Lying Versus Loving

Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. (1 John 4:19-5:4)

The first part of this reading is one of the most powerful in the New Testament.  We Catholic God-lovers should take it to heart.  We say we love God, but perhaps we simply fear God and pretend love.   After all, loving that which we cannot see is difficult especially when all around us we see tragedy and for so many people, hopelessness.  Where is the God we are supposed to love?  AWOL for so many it would seem.

Hate is a strong emotion very well captured by Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse in his 2018 book “THEM: Why We Hate Each Other – and How to Heal.”  He said, “We are in a period of unprecedented upheaval.   Community is collapsing, anxiety is building, and we ‘re distracting ourselves with artificial political hatreds.  That can’t endure – and if it does, America won’t.”  Prophetic words.  

He also said, “…As we’ve seen, cultural fragmentation, technological developments, and economic upheaval have undermined the feeling of togetherness that Americans shared just a few short decades ago…As natural, healthy tribes – family, friends, workplace, and neighborhood – have crumbled, we’ve turned to anti-tribes: an us-versus-them politics and a rage-fueled media complex that exploits our divisions for clicks.  

Reclaiming the American idea against all this means returning to the beginning: to our basic commitment to the inexhaustible, inviolable dignity of every person, and to our recognition that an effective and enduring politics can only be built atop this fundamental conviction.”

Senator Sasse’s perspective is a good reminder that we God-lovers must not hate our brothers and sisters and then be liars.  As stated by John in his first letter, “The victory that conquers the world is our faith.”  So, let us be true to that faith and love.  Let’s keep God’s commandments.

Deacon David Pierce