Dear brothers and sisters,

Imagine if God came to earth and told us: “Listen carefully. I’m going to tell you exactly what will fulfill you as a human person. I’m going to tell you exactly what I’m hoping for from you.” Would we listen? I think so. In today’s Gospel Jesus just did exactly that. First He tells us that His suffering, death, and resurrection will be His glory. In Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection we see that He held nothing back from us. It was the perfect act of love from our High Priest. In the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, He brought us back to God. It made it possible for us to receive God’s love and to love Him in return, in a new way. It is in our very nature that we need to be loved and to love. Christ tells us, As I have loved you, so you should also love one another.”

How does Jesus love us? To the end. He loves us to the point of laying down His life for us. And because of His power in us, we can love others in the same way. Finally, Jesus tells us that love is the Christian’s vocation. He says “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” How does our love become practical? Our love becomes practical by doing the little things with extraordinary love. St. Teresa of Avila said that the devil wants to get us to focus on the past and on the future, and forget about the present. But the present is the only time we can really love. It’s vital to form the habit of asking the Holy Spirit to show us where He’s asking us to love right now. I’d like to propose one specific way that can help us to do one ordinary thing with extraordinary love. Prayer has a unique power. It may seem ordinary, but when we pray with love, its effectiveness is extraordinary. So this week, set aside 15 minutes to pray for someone else.

Peace,

Fr. Mike