By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
During this election season, we should all reflect on Jesus’ command to us as stated in today’s Gospel (John 13: 31-33, 34-35):
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus uttered these words to His disciples during the Last Supper. Love is a gift that we receive freely from God. It is also a commandment. 1 Corinthians 14:1 tells us that we must “pursue love”. It can be said that if we love God and love each other, then we will have no difficulty following the other commandments.
Jesus loved us so much that he laid down his life for us. That is the kind of love that He wishes us to have for each other. How many times have you sung the hymn, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord…And we pray that our unity will one day be restored/ And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love /Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love/We will work with each other, we will work side by side/And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride/And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love…”
How do we live this “love”? As Rev George Antonakos said, “we cannot love each other the way that Jesus loves us, unless He lives inside of us.” Unless we have a personal relationship with God, we will not really know how to love; how to be the leaven in the dough; how to “use” love as an agent of change to build the civilisation of love. It is only when God’s love lives in us that we have the courage to stand up for the dignity of our brothers and sisters who struggle to find a place at the table of life.
It is only when God’s love lives in us that we can build the common good and achieve CCSJ’s mission is to be “a fearless and unified voice to eradicate social injustice in Trinidad & Tobago and in the world, a voice infused with Gospel values that will awaken the social conscience of all citizens and create an empowered population so that all can be active participants in bringing about the Kingdom of God here on earth.”
I urge you to re-visit Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, God is Love. Read what he says about Agape love; self-giving love. The Holy Father states: “I cannot belong to Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all…We become ‘one body,’ completely joined in a single existence… Love of God and love of neighbour have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God” (Nos. 13-15).
Amidst all the mudslinging on the hustings during this election season, Christians should remember that we will only be true disciples of Jesus if we demonstrate our love for each other. Sadly, I believe that the “picong” is getting out of hand.
Let us prove Georges Bernanos wrong when he says: “The world expects so much from Christians and receives so little… Christians should be the salt, not the syrup of the earth… They don’t allow the holiness of saints to beam out over the world.”
The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us ask her to guide our steps; to teach us how to love one another as her Son, Jesus, loved us and as He wants us to love each other so that we can truly be the living stones. Let us pray for God’s grace not to “love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John. 3:16-18).
