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the Son.
Jesus reinforces this identity in his great commandment to his followers: "Love one an-
other as I have loved you." This is to be the culmination of the Cross and Resurrection
experience. Jesus, faithful to the divine knowledge that He would never--even when all
might appear to be most hopeless--be without the infinite life-giving love of His Father,
would be raised in the joy that dispels all hopelessness--to which death has no reality.
He energizes his followers and lifts them to his own status, as "friends." He sends them
off to follow the path of their own experience with a profoundly simple and seemingly
impossible charge. He sends them with a recall of the second of the "two greatest com-
mandments" to love one another. He adds a twist, changing the original "as you love
yourselves" to "as I have loved you." This gives that command its maximum authority
and truly raises it to the same level as "Love the Lord your God with your whole being."
The whole narrative of salvation history points to this outcome. What was humanly im-
possible becomes real though and with the original love of God, revealed in the sacrifice
of Jesus and the boundless resurrective love of the Father, manifested in the infinite in-
fusion of the Spirit.
All these wonders, of course, can only be seen with the eyes of faith, and too many of
us are constantly blinking because of the dust and debris swirling in the nasty vortexes
we create for, and encounter with, each other. Perhaps a few more pauses and a little
more quiet will allow some of that dust to settle.
"God is love." Wow!
P
RAYER
When we sweat through the distractions of life, please send again Your cleansing Spirit
to bathe us in the essential refreshment of Your eternal love.
_______
D
ON
M
ILICI