Love is Greater than Hate

In John 4:20-21 Jesus says "If anyone says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." We live in a world where it is easier to hate our brothers than it is to forgive them for wronging us. Yet, we forget that sometimes our brothers just need love, and we need to see God in the other person. God does not say to his children that I cannot love you because you committed a grave sin.

As a world, we only like to accept the things that we can rationalize in our minds. However, Jesus did the opposite. Jesus ate with the sinners. Jesus preached to the Gentiles. Jesus healed the unclean. He had no qualms with challenging the thinking of the government of Rome. So, why are people not willing to stand up for others especially when we feel that people are being persecuted? We allow all the hate and anger build up and hold a grudge rather than forgive the person who committed the sin.

What would the world look like if parents could not forgive their children for the mistakes that they committed? What would the world look like if spouses could not forgive their husbands or wives because they committed some mistake? Why do we preach that we need to act like Jesus; yet, we are unwilling to give love to the people who need it the most? Sometimes, the person is just having a rocky day and needs to be loved.

We forget that our fellow humans are going to sin. We are not perfect, but why do we need to force our fellow humans to be the perfect ones? Are we truly loving the person who we hate? When we carry hate in our own heart, we are not allowing God into our hearts. We think we are allowing God in; yet, how can we truly love God when we hate the Christ that is in others?

As Catholics, we learned the most important lesson of love is greater than hate. We must not carry around so much hatred. It is not about us not forgiving the other person, but allowing us to have the peace to be able to love another person, even if they have greatly sinned. It allows us to work out our issues with God. As a Catholic, we are all called to emit our love of Christ to others. We are called to be the person who can see God in every one of his brothers.