The Love of Our Neighbour
1. The Gospel not only commands us to love God above all things, but
also to love our neighbour as ourselves. (Cf. Mt. 13:35-40) The
Christian love of our neighbour flows necessarily from the love of God.
Our Creator loves all men as His own sons. Therefore we ought to love
one another as brothers, even as Our Lord loves us. We should see in our
neighbour, especially if he is in need, the person of Christ himself, our elder brother, “the first-born among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:29)
If men sincerely loved one another, not merely as brothers, but as much
as they love themselves, what problems would be solved! Who can say how
many evils would be abated and how many sorrows would be assuaged? To
transform the world it would be enough to put into practice the first
great commandment of the Gospel, which is the commandment of charity.
Admittedly, the world would not become an earthly paradise, for any such
Utopia is an impossibility. But it would become a dignified dwelling
place of brothers loving and helping one another. “Love is the
fulfilment of the Law,” (Rom. 13:10) St. Paul very truly says. “Have
charity, which is the bond of perfection.” (Col. 3:14)
2. But
who really loves his neighbour as if he were himself? Only the Saints.
Jesus loved us not only as much as He loved Himself, but much more than
this, because He gave His life and His own precious blood for our
salvation. The Saints, who lived the life of Christ and followed His
example, saw Jesus in all their fellowmen. Therefore they loved them as
themselves and even more than themselves. One could cite thousands of
instances of heroic charity in the lives of the Saints. The example of
St. Paul will suffice, however. He said that his life was so much the
life of Christ that it was not he himself who was living any longer, but
Christ in him. But he also claimed to be continually driven by charity,
so far as to desire even separation from Christ if that would save or
help his brothers. (Rom. 9:3) Do we possess this sincere and active love
of our neighbour? Let us examine ourselves in this regard. Let us
remember that if we are lacking in this charity towards our brothers in
Jesus, we are not genuine Christians.
3. A few hundred yards
from the centre of a big city one often finds groups of hovels in which
large numbers of families are living, herded together in poverty. There
in the winter time these poor people suffer from the cold and damp.
Often their homes are badly roofed and they have not even a loaf of
bread to kill the pangs of hunger. Not very far away there are luxurious
mansions and expensive villas... and up and down the streets drift
splendidly upholstered cars, carrying men and women for whom the only
thing in life that matters is pleasure.
"Love your neighbour as
yourself," the Gospel says. How far we still are from the realisation
of this command. Men would need to go to these poor hovels to do the
Spiritual Exercises. They would need to live in these places for at
least a month. Many ideas would be changed and many hearts transformed
if this were done. The slums, cabins, caves, and other hovels in which
men have to live, bear sad testimony to the fact that the Gospel has not
yet been understood by man, and that Christian charity has still a long
way to go. Consider before God if you are responsible, even in some
small way, for this wretched state of affairs. Form the resolution of
contributing as far as possible to the relief of so much want and
suffering.
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