Love one another
Fr. Joseph Dau Vu, SVD, was a Catholic chaplain of the Vietnamese “boat people” refugees in Morong, Bataan. He related to me how he together with 55 compatriots slipped out of communist Saigon on an old, decrepit motorized boat and sailed to freedom.
The “boat priest” reminisced with a tinge of sadness, “When fishermen from neighboring countries saw us, they attacked, robbed and exploited us. But when Filipino fishermen saw us, they gave food and welcomed us. Why are Filipinos different?” Fr. Dau Vu asked and answered: “It is because Filipinos are Christian.”
That Vienamese priest’s comment is very heartening, a tribute to Filipinos for their compassion and hospitality. Indeed, Christianity that's truly lived should make one more loving, more kind, more compassionate.
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To love as Christ loves is his explicit teaching in this Fifth Easter Sunday gospel. At the Last Supper, Jesus said. “I give you a new commandment: Love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples” (Jn 13,34).
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What’s this “new love” Jesus refers? There are numerous kinds of love. Well known are the romantic, sexual, warm affection of the young who’re in love and married couples, and others. What Jesus means is the selfless love of one person for another without sexual implications. This is close to the sacrificial love of a mother.
It should be noted that the passionate affection, the strong personal attachment of love fades away. Some said that a newly-married couple hold hands out of passionate love but years after, they hold hands…out of self-defense!
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In an article by an anonymous author entitled “What Is Christianity?,” it articulates Christian love in concrete terms, thus: “In the home it is kindness, in business it is honesty, in society it is courtesy, in work it is justice.”
“Toward the unfortunate it is pity; toward the weak it is help; toward the wicked it is resistance; toward the strong it is trust; toward the fortunate it is congratulations, toward the penitent it is forgiveness, toward God it is reverence and love.”
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The agape love of Jesus is not shown by mere words but by deeds. As one writer puts it: “They do not love those who do not show it.” There are jobless husbands who shower their wives with sweet words, but it’s the wife who does the family livelihood.
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The real measure of spiritual growth and salvation is how we live up to Jesus’ command — “Love one another as I have loved you.”
There are three great virtues, St. Paul says: “Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13,13).
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By the way, in wedding Masses, the gospel reading is: “Love one another.” The priest celebrant exhorts the couple that it should not be, “Love another one!”
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Post election: We have many politicians who ran in the last election. Trouble is, nobody admits he lost, but was only cheated.
A losing candidate can file a formal protest before the Comelec if he believes he was cheated.
Trouble is, with the slow wheels of justice, when the case is over, it’s the end of the term of the accused politician.
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Thank you – Here’s what one donor to our “Adopt A Seminarian” scholarship program wrote: “My sons have no vocation to the priesthood so I might as well help others become priests and missionaries.” Very inspiring.
Donate any amount or sponsor a seminarian's schooling good for one year. E-mail: [email protected].