The Holy Apostle Jude, Brother of the Lord According to the Flesh
Apostles’ Fast.
Read
Jude 1:1-10; John 14:21-24
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
I went to confession yesterday. The older I get the more I go to this Holy Mystery. You may ask yourself if I am sinning more as I get older and, therefore, have an obligation to go. There is an obligation, but it is not the one that the Church sets for us (that obligation is like a mother looking after the health of her child). Rather, it is an obligation that arises in my heart in that I WANT to be loved by the Father.
If you are like me, I fail at keeping every commandment in some way that the Lord sets out for us. (By the way, did you know that there are more commandments that ask us to “do” than there are commandments that ask us to “don’t?” If we spent time doing the “dos” we wouldn’t have time to do the “don’ts.”) It’s not that the Lord sets a condition to His love; the Lord does not necessarily withhold His love from us. As we read in John’s epistles, God is love. The question is: are we willing to be open to receiving His love for us, an unconditional love.
Doing His commandments, being like Him as best as I can, helps me to be open to receive His love: loving and forgiving my neighbour, regardless of the offense; feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, visiting the sick, shut-ins and those in prison—recognizing and giving dignity to my brother and sister; giving the shirt off my back; walking an extra mile with someone; laying down my life for another. These are only some of the “do” commandments of the Lord. When we elevate our brother or sister whom we find before us, it is then that we can discover the love of the Lord—for us and for the whole world.