A Jesuit Catholic University
in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1878

[564] Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 Ps 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 John 15:9-17

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

This bit of scripture has always caused me unrest.  I have always thought of God as love, and that I ought to be an imitator of that love.  But I think I fall horribly short because I’m not sure that I would be willing to lay down my life for anyone. 

Sometimes I compare myself to Oscar Romero.  I usually end up feeling pretty inadequate.  Romero died while fighting for the rights of the poor.  I could imagine a case, in which I was a parent and I jump in front of a bullet to save my child, but I don’t think this is the type of love that Jesus was talking about.  The case of dying for one’s own child, or any family member, is different from the case in which a person dies for one’s friends. 

The love and bond of one’s family is typically different than the bonds that people have with friends.  Perhaps what Jesus is suggesting is that we love our friends like we do our family, like a parent loves a child…unconditionally. 

In my most honest moments, I don’t know if I love my friends that radically.  Certainly I care about them deeply, but would I be willing to die?  I once brought this very concern to someone wiser than me, and he told me it was kind of morbid to worry so much about what I was willing or not willing to die for.  He encouraged me instead to think about what I would be willing to live for.  So instead of feeling inadequate when compared to great men such as Romero, I leave you with this question:  What is worth living for?