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A beautiful aspect of creation is the congruence of spiritual law and natural law. It is as though God uses the the created world to deepen our understanding of the spiritual order. And so it is with love, as Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel.
Jesus says we are to abide in his love, as he abides in the love of the Father, and that in order to do so, we must love others. As with forgiveness or mercy or grace, we will only receive in the measure we extend these gifts to others. As a cistern can only receive the flow of fresh water when there is an outlet from it, if we are to be immersed in the stream of God’s love, then love must flow through us freely to the people around us.
Jesus tells us an abundant outpouring of God’s love is available to us, his friends, and yet so many of us don’t experience the blessing or the fruit of that in full measure. The Gospel today would point us to the outlet valve as the first place to look for a remedy to this.
Fear, pride, hurt, criticisms, selfishness are impediments to love. Let us pray for the grace of humility, that we might see one another through the eyes of Christ and serve freely in love.