Loving Christ

I remember more than once my spiritual director saying that loving Christ isn't merely about this relationship between "Christ and me." It isn't about "me, me, me." A relationship built merely on God and me is not the relationship Jesus had in mind. When one looks throughout the gospels, one can't help but see that Jesus' message was always that of loving one another. He did not say "Love me." He did not say, "Form this special relationship with just me." This is not what He preached. The relationship has to go from man to Christ and from Christ to man. But, it must go further than this. The relationship must also go from man to man if we are to be obedient to what Jesus commanded us to do, "love one another as I have loved you." How sad if one were to miss the main message of all the gospels.

If we have love for God but not for one another, we have nothing. He even says this in the first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 13, when he expands upon love. If we ignore Jesus' command to love, then we ignore Jesus. Man was meant to love man, and to receive love from man. For in loving man, by Jesus' own words, we love Jesus Christ Himself. And if we do not love man, but, say that we love Christ, we make ourselves into liars.

God gives us opportunities every day to love Him when He places before us those who need our love. They may be our families, our friends, or the stranger on the street that needs a smile this very moment. Or it could be a friend who we have hurt emotionally. Let us see the face of Christ in each person with whom we come in contact and treat that person as if he were Christ Himself we were speaking to. Perhaps the words that escaped our mouths would be a lot kinder and more forgiving and loving.