Agape love presided by Msgr. Simas; Sermon : Deacon Benjamin Lai
What a beautiful passage we have heard today. In the second reading from Saint Paul to the Corinthians, it is perhaps the most proclaimed passage at weddings. As a matter of fact, Denise chose these exact passages for our wedding. so, it's almost as if I’m renewing my valve to Denise.
We've always been taught that God is love and Jesus loves me. but what does that really mean Jesus died on the cross for you and for me. but how are we to respond to that love and what are we to do on a day-to-day basis? The world defines love as a feeling, an emotion, and a physical attraction to other people. but God teaches us that the highest form of love is agape love. it is the unconditional, and self-giving love, that will do whatever it takes for the benefit of the other. Love is more than a feeling or emotion. Love is an action, an active verb that involves doing what is good for the other person.
In today's reading, set Paul is painting a portrait of what love is and what love isn't. he's telling us what it does and what it doesn't do Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, it is not pompous, or inflated, it is not rude, or does not seek his own interest, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and love never fails. So, these are the actions of love, that what love does, and what we're called to do.
Well, if God is love then let us replace the word love with God. so, in order to know and love God more intimately, we have to profess it in our lips, and truly believe it in our hearts that Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus is not jealous, or pompous, or rude, Jesus does not seek his own interest. he focused on the will of the father, Jesus bears all things, including dying on the cross for our sins. Jesus believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Well, Jesus is loving, and is a model of perfect love.
And if we are to imitate Jesus, then we have to examine our conscience and put I in the place of Jesus. Am I patient? Am I kind? Do I seek my own self-interest? or not the interests of others? so, if you're like me, I have a long way to go. and I still need a lot of help to grow and to become more like Jesus.
The famous theologian saint Thomas Aquinas whose feast day we just celebrated on Friday two days ago. He said that love is consistently to will and choose the good of the other. Simply put we are to sacrifice, and do what is good for others. We are to love others with selfless love. Love is not easy and sometimes it hurts. It makes us afraid of doing what God has intended us to do - for the benefit of others. We must deliver the message that will not be accepted by others, we must do what the church teaches, against what the current culture of rejoicing over wrongdoing.
But love rejoices in the truth even to the point of persecution and rejection. Jesus was rejected and persecuted in his hometown, when he proclaimed the truth. because the people at the time did not want to hear God's message. One moment they were praising him, but the next moment they wanted to throw him down the hill and kill him. In today's gospel reading the people could not accept his message that God cares about other races not just the Jews because of their lack of faith. God did not love the Jewish people any less than for God to love less of us. because God loves all of us regardless of who we are. But we must respond to that love. in order to become who, we ought to be.
Jesus gives two Old Testament stories, one about the widow who received food from Elijah. She was from another town north of Israel. The other example is the Syrian leper who was cleansed while none of the Jewish lepers were healed. Both of them acted with faith and trust in God and as a result of that trust, the jaw of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil ran dry, and the incurable leopard was cleansed of his disease. Jeremiah also proclaimed God's truth even when he was imprisoned, received death threats and was exiled to Egypt. He put love into action and trusted in God's promise that they will fight against you but will not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you. Jeremiah’s assured of this love and personal relationship that God has.
for every one of us that God knew us, you and me, before we were formed, and that he has a special purpose for. Each and every one of us. but in order to do so. and accept his will, we must do everything with love, and for the love of God, and for the love of others, and that is his will. when we imitate Jesus and proclaim our Christian faith, and we face persecution. We follow his example of sacrificial love of giving himself for us to the point of death, as many saints have done before us.
Mother Teresa said that "for love to be real, it must cost, it must hurt, it must empty self from us" she said that she has found the perfect paradox that, if you love until it hurts, then there can be no more hurt, but only more love, that best example is of Jesus dying on the cross. He left us until it hurts, really hurts, even to the point of death, death on the cross. the more that it shows his love for us, we have to examine our actions and reactions to our emotions, and make a conscious decision to love regardless of how much it hurts.
Love has always a way of changing hearts. In my early years I always got frustrated asking people why they just can't change, and do things differently so that I don't feel so frustrated, and wanted people to change their heart in their way so that I would suffer less. But now with the gift of the holy spirit, I ask for the courage to change my heart and my ways to accept others as they are, and ask what I can do for them, so that they can suffer less.
This is the journey that we're on to grow and mature in faith, hope, and love. An everlasting love that is most important as Saint Paul had described. So today let's focus on the agape love, and ask for the grace to do whatever it takes to bring Christ's love to others, through our words and deeds. as saint john of the cross points out that in the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions or human success, but on how well we have loved.
