The demands of love
Homily of March 10, 2021
“To understand this Gospel, we could consider two ways of living our Christian faith. We could live it a bit like the Pharisees or good citizens in France and Europe. If I fulfill my civic duties, pay my taxes, vote in elections, and don't commit crimes, I am a good citizen.
The Christian version of this “good citizen” would be to go to Mass on Sunday, but with God ultimately quite distant from us. By thinking only in terms of obligations so as not to make mistakes. But that is not what God invites us to do. When he describes our vocation and our union with him, he wants us to love him as two spouses love each other. Through this image, we understand the meaning of the commandments.
It's not a list of “you have to do this and that…” but it shows us more that if you want to be truly happy, there are certain things that are incompatible. These are not obligations, but demands of love.
God invites us to be happy like him, to love like him. In the end, for those who love, as Saint Augustine says, ("Love and do what you want", as for parents who love children, there is no need for a commandment: the concrete implications of love are not constraints, but evidences.
If one seeks to have this union with the Lord, then one tries to live all the commandments. We don't look at them one after the other but we do them naturally, on our own.
Let us ask particularly today for this grace not to look at God as an authority but as a father or a spouse who loves us and who wishes to give us everything. To welcome this love, we also want to give ourselves. It also allows us to live Lent and these times of confession in a good way, asking ourselves how to love our God even more.
In love, all the little things count, and it is important to pay attention to these little elements in our relationship with the Lord, to make it even purer.”
