Episode Transcript  

One

The goal of life is holiness.

Scripture commands us in both the Old and New Testaments, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16) Holiness means becoming like God. As St. John tells us, “We shall be like him.” (1 John 3:2) And what is God like? God is love. (1 John 4:8) This does not mean merely being “a good person.” Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

This is not human kindness as the world defines it. No, our Savior asks something infinitely greater, “Just as I have loved you.”

We are commanded to love in a divine way. This is the virtue of charity. Not an emotion or a feeling. Not simply acts of kindness or generosity. Charity is God’s own life poured into our souls, enabling us to love with His love, supernatural, divine, beyond human strength. Divine charity means: Loving God for His own sake. Loving Him above all things. Loving God in our neighbor—even in our enemies.

But how can we do this? On our own, we cannot. That is why, when the world rejects God, it ends up tearing itself apart. The only way to love as God loves is if He gives us His life. This is why, at the Last Supper, Jesus gave Himself, Body and Blood, in the Eucharist. We open to this grace by daily meditation and resolution.

With Jesus living in us, He loves through us. And in Him, we can love in a divine way.

Two

Charity is to Love God above all 

The supernatural virtue of love or charity is to love God for His own sake, not for what we receive in return. And it is to love God above all things so that every lesser love draws us closer to Him. We fail in charity because our loves become disordered. We desire things of this life more than God. We attach our identity, worth, and happiness to things like success, relationships, health, comfort, freedom, or security. And when these are threatened or lost, we are overcome by fear, anxiety, anger, or despair. 

These emotions reveal that our hearts have clung to created things as if they were ultimate. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, charity puts our loves in the right order. We love God above all things, and we love the good things of this world for God's sake, not in place of Him. If God is truly our greatest love, then even painful losses will not master us. 

When the good things of this life become false gods, God may allow their loss, not to punish us, but to set us free. Every loss He permits is an invitation to return to our true good: union with Him, where alone we find unshakable joy and eternal security.

I know the three created good things that I am tempted to want more than God. Do you know yours?

Three

Keep My Commandments 

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15. Am I truly loving, as God commands?

Do I love God above all things, or do I cling to good things of this life, success, relationships, health, and freedom, as if they were my happiness? (CCC 2084–2094) Do I speak of God’s name with reverence, or do I use it carelessly, forgetting that love honors the Beloved? (CCC 2142–2167) Do I love God enough to give Him time, or do I treat prayer as one more thing to get done? (CCC 2168–2195) Do I give time, attention, and patient care to my parents, especially in their old age, or do I neglect them when they become inconvenient, difficult, or annoying? (CCC 2197–2257) Do I respect life and seek peace, or do I harbor resentment, judgment, or indifference to those who suffer? (CCC 2258–2330) Do I love my spouse with the fullness of self-giving, or do I reject God’s design for life and love through contraception or sterilization, withholding my fertility from my spouse? (CCC 2366–2379) Do I love my spouse without seeking return, or have I given in to resentments? 

Do I love by giving generously to the poor, or do I possess more than I need, ignoring justice and generosity? (CCC 2401–2463) Do I speak the truth in love, or do I lie, gossip, or tear others down? (CCC 2464–2513) Do I guard my heart and intentions in love, or do I indulge lust or emotional manipulation? (CCC 2514–2533) Do I love with contentment and gratitude, or do I envy what others have and feel entitled? (CCC 2534–2557)

Four

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself 

Scripture tells us,  “Anyone who says, 'I love God', and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. So this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4:20-21

Do you truly love those closest to you or only tolerate them? Are there people you feel stuck with who don’t give you the love or affirmation you think you deserve? Do some relationships leave you weary or empty, difficult, broken, or even hopeless? It may be a spouse, a child, a parent, someone who has hurt you, failed you, or is slowly destroying themselves, and you feel powerless to change them.

Love them anyway.  That does not mean feel good about them. To love them means to think good about them, want good for them, and do good for them. That is love. And when you think good about them and do good for them, you will slowly, slowly begin to feel love for them. It’s easy to say we love God. But the real test is how we treat those closest to us. Don’t be angels abroad and demons at home. Be the first to begin there.

Five

Love your enemy

Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” (cf. Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:32) You might say, “I don’t have any enemies.” But ask yourself, who do you see as “them”? Because we naturally hate what threatens the true and good we cherish, who do you see as a threat? Liberals or conservatives? Republicans or Democrats? Russians, Muslims, the “woke” or the “un-woke”? Yes, evil must be hated. Sinful actions must be opposed. False and destructive ideologies must be rejected. We can never condone sin or error. But we must never hate people.

Jesus commanded us to love every person, even those who oppose us. That doesn’t mean we need to have gushy feelings toward them. Love is to want their good, forgive them, and pray for them. From the Cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

Finally, since loving in a divine way is impossible for the weak humans that we are, we must stick very close to Jesus in the Eucharist and prayer and then loving him in the people who are hard to love and begging him to love them for us. 

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