We Americans place a high value on freedom and we tend to see rules and regulations as infringements on personal choice. But today Jesus speaks of obedience to the commandments: He says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
When viewed merely as obligations to be fulfilled, the commandments can be a real chore, a burden. We should not see our observance as a way just to tick a series of boxes in God’s ledger to prove how good we are. We have to be sure that our motivation is pure. We have to be careful because while people see our actions, God sees our motives. We know that at times we can do a good work with intentions are not very admirable.
Keeping the commandments is essentially a matter of love. Good parents, indeed, the mothers we honor today, fulfill their obligations but what motivates them is the love they have for their children. They do not count the cost of the sacrifices they make for them. Good caregivers do not gauge their fatigue at the bedside of a loved one.
True love doesn’t ask, “Do I really have to do this?” It goes beyond the minimum. A young man would never say to his beloved, “What is the least amount of time I have to spend with you?” We might be prone to adopt such an attitude in our spiritual life: “Do I have to go to Mass…Do I have to go to confession?
Love is transformative. In the classic work, “The Imitation of Christ” we find this passage: “Love alone makes heavy burdens light…Love bears a heavy burden and does not feel it, and love makes bitter things tasteful and sweet.”
Today we hear Our Lord’s promise to send us another Advocate—the Holy Spirit who is often called “the Font of Love.” The Spirit enables us to love—to live life the way Jesus meant it to be lived.
In his prayer each day, a certain priest would continually ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When asked why always this prayer, Father replied, ‘Because I leak.’ We all “leak” spiritually from time to time when our love for God and the ‘things of God’ weakens, and when we fail to love others, particularly those who hurt us or whom we brand as “unlovable.”
And so, we need to call again and again upon the Holy Spirit so that we move from mere obligation to joyful obedience. Let’s call upon the Holy Spirit now:
Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart with the fire of your love. Sweet Guest of the Soul, you see all things and nothing is hidden from You. Forgive me for the times my motives have not been pure, for those times that I have “leaked”—acting out of pride, ambition, or the desire to be seen and win the praise of others. Let love that is genuine and pure be the foundation of my actions so that I can move from mere obligation to your commands to joyful obedience to them.
