak kindly about all people and treat everyone kindly. Amen
Thank you Jesus!
Please follow for more.
JU
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Excelent!!!
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