杏MAP导航 at Mass: 鈥榟e who says he loves God but does not love his brother is a liar'
By Linda Bordoni
杏MAP导航 Francis reflected on the liturgical reading of the day, taken from the First Letter of St. John the Apostle, which focusses on the topic of love.
The apostle, the 杏MAP导航 said, understood what love is, experienced it, and as he entered into the heart of Jesus, he understood how it manifested itself. In his Letter, he continued, he tells us how we love and how we have been loved.
God loved us first
First of all, the 杏MAP导航 explained, is the fact that 鈥淲e love God because He loved us first.鈥�
Love, he continued, stems from Him: 鈥淚 begin to love, or I can begin to love because I know that He loved me first". And, he added, 鈥淚f He had not loved us we certainly could not love.鈥�
鈥淚f a newborn child could speak, he would certainly express the fact that he feels loved by his parents. Parents love their child just as God loves us鈥e loved us first. And this gives birth to and increases our capacity to love,鈥� he said.
About loving and lying
The second thing the apostle says, the 杏MAP导航 continued, is that 鈥淚f one says, 'I love God' but hates his brother, he is a liar.鈥� John, he pointed out, does not describe such a person as 鈥榬ude鈥� or someone 鈥榳ho is wrong鈥�, he calls him a 鈥榣iar鈥�.
And he went on to analyse the word 鈥榣iar鈥� which, he said, is clearly defined in the Bible as 鈥渢he devil鈥檚 way of being, 鈥榯he Great Liar鈥�, as the New Testament tells us, 鈥榯he father of lies鈥�.
So, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渋f you say you love God but hate your brother, you are on the other side: you are a liar. There are no concessions to this.鈥�
Many, 杏MAP导航 Francis continued, find justifications for not loving: 鈥淪ome say 鈥業 don't hate, Father, but there are many people who hurt me, or people I can't accept because they are rude or crude.鈥�
He underscored the concrete nature of love indicated by John when he writes 鈥渨hoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.鈥�
鈥淚f you are not capable of loving people, from the closest to the furthest away, you cannot tell us that you love God: you are a liar,鈥� he said.
Getting involved
杏MAP导航 Francis then reflected on another aspect that can stop people from loving: their wish not 鈥渢o meddle鈥� in the lives of others. This too, he said is not good, because love 鈥渆xpresses itself by doing good.鈥�
True love, he explained, is expressed in everyday life, with its problems, its feelings of affection and dislike.
Remember, the 杏MAP导航 said quoting from Saint Albert Hurtado, 鈥業t is good not to do evil, but it is bad not to do good鈥�, true love, he said 鈥渕ust lead you to do good (...), to dirty your hands in works of love.鈥�
Through faith we can conquer the world
It is not easy, 杏MAP导航 Francis admitted concluding his homily, but through faith there is the possibility of prevailing over a mentality 鈥渢hat prevents us from loving鈥�.
The path of faith he said is a path that is not undertaken by those who are indifferent, who wash their hands of problems, who do not want to meddle in order to help, who say they love God but do not love their neighbor.
鈥淢ay the Lord teach us these truths: the knowledge of having been loved first and the courage to love our brothers.鈥�
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