For me, an important meaning of Jesus’ "love your neighbor" quote is reflected in the prayer…."Dear God, fill me with your divine love and move me along a path that connects me with those who will most benefit from receiving it. Be with, live in, work through, and love me as you will"
I like this prayer because it includes ramifications for our own lives beyond what we can imagine, and thus a tangible "faith" element. It exudes a faith that requires us to trust God by risking more than the mere possibility that we will be disappointed by what WE fail to receive. For who will God wish to love through me? And what will God do in me and with me to prepare me for such relationships? Yes, it requires us to risk much, but only in such risks do we find the potential for heavenly rewards.
One way that helps me to think of it all is to imagine a scenario in my teenage years when my brother and I were quarreling. My mother could have said to me, "you must love your brother". I could nod my head but it wouldn’t amount to much more than, "Sure, okay, whatever you say mom". But, what if I could invite my mother’s love for him into my self and accept her hidden hand's guidance as to how best to convey it through a brother-to-brother relationship?
For many years my response to the "love your neighbor" command was one of "sure, whatever you say Jesus, sounds nice….I’ll get right to it". Ultimately, I began to think something might be wrong with me because no matter how much I wanted to be in sync with the command, I did not experience this love that Jesus talked about. The prayer above is one that has helped bring the meaning of this command to life for me. "Being" and "doing" the Gospel now seems less about futile attempts to imitate the perfection of Jesus and more about "becoming" Christ like through God’s movement in our own lives, something that will be expressed differently in everyone. Several terms that once seemed foreign to me now have experiential meaning.
Divine Love = the love God carries for us all and that we may ask to receive into our own beings
Holy Spirit = the hidden hand that guides us and instructs us how best to convey this love
Living Christ = living expressions of God’s use of our unique gifts, circumstances, and experiences to bring His love into the lives of others in ways that serve the others, create communities, and increase our joy
It might be a little scary but, as we avail ourselves to God as instruments of His love for unknown "neighbors", we are moved into experiences that foster our growth and enhance our comprehension of God’s love for ourselves, drawing us closer to God and our neighbors in the process. Here, in the majesty of moments beyond words, is where we begin to experience extended, inclusive neighborhoods as emerging brotherhoods. Here is where we receive glimpses of the Kingdom that infuse us with faith in God's plan for a new world. And here, not over or up there, but in, around, and through us, as God smiles through our goosebumps, and where we just might hear Jesus chuckle, is where this darn "Kingdom thing" comes alive.
