V — THE NEW COMMANDMENT

Presence of God. — Jesus, grant me the grace to understand deeply your new commandment, the commandment of fraternal charity.

Meditation

1 — The precept “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:39) already requires a solid and profound virtue, but it does not yet reach the highest perfection of love. This was proposed to us by Jesus shortly before dying, in those final moments when each one recommends to loved ones what lies most at heart: “I give you a new commandment... As I have loved you, so you also love one another.... This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34; 15:12). This is the truly new perfection brought by Jesus to the precept of charity: to love others not only as ourselves, but as He loves us, as He loves them. And this perfection is so dear to Him that He calls it his commandment, that is, the commandment that concerns Him most and whose observance must become the unmistakable mark of his intimate friends: “By this all will know that you are my disciples” (Jn. 13:35). With a powerful wingbeat Jesus suddenly carries us from a measure of charity that is great indeed, but still too human — that of love for ourselves — to a divine measure, that of his infinite love for our souls. It is no longer a matter of fixing our gaze on the love we have for ourselves so as to nourish a similar love for our brethren, but of fixing our gaze infinitely higher, in the Heart of Christ, which is the Heart of God, and penetrating the secret of his infinite love for men, in order to seek to emulate it in our relations with neighbor. Fraternal charity will be perfect in us only when it is the reflection — or better, the continuation — of Jesus’ love for every creature. We must tend to love each brother — even the least congenial, even the one who does not love us — as Jesus loves him. And Jesus loves him to the point that He gave his life for him, that for him each day He renews his immolation on the altars, that for him He remained living and true in the Eucharist, always ready to nourish him with his immaculate flesh. What excuse shall we find for our little charity toward neighbor when we compare it with that of Jesus?

2 — Considering the “new commandment” of charity, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus exclaims: “Oh, how I love it! for it gives me the certainty that your will, O Lord, is to love in me all those whom You command me to love” (St. 9). The saint understands that she will not attain the perfection of fraternal charity unless she seeks to love her neighbor as Jesus loves him; but intuiting how difficult this is, she rejoices in thinking that, if Jesus gave us this precept, it is precisely because He wants to lead us to such heights. And in fact it is so, provided we leave Him free to act in us, provided we offer Him, pure and intact, the energies of our heart and our will, so that He may use them to surround our brethren with delicate attentions, as one day He personally surrounded the inhabitants of Palestine with attentions. Then He did it personally; today He wants to do it through us. In this way our love for neighbor will truly become a renewal of Jesus’ love, and we shall be able to let every person we approach feel something of the infinite tenderness of Christ’s heart. But to reach this we must clear our heart of all residues of egoism, of all hindrances of personal antipathies and sympathies; and we must, moreover, penetrate ever more deeply into the mystery of Jesus’ love for us. Jesus loves us as we are; He loves us despite our defects, despite dullness of mind and hardness of will. He even loves us despite our sins; indeed, it was precisely for us sinners that He became incarnate and died on the Cross. Never is lack of natural gifts, never defects, nor even sins for Him a reason to reject us, but He always goes in search of our souls, always surrounds us with grace, urges us, invites us, to bring us to holiness. Even the souls of the greatest sinners are dear to Him; these too are continually pursued by his love. Even Judas the traitor was enveloped to the end by the tenderness of his love, was called by the sweet name of friend, and received his kiss. Jesus loves us not because we are perfect, but because we are children of his heavenly Father; He loves us not because we are good, but because He sees in us the image of his Father, because we are his creatures, the sheep of his pasture. Why then do we pretend to love only those who are good, whose company is pleasant, whose friendship comforts us? If Jesus wished to treat us as we treat neighbor, we would have very little hope of enjoying his understanding, his mercy, his friendship.

Colloquy

“When in the old law, O Lord, You commanded your people to love neighbor as themselves, You had not yet descended to this earth, and, knowing well to what point each one loves himself, You could ask no more. But when You leave your Apostles a new commandment, your commandment, You no longer ask only that we love our neighbor as ourselves, but as You Yourself love him and as You will love him until the end of the ages.

“I know very well, O my Jesus, that You never command anything impossible. You know better than I my weakness and my imperfection. You know, alas, that I will never come to love my sisters as You love them unless You Yourself, my divine Savior, love them in me. And because You precisely wish to grant me this grace, You gave me a new commandment. Oh, how I love it! for it gives me the certainty that your will is to love in me all those whom You command me to love.

“When I am charitable, I truly feel that You alone, O Jesus, act in me; and the more united I am with You, the more I love all my sisters” (St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, St. 9).

“O Christ, your words are nothing but a new song: ‘I give you a new commandment!’ And what else does this your commandment contain except love and charity? You want us to love others as You love them, You who are love! You say to us: ‘love one another as I have loved you,’ and not ‘as I have loved myself,’ because while You executed justice upon yourself, You loved us in an act of mercy, meekness, and infinite compassion. And thus You want us to love others” (St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi).