In this Gospel Jesus appeals to us to love one another.
What does he mean by love? To love another is to will his or her good. Love is the essence of every precept of the law; the law is fulfilled in love. One father writes more: "As all the boughs of a tree proceed from one root, so all the virtues are produced from one love." And good works take their life from remaining in love. Different words are used for love. In the first part of this passage, agape is used, which refers to love that does not count the cost but overflows in Christian charity. Later, the passage speaks of philios or brotherly love between friends.
How are we to love? We are to love as we have been loved first. This includes by the Church, by those members of Christ's body who have unselfishly given their lives for our happiness and destiny. Think back on your life. Who has shown you the love of Christ? For it is Christ who has loved us first, through them and through his own sacrifice on Calvary. Therefore we have our model for love - we are to love as Christ loves. We are to use our lives as gifts in the service of one another. Since Christ is the model, the martyrs are shining examples of Christians who loved to the end. And we can be martyrs of intention without dying physically. Consider the prayer of St. Therese, "In order that my life may be one act of perfect love, I offer myself as a victim of holocaust to Your merciful love, imploring You to consume me unceasingly, and to allow the floods of infinite tenderness pent up in You to overflow into my soul, so that I may become a very martyr of Your love, O my God! May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear in Your presence, free me from this life at last, and may my soul take its flight without delay, into the eternal embrace of your merciful love."
What enables this type of love? Only God's action in first loving us and choosing us. To give without tiring we need to drink continually from the stream that is Jesus Christ. He it is who appointed us to bear fruit, and will see to it that we do. He it is who will fill us with love so that we can overflow into loving one another. He it is who accompanies us along our life trajectory so that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. And it is He that will welcome us when we reach our eternal home.
Lord Jesus, strength of martyrs, help us to love as you love in our life and in our death. Come to us through the Church and all of reality and love us, inspiring us to love others. Help us, for apart from You we cannot truly love since You are the origin and destiny of every creature.
Mary, Mother of our Savior, lead us to the heart of Christ and teach us how to love without counting the cost. Strengthen us, inspire us, and fill us with grace so that we may love as you and Jesus and Joseph love, to the best of our ability and without ever giving up.
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