Today I’m reflecting on St Paul’s letter to the Romans. Echoing Jesus in the gospels he tells the Romans that all of the commandments can be summed up in the call to love their neighbours as themselves. He goes on to say:
“Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.”
His words bring to mind St Benedict’s call to choose what is better for others over our own preferences. Our hearts recognise the truth of this call every time we hear it. We know it’s truth from both sides, from receiving love and from giving it to others.
Yet we can still so easily be drawn away from making that principle the basis of our actions. Our needs, our fears or a myriad of distractions can draw us away from focussing on showing love to each other, whatever our intentions.
I’m inclined to think that it’s one of those things we can’t remind of ourselves often enough. Sometimes it’s easier to remember when we encounter people facing challenging or painful situations. We seem to be able to put ourselves aside to show love when we face the big challenges of life.
I sometimes think it’s harder to do in the small, apparently unimportant things that make up the bulk of our daily interactions. I wonder how different our behaviour would be if we truly took Paul’s words to heart and allowed them to shape our daily interactions.
Where are you being called to grow in love today?