Love One Another

I wanted to post on Sunday about Monsignor's homily at Mass, but there's really no way of being able to put his message in to words half as eloquently as he did. If I could just post it here, I would! I've needed the past 2 days to think and reflect and let the message sink in. I will try to convey it here, because it is too good to not pass on...

This past weekend's homily revolved around John 13:34-35 "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." It has been my belief my entire life that this is the core principle that mankind should live by. Not just Catholics or all Christians, all of mankind.

Looking at these 2 short verses, it is easy to say "Yeah, yeah, if we love each other and respect each other, the world would be a better place." This is true. But there is so much more to it that just that. The very core of this is that we are imperfect. God knows this. But he loves us perfectly, despite our imperfections. Because God loves us in this way, we are free to love ourselves for who we are. We are human; we makes mistakes, we do things we are not proud of, and we feel guilt and shame. We hurt each other, and we hurt ourselves. But because God loves us so perfectly, we are called to love ourselves in spite of our shortcomings.

Before we can love one another as God loves us, we must first love ourselves. This is not selfish. How can you extend God's love to another person if you do not first love and respect yourself? Your love for another will not be a perfect reflection of God's love for you until you accept that you are not perfect, and love yourself anyways. Improve upon yourself. Strive to be a better person, a better daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend, coworker, aunt, all of these things. Once you know what it is to love and accept yourself, you won't help but be able to look upon your friends and loved ones with the love that God has for us. That is seeing someone else's imperfection, and loving them anyways.

I have been striving to be better. I think we all should. It's too easy to dwell on the past and on times and relationships gone wrong. I look forward, with clarity, knowing that my wrongdoings have made me the person I am today, and that I can always be better, to love myself and therefore love others better.

What a gift.