“GOD is Love and love is God… The priest who presided over the TV Sunday mass we viewed last May 9, 2021, in his homily succinctly clarified that the love of God has three (3) characteristic namely 1) Sacrificial, 2) Eternal, and 3) unconditional. These are self-explanatory.” (Chito R. Gavino III, Journey to True Liberation, 2022)
If only men/women would love God and their neighbors…
If only husband and wife would love each other…
If only parents would love their children and children would love their parents…
If only people will know the right hierarchy of love… Our families, communities, countries and the whole world will be like heaven.
Why is it very hard for us to truly love God and one another? I think it is because “ the flesh is weak” and our immoderate pride and greed distort our mindset and behavior. Our evangelization miserably fails to lead us to our liberation. Sad to say, a great majority of us Christian Filipinos are not really Christ-like. The truth of the matter, is that most of us remain pagans! As one pagan once said, “We may be pagans but we have true Christ – like hearts.
Lets revisit our Holy Bible”
“`Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?` Jesus said to him, `Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like, `Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.` On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22+36-40)
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:17)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or danger, or the sword”? (Romans 13:8)
“He who would love life, and see good days, lets him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good, let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears into their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (Peter 3:10-12)
In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandment, and his commandments are not burdensome (John 5:2-3)
Love is more of giving or sharing rather than receiving. It is given without expecting anything in return. However, beware of a distorted hierarchy of love. Example. Due to Filipinos` over-family centeredness to a fault, their extreme love of family oftentimes, runs counter to love of God and love of neighbor or country. On other occasions, we wittingly or unwittingly mistake lust as love. The three super values/virtues are love, faith, and hope in that correct order.
Since I`m now discussing the topic of love, I might as well talk again of the “Politics of Love” Pope Francis recently wrote about which our “Kilos sa Pederal Pagbabago (KPP) Movement is now advocating.
In Pope Francis 2020 book titled “Fratelli Tutti On Fraternity and Social Friendship”, he pointed out:
“What is needed is a politics which is far – sighted and capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach in handling the different aspects of the crisis. In other words, we urgently need healthy politics capable of reforming and coordinating institutions, promoting best practices and overcoming undue pressure and bureaucratic inertia. We cannot expect economics to do this, nor can we allow economics to take over the real power of the state.”
Sadly, our Philippine Catholic Church is deafeningly silent on this wonderful, better kind of politics to replace our destructive “Patronage Politics”. Hundreds of Catholic clergy in the last elections preferred to engage in “partisan politics” which promote divisiveness and going against the Church’s Social Principle of Solidarity and as advocates of “Politics of Love” in the Philippines. What’s going on? Where is the authentic Christian reflection or discernment regarding our God-given mission of brotherhood, transformation and liberation? Hopefully, this article will serve not only as a wake-up call for our Christian Filipinos and their churches, but also an urgent call for them to truly love.
