It takes courage to glorify God and love each other. Eric Panicco, SJ, reflects on what it means to imitate Christ in seeing, knowing, and loving the people around us, especially the poor and forgotten. Based on the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
Glorifying God and loving one another take courage.
Hi, I’m Eric Panicco, and this is my one-minute reflection.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that when we love one another, we glorify God, and God glorifies us.
In today’s Psalm, we hear:
The LORD is gracious and merciful, compassionate and slow to anger.
How can we follow Jesus’ example in loving one another? How can we be gracious, merciful, compassionate, and slow to anger? What about talking to the person on the street who–if we’re being honest–we try not to make eye contact with? What’s their name? What about calling that relative who always gets on our nerves? What are they struggling with? What are they celebrating?
Loving another requires us to see and know that person, and that is not an easy task.
Following Jesus means courageous acts of love. It means looking for the little ways we can love one another. This is an important part of glorifying God. This week, let’s ask God for the grace of courage to love one another.