For Jesus, everything boils down to loving God and our neighbor. Love isn’t simply a feeling, it’s an act of freedom; it’s a decision to seek the good of the person we love—always, no matter what the cost. Love isn’t an obligation but we need it to live.
As St. John of the Cross says: “in short, for this purpose of love we were created.”
Silvio José Báez, O.C.D.
Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (excerpt)
25 October 2020, St. Agatha Church, Miami
The good Bishop shines again! I remember our then Parish Priest preaching that “love cannot be a feeling, as we only can actually feel love for a small circle, and we are called to love our enemies, so it is a decision, and an action”. (There is a rather jokey saying in Church circles in England, that “God commands us to love our neighbours and our enemies, largely because they are often the same people…”.)
There’s quite a bit of wisdom packed in that saying!