Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 21, 2006:

“Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” In the Italian language, the expression amore divino can be understood in two ways. It could be understood as the “love of God” (amore divino) or as the “love of wine” (amore di vino). Sometimes when Italians want to to tease someone who has just fallen in love, they will ask, “Is it a question of love of God or of love of wine?” Of course, by love of God they mean genuine, unconditional love and by love of wine they mean love that is driven by pleasure-seeking and self-interest.

In today’s second reading from John’s First Letter, John paints for us a picture of God’s love, which is really just another name for true love. John’s teaching on love can be summarized under three headings: why love? what is love? and how does one love?

The passage begins with an exhortation to love. “Beloved, let us love one another.” John addresses his readers as “beloved.” This shows that already there is love in the community. What John is actually asking of them is to continue loving one another. This message is one that we all need to hear. If we love one another, then we should continue loving one another even more. And if we do not as yet love one another, then it is time to start doing so. Are we a community of believers who truly loves one another?

From here John goes on to give his readers reasons why they must love one another. They must love one another “because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” In this brief explanation, John gives two reasons, a positive one and a negative one. Positively, he says that love is from God, it finds its origin, its starting point in God. Living a life of love, therefore, is the way to be sure that we know God and that we are children of God. On the flip side, he argues that not having love for others simply means that one does not know God. John’s message is simple: If we have love in our lives, we have God in our lives; and if we do not have love in our lives, we cannot possibly have God either. This is because God is love and love is God. God and love are two different words that mean the same thing. You cannot separate one from the other.

John is addressing people who believe they know God, people for whom it is important to love God, people who are focused on loving God so much so that they sometimes neglect loving their fellow human beings. John is telling that anyone who claims to be a spiritual person or devout lover of God but does not focus equally on the practicality of loving his of her brothers and sisters is living a lie. For example, we cannot claim to love God and have no care for the hungry, the homeless, the poor, the needy, the sick, and so on. To love God is to love them – all of them; in fact, especially those who are often difficult to love. To grow in our knowledge and love of God, we must endeavor to grow in our knowledge and love of our fellow human beings, our brothers and sisters.

At this point John’s hearers are beginning to wonder what on earth John means by God’s love, and how God’s love differs from natural human love. So John tells them. He tells them by giving them a practical example of God’s love. “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” Unlike much of human love, which is driven by self-interest, God is moved to love us not because He, God, needed something but because we needed something which He, God, can give.

Human love usually starts with the question, “What is in it for me?” But, the love that is from God begins with the question, “How can I be of help?” Regular human love comes because we want to receive something, be it something as intangible as simply feeling good in the other’s company. God’s love isn’t so much about receiving as it is about giving. That is why God’s gift of His only Son on the Cross becomes a climactic sign of the way God loves us and the paradigm for the we should learn to love one another.

This last point on the difference between how God loves and how humans love is so important for John that he goes on and adds one final statement on the nature of true love. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” God loves unconditionally. Humans often love by quid pro quo (something for something). For John true love is found not in the way humans usually love but in the way God loves.

We often tend to see love as one command among so many. Today John teaches us that love is not one out of so many commandments, it is, in fact, the only commandment; it is the source and motivation for all the other commandments.

Moreover, love is not just a commandment of God, love is God Himself. May God, our loving Father, who is love itself; love incarnate, help us to purify our love for Him and for one another, so that we can love as generously and as unconditionally as He, loves us.

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God.”

May God give you His love and His peace.