基督徒的爱
今天读经二是从圣保禄宗徒致格林多前书摘录下来的。这是一段很美的经文。祂可能是婚礼上被人引用最广的一段经文。当年在我和丹妮丝的婚礼上，就是选读这段经文。所以现在我有那种重新宣示婚姻誓言的感觉。
天主是爱，耶稣爱我。但这到底是什么意思呢？祂就是说耶稣为你和我犯的罪被钉死在十字架上，救赎了我们。如果是这样，那么我们该如何回应这份爱呢？
世人将爱定义为一种感觉、情感，或是一个肉体上的吸引力。但天主教导我们，最伟大的爱，是无条件的、会为他人的利益不惜一切代价，舍己的爱。爱不仅是一种感觉，情感，或冲动。爱是一个动词，一个去做对别人有益的事。
圣保禄宗徒描写基督徒的爱，告诉我们什么是爱的行为，什么不是爱的行为。 他说：爱是含忍的，爱是慈详的，爱不嫉妒，不夸张，不粗鲁，不求自己的利益，爱包容一切，相信一切，希望一切，忍受一切，爱永垂不朽。这是基督徒的爱，也是我们被召唤去做的。
如果耶稣是爱，那么让我们用耶稣来代替爱这个字，来更了解爱和耶稣。我们嘴里承认，心里相信：耶稣是有耐心的，是仁慈的，耶稣不嫉妒，不自负，不粗鲁，不寻求自己的利益，而专注于天父的旨意。耶稣承担了一切，为我们的罪死在十字架上。耶稣凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。耶稣是爱，是完美爱的典范。
如果我们要效法耶稣，就必须审视我们的良心，把我放在耶稣的位置上。我有耐心吗？我善良吗？我追求自己的利益？还是别人的利益？ 我承认我还有很长的路要走，我仍然需要很多的帮助来成长、来效法耶稣。
上星期五，我们庆祝了神学家圣多瑪斯•阿奎纳（Thomas Aquinas）的节日。他说：爱是一个人坚持去做有利于别人的事。简单地说，我们要牺牲自己，做对别人有益的事，用无私的爱去爱别人。爱并不容易，有时候很痛苦。痛苦使我们害怕去做有利于别人的事。我们必须传达不受欢迎的信息，必须按照教会的教导行事，必须反对当前认为漠不关心是理所当然、值得鼓励的文化。
当真爱的行为受到了拒绝和破坏的时候，爱还是在真理中欢欣鼓舞。耶稣在家乡宣讲真理时。相亲们拒绝了天主的信息。前一刻他们赞美他，下一刻他们要把他扔下山崖。
在今天的福音中，耶稣讲了两个旧约故事，来传递天主爱所有相信祂的人的讯息。一个是关于寡妇从先知厄里亚那里得到食物的故事。另一个是叙利亚的麻疯病人被洁净，而犹太麻疯病人却没有一个被治愈的故事。两个外邦人对耶稣都充满了信心。寡妇的信心，使得缸内的面粉源源不绝，油罐也没有干涸。叙利亚人的信心使得无法治愈的麻疯病也被洁净了。而犹太人，因为他们的不信，奇迹就无法施展出来。
先知耶肋米亚即使在被监禁、受到死亡的威胁，并被流放到埃及时，也照样宣扬天主的道理。先知将爱付诸行动，并且相信天主的应许—你的敌人将与你作战，但他们不能战胜你，因为我与你同在，我会拯救你。耶肋米亚相信天主对他的爱，确认他与天主特别的关系。 天主在我们出生之前就认识了我们，祂对每一个人都有祂的旨意。因为天主爱了我们，也因为我们爱我们的近人，所以我们必须用爱去做每一件事，这就是天主的旨意。
我们效法耶稣，开口承认我们是基督徒，当我们面临迫害，我们要效法基督无私的爱，献出自己的生命的爱。就像许多圣徒所做的一样。
特蕾莎修女说：“真正的爱，是那付出代价，爱到伤痛，无私的爱”。她有一个完美的道理：「如果你爱到极点，那么就不再有伤痛了，只有更多的爱」。耶稣死在十字架上是一个最好的例子。他爱了我们，直到它很痛，真的很痛，甚至到了死亡的地步，死在十字架上。耶稣极端的痛苦表明了他对我们的爱。我们必须省察自己，超越伤痛，效法耶稣的爱。
爱会改变人心。当我年轻时，总是很失望地说：「为什么有些人无法改变，让我少受一点痛苦」。但是现在圣神感动了我，让我祈求我能改变自己的心，来接受别人，关切他们的需要，使他们少受点苦。
这是我在信仰、希望和爱中成长的过程。圣保禄说：「最重要的神恩就是爱」。让我们学习基督的爱，祈求天主格外的恩宠，使我们能够以我们的言语和行为，将基督的爱带给别人。圣十字若望说：「在我们生命的尽头，天主不会根据我们在世上的财富或功名来审判我们，祂是以我们表现的爱来审判我们」。