The Love of Christ

Uncomfortable situations are just that . . . uncomfortable. We have two choices when confronted with unforeseeable encounters. We can either get mad at the person setting up the predicament (whether on purpose or not) or welcome the unexpected party with the love of Christ. As a lay apostle, I know the right thing to do is love . . . always. In the past, this would put me on edge, wondering what was behind the set up. Now, I look at it as a challenge and call to love in any given situation. Instead of asking myself "why," I ask myself "how." How can I show love and acceptance when others expect the opposite to occur? Actually, it's quite easy. Look past what's on the outside to the wounded little boy or girl on the inside (thanks, Anne, something you said and I always think about when challenged!). Judge the sin, not the sinner. Life is so much easier when you leave judgement up to Jesus and truly love your neighbor.

In todays Gospel (John 14:21-36), Jesus asks us to be open to His Love:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him,
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

In Anne a lay apostle's book Climbing the Mountain, she shares Christ doesn't view us the same as we view each other on earth:

"Clearly, the love of Christ is meant to be shared. After the experience of heaven, I can see that the Kingdom of God is made up of souls who love each other. If Christ is in each one of us, and this is of course what we believe as Christians, then we must venerate Christ in every soul. How do we do that? We do that with respect and gentleness. Some might say, 'Yes, this may be true but I see souls in error, in mortal sin, living far outside of the heavenly Kingdom.' Well, dear fellow apostles, this is when the call to treat them as Christ is at its most profound. If Christ has indeed been driven out of a soul, through serious sin and a spirit of rebellion in that sin, then the call to illustrate our unity with Christ is compelling. How does Christ treat that soul? How does Christ view that soul? I will tell you. Christ does not glance at a soul and see the sin, although He is acutely aware of the sin. Christ glances at a soul and sees the wound that both caused the sin and was worsened by the sin. So in order for the Kingdom to come, and it must and it will, we must treat each other as Christ would. Sometimes a soul living outside of the Kingdom is bitter. This bitterness is like a sore. When a soul in bitterness views Christ in us, it can be like salt in the wound or sore because our unity with Christ highlights his isolation from Him. This is good. The soul then comes closer to an understanding of what it lacks. Our experience of this may not be pleasant. It may be necessarily painful because in its pain his soul may strike out at us. This can be understood as an almost instinctual lashing out or crying out in the distress of his disconnectedness from Christ. We must accept these strikes as beneficial penance and part of standing with Christ as a companion on the Way of the Cross."

Lay apostles, has someone put you in an awkward position, one you would not knowingly put yourself? If yes, look at it as a way to practice loving others as Christ loves us. None of us are perfect. Jay has a great saying "hurt people hurt others." Let's choose to not perpetuate the hurt. If we are open to the love of Christ, we can be the soothing balm instead of the jagged knife.

Thank you, Lord, for the love You shower over me, a constant reminder I should be doing the same for others. I am so blessed You run my life now instead of me trying to take control! 

God bless,

Bonnie