Jesus Invites Us to Love More
Jesus always invites us to love more. He calls us to love him above every human relationship, bringing right order to our family life. He asks us to love him more than our personal comfort by carrying our cross. Finally, he invites us to love him by serving and loving our neighbor.
Supremacy of Charity
We love our family with a right order when we recognize that God is more important than any human relationship.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (Mt. 10:37).
We are called to love others radically by giving our lives generously. We can perform outwardly good actions for the wrong reasons. We may seek recognition, approval, or a sense of moral superiority. Charity purifies our motives and directs our actions toward genuine love of God and neighbor. Pope Francis reflected on the virtue of charity as the virtue that makes sure that other moral virtues develop correctly. They are always supposed to foster openness and union with others.
That is made possible by the charity that God infuses. Without charity, we may perhaps possess only apparent virtues, incapable of sustaining life in common. Thus, Saint Thomas Aquinas could say – quoting Saint Augustine – that the temperance of a greedy person is in no way virtuous (Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, 91).
Charity places God first. When God is first, every other relationship finds its proper place. This is why Jesus can say that whoever loves father or mother more than him is not worthy of him.
Right Order in Family Relations
It would be a mistake to assume that Jesus wants to cause division in families. Even when he uses such language in other passages, he is warning rather about making our earthly relationships into idols that draw us away from God and what is most important. We are called to treat our family members with love and respect, but this can never be an excuse to abandon the things of God.
I remember hearing a conversation once about whether it is better to go to family brunch or to Sunday Mass. This is a false dichotomy. Hopefully, we can find ways to spend quality time with our family, and ideally that would include time spent praying together, especially at Mass. I know that sometimes it can be challenging and we have to sometimes meet people where they are, while at the same time giving witness to our priorities in life.
Carrying the Cross
Putting God first inevitably involves sacrifice. Jesus never promised it would be easy. In fact, we might even consider him a terrible salesman. Following Christ means doing things we don’t want to do, for Someone we have never seen, in expectation of a reward we cannot yet see. Yet those who have trusted him for two thousand years testify that this unseen Christ is more real than many of the things they can touch, and that his promised reward is worth every sacrifice.
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt. 10:39).
Serving and Loving Our Neighbor
Pope Benedict XVI framed his teaching on social doctrine in the context of the Christian virtue of charity.
The originality of his contribution lies in showing that development, justice, institutions and the market are not neutral realities, but spaces where charity in truth must find historical expression (Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, 41).
Social structures matter, but Christianity never allows us to outsource charity to institutions. We live in a society that assumes the necessity of various social institutions and expects them to solve the ills of society. While this may be a valid use of resources, it can never exonerate us of the duty that we have towards the poor and suffering.
Once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest that one owns belongs to the poor (Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 22).
He is introducing the theme from Catholic Social Doctrine called the universal destination of goods. It is not a denial of private property. Rather, it is a reminder that God created the goods of the earth for the benefit of all, and therefore we have a responsibility to use them wisely and generously.
Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward (Mt. 10:42).
Jesus invites us to love more. It is not, however, just a demand on us. Rather, it is an invitation to imitate him. He placed obedience to his Father above every earthly attachment. He carried his cross until the end. He served others, giving them even living water. Jesus invites us to love as he loved: to place God first, to carry the cross faithfully, and to serve those entrusted to us. The question is not whether we admire his love, but whether we will imitate it.