It is 10th January 2019. The readings are from 1 John 4:19-5:4; and the Gospel from Luke 4:14-22. Loving other persons is not an option but it is an obligation. We tend to forget most of the times that we all are born with the wings of love to fly high in a selfish, sloppy, slippery surface of human interactions and relationships. We need to soar high with the anointing of love. Selfless love purifies and heals the rough and the unhealed memories that we are not aware of and buried deep underneath beyond the reach of our memories. Some of our fears that repeatedly haunt us and make us doubt to the extend in the power of love which is paralysed by the numbness and cold indifference towards the other and fly above the challenges and the shadows of the ordinary events of life. There is no choice left for us all who love God. We who love God need to love Jesus, the Only Son and make constant effort to love the other person however poor they are in loving us back. As God took initiative to love us even though our hearts and lives are far from God, so we need to love the other with the example that is displayed by Jesus on the Cross. Love is not a choice and it is the unbiased commitment to the other. In the first reading, St. John invites us to love the other person not for our happiness but for the sake of the vocation to love that we have received from God. What we see and know is hard to love at times for many of us. We find it hard to love when we come to know the vulnerabilities and the brokenness of the other. The more we know about the other the closer and intimate we can be when we have true love for the other person resides in us. St. John wants us to start with what we see and what we have is the other person that is near before we attempt to love God who is the Spirit. The responsorial Psalm praises, “All nation shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.” (Ps.71:11). The Gospel presents us with the manifesto of Jesus. What is our purpose of our life? If loving is not the priority of our life, and our love does not bring the other person closer to God, then that life is not worth living. Bringing good news to all people and proclaim the favour of God is the expression of our love for God. May our faith in Jesus be linked with the way we love people. May you have a good day. May God bless you.