Our Holy Father Leo, Pope of Rome.
1 John 3:10-20; Mark 14:10-42.
Read 1 John 3:10-20
“Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
Love is more than a feeling or kind words—it is a way of life. St. John reminds us that Christ Himself is the model of true love. He did not love us from a distance, nor did He simply express love with words. Instead, He entered into our suffering, took up the cross, and laid down His life for us. This is the measure of love: self-giving, sacrificial, expecting nothing in return.
For most of us, love will not demand martyrdom in the literal sense. But every day, we are called to die to ourselves—our selfish desires, pride, and indifference—so that we may truly love those around us. It is easy to say we love others, but much harder to show it when it costs us something: our time, our comfort, our control. True love, the love of Christ, is not passive. It moves outward. It takes action even when it is inconvenient, when it requires patience, or when it demands forgiveness.
John challenges us to examine our hearts. Do we love only when it is easy? Do we hold back when love requires sacrifice? Christ’s love is not selective. He loved us when we were undeserving, when we were still sinners, and He calls us to do the same. Love means feeding the hungry, comforting the grieving, helping the lonely, and being present for those in need—not just in words, but in real, tangible ways.
This passage invites us to embody love in our daily lives: forgiving when we would rather hold a grudge, listening when we would rather speak, giving when we would rather keep. Love calls us beyond ourselves, to a life of generosity and humility. It is the path of the cross, but also the path to true joy.
May we ask the Lord for the grace to love as He loves—to lay down our lives not in grand gestures, but in the quiet, unseen sacrifices of daily life. Let us not love in word alone, but in deed and in truth, revealing Christ to the world.