When people belong to a club or a society, they often like other people to know that they do. The way the members show other people that they belong to it is by wearing a badge, or an old school tie, or something like that. . .
Now we belong to an enormous society, the Catholic Church, and the Founder is Our Divine Lord. He has always been very anxious that other people should know that we are members of His Church, that we are His disciples. So He chose something He wants us all to have so that other people will know that we are Catholics. It is something to make the world aware that we are His followers, something they can see. This sign that Jesus chose for us is to distinguish us from other people and is not a crucifix or cross we wear; it is not a Rosary; and it is not a medal or a badge.
Our Lord quite deliberately said to us: “By this men will know that you are My disciples: that you have love for one another.” Having love for one another is the sign by which other people can recognize us as Christians. Now you might say that this is a strange sign . . . How can the world see whether we love one another or not? How can our feelings towards one another be seen by other people? . . .
Feelings are not a sign; no one else can see our feelings except God; so the sign that we are Christians is not a question of feelings but something people can observe, a sign by which all people know we are Jesus’ disciples.
Love of neighbor is not a question of feelings but of conduct towards him, how I behave towards him. The way a man behaves is a sign of the kind of man he is, and the way we behave must show us to be Christians. Loving one’s neighbor is a matter of behavior towards him, what we do to him or for him or refuse to do.
The badge of the true Christian is kindness. You can always be kind to someone no matter how you feel towards him. Love is a question of kindness. Most of us cannot feel fond of everyone, and some people make us feel repugnance perhaps, but we can be kind to people no matter what we feel like. . .
I know a nun in Africa who looked after lepers there, and you would have thought that she was very fond of them, and indeed they felt that she was, and it is true that she did love them very much: she was so kind. Yet after treating them she had to go outside and be sick. Someone said to her, “I would not do your job for ten thousand pounds.” She answered, “Neither would I.”
What good is it for us to seek to be good at prayer, to receive the Sacraments frequently, to attend days of recollection, and to practice mortification, if we do not love one another? It is amazing how good people fail to keep this commandment of the Lord and fail to see how much they are breaking it. They get used to avoiding someone, or looking down on him, or being cool towards him, or gossiping about him, and never realize how it separates them from the unity of those who follow Christ Our Lord. “I give you a new commandment,” said Our Lord, “that you are to love one another just as I have loved you.” . . .
Let us resolve now that we will improve our love for someone we know and clear the way for the special graces God has in store for us.
