Be a Window!

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Today’s verse is the necessary corrective to almost every enthusiasm that comes down the pike.  Depending on which Christian you talk to, you can get the impression that any one of a hundred things is the key to recognizing the disciple of Jesus.  And so, some Christians can give you the feeling that Paul really wrote, “Now abide these three: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is tongues.”  For “tongues” we can (depending on the sort of Christian we’re talking to) replace words like “faith”, “social justice”, “the Latin mass”, “gender sensitivity” or “a complete collection of Scott Hahn tapes”.  Now, all of the above have a place somewhere in the Christian life to some degree or other (though I think “Mark Shea tapes” would be better for that last item).  But none of them are the defining mark of a true disciple.  That defining mark is love, nothing more and nothing less.  And not just any love.  Not the love of a boy for his dog, nor the love of a student for theology, nor the love of Romeo and Juliet.  Only one love fills the titanic dimensions described by Jesus: the love he displayed for us by his passion, death, and resurrection.  It is to this self-sacrificial love that we are called, and it is through this love incarnate in our lives that the world will see him as clear as daylight through a window.  Be that window.

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Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is The Work of Mercy (Servant) and The Heart of Catholic Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog and regularly blogs for National Catholic Register. He lives in Washington state with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

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