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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250522
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CREATED:20250519T132425Z
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UID:13444-1747872000-1747958399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:LOVE ONE ANOTHER \nFrom a homily by St Gregory the Great \n◊◊◊ \nSince all of our Lord’s sacred utterances contain commandments\, why \ndoes he say about love as if it were a special commandment: This is my \ncommandment\, that you love one another? It is because every commandment \nis about love\, and they all add up to one commandment because whatever is \ncommanded is founded on love alone. As a tree’s many branches come from one \nroot\, so do many virtues come forth from love alone. The branch which is our \ngood works has no sap unless it remains attached to the root of love. Our Lord’s \ncommandments are then both many and one: many through the variety of the \nworks\, one in their root which is love. He himself instructs us to love our friends \nin him\, and our enemies for his sake. That person truly possesses love who loves \nhis friend in God and his enemy for God’s sake. \nThere are some people who love their neighbors\, drawn by blood \nrelationship or by natural affection\, and Scripture does not oppose this kind of \nlove. But what we give freely and naturally is one thing\, and the obedience we \nowe to the Lord’s commandments out of love is another. Those I’ve mentioned \nindisputably love their neighbors\, yet they don’t attain love’s sublime rewards \nsince their love does not come from spiritual but from natural motives. \nTherefore when the Lord said: This is my commandment\, that you love one \nanother\, he added immediately: Just as I have loved you\, meaning\, ‘You must \nlove for the same reason that I have loved you.’ \nDearly beloved\, we must consider this carefully. When our ancient enemy \ndraws our hearts to delight in temporal things\, he is stirring up a weaker \nneighbor against us. This neighbor may be plotting to take away the very things \nwe love. In doing this our ancient enemy is not concerned to do away with our \nearthly possessions; he wants to destroy our lives. Suddenly we are set on fire \nwith hatred\, and while we desire to be outwardly unconquerable\, inwardly we \nare gravely wounded. When we defend our small outer possession\, we lose our \ngreat inner one\, since when we love something temporal we lose our true love. \nEveryone who takes away our possessions is an enemy. But if we begin to hate \nour enemy\, our loss is of something internal. When then we suffer something \nexternal from a neighbor\, we must be on our guard against a hidden ravager \nwithin. This one is never better overcome then when we love the one who \nravages us from without. The unique\, the highest proof of love is this\, to love the \nperson who is against us. This is why Truth himself bore the suffering of the \ncross and yet bestowed his love on his persecutors\, saying: Father\, forgive them \nfor they know not what they do. \nWhy should we wonder that his living disciples loved their enemies\, when \ntheir dying master loved his. He expressed the depth of his love when he said: \nNo one has greater love than this\, than that he lay down his life for his friends. \nThe Lord had come to die even for his enemies\, and yet he said he would lay \ndown his life for his friends to show us that when we are able to win over our \nenemies by loving them even our persecutors are our friends. \nBut no one is persecuting us to the point of death. How then can we prove \nthat we love our friends?… John the Baptist says: Let him who has two tunics \ngive to him who has none. Will a person\, then\, who will not give up his tunic for \nthe sake of God during quiet times give up his life during a persecution? \nCultivate the virtue of love in tranquil times by showing mercy\, then\, so that it \nwill be unconquerable in times of disorder. Learn first to give up your \npossession for almighty God\, and then yourself.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-313/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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