As soon as Jesus came into Mary's life, immediately she went in haste to give that Good News. And as she came into the house of her cousin Elizabeth scripture tells us that the unborn child, the child in the womb of Elizabeth, leaped with joy. While still in the womb of Mary Jesus brought peace to John the Baptist who leaped for joy in the womb of Elizabeth. The unborn was the first one to proclaim the coming of Christ.
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We also must give whatever it takes to do good to one another. And Jesus in the Gospel says very clearly, "Love as I have loved you." Jesus died on the cross because that is what it took for him to do good to us, to save us from our selfishness and sin. He gave up everything to the Father's will to show us that we too must be willing to give up everything to do God's will, to love one another as He loves each one of us. If we are not willing to give whatever it takes to do good to one another, sin is still in us. That is why we too must give to each other until it hurts.
It is not enough for us to say "I love God," but I also have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor...And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I might be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and in fact to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise there is no true love in me and I bring injustice not peace to those around me.
We have been created in his image to love and to be loved.
"Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me."
This is the meaning of true love, to give until it hurts.
Maybe in our own family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried. Are we there? Are we willing to give until it hurts in order to be with our family? Or do we put our interests first. These are the questions we must ask ourselves...we must remember that love begins at home. And we must also remember that the future of humanity passes through the family.
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Our children depend us for everything...for all of this they look to us with trust, home, and expectation. But often mother and father are so busy they have no time for their children...We are talking of love of the child, where peace and love must begin, there in our own family.
But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion because Jesus said if you receive a little child, you receive me. So every abortion is the denial of receiving Jesus, is the neglect of receiving Jesus.
It is really a war against the child. A direct killing of the innocent child. Murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that the mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another.
Love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us, so the mother who is thinking of abortion should be helped to love, that is to give until it hurts, her plans, her free time, to respect the life of her child, for the child is the greatest gift of God to the family because it has been created to love and to be loved.
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Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another but to use any violence to get what it wants. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
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We must be contemplatives in the heart of the world. For we must bring that presence of God into the family. For the family that prays together stays together. There is so much hatred, so much misery, and we with our prayer, with our sacrifice, are beginning at home. Love begins at home. And it is not how much we do but how much love we put into what we do.
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This is where love begins, at home, in the family...God will never forget us and there is something you and I can always do. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus in our hearts and share that joy with all we come in contact with.
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I talk so much of giving with a smile. Once a professor from the United States asked me, "Are you married?" And I said yes, and I find it sometimes very difficult to smile at my spouse, Jesus, because he can be very demanding sometimes. This is really something true, and there is where love comes, when it is demanding and yet we can give it this joy.
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Let us love one another as God loves each one of us. And where does this love begin? In our own home. How does it begin? By praying together.
Holiness is not the luxury of the few. It is the simple duty for you and for me. Jesus has very clearly said, "Be ye holy as the Father in heaven is holy."
I will pray for you for all your families...
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