Today's Gospel

What is Love?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, a daily exploration of the Gospel. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 5:43-48. You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for He makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

What is it that jumps out at you today? This is a good one for the kids. They're always like, "Dad, does Jesus really expect us to love everyone?" And I think one of the lessons here is what do words mean. It's easy to assume that words mean something, and it's easy to assume that words mean the same things to all people. And of course, that isn't the case. And so when the kids say, "Dad, does Jesus really expect us to love everybody?" you ask the question, "Well, what does that look like? If you loved somebody that you think would be hard to love, what does that look like?" And then when the kids start talking, what do they talk about? They talk about a friendship. They talk about an affection. And that isn't what Jesus is talking about. Then I say to the kids, "Let me ask you, can you love somebody even if you don't like them?" Of course, then they're looking at me. "No, Dad, you can't love somebody. If you don't like somebody, you can't love them." "Well, why not?" "Well, because like comes before love, and love is more than like." And of course, again, what's happened is we're misinterpreting Jesus.

Fathers of the church have taught us love is to will the good of the other. It's to want good things for the other person. And they're not a new car and a new house. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But more than that, it's to want heaven for them. It's to want them to know God. It's to want them to know real friendship. It's to want them to have a great marriage. It's to want them to have powerful relationships with their children. It's to want them to have a great career, to will the good of the other. And that's love and you don't need to like a person to will their good. You don't need to like a person to pray that they get closer to God. You don't need to like a person to hope that they get to heaven one day. And so when we start to talk about things, we need to be clear what the words mean, not what the culture says they mean. Culture says love's a feeling. Well, if you take that definition and now you've got to love everybody, well, no, you're not going to feel love towards everybody. And so what the words mean really, really matters. And so sometimes we get into these things and we think, well, I could never do that. But what we think we could never do isn't actually what Jesus is asking us to do, inviting us to do, calling us to do. And today, he's calling us to love our enemies. Doesn't mean we have to have warm feelings towards them. It means we're called to will the good of our enemies. It's to want good for them. And that highest good is to want God for them. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

I was at dinner many years ago, was about to speak in a parish, and there were a bunch of people at the dinner, and I heard out of sort of just peripheral, a priest say at the head of the table, "You can become a saint just by governing your speech." And it was just so convincing. It was so compelling. I have wanted to write this book for at least 20 years. And it's The Forgotten Way: The St. James Master Plan. The Forgotten Way: The St. James Master Plan. If you haven't got a copy, encourage you to pick a copy up. I think probably it might be the most challenging thing I've ever written. The promise of this book is very simple; you can transform your life by changing the way you speak. The Forgotten Way: The St. James Master Plan. Hope you pick up a copy today. God bless you and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.