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Jesus commands us not only to love one another but to love as He has loved us! That means that we are to lay down our lives for our friends (Jn 15:13) and even for our enemies (Rm 5:8, 10). In this way, we will be recognizable as Jesus' disciples, because no one except Jesus loves his enemies by dying for them (Lk 5:27ff). How are we, with all our selfishness, to love so divinely? The Holy Spirit will purify us by obedience to the truth (1 Pt 1:22) so as to produce the fruit of love in our lives (Gal 5:22). The Holy Spirit will cry out in our hearts, "Abba" (Gal 4:6; Rm 8:15). We will know that we are loved perfectly by our Father. Then we will be able to love in an amazing way, for we "love because He first loved us" (1 Jn 4:19). One week from today, we begin the annual Pentecost novena. As the Christian community throughout the world prays during these nine days, the Holy Spirit changes our "culture of death" into a "civilization of love." Come, Holy Spirit of love! |