We are called to love like Jesus loved: with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Fr. Joseph Dickan, SJ, says this love must impact all our daily choices. Based on the readings from the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time.
As the singer Maggie Rogers put it, “Love is … always a reason to risk it all.”
Hi, I’m Father Joseph Dickan, and this is my one-minute homily.
Sometimes we focus on love primarily as an emotion: I feel love for you.
But St. Ignatius of Loyola tells us that love should appear above all in our actions.
In the Spiritual Exercises, he envisions God as one who loves us by working for our good, pouring out his heart, mind, and strength in our lives. And Ignatius invites us to pray for the grace of loving as God loves.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that sharing God’s love means giving our whole selves in our everyday choices.
As we remember God’s love for us, we can return that gift with all our strength by working in love for the people that God loves. We can let our experience of God’s love shape how we use our hearts and our strength for others.
Let’s remember what we’ve received, so that we can share our hearts as God does.
