Think of someone whom you deeply love. If this person received a promotion at the workplace, will you be filled with joy or will you be envious? If this same person receives a substantial raise in salary, will you be joyful? Will you think that it is not fair because this other person is not good enough to receive a promotion or a raise in salary? Are you your beloved’s worst critic? Sad but sometimes true that husbands and wives are their own worst critics. For some, the love began, blossomed, withered and is now dying. This process produces doubt, cynicism, fear, distrust and skepticism. Where there is no real love, there is chaos. In the community of the first disciples, there was doubt in the mind of Peter about the unconditional love of God our Father.
True love is without condition. If you truly love your beloved, you will be joyful, when your beloved is doing well. In true love the other is far more important and you will want to sacrifice for your beloved. Our Father shows us this example by offering his only Son so that we might know what true love is.
Are you willing to lay down your life for the ones you love? Yes, we might be willing to give up our lives so that a loved one might live. Are you willing to be a living sacrifice for the ones that you love? Are you willing to be alive and yet, not do without one thing or another that you are dearly attached to? Are you willing to die many deaths rather than one death? Are you willing to die to your attachment to your position in life, your power in life, your pride and your will? If there is no joy in the sacrifice that you make, there is no real love. The joy comes from focusing on the one or ones you love and not the sacrifice or sacrifices that you make.
Questions for Reflection
Are there moments that you feel jealous or envy?
Do you know the cause of your jealousy or envy?
How have you dwelled in the love of God our Father?