In my home, we have what we call the Wall of the Dead, where my wife and I display pictures of family members and friends who have died. As the years go by, the area keeps getting larger. But though we remember and pray for relatives who have passed, the sad reality is that in life we sometimes found it challenging to interact with some of them. Needless to say, all families experience such strife.
But what of the command of Jesus to love one another as he loves us? Did we love all our deceased loved ones with such a profound sense of love while they were still alive? Unfortunately, most of the time, we did not. I would love to go back in time and show all those relatives the true love with which we are supposed to love them, but of course that is not possible. But I believe that if we are so blessed as to be admitted into Heaven, there we will love one another as Christ loves us.
All those things that divided us in this life will have fallen away. We will be cleansed of our sins and sinful inclinations. We will be healed of the many kinds of hurt that we had caused each other and those memories will no longer weigh upon us. Barriers of language, personality, psychology, culture -- all these will be transcended too. We will see each other as God sees us.
Each of us will be completely filled with the love of God. Each of us will love all others with the infinite love of God that will shine out through us. Love will fill and rule everyone and everything in Heaven.
That is indeed a beautiful state to look forward to. But what about before then? How do we love others as Christ loves us while we are still upon this earth?
Theologians have often said that God's love is so great that he would have created the entire world for any one of us alone. If there is someone we find hard to love, we should remember that God would have undertaken creating the world just to share his love with that person. Does the way we think of others reflect such depth of love? Do we think of each life as infinitely loved by God or do we see others as disposable? Do we treat the elderly, the disabled, the vulnerable, the unborn as precious children of God, whom he loves infinitely? Do we think of our ideological opponents as beloved children of God? Or do we think of some people as disposable, unnecessary, or even undesirable to exist?
Another aspect of the love of Christ is service. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says at the Last Supper: "I am among you as the one who serves" (Luke 22:27). We see that in the Gospels, Jesus spends much of his time serving others and telling us to do the same. With one exception, all of his miracles involve helping someone in need. Are we willing to follow suit? Are we willing to serve others? We cannot speak of loving as Christ has loved us unless we are willing to serve the people in our lives.
Christ also told us to return good for evil and love for hatred. When people hurt us, cause us harm, act in evil ways toward us, we are to respond with love. We are to respond by doing good to them. We are to pray for them, invoking the blessings of the Holy Spirit upon them. That is the way of Christ's love.
Christ also showed us the way of self-sacrifice. Christ is God himself, who became one of us, taking on our human nature, without losing anything of his divinity. He did so primarily in order to atone for our sins. He offered himself as a sacrifice in order to take upon himself the punishment humanity would have deserved. If we are to love like Christ has loved us, how much of a sacrifice are we willing to make for each other? Are we willing to be shamed, arrested, and tortured for one another? Are willing to die for each other, either literally or through innumerable acts of self-denial offered for one another?
Our Catholic spiritual tradition has always held that suffering has spiritual value and that we can offer the spiritual value of our suffering for others. Such spiritual gifts will bring blessings into their lives.
Christ himself showed the primary example. He died a cruel death upon the Cross for our sins. He then offered the spiritual value of his suffering for all of humanity, thereby gaining for us the ultimate blessing - salvation from sin, purification, and eternal life in his infinite love.
We too should offer up the spiritual value of our suffering for others, especially for those who have hurt us. When someone causes us suffering, we should say: "Lord God, I offer the spiritual value of this suffering for all those who have caused me to suffer. May they experience your love as a result." When we can say such a prayer, we truly love with the love of Christ.
Another aspect of Christ's love is speaking the truth. Christ proclaimed the truth of the Gospel while he was upon the earth and he continues to proclaim the truth through the teaching of the Catholic Church, which he established. In our culture today, people often assume that to love someone, we should affirm them in all that they say and do.
But Christ did not act in such a manner. Christ did not mince his words when he encountered wrong-doing. He spoke the truth to those who lived in error. Why did he do so? He did so because living according to the truth leads us into the eternal, infinite love that awaits us. Not speaking the truth of the Gospel to others can cause them to keep living in ways that separate them from the love of God. Thus, to love someone truly, we need to speak the truth of the Gospel to them. Of course, we should do so with prudence, finding opportune ways to do so. But if we truly love them, we will speak the truth of Christ to them. Speaking for myself, I can only wish that at times in my life when I was not following the right path, others would have spoken the truth of the Gospel to me.
Our new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, started his reign by talking about how essential the Gospel of Christ is for the world. Therefore, let us listen to our Lord and to our new pope and proclaim the Good News of Christ to all those in our lives. We will then show them Christ's love.
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The readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle C, are:
Acts 14:21-27
Psalm 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-33a, 34-35
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: The Krucsay Altar at the Minorita Templom in Nyírbátor, Hungary, depicting the suffering of Christ by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2025