St John 15: 12-17
“This is my commandment, love one another as I have loved you”. Jesus commands that we love like him, his model of love goes beyond what we see in movies, read in poems because he takes us as Christians to a far greater depth of love. He shows us precisely what authentic love us with his next few words. “No greater love a man can have than to lay down his life for his friends”. Jesus lays down his life, lays down in love on the cross. Jesus literally spells out on the cross, what kind of love is also required of us.
The cross is our model. We cannot mimic it, we cannot pretend it, there are no ulterior motives behind it. It is love without condition, it is love without reservation, it is love without selfish calculation, it is love without counting the cost. With true love we die to ourselves, to the false ego, to that part in us that is self- promoting, self- absorbing and self- serving.
The cross therefore becomes the standard to which we are called to love but also the means to achieve and reach that possibility. Through the grace that flows from contemplating and meditating regularly on the cross, we can unite ourselves more closely to the mission of the world’s salvation.
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