Love. What an emotion. It can be the most intense, most fulfilling experience we can have in relation to another, and at the same time it can be the most painfully complicated, confusing experience we go through. So often we get caught up on the feelings of love, the way another makes us feel, that we forget the most important part. To fully love, to completely give yourself over to another is beyond the feelings, it is beyond the romance. True, unconditional love is an action. And that action is exactly what we encounter within Matthew’s Gospel today.

On the surface of the gospel, we can quite clearly see the six specific deeds that Jesus states as necessary for one to receive the blessing of eternity. Even clearer is the reality that we can sacrifice our place in the Kingdom to be damned to the eternal fires with Satan and his angels. Yet like all of the stories and parables within the New Testament, we know there is something deeper going on just beneath the surface. Beneath the surface, we realize that these six actions determined by Christ have something in common; they all requite compassion and sacrifice. They require us to see beyond ourselves and see the other as more important. It requires that we let go of our plans, our time, and offer it all up for the dignity of another. To truly gain the Kingdom of God, we must actively love.

To actively love is to love and be like Christ. It is to see the dignity and respect in each human. It is to see past their circumstances and see them as Christ. More than seeing though, it requires we act on that dignity and provide them with what they deserve as our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the love that radiated from Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, and St. Francis of Assisi. It is the love that Mary articulated during her fiat. And it is the love we are called to share in, to sacrifice for, all in realizing the glory that waits for us in our union with the Trinity. Let us pray that through the guidance of the Holy Spirit we can always allow God to love others through us.