Whoever loves God must also love his brother

 

Scripture for this reflection can be found at  Thursday after Epiphany | USCCB

In our first reading from the first Letter of Saint John we hear the challenging words of love. Central to all of John’s writings is that we not only believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and keep his commandments, but John is teaching what the Lord Jesus Christ had taught throughout His ministry on earth: “Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” John makes it very clear when he says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1John 4:20).  These are strong words. We all can say that we love God, but when it comes to loving our neighbor and doing good for them, that’s when things start getting tough and challenging.

The challenge is to try to live out this gospel of love in our day-to-day life. We will always encounter people, whether in our families or those we meet during the day, that we just simply do not like, no less love. Our own families could be the most challenging since they know us so well. They could be those family members that may be away from the regular practice of the faith and just get angry at us for being faithful to God and His commandments. It is in these situations that God is calling us to return that hatred and anger towards us with that of love that John speaks about. As the old saying goes, LOVE CONQUORS ALL.

In our gospel for today from St. Luke, we hear of Jesus returning to Nazareth and going to the synagogue. He then reads from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” The people were amazed when he says that this scripture is fulfilled in their hearing. Here’s this man who they knew from childhood proclaiming to be the fulfillment of this prophecy from Isaiah. The gospel goes on to say that they were amazed at the words that came from Jesus. As we know, eventually they have a problem accepting Him as the long-awaited Messiah and proceed to have him crucified.

Our scripture readings for today are teaching us two things: to always love God and neighbor with our whole being, and we are to accept Jesus Christ as our savior and keep his commandments in our daily lives. Jesus is always to be at the center of how we live our lives.

As we live out our faith daily, let us pray not only for ourselves that we may remain faithful to our love of God and his commandments, but let us pray for those people who reject God for whatever reason that they may come into relationship with God and to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever!