Page 926 … Love & Loved with all we’ve got
“Let us not forget that we are to love God with all of our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our spirits, just as we are also to love our neighbors as ourselves.”
YES, my dear Friend!!! This too is exactly what I have been saying this entire time – that we are to honor the perfect Love of Jesus’ heavenly Father (see Matthew 5:48) by first humbling ourselves (see Matthew 23:12), by then retracting our criticisms of the sins of others that cause no one else harm (see Matthew 7:1-2 & John 7:24), and finally by reaching out to those same sinners with acts of selfless service and gentle, non-judgmental Kindness (see Matthew 5:43-45 + Luke 10:29-37 + John 13:34-35) … Yes, it is tempting to succumb to the desire to feel piously superior in our own understanding of sin, and yet Jesus made it very clear that it is not our job to correct or condemn others. Instead, we are to be as the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and welcome our sinning brothers & sisters into our lives even before they have the chance to repent or otherwise ask for forgiveness!
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; and ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 15:11-20)
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