Love Incarnate
I was talking to one of our seminarians who has just finished his pastoral exposure in a province. During the month-long exposure, he spent two weeks in a remote area working with the farmers. He planted rice with them, worked with them in the fields, helped them establish their cooperatives, and taught catechism to their children in the evenings. But being so far from the poblacion and the chapel, he was not able to attend Mass for two weeks. “So how’s that? You didn’t have Mass for two weeks!” I asked him. “Yes, Father, but I think it’s OK. I spent the time loving instead,” he answered in jest. He may have said it jokingly, but I think he really meant it.
Come to think of it, isn’t love the most important commandment of Jesus? Today’s Gospel is a long discourse on love punctuated by the command, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Love is the greatest of all the prescriptions. It is more important than cult, worship and liturgy. Love is the heart of the Christian life without which all our worship are rendered empty. We may be deprived (not by our own fault) of the liturgy or of cultic worship but we can still be a Christian if we continue to love. Our seminarian was without Mass for two weeks but he was not without love. He was still a good Christian.
Yes, the Mass is the apex, the source and summit of the Christian life. But it is so only insofar as it is “enfleshed” by our concrete acts of loving. The Eucharist is a celebration of life. It should never be divorced from our concrete acts of loving.
When Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me,” He was not referring to a sentimental remembrance of Himself. The Lord is not lacking in attention. Rather, He invites every Christian to love as He loved. When a Christian loves, he celebrates the memory of Jesus. When a Christian loves, the celebration of the Eucharist becomes a real celebration of life.
Today, let us ask the Lord to make us better and real Christians. As we remember Jesus, let us ask Him to make us better lovers. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: How does the Mass empower you to heed the Christian admonition to love?
In the Eucharist, we encounter You, Love Incarnate. May we incarnate Your love to others, too, when they encounter us.
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